Texas suspected serial rapist accused of 2015 sexual assault at gunpoint in Fort Worth
A Houston man who detectives believe has committed rapes throughout the state is a suspect in a 2015 Fort Worth sexual assault, Fort Worth police said.
Fort Worth detectives also asked to be contacted if anyone else believed they had been sexually assaulted by the suspect in Fort Worth.
Donell Franklin Oduah, 39, was arrested last week on a warrant out of Fort Worth on the 2015 case.
Oduah was taken into custody in Refugio County, but he was in the Harris County Jail Friday on charge of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon.
In the Fort Worth case, Oduah met the woman at a strip club just northeast of downtown.
The woman told Fort Worth police Oduah had frequented the club and went by the name of “T.”
He offered the woman a ride home, but they ended up going to a motel. Oduah did not have any identification so the woman rented the room.
At some point once they got in the room, Oduah is accused of forcing the woman to perform sex acts at gunpoint.
In July, detectives with the Fort Worth cold case unit received a case-to-case DNA match with Dallas police identifying Oduah as a suspect in the 2015 case. Dallas police had several DNA hits on Oduah with cases in 2012 and 2013.
Fort Worth detectives learned Houston police had five cases that matched Oduah between 2005 and 2013.
Oduah was convicted in 2018 in one of the Houston cases, and he was required to register as a sex offender, according to Texas Department of Public Safety records.
Oduah had been living in Houston.
This week, Fort Worth police asked if anyone believed they had been a victim of sexual assault and Oduah was a suspect to call them at Crime Stoppers 817-469-8477 or submit a tip at www.469TIPS.com. Victims also could call 817-392-4351 or email SCRAM@fortworthtexas.gov.
Fort Worth detectives noted that Oduah has an “Omega” symbol tattoo on his left arm.
The woman in the 2015 Fort Worth case told detectives she believed Oduah may have lived in Arlington with his mother. He drove a small gold four-door sedan with a handicap sticker on the front and a manual transmission with a weak clutch.
