DETROIT (WXYZ) — A Detroit man has been arrested and charged in three separate sexual assaults from 1997 to 2004.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy charged Akida Diaba Dudley, 51, in connection with the sexual assaults. Prosecutors say the charges come after testing backlogged rape kits.
Dudley is facing three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and three counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct. Wednesday morning, he was arraigned on all charges and remanded to jail.
The first case, according to the prosecutor's office, took place on June 9, 1997. A 30-year-old woman was standing near the area of Grand River and W. Warren when Dudley allegedly pulled up next to her, got out of his car, pulled a knife and forced her into his vehicle.
Dudley allegedly held the knife against her and drove away before pulling over and sexually assaulting the woman outside of the car.
The victim went to a local hospital for examination and a sexual assault kit was completed and taken to Detroit police where it went untested for years.
The second alleged assault took place on Sept. 22, 1997 on a 16-year-old girl. She was standing at a bus stop in the area of Livernois and Fenkell when Dudley allegedly asked if she needed a ride. The victim said she believed she had seen him before and agreed to get in the car.
Watch below: 11,341 rape kits left inside Detroit Police storage have now been tested 10 years later
Prosecutors say he drove her to a location and asked her for sex. She allegedly refused and attempted to leave, but the suspect had an ice pick and threatened to stab her. He then allegedly sexually assaulted her and then dropped her off.
According to prosecutors, the victim had a sexual assault exam and kit that was taken to Detroit police, but it was never sent out for testing.
The third incident took place on Aug. 9, 2004, in the area of Fenkell and Wyoming. Prosecutors say Dudley pulled up to an 18-year-old woman with what she thought was a gun, which caused her to enter his car. Once inside, she saw the weapon was a knife and he allegedly held it against her as he drove away.
Prosecutors say Dudley allegedly drove her to an unknown location and sexually assaulted her, then dropped her off on 7 Mile Rd.
They say she made a police report and a sexual assault kit was taken and turned over to DPD but not sent out for testing.
In 2009, 11,000 untested rape kits were discovered inside a Detroit police warehouse. In 2022, the prosecutor's office said all of the rape kits had finally been tested, but there were still thousands of cases to review.
Organizations like Michigan Women Forward helped raised funds to get the kits tested.
"We raised about a $1.5 million dollars to get the kits tested and then went with her (Prosecutor Kym Worthy) to the state to get another 10 million dollars allocated and this was enough to test every one of those 11,000 rape kits," said Carolyn Cassin, president and CEO of Michigan Women Forward.
Survivors who were assaulted between 1984 and 2009 can go to www.MyRapeKit.com to receive results and provide information to be used for investigation.
“The sexual assault kits in these cases are from the kits found in a DPD evidence storage facility in 2009. As of August 2025, the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office will have been continuously doing this work for 16 years. We support our courageous survivors who are willing to come forward and prosecute these cases after waiting for so long for justice," Worthy said in a statement.
According to the prosecutor's office, the Wayne County Sexual Assault Kit Task Force has 260 convictions so far.
