MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Memphis man has been convicted in a 2011 rape, and remains indicted in three more cases.
37-year-old Donyel Thomas was convicted Wednesday of raping the woman in Whitehaven July 17, 2011.
Prosecutors said the victim was walking back to her hotel after going to a party, and Thomas pulled over at Brooks Road and Millbranch, offering her a ride to the hotel. They said she accepted, but Thomas drove to a nearby park, threatened the woman with a knife, and then raped her. She said he drove off, taking her cell phone with them.
Prosecutors said a DNA sample from the rape kit was entered into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) in 2015, and a match came back linking Thomas to that rape, as well as four others.
Thomas was indicted in three of those cases, and they are still pending.
He will be sentenced in the 2011 case on November 8, 2021.
