He’s been in and out of jail for more than 40 years. His convictions span from rape to drugs to assault. And now, Douglas Edward Christian is facing a murder charge in Clayton County.
So why was a felon with a criminal history that touches every decade beginning in the 1970s out of jail?
Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Mark Winne began digging into Christian's past after he came across the Clayton County case.
In that case, the 66-year-old is accused of providing methamphetamine, morphine, fentanyl and ethylone to Makenzie Puyear with the intent to have sex with her against her will.
Records say it happened at a Sleep Inn in Stockbridge in March 2015. Puyear died in that hotel room.
Christian's jailhouse interview
Christian is now facing malice murder, among other charges.
"You know you have been indicted for murder in Clayton County," Winne asked Christian during his exclusive jailhouse interview.
"I'm innocent," Christian responded.
"Did you supply her with drugs?" Winne asked.
"Not that night I didn't. I never supplied her anyways," Christian said. "When I left her she was sitting in the chair with a blue outfit on. She was fine."
DA believes there may be more victims
Clayton County District Attorney Tracy Graham Lawson is prosecuting Christian for the Puyear case. She worries there could be more victims.
“We have strong reason to believe that there are other victims out there and people really need to look at anyone that was associated with Mr. Christian that died of an overdose death,” she said.
Winne dug deep into Christian’s legal history, even traveling to Coffee County, Tennessee, for a hearing pertaining to one of two recent drug convictions there.
“He shows no remorse. He is a dangerous person. I believe he is a predator and preys on weak people,” the prosecutor said in court.
Winne reviewed pages and pages of records and reached out to victims in old cases, including a 1976 Fulton County rape case.
“What he did to me changed my life forever,” she said. “He had a gun and he stuck it under my pillow and he said, ‘If you scream, I’ll shoot you.’
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But in his interview with Winne, Christian denied raping the victim, saying he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge.
Records tell a different story. The indictment dated Jan. 18, 1977, says “rape” and appears to say “pleads guilty.” The sentence document also says rape, and it indicates he got just three years to be served at the same time as a sentence in another case he was already serving.
“He got three years in jail and I got life to live with what he did to me,” the victim said. “I don’t sleep good and I haven’t, and it’s been 41 years, but I guess it’s always there.”
The victim says her Christian faith has called on her to forgive him.
“If I didn’t then he’d keep winning,” she said.
Amid numerous other cases mentioned in Christian’s records are at least two more sex crimes.
Records indicate that in July 1997 he was charged with sexual assault, or attempted rape, in Mobile, Alabama. That charge was disposed of in May 1999 and he was convicted of third-degree assault with a 12-month suspended sentence.
“I took the polygraph. I passed it,” Christian said about that case. “I have nothing to hide. God is my judge. He knows my heart. He knows everything about me.”
In 2008 in Gilmer County, records show Christian pleaded guilty without admitting guilt to sexual battery and received a misdemeanor sentence that could be served on probation.
“I did 80 hours of community service on that one,” he said.
Christian says he’s never committed a sexual crime.
"No, no I don't force no one. There's too many people out there that are willing," Christian said. "I am not a violent person."
"In all of those cases, you were accused of sex offenses that were pled to lesser offenses, you're saying? Winne asked Christian.
"Yeah," Christian replied.
"Isn't that a lot of bad luck to hit one man?" Winne asked.
"Well, if you date a lot of women, you're gonna run into that occasionally," Christian said.