ATLANTA — A man is now serving life behind bars for the 2021 kidnapping and murder of a beloved Atlanta bartender, Mariam Abdulrab.
Abdulrab was kidnapped and killed in an attempted rape in 2021, according to police. Demarcus Brinkley was later arrested and charged on charges including murder, kidnapping and attempt to commit rape.
Court records show in November he entered a negotiated guilty plea in the case that resulted in a sentence of life plus five years. He pleaded guilty to murder, kidnapping, criminal attempt to commit rape, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Abdulrab, who worked as a bartender, was returning home from work on an August morning more than two years ago when she was kidnapped and found dead nearly an hour later.
The case gained wide attention after it emerged that Brinkley had a prior sex assault and molestation conviction.
According to a previous release from advocates in the case, he "failed to undergo a risk level assessment from the Georgia Sex Offender Registration Review Board" and "spent several years in prison and was released less than a year before Mariam’s kidnapping."
The case spurred the passage of Mariam's Law this year, which increases penalties for repeat sex offenders.
Abdulrab's younger brother, Ali Abdulrab, previously told 11Alive that their family doesn't want this to happen to anyone else.
"I saw how it’s affecting our family and friends still. It’s heartbreaking, and no other family should have to go through that," he said.
