DNA testing leads to life sentence for suspect in DeKalb County rape cold case, DA says

A Decatur man has been sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty this week to a rape charge in connection with the assault of a woman in her apartment 36 years ago.

DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston said that 67-year-old Moses Robinson's identity remained a mystery for decades until the work of the Georgia Sexual Assault Kit Initiative Task Force (GASAKI) helped connect him with the crime.

According to officials, the attack happened on Jan. 13, 1990, at the Misty Waters Apartment complex. Prosecutors say the victim was lying in bed early that morning when a man kicked her back door, walked into her bedroom, and pulled her into the living room.

After telling her he had a knife, Robinson pinned the victim to the ground and sexually assaulted her, officials say. He then stayed in the apartment for two hours talking to the victim before fleeing.

The victim contacted police and went to Grady Memorial Hospital for a sexual assault exam. The evidence gathered in that sexual test kit remained untested for years because the Georgia Bureau of Investigation didn't have a suspect at the time. That changed when GASAKI was formed in an effort to test kits from crimes that had never been solved.

Authorities say a DNA test connected the kit to Robinson. A DeKalb County grand jury indicted the Decatur man in August 2025. He was arrested that same month and has been in the DeKalb County Jail without bond ever since.

After Robinson pleaded guilty on Tuesday, a judge sentenced him to life in prison with the possibility of parole after serving 14 years.