NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- In a matter of months, the state hopes to close the book on a 33-year-old slaying mystery.

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Jerome Barrett is charged with the 1975 strangulation death of Vanderbilt student Sarah DesPrez.

He's also linked by DNA, according to sources who confirmed the link to Channel 4 News, to the slaying of 9-year-old Marcia Trimble, who was found dead about three weeks after DesPrez.

Some Nashville residents refer to the Trimble case as the crime of the century.

The I-Team recently took a closer look at Barrett, who is a convicted rapist and who made a lot of headlines in the 1970s. But he was never seriously investigated for cold cases until now.

Prison records reveal Barrett as a man with two different sides. Barrett was in and out of trouble from the age of 17 and is now linked to the sexual assault and strangulation of Trimble. But Barrett's prison persona is contradictory to someone accused and convicted of his crimes.

In prison, Barrett was Muslim spiritual leader Abdullah Jihad Abdul Jaami, prison legal assistant and newspaper writer. He was also determined to prove -- at least on paper -- that he wasn't a child molester.

Barrett served the last of what was supposed to be a 60-year sentence in a state prison at Tiptonville. Channel 4’s Demetria Kalodimos spoke with Barrett’s cellmate and fellow Muslim Percy Cummings.

"When I got here, he was the Imam, which is the equivalent of being, like, the chaplain. ... He was a good speaker, he was a real good speaker. I can say pretty much what he spoke about was based on experience and things that he did to change himself," Cummings said.

"Did he acknowledge his guilt of the crimes that he was here for?" Kalodimos said.

"Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. What he was incarcerated for, he admitted to and that's one of the things that we as Muslims, we do. We don't hide any type of secrets. You know, because that's like committing a sin. So he opened up and said, 'Hey, this is what I’m locked up for.' 'Oh, OK, no problem,'" Cummings said.

But Barrett had his share of problems in prison. According to his records, he had 33 disciplinary reports over 19 years that included fighting, drugs, attacking a guard and threatening to kill. He was found five times with prison knives or shanks, one of which was fashioned from a magic marker.

But Cummings said the Barrett he knew was a leader and a peacemaker who would break up a fight but who also lost a lot of sleep to nightmares.

"Now I've seen where he woke up dreaming. … When you wake up with sweat, cold sweat. But he would immediately prepare himself for a night of prayer. He would go into meditation. So, I know there was something he was dealing with, but not really what it was. I don’t know exactly what it was," Cummings said.

It's now known inside the prison that Barrett has been charged with a 33-year-old cold case and is linked by DNA to Trimble.

"He never confessed anything or told you anything?" Kalodimos said.

"No ma’am. He never said, 'I committed this crime,' or, 'I did this or did that.' The only thins that he would at times was you know, 'I done some wrong in my life, you know, and I can use that to push forward,'" Cummings said.

"Do you think he was struggling with something as heavy as that?" Kalodimos said.

"He had to. He had to," Cummings said.

And that brings up one of the many lawsuits Barrett launched behind bars. In 1988, he wanted his record changed. He was adamant that his first rape victim was not a child, though the court and jury said she was.

Barrett wrote: "Plaintiff is suffering from near paranoia and loss of self confidence as being mistaken as a child molester. It is a well-known fact that child molesters are often hunted and even killed wherever they are found in prison society by other inmates."

"Do you think he’s capable of raping and strangling a 9-year-old girl?" Kalodimos asked Cummings.

"Oh, yeah," Cummings said.

"What would you urge him as a friend and fellow Muslim?" Kalodimos said.

"Tell the truth, and do the right thing. Tell the truth and do the right thing, because there’s going to come a day where you’re going to be questioned about these things. … Say you did it for her if you committed these crimes. If you’re guilty, say you did it for her," Cummings said.

Though it has been six months since news of the DNA match, Barrett has yet to be formally charged in the Trimble case. His trial date in the DesPrez case is set to begin on Oct. 6.