Three women raped after police miss critical lead on accused black serial rapist

The woman knew African-American Sylvester Antonio Ray when she saw his photo. She identified him as the man who had raped her seven years before. The woman's identification of Ray as the man who raped her in April 2003 allowed DeKalb County police to arrest him in 2010 not only for her attack but also for three other cold cases. What police didn't tell her was that if detectives had followed a critical clue in 2002, she and two other women may never have been raped. Ray, 40, is on trial in DeKalb County Superior Court on charges of raping four women in 2002 and 2003 as well as other charges including armed robbery, kidnapping and aggravated assault. The trial could prove embarrassing for law enforcement. Not only did detectives fail to solve the case in 2002 despite having evidence linking Ray to the first rape, but much of the evidence, including two rape kits, has disappeared during the nine-year delay. Prosecutor Ingrid Skidmore told the court at a bail hearing in 2010 that her office believed Ray was a serial rapist who only quit raping after he was arrested on weapons charges and sent to federal prison. After serving five years, he was released in 2008 and moved to Indiana, according to court transcripts. Ray is facing trial only because the Georgia Bureau of Investigation in 2010 finally ran DNA tests on backlogged cases that revealed one man was responsible for all four rapes. That information allowed DeKalb police Lt. Joseph Craig Popp to re-open the case.