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Written by: A. Smith
Published March 21, 2025 @ 11:25 AM ET
CHEROKEE COUNTY, Ga. – DNA evidence has led to an arrest in a sexual assault case that had gone unsolved for nearly four decades, Cherokee County deputies announced.
Authorities said a 76-year-old registered sex offender in Fulton County was identified as a suspect in the 1986 assault of a 19-year-old convenience store employee.
In January 1986, a 19-year-old woman was attacked while getting into her car after closing a convenience store on Hickory Flat Highway, investigators said. The suspect abducted the victim and took her to another location, where she was raped.
At the time, authorities collected a sexual assault kit, but due to technological limitations, it could not be tested, and the case remained unsolved for decades.
Officials said a recent review of the case led to a breakthrough when DNA from the original sexual assault kit was matched to a profile in the national Combined DNA Index System (CODIS).
On Monday, deputies arrested Thomas Lamar Keith, 76, of Atlanta, and charged him with rape and kidnapping. Keith, a registered sex offender, was convicted in 2003 of child molestation and cruelty to children, according to records.
Sheriff Frank Reynolds called the arrest a major step toward justice.
“This arrest is a huge step towards getting much-deserved justice for our victims no matter how much time has passed. We hope it brings some measure of peace to the survivor,” Reynolds said.
Keith is being held without bond at the Cherokee County Adult Detention Center.
Authorities are also investigating another sexual assault case from 1986 that they believe may be linked to Keith. That case remains under investigation.