The California Department of Justice provided critical forensic support with a familial search

BERKELEY – On January 13, 2026, the Berkeley Police Department, with the assistance of allied agencies in Richmond, Texas, arrested Lashay Durisseau in connection with a series of kidnappings and sexual assaults—including a number of cases from Alameda County.

Investigators believe Durisseau is responsible for a series of similar crimes spanning four jurisdictions between 1994 and 2008.

The series involves seven victims.  In the majority of the incidents, the suspect either physically assaulted the victims or threatened them with a firearm.

Evidence from the Berkeley case was tested in 2015 through a grant obtained by the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office to process previously untested rape kits. That testing resulted in a case-to-case DNA match linking five additional cases.

In 2020–2021, a grant from the California Department of Justice allowed detectives to process more than 500 cold sexual assault cases, including the Berkeley case tied to this series. During that effort, the Richmond Police Department (CA), the Oakland Police Department, and the Beaumont (Texas) Police Department identified cases linked to the same suspect and formally ceded their investigations to Berkeley PD.  Berkeley investigators then worked with the detectives from these allied agencies to develop a unified strategy to move forward with the investigation.

In 2022, detectives requested assistance from the California Department of Justice, which provided critical forensic support with a familial search.  A key development occurred when the FBI obtained the suspect’s DNA for comparison testing, leading to the issuance of an arrest warrant.

On January 12, 2026, detectives traveled to Texas and coordinated with a Houston-based FBI Task Force (tactical) and the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office. On the morning of January 13th, officers served the arrest warrant and took Durisseau into custody near his residence in Richmond, Texas, without incident—bringing a decades-long investigation to a close.

The Berkeley Police Department expressed its gratitude to the following agencies for their assistance with this investigation:

·         Alameda County District Attorney’s Office

·         Beaumont Police Department

·         California Department of Justice—Jan Bashinkski Laboratory

·         Federal Bureau of Investigations (San Francisco and Houston offices)

·         Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office

·         Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office

·         Houston Police Department

·         Oakland Police Department

·         Richmond Police Department (CA)

·         Serological Research Institute (SERI)

·         Texas Department of Public Safety