FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) — A man who police said committed a series of rapes over a 4-year period learned this fate Friday.

Marquise D. Dozier was sentenced in Allen Superior Court to 55 years in prison. Dozier previously had pleaded guilty to three counts of felony Rape.

Fort Wayne Police said a series of rapes had been reported in the overnight hours and within a mile of one another, all in the city’s southeast side. The suspect would enter the home through a window or door, then rape and sometimes batter his victim, police said.

Two of the victims gave impact statements in court, Friday. One woman said she woke up to being beaten in the head with a brick on September 24, 2015. Through tears she explained what happened that night.

“I was strong enough to fight you off,” she said. “But then you raped me.”

She was sleeping next to her young son. Her son still asks about “the monster that raped mommy,” she said.

She told the court she lived in constant fear until Dozier was caught. She also spent months living in a hotel room because she could not go back to the home where she was raped.

The second victim told Dozier, “you took my body and my sense of security.” Her young child was also home during the rape, however was not in the same room. She lived in fear that he would show up at her house again and said he deserved to die for what he did.

Dozier cried as he listened to the victims. He was also emotional as several family members went before the court and described him as a role model, a father of two and a husband.

One family member explained that he did have a rough childhood. Dozier was placed int he foster system at 8-years-old and bounced around to different caregivers. Some of them were abusive. His aunt described what happened as a vicious cycle. She said he owned up to it and that he needs help.

Dozier told the judge that he did not want anyone to feel sorry for him.

“This is more than just a mistake,” he said. “No one should have to go through this. It’s not about me, it’s about the victims.”

He went on to extend his “humble apologies” to the victims, the court systems, the lawyers and the community. He asked for the victim’s forgiveness.

In August 2017, DNA collected from one of the rapes was analyzed at the Indiana State Police lab and was tied to two other unsolved rapes – one from 2015 and another in 2017. The department said previously that the three of the assaults took place in the 4500 block of Park Drive, 5000 block of Bowser Avenue and the 5200 block of Bowser Avenue.

As officers and technicians worked to identify a suspect, the Fort Wayne Police Department used DNA profilers Parabon-Nano Labs, which helped to identify the killer of April Marie Tinsley last year, to create a DNA Snapshot analysis of what the suspect might look like based on his DNA. In January, police released a computerized sketch of a suspect built through DNA technology.

In March, then, detectives identified Dozier through fingerprint evidence collected from one of the scenes. He was interviewed and subsequently arrested after police said he admitted to being involved in three rapes over the last four years.

He faced 10 charges.

Dozier had previously admitted in open court to using a brick to threaten one woman then raping her. He also admitted to breaking into other homes to rape two other women.