Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Suspects Identified Through Work of Georgia Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (GASAKI) Task Force

Decatur, Ga.- DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston announces the indictments of two brothers linked to multiple rape cases around metro Atlanta from 1986 to 1987. 

On Tuesday a DeKalb County Grand Jury indicted Jeffrey Briney, 59, on four (4) counts of Rape, seven (7) counts of Kidnapping, one (1) count of Aggravated Sodomy, two (2) counts of Armed Robbery, five (5) counts of Criminal Attempt to Commit Armed Robbery, seven (7) counts of Aggravated Assault, three (3) counts of Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony, and one (1) count of Possession of a Firearm by a First Offender Probationer in connection to two separate home invasion rape cases in DeKalb County. 

The Grand Jury also indicted David Briney, 62, on two (2) counts of Rape, five (5) counts of Kidnapping, five (5) counts of Criminal Attempt to Commit Armed Robbery, five (5) counts of Aggravated Assault and two (2) counts of Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony. 

Both brothers were arrested on February 27, 2024.  Deputies with the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office Fugitive Unit took Jeffrey Briney into custody.  The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office Fugitive Unit arrested David Briney. Both men remain in jail without bond. 

March 28, 1986

According to the investigation, on March 28, 1986 at around 9:45 p.m. four men pushed their way into an apartment on Briarwood Road in what is now the City of Brookhaven. 

The suspects held five college students at gunpoint and raped two young women before ransacking the apartment.

October 27, 1986

On October 27, 1986, two men with a handgun forced their way into an apartment in the 3000 block of Buford Highway.  The assailants raped both women who lived there and then tied them up and left with valuables.

New Testing Breaks Cases 

The cases went cold until 2023 when the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) sent the rape kits to a private lab for testing. 

In June 2023, DNA collected from one of the Briarwood rape victims came back with a Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) match to Jeffrey Briney.  The DNA also matched that of one of the attackers in the Buford Highway case.  The two crime scenes are less than a mile apart. 

In August 2023, DNA collected from the other Briarwood rape victim returned a CODIS match to David Briney.  That DNA also tied David Briney to seven other cases, including one in Cobb County and six in Fulton County. 

Georgia Sexual Assault Kit Initiative

David and Jeffrey Briney were identified through the investigative work of the Georgia Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (GASAKI) Task Force. GASAKI was established in 2018 in partnership with the Georgia Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC) as part of a multi-year, multi-million dollar federal grant under the National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative. The team consists of prosecutors, investigators, and victim advocates from the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office, the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office, the Prosecuting Attorneys Council (PAC), and CJCC (with resources from the Morgan County Sheriff’s Department and Rape Response) working collaboratively to solve cold case sexual assault crimes.

Additionally, the GASAKI Task Force relies on the ongoing work and commitment of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab to process previously untested Sexual Assault Kits.

The FBI launched CODIS in 1998.  Prior to that, investigators could only test DNA evidence if they had a suspect to whom they could compare the samples.  The GBI has safeguarded the untested kits for years. 

Thanks to a federal grant secured by CJCC, the GBI was able to send about 2,500 of those kits to private labs for processing in 2023.  74 of those kits were from DeKalb County cases. 

Cold Case Tip Line

Investigators with the Office of the DeKalb County District Attorney have identified nearly a dozen other cases that fit the same fact pattern.  In addition, there were others involved in some of these crimes who have not yet been identified.  Anyone who believes they have information about the Brineys or their unknown accomplices, please call our Cold Case Tip Line at 404-371-2444.