DNA Connects Grady County Man Accused Of Rape To Crime, Victim Shares Story

A rape suspect is finally caught after DNA connected him to the case. Elvis Derr, 53, is charged with rape by instrumentation. Now, his alleged victim is coming forward to share her terrifying story of survival.

Alexis Delacruz said she was drugged, beaten, and raped two years ago but it wasn't until this year that DNA finally put her alleged attacker behind bars.

“It was like I was dying,” Alexis Delacruz said. “I was scared that I was going to die.”    

Delacruz looked through a stack of photos, a painful reminder about what she endured back in August of 2021, “I had a black eye, and my face was kind of swollen,” she said.

She was just 18 when she said went with an acquaintance to the home of Elvis Derr. It's here where she said she was beaten and sexually assaulted after being drugged, “He offered me something to drink,” she remembers. “Which I took water first and then he offered me pop, so I took a drink of the pop, took two or three sips and then after I took two or three sips, I felt dizzy, and I kept blacking out.”

Delacruz said she laid down on the couch and when she woke up, the suspect was on top of her.

“I couldn't really move so the best I could do was scream and just try to fight him off,” Delacruz said.

She told investigators that she was dropped off at a home she didn't know and eventually escaped, “I ran to the nearest house I could find, and they called the police for me,” she said.

Investigators say Delacruz picked Derr out of a photograph lineup as her alleged attacker. Derr eluded deputies for seven months until they could collect his DNA. Then, it took another year to get the results back from OSBI, an excruciating two year wait for Delacruz.

“I was terrified, I never wanted to go outside or anywhere in public,” she said. “Just terrified for my life that he was out walking the streets, he could do it to another person.” 

Delacruz is ready to move on now that Derr is charged with rape and in jail, “I feel relieved the system is doing something for me now and you know I just feel grateful,” she said.

This sense of gratitude has given her the courage to share her story, “I want to help other girls so they can come forward,” she said. “So, they can receive justice and not be scared.”

Delacruz says she's looking forward to a future in photography and nursing. Meanwhile, Derr is expected back in court on November 8 at 9 a.m.