Suspected serial rapist may have struck again in Clayton County

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — A suspected serial rapist may have struck again in Clayton County.

A woman told Channel 2's Tom Jones a man connected to at least five other sexual assaults in her area broke into her home and tried to sexually assault her earlier this week.

The woman said she got up to see what was making a noise at her back door. When she got close, she saw the knob moving.

“I was scared out of my mind. This can’t be real,” she told Jones.

She says the man then broke down her door, forcing her to make a split-second decision. She says her kids were in the home at the time.

“Do I stay in here and try fight this guy with my kids upstairs or do I run outside and scream for help?” the victim said.

She ran outside. Her attacker caught her, began choking her and tried to drag her into a wooded area.

“'I'm going to have to kill you. How much do you value your life?’” the victim says the man said to her.

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She says she screamed and fought back.

“As he was dragging me to that back wooded area, I knew that if he got me back there that was it for me,” she said.

A neighbor heard the woman screaming and came out to help.

“She helped me fight the guy off, and he eventually ran off,” the victim said, calling her neighbor her guardian angel. “I’ll forever be grateful to this lady for coming and opening her door for me. I think she may have saved my life.”

The neighbor says she had no choice but to help, especially since the same man may have sexually assaulted her.

“His voice was very familiar to me and I do honestly believe he was the person that assaulted me last year,” she said.

Clayton County police say the man in a sketch released by their office has been linked to five rapes in the county over a two-year period, including one on the street where the two women live.

Police are not confirming if the woman’s case is actually connected to the suspected serial rapist.

The victim says it’s the same man.

“That’s the guy that attacked me,” the victim said while looking at the sketch. “We need to get this guy off the streets before he does this to somebody else.”

Cox Media Group