NORFOLK, Va. — A man was convicted for a rape that took place back in 1996 after DNA evidence identified him, according to the Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney's office.
58-year-old Melvin Antonio Cuffee was convicted on two counts of rape, two counts of sodomy and one count abduction with the intent to defile.
On Feb. 12, 1996, Cuffee forced a Norfolk State University student behind shed after she left her friend's apartment near campus. The two were not known to each other, according to the Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney's office. Cuffee proceeded to sexually assault and rape her multiple times.
Cuffee then looked at the student's driver's license and threatened to locate and hurt her if she reported the incident to police. The Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney's office says Cuffee fled the scene after telling the victim to close her eyes and count to 60.
The victim did go on to report the incident to her friend and sister, prompting them to call the police. The victim then went to the hospital where she underwent a sexual-assault examination. A DNA comparison cleared a suspect who was initially indicted in connection with this incident, leaving the case to go cold.
Cuffee was previously sentenced to serve 12 years in prison after he raped another woman in Oct. 1996. His DNA was added to the Virginia DNA data bank as a result. Cuffee was later released in 2007.
The grant-funded Virginia Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI), which tested a statewide backlog of evidence from cold sexual assault cases, resulted in Cuffee being linked to the Feb. 1996 rape in 2023, according to the Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney's Office. After a follow-up interview with police, the victim identified Cuffee in a photo as the man who assaulted her.
Cuffee is set to be sentenced on Jan. 8, 2027, according to the Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney's office.
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