ID'd by victims, sex crime suspect charged decades later
Two women identified Lashay Durisseau as their assailant and his DNA connected him to the crimes, Berkeley police say.
A Texas man is facing serious charges this week after Berkeley police say they linked him to felony sex crimes that took place in 2002.
Two women later identified Lashay Durisseau as their assailant and his DNA connected him to the crimes, Berkeley police say.
On Tuesday, the Alameda County district attorney's office charged Durisseau with two counts of forcible rape and one count of forced oral copulation, court papers show.
Police say they also linked him to a third victim — a Texas girl who was 17 when she was accosted and raped after leaving high school one morning in 1994.
Durisseau, now 56, lives in Texas, according to charging papers. He does not appear to be in local custody at this time.
In court papers, police said he was "developed as a suspect" after DNA from the same man was found in all three victims: the 17-year-old Texas girl, a 35-year-old woman who was raped in Berkeley and a 19-year-old woman who was attacked in Oakland.
The Berkeley assault took place Oct. 3, 2002, when Durisseau — then 32 — punched the woman, threatened to pistol whip her and forced her to have sex with him at the Berkeley Marina, police wrote.
A month later, on Nov. 2, 2002, Durisseau approached the 19-year-old at an Oakland bus stop, "struck her in the face and told her he would shoot her if she moved," police wrote.
He then forced her into his car and repeatedly sexually assaulted her while driving around, threatening to "shoot her if she did not stop crying," police wrote.
In addition to forcible rape and oral copulation, Durisseau is also facing special allegations of kidnapping during a sex offense, committing sex offenses on separate occasions, targeting multiple victims and more.
No additional details about the case were available as of publication time.
Stay tuned for updates.
