Bay Area Serial Rape Suspect Arrested In Connection To 7 Assaults: Police

BERKELEY, CA — A man wanted in connection with seven kidnappings and assaults that took place over more than two decades was arrested in Texas this week by Berkeley police.

Lashay Durisseau was arrested on Tuesday by Berkeley police and other agencies in Richmond, Texas. His arrest stems from a series of kidnappings and sexual assaults spanning four jurisdictions between 1994 and 2008, including cases in Alameda County.

Police identified seven victims linked to Durisseau, who authorities said either physically assaulted them or threatened them with a firearm.

Durisseau faces several felony charges, including two counts of forcible rape one count of forced oral copulation, kidnapping during a sex offense, and committing sex offenses against multiple victims.

According to a report by The Berkeley Scanner based on court documents, Durisseau was identified as a suspect in the 2002 assaults of a 35-year-old woman raped in Berkeley and a 19-year-old woman attacked in Oakland as well as a 17-year-old Texas girl raped after leaving school one in 1994.

In the Berkeley assault, the woman's attacker punched and threatened to pistol whip her during a sexual assault in the Berkeley Marina, The Berkeley Scanner reported. In the Oakland attack, a man approached the teen at a bus stop struck her, threatened to shoot her, kidnapped and assaulted her, according to the outlet.

The road to finding a suspect in the cases began in 2015 when a grant obtained by the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office allowed Berkeley police to process previously untested rape kits. Evidence from a Berkeley case was tested, resulting in a DNA match to five other cases, police said.

A separate grant from the California Department of Justice allowed detectives to process more than 500 additional cold sexual assault cases in 2020 and 2021.

During that effort, the Richmond Police Department, Oakland Police Department and Beaumont (Texas) Police Department identified cases linked to the same suspect and agreed to let Berkeley police lead in the investigation, authorities said.

According to police, Durisseau physically assaulted or threatened seven victims with a firearm.

On Monday, Berkeley detectives traveled to Texas and coordinated with a Houston-based FBI Task Force and the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office. Durisseau was taken into custody the next day near his residence.

Bay City News Service contributed to this report.