More details emerged Wednesday about the East Point murder suspect accused of strangling his 92-year-old neighbor.
Christopher Douglas Roberts has been charged with murder, burglary, robbery and theft by taking in the killing of Julius Dewberry.
Dewberry was found dead last week inside his home in the 800 block of Jefferson Drive in East Point.
Roberts, 35, is being held without bond and was transferred late Wednesday afternoon from the East Point jail to the Fulton County Jail. He waived his first hearing Thursday, Channel 2 Action News reported.
According to records from the Fulton County jail, Roberts has at least seven previous arrests in the past eight years.
Robert’s first arrest came in May 1999 on a battery charge in East Point. He was released on $1,000 bond.
In February 2003, Roberts was found in contempt of court and taken to the Fulton jail. Neither the circumstances of that arrest, nor the bond amount for his release on that occasion were available.
In February 2006, he was arrested for reckless driving, obstruction, fleeing police and driving on a suspended license. He was released from jail after two days on a $4,300 bond.
Roberts was picked up in September 2007 for criminal solicitation, and in March 2008 for driving with a then-revoked driver’s license, according to jail records.
Atlanta Police charged him with aggravated assault, false imprisonment, firearm possession during the commission of a felony, making terroristic threats and two counts of third-degree cruelty to children in a March 2010 arrest.
According to the police incident report obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Roberts attacked his then-wife with a kitchen knife in a seeming cocaine-induced rage, jabbing her several times in the legs as her screams could be heard throughout their home by their children.
Authorities released Roberts on $20,000 bond after a month in the Fulton jail.
He was arrested again that year in August on marijuana
But he ended up back in jail in May 2012 on attempting to enter an auto and entering a vehicle charges. The attempt charge was dismissed and the sentence for the entering an auto was suspended, and a Fulton judge ordered Roberts to remain on probation, a jail spokeswoman told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Police said Roberts knew Dewberry, and did odd jobs for the senior.
Investigators found Roberts in a Hapeville hotel on Monday and took him into custody to be interviewed.
He was charged and arrested on Tuesday after further questioning, police said.
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