HOLLY HILL, Fla. – Detectives with the Holly Hill Police Department are meeting with state agents to determine if a serial rape suspect is connected to a 2014 sexual attack in the city.
The detectives said they are meeting with members of the State Attorney's Office on Tuesday morning to possibly issue new warrants and bring forth five or more sexual battery charges against Markeith Martin.
Daytona Beach Police Chief Craig Capri held a news conference Friday and announced the arrest of Martin, 44.
Police said Martin attacked and choked multiple women in the Volusia County area.
"This guy's a serial rapist," Capri said. "He's going around hunting women and attacking women, and thank God they're alive."
According to police, DNA evidence linked Martin to a sexual attack in August.
In that case, the victim was riding her bicycle on Peninsula Drive around 6 a.m. on Aug. 1, 2018, when her bicycle stopped working and Martin approached her and offered to help, according to the report.
The victim declined the help and the drugs he offered her, police said. Martin then choked and raped the woman, according to the affidavit. He was violent during the attack and apologetic afterward, the report said.
According to police, Martin is suspected in seven attacks from 2010 and 2018.
Martin's neighbors reacted to the allegations Monday.
"He just was kind of strange and I sense something wasn’t right," Diane Pond said. "I feel safe he’s in jail, yes."
News 6 also learned from Holly Hill police that Martin is being tied to two sex crimes in their jurisdiction. In 2014, police said Martin attacked and sexually battered a woman he met after offering her beer. In 2018, police said Martin sexually abused a woman he knew from his neighborhood.
Holly Hill police met with Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigators Monday. The outcome of that meeting is not yet known.
A judge on Saturday ordered Martin to be held without bond on a single charge of sexual battery.