A judge sentenced a convicted serial rapist to serve 48 years in prison for his brutal assaults on two women in the 1990s in Lawrence.

Cory Elkins, 39, apologized to victims during a tearful speech this morning in Douglas County District Court.

“I truly hope these women can find peace from this bad situation,” said the California man, who was arrested by Lawrence police after they re-examined evidence using newer DNA technology.

A Douglas County jury in May convicted Elkins on four counts of rape and three counts of aggravated criminal sodomy from the rapes of two women. A third accuser attended the hearing today, but prosecutors could not file charges because the statute of limitations for rape had expired.

One of his victims, Emily Lentz, who has since left the state, kept the case alive when she contacted authorities in 2004 – nine years after she was raped – about her unsolved case. Lentz had heard about new DNA technology and asked if it could be used.

Elkins was convicted of rape and aggravated criminal sodomy in her case. She said he broke into an Oread Neighborhood home in September 1995, where she was sleeping and attacked her.

“That man has hurt a lot of people, and there’s no excuse for it,” Lentz said in court.

He was also convicted on three counts of rape and two counts of aggravated criminal sodomy for an attack on another woman in 1994. She also lives out of the state and wrote a letter to the judge asking for the maximum sentence.

Malone handed down the most severe sentence he could under state sentencing guidelines. Upon release, Elkins also must register as a sex offender.

The Journal-World generally does not name victims of sex crimes, but Lentz, who has worked with organizations about rape trauma, said she chose to come forward publicly.