Detroit man charged in three cold case sexual assaults after untested kits linked him

Akida Diaba Dudley, 51, has been charged with three counts each of first- and third-degree criminal sexual conduct for a series of sexual assaults committed in Detroit between 1997 and 2004. The cases were linked to Dudley after the testing of previously untested rape kits, part of the Detroit Rape Kit Project that uncovered over 11,000 untested kits. Prosecutors allege Dudley used weapons to threaten his victims, who were unrelated to him, in separate incidents involving women aged 16, 18, and 30. The assaults occurred after Dudley approached the women at or near bus stops, forced them into his vehicle, and sexually assaulted them before fleeing. All three victims reported the assaults and underwent sexual assault examinations, but their evidence kits remained untested for years. Dudley faces up to life in prison if convicted on the first-degree charges.