On Tuesday, the Durham Police Department announced several arrests stemming from sexual assaults that occurred years ago.

The department credits two National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative project grants that help them fund the project to submit untested rape kits for testing.

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On Tuesday, Durham police announced two new arrests, one from November 2007 and another from May 2015.

Isadore Sullivan Jr., was arrested from a sexual assault stemming from the parking lot of Creekside Landing Apartments on Willow Creek Circle on Nov. 10, 2007. Sullivan allegedly forced a woman into a car in the parking lot of the complex before driving away and raping her.

Carlos Dominguez-Aguiar was charged with breaking into a woman's home on Seven Oaks Road and raping her at knife point in 2015.

2 arrests made from sexual assaults in 2007, 2015
Isadore Sullivan Jr., left, and Carlos Dominguez-Aguiar were recently arrested by the Durham police department after rape kits were tested, linking their DNA to the sexual assault.

Lt. Stephen Vaughan said these arrests signify a new commitment made to solving cold cases involving rape.

"These cases may be old, but our view is they are definitely not forgotten," Vaughan said. "For me, this is one of the situations where we all know that this is involving a very intimate part of a person’s life. And for that to occur to someone and have to live through that the rest of their life without an answer, that’s what drives me every day."

The unit started in 2019 thanks to federal grants. At that point, there were more than 1,700 untested rape kits. The unit is now working through the backlog, and have tested 270 kits resulting in 73 DNA hits, 17 cases cleared and 13 arrests.

Thanks to new funding, Durham police will be able to conduct more specialized testing of DNA evidence. A data analyst is also expected to be hired.