A 34-year-old sexual assault case ended Tuesday. In 1979, Jerry Brooks raped at least eight women in Charlotte. He was scheduled to go to trial today but as part of a plea agreement, he pleaded guilty and received a life sentence.
Jerry Brooks is known as the "Ski-Mask Rapist." That's because every time he raped a woman, he wore a ski mask. Sergeant Darrell Price of CMPD's Sexual Assault Cold Case Unit has been working on the case since 2011.
"His method for picking his victims was purely random, he was on the road a lot," Price says. "He would identify his victims through either driving down the road, he would see someone he felt was attracted to him or in a couple of cases it was in grocery stores and he would follow women from grocery stores."
Price says Brooks, who is now 63 years old, was methodical and intelligent. He lived in Charlotte in 1979 and left in 1980 to live in other parts of the state, including Hickory and Burlington. When he was finally arrested last year, he was living in South Carolina.
Brooks was identified as a suspect through DNA evidence. He pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree rape. And as part of the plea agreement, he agreed to speak to CMPD's Sexual Assault Cold Case Unit. That's when he confessed to five other rapes and one attempted rape. Price says he believes there are other victims we'll never know about.
"We're relieved to solve cases, not for us, but for the peace of mind for victims," Price says. "It means now that we can move on to other cases."
CMPD is still trying to track down four victims. One victim is unknown.