Loganville Man Found Guilty in 1990 Cold Case Rape and Murder

A Loganville man was found guilty in a nearly 35-year-old cold case involving the rape and murder of Pamela Sumpter and the murder of her brother, John Sumpter.

On March 13, 2025, jurors convicted 56-year-old Kenneth Perry on multiple charges, including two counts of Malice Murder, two counts of Felony Murder, Rape, four counts of Aggravated Assault, two counts of Aggravated Battery, two counts of Possession of a Knife During the Commission of a Felony, and Theft by Taking.

The case stems from a July 15, 1990, incident when DeKalb County Police responded to a stabbing at an apartment complex on Tree Hills Parkway in Stone Mountain. Pamela Sumpter, who had sustained injuries and reported being raped and stabbed, was found at a neighbor’s apartment. She told officers her brother had also been attacked. Police discovered John Sumpter deceased in their apartment living room.

Pamela Sumpter identified her attacker as a man her brother had brought home. She described him as being from Detroit, Michigan. Pamela Sumpter later died from her injuries on August 5, 1990, and the case went cold.

In October 2023, the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office received a federal grant to assist in prosecuting cold cases using DNA. Investigators worked with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) to submit DNA evidence collected from Pamela Sumpter’s rape kit. The DNA matched an unprosecuted 1992 sexual assault case in Detroit, identifying Kenneth Perry as the suspect.

On June 6, 2024, Perry was arrested in Loganville, Georgia, and a DNA sample confirmed his involvement in the 1990 crime.

DeKalb County Superior Court Chief Judge Shondeana C. Morris has scheduled Perry’s sentencing hearing for March 18, 2025, at 9 a.m.