Before he became mysteriously weak and collapsed while standing in front of a judge Monday, the man was accused of embarking on a violent and depraved tear in DeKalb County.
Cory Griffin, 48, faces charges of rape, aggravated assault, burglary, stalking and other crimes beginning April 22, according to warrants released to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution through a records request.
It started with a foot through a kitchen window outside Stone Mountain. It was about 4 a.m.
Apparently unlike subsequent cases, this was the home of a woman police say Griffin knew. Well enough, according to the warrants, that she had recently applied for a protective order to keep him away, though he hadn’t yet been served.
Police allege Griffin pulled a handgun on the woman, raped her, demanded money and then took a phone from her when she tried to dial 911.
DeKalb County police got a warrant for his arrest within 12 hours. But he apparently couldn’t be found. Griffin allegedly called the victim repeatedly and left a message threatening to kill her if she didn’t call back.
On the afternoon of May 11, two women told Clarkston police a strange man asked if they needed work done at their Market Street home. They said no, and he left.
Police, who would later say the man was Griffin, believe he broke into the home after the women left, and he waited for them with a metal pipe.
The warrants say, when one woman later walked in and found him in the home, he threatened to kill her if she tried to leave.
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He allegedly sexually assaulted her, and when her partner came in, he hit her in the head with the pipe. One woman was left with a broken wrist.
After he left, police collected DNA evidence and sent it to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to seek an identity of the perpetrator.
Investigators released a sketch to the public to see if anyone recognized him.
On May 19, police say Griffin broke into a Stone Mountain home, beat a resident and spray-painted the victim’s face.
It wasn’t until June 22 that Clarkston police announced that, through DNA, they’d identified Griffin as the same man wanted in all three cases. Griffin, it turns out, has been in and out of Georgia prisons three times, mostly for robberies in Chatham County.
He had been out since 2012.
He was arrested over the weekend after a tipster called 911 to tell authorities where he was.
On Monday, he was in court for his first appearance, when the judge told him to stand, Channel 2 Action News reported.
He tried to rise, then slumped, then hit the floor. It isn’t clear why he was suddenly so weak.
Jail records show he remained held Tuesday.
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