ORLANDO, Fla. — Gail Gardner called herself a survivor and a thriver.

Raped 33 years ago, Gardner said she would earn two master’s degrees, retire as an educator and become an advocate for survivors of sexual assault.

“I survived a horrific crime and I thrived because I moved forward in my life, to live and to advocate for those who are having difficulty moving forward in theirs,” she said.

Gardner joined law enforcement and elected officials at a Tuesday news conference in which the Orlando Police Department said it was filing 15 additional charges against “Malibu Rapist” George Girtman, who has been imprisoned since 1992 and is serving two life terms.

He’s nicknamed for an area of western Orlando in which police said he committed his initial crimes decades ago.

The new charges include Gardner’s case. She said she reported the attack in November 1988. After three decades “without a result or conclusion,” she said, she inquired about it in November 2019.

“I had no idea that this case was not closed,” Gardner said at the news conference. “I had no idea where Mr. Girtman — and I say that loosely — was. I had no idea.”

Gardner’s case this year inspired Gail’s Law, in her honor. The legislation, sponsored by state Sen. Linda Stewart, D-Orlando, requires state law enforcement officials to track sexual-assault evidence kits, also called rape kits, and to inform victims of sex crimes that they are entitled to access information about the kits and evidence.

The legislation awaits the signature of Gov. Ron DeSantis, whom Stewart on Tuesday urged to sign it.

By bringing her case forward, Stewart said at the news conference, Gardner “has fought for every single one that could not be spoken for in the past.”

Orlando Police Lt. Frank Chisari said Det. Graham Cage noticed similarities among Gardner’s and other so-called cold cases and ordered retests of DNA evidence in cases in which it existed.

“Between these new tests and other evidence,” Chisari said, “we determined George Girtman was responsible.”

Officials credited advances in DNA testing, especially since the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Rights Act of 2016, which prompted new testing standards, said prosecutor Jenny Rossman of the State Attorney’s Office for the Ninth Judicial District.

“This is an example of what technology can do when you improve it, when you make it faster to be able to identify someone like” Girtman, said Orlando Police Chief Orlando Rolón.

Lt. Chisari said the 15 new charges came amid 26 additional cases, from which 11 survivors passed away “before the information came to light.”

Detectives believe Girtman “committed dozens of attacks between 1985 and 1991,” Chisari said, and they have determined that Girtman “chose his victims at random, often by noticing children’s toys that were left out in the yard.”

His victims were all girls and women who ranged from age 6 to their 40s, Chisari said.

“To his victims, he was a complete stranger,” he said.

“This man is a sick individual who committed unspeakable acts over and over again, and even though 30-plus years have passed, he will be held accountable for the actions and for terrorizing a part of our community.”

Gardner said she was sharing a bed with her 9-year-old son in 1988 when Girtman broke into their home and appeared in their room. She was a single mother and had no electricity, she said.

“The lights had gone off and they were going to have to stay that way until over the weekend when I could go get some help with them,” she explained Tuesday.

Girtman “took me out of the bedroom,” leaving her son in the bed, she said. That relieved her, she said, suggesting she more feared the potential trauma to her son from the experience of the attack.

She said her son, now 42 and the youngest of three children, told her about two months ago that he had slept through the attack.

“I was so grateful for that,” she said, “because I was thinking all of this time that he was awake.”

Gardner said she came forward in 2019 for her grandchildren, great grandchildren and community members, especially for sex-crime survivors whose cases remain unsolved.

“Some of us have been emotionally incarcerated from the trauma and the grips that we’ve held and... left us in a stuck position, but we are not stuck in life,” she said. “We are moving forward toward wholeness."

“There is still work to be done …” she added. “But we will make sure no one else has to wait over 30 years for justice.”