Man Convicted Of Raping Multiple Women 39 Years Ago In DeKalb, Prosecutors Say

BROOKHAVEN, GA — A jury recently convicted an Atlanta man of rape and kidnapping in connection with two incidents that targeted multiple women in 1986, DeKalb County prosecutors said.

The DeKalb County District Attorney's Office said Jeffrey Briney, now 61, on Friday was found guilty of several charges in connection with the sexual assaults that took place 39 years ago.

The first assault occurred around 9:45 p.m., March 28, 1986, when four men forced their way into a Briarwood Road apartment, prosecutors said.

They held five college students at gunpoint and tied them up before raping two women and ransacking the apartment, prosecutors said.

Seven months later, less than a mile down the road, prosecutors said two men armed with a handgun broke into a Buford Highway apartment and raped the two women who lived inside. The men tied up the women and left with valuables, prosecutors said.

For several years, the cases were cold until the Georgia Bureau of Investigation sent the rape kits to a private lab for testing in 2023, prosecutors said.

That June, Jeffrey Briney's DNA was matched to DNA collected from one of the Briarwood rape victims, prosecutors said. The DNA came back with a match in the Combined DNA Index System and also matched one of the suspects in the Buford Highway rape case, prosecutors said.

Additionally, prosecutors said DNA collected from the second Briarwood rape victim matched Jeffrey Briner's brother, David Briney, who was linked to six cases in Fulton County and one in Cobb County.

Jeffrey Briney was convicted of two counts of rape, five counts of kidnapping, five counts of criminal attempt to commit armed robbery, five counts of aggravated assault and two counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony in connection with the March incident, prosecutors said.

The jury also convicted him on two counts of rape, two counts of kidnapping, two counts of armed robbery, two counts of aggravated assault, one count of aggravated sodomy and one count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony related to the October incident, prosecutors said.

Presiding DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Tangela Barrie will schedule a sentencing for Jeffrey Briney in coming weeks, prosecutors said. A trial date for David Briney has not yet been set, prosecutors said.