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Ride-share driver suspected in series of Dallas rapes

A detective linked an Aug. 1 rape to a suspect already jailed in Dallas County.
Credit: WFAA
Talyle Meaderds

A ride-share driver arrested in October has been linked to four sexual assault cases in Dallas, according to a warrant.

Talyle Meaderds, 28, was already booked in the Dallas County jail when a detective linked him to an Aug. 1 assault after discovering three similar cases were under investigation. 

According to the warrant, the victim in the Aug. 1 case told police she met Meaderds several days before the assault. She said he identified himself as "Tay" and told her he was a Lyft driver and gave her his number.

During the early morning hours on Aug. 1, she used a text messaging app to contact Meaderds and asked him to pick her up in Red Bird, the warrant says. 

Once she was inside his SUV, Meaderds asked the woman to pull up her sweater and then pulled out a gun when she refused, she told investigators. 

The victim said she continued to refuse but he racked the gun, put a bullet in the chamber and pointed the weapon at her head. He then drove his SUV to the 6400 block of South Cockrell Hill Road, where he parked the vehicle and forced the victim to perform sexual acts.

The victim said Meaderds then took her cellphone and forcer her out of his SUV at the intersection of West Ledbetter Drive and Cockrell Hill Road. 

She told police he told her not to look back as he counted down from three, and she heard three gunshots as she ran from his SUV, the warrant says.

As a detective investigated the Aug. 1 sexual assault, he discovered a similar case that took place seven days later was under investigation by another Dallas police detective. That detective, the warrant says, identified Meaderds as a suspect in two other similar cases. 

According to the warrant, the victims in all three of those cases identified Meaderds in a six-photo lineup. 

On Oct. 15, seven days after Meaderds was initially arrested, the victim in the Aug. 1 rape also identified him as her attacker. According to the warrant, she said she "was 100 percent sure that it was him."

Meaderds is currently booked in the Dallas County jail on three counts of aggravated sexual assault. 

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