DeKalb County prosecutors on Tuesday obtained an indictment against a man accused of raping and beating a woman inside St. Timothy United Methodist Church.
The indictment charges John Russell Carver, 50, with a dozen counts, including rape, kidnapping, aggravated assault and aggravated battery for the Feb. 26 attack. Carver is being held without bond.
On a Saturday afternoon, Carver knocked on the door at the church on Memorial Drive and asked for help. A 53-year-old employee, who was alone inside the church, opened the door to see who was there, District Attorney Robert James said. Carver beat the woman, stomped on her head and, bearing a knife, raped her, James said.
"He brutally and savagely raped her," said James, who added he will personally prosecute the case. "This was just an unspeakable act. If a woman can't be safe in a church, where can she be safe?"
Carver also is accused of stealing the woman's cell phone, which police say he sold at Underground Atlanta hours after the attack.
An intense manhunt followed the attack, but detectives identified Carver as a suspect after the Georgia Bureau of Investigations connected him to the crime with DNA, police said. Carver was in the Fulton County Jail after his arrest on March 7 on unrelated charges and transferred to the DeKalb jail on the new charges.
James praised DeKalb police and the GBI for their work, saying it led to Carver's prompt arrest. "This act deserves a very clear and a very quick response from our criminal justice system," James said.
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