ATLANTA — A convicted sex offender will serve a life term plus 15 years after he pleaded guilty to the 2021 murder of a beloved midtown bartender.

DeMarcus Leonard Brinkley, 29, pleaded guilty in November to multiple charges, including murder, kidnapping and criminal attempt to commit after rape, according to court records.

On Aug. 13, 2021, 27-year-old Mariam Abdulrab was found shot to death on Lakewood Ave. Hours earlier, her boyfriend, Jeremy Antoine, reported that she had been kidnapped at gunpoint outside his home.

Neighbors told police they witnessed Abdulrab being forced into a car in front of the home on Burroughs Street around 5 a.m. She had just gotten home after working her shift at the Revery VR bar in midtown.

Antoine said he watched a man in a security shirt hold Abdulrab at gunpoint from his window. Her body was found four hours later. Brinkley was arrested after a car chase and crash in Griffin.

Brinkley previously served seven years in prison on child molestation charges and had been released less than a year before Abdulrab’s murder.

Abdulrab’s brother, Ali Abdulrab, discussed the plea deal between prosecutors and his sister’s killer with Channel 2′s Michael Seiden:

“We weren’t exactly happy about the results from the sentencing. After all this time of waiting for a trial, DeMarcus Brinkley decided to plead guilty for a sliver of hope that he may be granted parole one day after his life sentencing is served. 30 years plus 15.

“After hearing the details of everything he’s done in court, they still let him have the one thing that would keep his time in prison a little more bearable. It’s easy to blame the criminal in these scenarios, but the whole reason why my sister was murdered in the first place was because a judge in court didn’t take the recommendation from the prosecution for his previous charges of sexually assaulting two children. The ruling in this recent case is all too familiar and seems like another story where the judge is only there to make everyone happy. More so the criminal defense attorneys who I’m sure are taking this home as a win.

“I understand that their duty is to promote fairness and justice for their clients, but at what cost? The criminal justice system, as I know it, is this perpetual cycle of unfairness and reconsideration, especially for the potential victims and the ones who suffer. Our family feels it is not fair for the children that this monster has hurt. Not fair for my sister, who had her whole life stolen from her. Mariam Abdulrab is more than just a number in a world of crime. She is a real person who had real family and friends that loved her so very much.”

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