A Tennessee registered sex offender who was released from a facility in Hardeman County Wednesday is now jailed in Nashville for brutal stranger attacks on two women who live downtown.
Deontez Drew, 27, is charged with attempted aggravated rape and especially aggravated kidnapping for the 3 a.m. Thursday attack on a 23-year-old woman who was walking from her downtown workplace to her apartment on Division Street.
Drew is charged with attempted criminal homicide and especially aggravated robbery for attacking a 39-year-old woman shortly after 2 p.m. Thursday by beating her on the head with a wooden baseball bat in the hallway of her Pine Street apartment building.
A judicial commissioner ordered that Drew be held in lieu of $800,000 bond.
In the 3 a.m. attack, the victim noticed someone following her as she walked on 8th Avenue South at Korean Veterans Boulevard near the roundabout. When she was underneath the railroad overpass near 8th Avenue South and Gleaves Street, she heard footsteps rapidly approaching and turned to face the person. A man later identified as Drew pushed the victim to the ground, put his arm around her neck and placed a knife to her side. He dragged the victim down Gleaves Street to an alley between two buildings and threatened to kill her if she didn’t engage in sex acts. The victim kept her cool and deescalated the immediate situation by telling Drew that he could spend the night with her and she wouldn’t tell anyone what he had just done. Drew told the victim that he had just gotten out of jail and didn’t want to go back. Moments later, the victim saw an opportunity to run. She fled to the lobby of her Division Street apartment building and called police.
In Thursday afternoon’s attack, the victim reported that she was returning to her Pine Street apartment from walking her dog when she saw Drew loitering in the hallway outside her door. Drew told the victim he was delivering Uber Eats and provided a non-existent apartment number. The victim went inside her apartment, secured her dog, and then left to tell management that a strange man was on the premises. When the victim got to the elevator, she found Drew there waiting. He used a wooden baseball bat to strike her in the face. She screamed and turned to run. Drew then struck her in the back of the head with the bat. Drew also took her cell phone.
Other apartment residents heard the victim screaming, came out, and saw Drew fleeing. One of the residents chased after him and kept him in sight for police. Drew hid under a car near Laurel Street and 11th Avenue South. As a group of citizens attempted to surround Drew, Officer Kelly Turcios saw him emerge from under the vehicle and placed him under arrest.
The 39-year-old victim was transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center for treatment of serious head injuries.
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Deontez Drew, 27