A man already sitting in the DeKalb County Jail on a murder charge has now been identified as the suspect behind two cold-case sexual assaults and a brutal 2024 attack, DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston announced. Investigators say DNA evidence ties Jamal Toliaferro to crimes stretching back to December 2014, using improved forensic technology that finally matched decade-old genetic profiles to a living suspect.
Boston made the announcement at a news conference alongside representatives from the DeKalb County Cold Case Task Force, according to WSB-TV. Investigators identified Toliaferro as the suspect in all three cases, per the station's report. A Facebook post from journalist Cody Alcorn also reported that Toliaferro was tied to three separate assaults. Investigators later tied Toliaferro's DNA to evidence from the older cases.
Toliaferro was booked into the DeKalb County Jail on July 17 on counts of malice murder, criminal trespass, and obstruction after police identified him in a July stabbing death involving 30-year-old Kenyon Jefferies, according to 11Alive. Toliaferro's prior criminal history in the county includes charges for battery and disorderly conduct in 2008 and theft by taking in 2013.
A Decade-Old Trail of Violence
The earliest known attack happened in December 2014, when a 54-year-old woman was sexually assaulted while walking to her garage in DeKalb County, per WSB-TV. The masked man bound the victim's wrists with tape, and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation developed a male DNA profile from evidence recovered at that scene, the station reports.
In January 2019, DeKalb County Police responded after a 35-year-old woman reported an assault. The masked attacker tied her up with a knife, but the victim bit the attacker's hand, drawing blood, according to the same WSB-TV account. Investigators recovered that blood, and the GBI developed a second male DNA profile from the sample. In 2021, per investigators, the GBI determined the DNA from the 2014 and 2019 attacks came from the same unidentified man, though the 2014 profile had not produced a match at that time.
The 2024 Ambush That Broke the Case Open
In March 2024, a woman was attacked, according to Alcorn's post. The masked man bound the woman with tape, drove her around for several hours, and cut and burned her with a box cutter and lighter, per WSB-TV's reporting. He also attempted to withdraw money from the victim's accounts at ATMs afterward.
The attacker left behind a bag in the victim's car, and DNA recovered from it linked the 2014 and 2019 cases, according to WSB-TV's report. That link connected the three incidents through common DNA evidence. Investigators say it remains unclear how the attacker selected his victims.
Private Lab Technology Filled the Gap
Investigators also used improved forensic technology in the case.
DeKalb District Attorney Sherry Boston previously used genetic genealogy and Othram to solve the 1990 rape and double murder of siblings Pamela and John Sumpter, which resulted in a 14-count jury conviction in March 2025, according to the DeKalb County District Attorney's Office. That earlier case, also covered in Hoodline's DNA cold-case coverage, involved genetic genealogy work by the office.
In a separate Atlanta case, Axios reported that police used DNA and genealogy services to help solve the 1995 sexual assault and murder of a 14-year-old girl. In another prior case, 11Alive reported that detectives combined a woman's DNA profile, a fleshed-out family tree and traditional investigative tools to track down and arrest Still's distant cousin.
Federal Grants Fund the Cold Case Push
The DeKalb County District Attorney's Cold Case Task Force was established in 2022 after officials discovered 27 unidentified human remains at the county medical examiner's office, and its mission has since expanded to review more than 600 unsolved homicides across the county, according to the office's own account on its cold case task force site. The office secured federal Bureau of Justice Assistance grants from the U.S. Department of Justice, including a three-year MUHR grant in 2022 and a Prosecuting Cold Cases Using DNA grant in October 2023.
Investigators use CODIS alongside other genetic methods.
The 2014 assault occurred in December 2014, more than a decade before the announcement.
Investigators Fear More Victims Remain Unidentified
Investigators believe there could be additional victims linked to the case, per the WSB-TV report, though no further details on that possibility have been released. The DeKalb County District Attorney's Office is asking anyone with information to call the cold case tip line at 404-371-2444.
The task force has continued its public outreach beyond the courtroom. The task force site encourages DNA donations and attendance at its annual Missing Persons & DNA event, as described in the DA's office announcement.
