A 57-year-old registered sex offender is being held in Norfolk Jail on charges connected to a rape that occurred almost 30 years ago, according to court records.
Melvin Cuffee was arrested in September 2025 after DNA evidence from a 1996 sexual assault case was retested through the Attorney General's Sexual Assault Kit Initiative.
The original incident happened on February 12, 1996, when a woman was walking to Norfolk State University from a friend's house. According to a search warrant, a man put his arm around her throat, implying he had a gun, and forced her into a parking lot where he raped her.
The search warrant states the suspect made the victim write down her personal information and threatened to hurt her if she reported him before sexually assaulting her again. It states the woman back to Norfolk State University, called her sister and then went to a hospital where a rape kit was completed.
Records show someone else was initially arrested in 1996 but was later exonerated by DNA evidence that same year.
The case remained cold until July 2022, when the rape kit was retested as part of the Attorney General's Sexual Assault Kit Initiative.
The new testing led to Cuffee's arrest on six charges related to the decades-old case.
Richard James, who worked as a detective for 27 years with the city of Norfolk, emphasized the importance of solving these cases.
"Rape is something that will stay with a victim probably for the rest of their lives so it's very, very important to make sure that there's closure in a particular case, and that you get the right person, that's very, very important," James said.
The Virginia Attorney General's office says there has been a nationwide effort to eliminate and prevent the backlog of untested sexual assault kits.
They said in 2020, a grant was provided to retest kits that had previously been tested with older forensic technology.
Officials say arrests, active investigations, court proceedings and case resolutions change week-to-week, with more expected to increase as advanced DNA testing continues.
James said law enforcement and medical staff receive extensive training for collecting and preserving evidence.
"They are well trained in terms of preserving evidence, and they usually have highly trained, specific evidence technicians that collect the evidence to make sure that it's done right and proper.
Not only for a case that's pending right now, but to make sure the evidence is collected in a proper manner for future cases dealing with the same suspect," James said.
Court records show Cuffee was convicted of rape and sodomy in 1997 and currently works as a cook up until his arrest. James noted that all defendants have constitutional rights in the legal process.
"A defendant has an absolute right under the Sixth Amendment to either confront the witnesses, that's the people who examine the DNA evidence, who collect that DNA evidence, and a defendant has the right to question the reliability of the DNA evidence," James said.
Cuffee is now facing charges of abduction, rape and sodomy. He declined an interview request from jail.
