ATLANTA — The brother of a beloved bartender allegedly kidnapped and killed by a convicted sex offender said he is on a mission to save lives.
It’s been nearly a year since Mariam Abdulrab, 27, was found shot to death on Lakewood Ave last August in southeast Atlanta.
Abdulrab was leaving the Revery VR bar where she worked and was on her way to her home in Chosewood Park when she was kidnapped feet from her front door.
Channel 2′s Michael Seiden talked to Abdulrab’s brother, Ali Abdulrab, who said that her murder would have been 100% preventable had there been a better tracking system when it came to sex offenders.
Ali Abdulrab said he is working hard with lawmakers to change the laws so nothing like what happened to his sister happens to anyone else.
The law would require registered sex offenders to have an “identifier” on their state issued ID’s/driver’s license.
The law would also require any individual classified as a sexual offender that has not received a risk assessment from state officials to wear a 24/7 ankle monitoring until they are fully leveled. Level 3 predators would be required to wear the same ankle monitor throughout the duration of their parole.
“I believe what happened to my sister was preventable,” Abdulrab said. “It broke my family. she was just a ball of joy and she always had a way of making anybody feel special.”
Abdulrab said she wanted to live beyond just being a bartender.
“She was finally growing into the woman she wanted to be, and everyone around her saw that she was getting ready to live the life she wanted to live,” Abdulrab said. “It still doesn’t seem real. It’s still not easy to talk about.”
Abdulrab said he got a call from one of his sister’s best friends, saying that Mariam had been kidnapped.
Mariam Abdulrab’s boyfriend told police he saw the suspect, later identified as Demarcus Brinkley, force her inside a car at gunpoint after she pulled up outside of his house.
Her body was found hours later.
When police identified Brinkley as the killer, they spotted him in his car in Griffin, where he led police on a high-speed chase before crashing into another vehicle, injuring himself and the other driver.
He is charged with malice murder, three counts of felony murder and one count each of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, kidnapping, attempted rape , possession of a firearm during commission of a felony and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.’
Court records show that Brinkley had spent seven years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of child molestation. He was released less than year before the kidnapping and murder of Abdulrab.
Abdulrab said Brinkley never received a risk assessment from state officials.
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He said he is now working with Atlanta City Councilmember Keisha Waites, who introduced Mariam’s Law at Tuesday’s council meeting. Waites said she is hoping that her fellow councilmembers will vote on a resolution urging state legislators to pass it as law.
“There are currently 11,000 individuals that are sitting on the registry that haven’t been rated,” Waites said.
Waites told Channel 2 that it will now go to the public safety committee and then will go to the full council for a vote. If approved, City Council would send an official letter to state lawmakers, urging them to write a bill that could be signed into law.
In the meantime, Ali’s launched a petition. If you would like to sign it or learn more about “Mariam’s Law,” HERE.
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