19-year-old was raped after leaving work in 1986, Georgia cops say. 76-year-old arrested
A registered sex offender has been charged in a decades-old rape case, thanks to a DNA match, Georgia deputies said.
Thomas Lamar Keith, 76, was arrested Monday, March 17, on rape and kidnapping charges in the 1986 assault of a 19-year-old woman in Canton, according to the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office.
“I never thought this day would ever come,” the woman, who asked not to be named, told deputies. “I want to thank the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office and the detectives who worked this case. Thank you for never giving up. You all have restored my faith in the justice system,” she said.
The charges come 39 years after the woman was attacked as she left work at a local convenience store, deputies said. She was attacked as she got into her car and was taken to another location where she was raped, according to the release.
A rape kit was collected, deputies said. However, it couldn’t be tested and the case went cold.
“Thanks to the diligent efforts of our investigators and the GBI Crime Lab, we had a breakthrough when the sexual assault kit got a match in” the Combined DNA Index System, also known as CODIS, deputies said.
Investigators said Keith is a registered sex offender in Fulton County and is suspected in another sexual assault from 1986. That case is under investigation.
Keith remained in the Cherokee County Adult Detention Center without bond as of March 18, online records show.
Canton is about a 40-mile drive north from downtown Atlanta.
This story was originally published March 18, 2025 at 2:55 PM with the headline "19-year-old was raped after leaving work in 1986, Georgia cops say. 76-year-old arrested."