(The Center Square) – California Attorney General Rob Bonta Thursday announced that a series of sexual assault cold cases have been solved.
The cases spanned more than a decade and involved multiple jurisdictions.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday in Berkeley, the Democratic attorney general said these cases were connected through testing sexual assault evidence kits.
“Because of that work, there has now been an arrest,” said Bonta.
The suspect was identified at the press conference as Lashay Durisseau. He was arraigned on Wednesday in court, and his next court date is scheduled for May 11.
“He’s facing several sexual assault charges against both of those victims, rape in particular, and then oral copulation, in addition to kidnapping allegations as well,” said Colleen Clark, deputy district attorney with Alameda County.
Durisseau was arrested in January with the assistance of allied agencies in Richmond, Texas.
Berkeley Police Chief Jennifer Louis told reporters Thursday that the case was connected to a series of kidnappings and sexual assaults spanning more than a decade.
“Investigators believe he is responsible for crimes committed between 1994 and 2008 across four jurisdictions involving seven victims, many of whom were assaulted and threatened with a firearm,” said Louis. “This case is especially significant because of how it was solved.”
According to Louis, the breakthrough came from previously untested evidence.
In 2015, a grant from the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office allowed rape kits to be processed, producing a DNA match that linked multiple cases together. That work continued in 2020 and 2021, when funding from the California Department of Justice supported the review of more than 500 cold cases, uncovering additional connections across the California cities of Berkeley, Richmond and Oakland, as well as Beaumont, Texas.
“In 2022, advanced forensic methods, including familial DNA searching, helped us narrow the suspect pool,” said Louis. “The FBI later confirmed the suspect’s DNA, leading to an arrest warrant and ultimately his arrest in Texas this past January.”
Bonta said this announcement underscores the critical role of full participation by California law enforcement agencies, crime labs and medical facilities in the Senate Bill 464 audit, as required by SB 464.
State Sen. Aisha Wahab, D-Hayward, introduced the legislation. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 464 in October 2023. It took effect on Jan. 1, 2024, and set a July 1, 2026, deadline to audit all untested sexual assault evidence kits.
“My office created an information bulletin that can be referred to for guidance, and it’s available on our website,” said Bonta. “This is about justice, long overdue for survivors, and it’s also about accountability.”
According to Bonta, survivors have too often done everything asked of them, reported the crime, undergone invasive exams and trusted the system, only to have that evidence sit untested and their assailant uncharged.
That, said Bonta, is unacceptable.
“This case is proof of why the July 1 deadline to audit untested sexual assault evidence kits is important, of what’s possible when we follow through and follow the law,” the attorney general said. “California DOJ does not have a backlog of untested kits; I want to be clear about that. But we also know that we don’t yet have the full picture statewide, and we need that picture, especially for kits collected before modern tracking systems were in place.”
A 2020 audit identified nearly 14,000 untested kits at the local level across the state.
Bonta said that number was likely an undercount.
“For anyone who may be a survivor of sexual assault, if you need help, there are resources available for you, including the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-4673,” said Bonta
