Cobb Superior Court Judge Robert Leonard sentenced Christopher Lee Milton, 58, to 30 years for aggravated assault, rape and aggravated sodomy (13 to be served, with a permanent restraining order against contacting the victim). The crime was a 34-year-old sexual assault on Windy Hill Road that had until recently been considered a cold case.

Milton entered a guilty plea after the case was solved using the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) to confirm a DNA match from the victim’s rape kit.

“First and foremost, I want to commend the victim for the work she has put in to establish a life and career for herself without letting that horrible day define her. She has continued to work with our prosecutor and investigator on this case through the years,” said Cobb District Attorney Flynn Broady in the public information release announcing the guilty plea and sentence. “I would like to recognize our cold case unit for working on this case. They have worked tirelessly to provide justice and long-awaited answers. Finally, we are grateful to have the funding to utilize current technology to provide answers and hold this perpetrator responsible for his crime.”

The victim shared the following statement through her victim advocate: “I want him to know he did not ruin my life. I decided to take my life back. I chose to be strong and an overcomer. This is something I thought would never be resolved. I’m a Christian and I forgive him. But he still deserves to be punished.”

The public information release issued by the DA’s office described the crime and how it was solved as follows:

According to investigation records, the young woman was walking on Windy Hill Road near I-75 when a man kidnapped and sexually assaulted her on March 5, 1990. The victim immediately lodged a report to local law enforcement agency; however, the trail went cold.

The rape kit was sent to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Department of Forensic Sciences as required by GA SB 304 passed in 2016. It resulted an unknown male DNA profile in late 2018. The GBI received a CODIS match linking the male DNA to Milton in February 2020.

CODIS is a state and national database created and maintained by the State of Georgia and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In Georgia, convicted felons give up their DNA upon conviction and that information is stored and compared to evidence from other crimes, much like fingerprints.

Assistant District Attorney Trina Griffiths prosecuted the case, assisted by SAKI (Georgia Sexual Assault Test Kit Initiative Task Force) investigator Lisa Bishop.