The Red and Black

By ANDREW DEMILLO The Red & Black

A 25-year-old man indicted Wednesday on charges he raped and kidnapped a University student may be connected to as many as seven other Athens attacks, Athens-Clarke police said.

Carlos Koonce was formally charged by an A-C grand jury in connection with the Friday rape, according to the Superior Court clerk's office.

Koonce faces one count of rape, two counts of aggravated sodomy, one count of kidnapping with injury, one count of armed robbery and one count of burglary.

For the kidnapping charge alone, Koonce faces a minimum sentence of life in prison and a maximum of the death penalty.

A-C police are investigating similarities between the mid-afternoon attack and seven other Athens rapes, said Maj. Alan Brown, who heads the department's criminal investigations unit.

"There are some very strong similarities," Brown said. "We're obligated to check them out."

Brown wouldn't discuss details of the similarities.

Koonce took the woman inside her West Lake Drive home at about 2:45 p.m. Friday and raped her at knifepoint, police said.

The victim, a 21-year-old University student, told police Koonce took her in her car to South Milledge Avenue, where she escaped and flagged down help from another student.

Koonce was arrested by police on South Lumpkin Street after the victim gave police a detailed description and identified him to police, according to the police report.

Although he wouldn't discuss specifics, Brown said police have "very strong evidence" against Koonce. Blood samples taken from the suspect are at the state crime lab in Atlanta to be analyzed for possible connections with other DNA evidence.

"It could take anywhere from six weeks to six months till we get the results from that," Brown said.

A-C Assistant District Attorney Gerald Brown, who was assigned to the case, was not available for comment Wednesday.

Koonce was being held in Clarke County Jail without bond.

Article Tools