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Akida Diaba Dudley
After rape kits sat untested for years, the Wayne County Sexual Assault Kit Task Force was able to use them to bring charges this week against Akida Diaba Dudley, 51, of Detroit, in three sexual assaults committed in the city between 1997 and 2004.
“The sexual assault kits in these cases are from the kits found in a DPD evidence storage facility in 2009," said Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy in a statement on Tuesday. "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 so long for justice."
The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office declined to specify exactly when each kit was tested.
Dudley faces charges of first-degree criminal sexual conduct (use of a weapon) and third-degree criminal sexual conduct (force and coercion).
The first assault happened on June 9, 1997, at Grand River and West Warren.
Authorities allege that Dudley pulled up in his car, got out, and pulled a knife on a 30-year-old woman who was standing near a bus stop. He then forced her into his car and started driving before pulling over, ordering her out of the car, and sexually assaulting her.
She was left with little clothing as Dudley drove off, according to a Wayne County Prosecutor's Office press release. The victim went to a hospital and was examined. Evidence was also collected using a sexual assault kit that was transported to the Detroit Police. The kit went untested for several years.
In the second case, on Sept. 22, 1997, at 1 a.m., Dudley pulled up to a 16-year-old girl who was standing at a bus stop at Livernois and Fenkell and asked if she needed a ride. Authorities said the victim believed she had seen him before at a motorcycle club, so she accepted the ride.
Dudley then drove her to a location on Livernois and asked for sex. She refused and attempted to exit the car, but Dudley produced an ice pick and threatened to stab her. He subsequently sexually assaulted her, then dropped her off in the area.
The prosecutor's office said she underwent a sexual assault examination, and her kit was taken to the Detroit Police property room but was not sent out for testing at the time.
The third case occurred on Aug. 9, 2004, at Fenkell and Wyoming.
Authorities allege that Dudley pulled up to an 18-year-old woman who was walking. She thought he had a gun and got into the car. Once inside, she saw that he had a knife. He drove somewhere, sexually assaulted her, and then let her go on Seven Mile Road, authorities said.
She caught a bus to a friend’s house and later made a police report. A sexual assault kit was turned over to police in 2004 but was not sent out for testing at the time, the prosecutor's office said.
“The Wayne County Sexual Assault Kit Task Force currently has 260 convictions,” Worthy said. “I am proud of the work that we and all our collaborators continue to do in prosecuting Detroit’s stockpiled sexual assault kits. Our work has made Michigan a national role model in this field.”
If you’ve been sexually assaulted, contact the Wayne County Sexual Assault Kit Task Force at 313-224-2782.
