DEFENDANT CONVICTED IN 12-YEAR-OLD RAPE CASE

UGA Student in Atlanta for Peach Bowl—Kidnapped in 1994—Case Cold Until 2005

Fulton County District Attorney Paul L. Howard, Jr. announces the conviction late today of 30-year-old Raleigh Leftwich. A Fulton County jury found Leftwich guilty of rape, kidnapping, aggravated assault with intent to rape and aggravated assault with intent to rob. Leftwich will be sentenced by Superior Court Judge Wendy Shoob Thursday morning, February 22, 2007 at 9:30 a.m. in Courtroom 7-E.

The victim, a 19-year-old University of Georgia student, was in Atlanta December 31, 1994 to attend the Peach Bowl game. The defendant forced her into a car in a Lenox Mall parking deck, drove her to a house, forced her to undress and raped her. He repeatedly threatened to kill her or her family if she reported the rape. He drove her back to the mall and dropped her off. The case remained unsolved until September 2005 when Leftwich’s DNA was matched to the crime by a CODIS hit.

The defendant’s DNA sample was on file because two days after the December 1994 rape—on January 2, 1995—Leftwich was arrested after attempting to rape a woman in Gwinnett County. He was convicted and released February 18, 2005 after serving 10 years in prison. Eight months later, he was arrested in Massachusetts on the Fulton County charges. Both the Fulton and Gwinnett victims are expected to be present at the sentencing hearing.

This case was investigated and prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Charles Boring, APD Investigator William Dickens, former APD Investigator Lynn Daniel, Fulton County DA Investigators Nick Degennaro, Cindy Williamson and Tony Beyah, DA Victim-Witness Advocate Scott Long and the GBI Crime Lab.

CONTACT: Lyn Vaughn, 404.730.6860 (office); 770.597.6963 (cell); lyn.vaughn@co.fulton.ga.us