Decatur man gets 9 life sentences for DeKalb County home invasion rapes and robberies

DEKALB COUNTY, GA—DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston announced convictions by guilty pleas in the cases against a Decatur man accused of two separate assaults of women inside their own homes. 

On Monday, August 25, Nathan Mullins, 36, pleaded guilty to charges of Aggravated Sodomy, Rape, Armed Robbery, Home Invasion in the First Degree, Aggravated Assault, Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony and Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon in connection with an incident in Lithonia on June 4, 2019. 

Mullins also pleaded guilty to charges of Aggravated Sodomy, Rape, Armed Robbery, Home Invasion in the First Degree, Aggravated Assault, Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony and Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon in connection with an incident in Stone Mountain on December 3, 2020. 

Immediately after the guilty pleas, DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Brian Lake, who presided over the hearing, sentenced Mullins to nine Life sentences to run concurrently. 

According to the investigation of the June 2019 assault, the 29-year-old victim was asleep on her couch when she woke up because someone was touching her.  The woman jumped up and saw a man in a mask pointing a gun at her.  

The Defendant demanded the woman give him money and when she told him that she didn’t have any, he forced her to perform oral sex on him and raped her.  At one point, the man removed his mask and the victim did not recognize him.   The man assaulted her a second time and then left.  The victim called police and underwent a sexual assault examination.  While male DNA was recovered, there was no database match at the time, and the case went cold.

In the December 2020 case, the 34-year-old victim was asleep when she, too, was woken up by a stranger pointing a gun at her.  The man forced the victim to perform oral sex and raped her.  After the assault, the man asked the victim for money.  When she told him that she did not have any, he took her debit card, PIN, phone, and watch.  After the man left her apartment, the victim went to get help. 

During their investigation, police found that the woman’s debit card had been used in three different places to withdraw a total of about $1,000 in cash.  Surveillance video from one of the ATMs captured a man who matched the victim’s description of her attacker.  The video clearly showed a bulge on the man’s ankle, which was later determined to be an ankle monitor. 

Investigators were able to identify the man as Defendant Mullins, who was assigned an ankle monitor while out on bond in Fulton County for a child molestation case.  GPS data from the ankle monitor placed Mullins near the victim’s apartment, as well as a gas station where one of the cash withdrawals happened. 

During the investigation of the 2020 assault, DNA from the 2019 victim’s sexual assault kit generated a match in CODIS, which linked Mullins to both cases.   

The case, assigned to the Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault Unit, was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Sean Johnston, with assistance from Senior Assistant District Attorney Paige Boorman, District Attorney Investigator Andre Williams and Victim Advocate Ashley King.  DeKalb County Police Department Det. Chrissa Lynch, who is now a DA’s Office Investigator, and Det. Sanders led the initial investigations.