ORLANDO, Fla. — A man serving a life sentence related to sexual batteries committed in Orlando is set to face new charges linked to 15 additional sex crime cold cases, Orlando police said.
Police said they believe George Girtman, known as the “Malibu Rapist,” is linked to 26 cold cases involving more than two dozen sexual battery and attempted sexual battery investigations, dating back 30 years or more.
Girtman is serving a life sentence for crimes he committed during the 1980s and ’90s, but his crimes go back to the ’70s.
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Investigators said they are filing charges against Girtman in 15 of those cases.
“The actions of this man have impacted countless lives, including the survivors of his crimes, and the families, friends, detectives, prosecutors, religious leaders, elected leaders, and state legislators who have worked to support those survivors,” Orlando police said in a news release Monday.
Channel 9 spoke to a woman earlier this year who said her case was one of those linked to Girtman, who she wasn’t able to name at the time as charges had yet to be filed.
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Gail Gardner said DNA helped connect him to her case more than three decades after it happened.
Gardner said back in 1988 when she was 42, she was raped by a man who broke into her Orlando home.
Gardner said she slept with the lights on for years wondering if her attacker would come back again.
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But that torment ended when she got the call that her rape kit had matched to Girtman, who was already behind bars.