NORFOLK, Va. — A man already serving time for a 1992 rape has now pleaded guilty to another rape from that same year, thanks to DNA evidence preserved and finally tested more than three decades later.
Anthony Favors, now 55, stood before a judge Tuesday and pleaded guilty to two counts of rape from an attack that happened in February 1992. His DNA had been preserved in the victim’s rape kit but went untested for decades — until the state’s Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) breathed new life into the investigation.
Favors is already serving 60 years for another brutal rape in March 1992. That second victim was able to immediately identify him, and Favors was arrested shortly after the crime. Now, he faces up to 40 more years in prison for the earlier attack.
The new conviction is the result of a systematic review of long-untested rape kits by Norfolk Police, made possible through SAKI, a grant program funded by the Virginia Attorney General’s Office. The program aims to test the backlog of physical evidence recovery kits (PERKs) from cold sexual assault cases and re-open files that stalled due to lack of technology at the time.
A Nightmare in 1992
On February 15, 1992, a woman living alone on Lankford Avenue in Norfolk was asleep on her couch when Favors entered her home through a damaged front door that couldn’t lock. She awoke to find him standing over her. He raped her multiple times and forced her to perform oral sex. She noticed a distinctive quarter-sized scar on his shoulder but had no other way to identify him. Favors fled — only to return moments later to make sure she hadn’t called police.
After he left a second time, the woman grabbed a knife, ran to her car, and drove herself to Naval Station Norfolk to report the attack. A sexual assault nurse collected evidence, including DNA, during her examination. But back in 1992, there was no way to test it.
Just one month later, in March, Favors struck again — this time breaking into another woman’s home and raping her. He tried to force her to an ATM to steal her money, but was interrupted by passersby. She escaped to a neighbor’s house and called the police. Favors was arrested that day and sentenced to 60 years in prison the following year.
It wasn’t until 2022, after the SAKI program began to inventory and test old rape kits, that the February 1992 victim’s PERK was re-examined. The DNA profile was matched to Favors in a national database. Investigators obtained a fresh DNA sample and confirmed the match. They also confirmed he had the distinctive shoulder scar the victim remembered.
When confronted, Favors confessed. He told investigators he had long feared the day the February attack would resurface.
Closure at Last
On Tuesday, Favors admitted to the February 1992 rape and entered a plea agreement. In exchange for the guilty plea and full confession, prosecutors agreed not to pursue additional charges from that case. A judge accepted the deal, and sentencing is set for July 18. Favors could serve up to 40 more years.
“I express my sympathy to the survivors of Mr. Favors’ rapes,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “One received the reassurance that the police had caught her assailant and that we had sent him to prison, and the other… had to live 33 years to see her assailant convicted.”
Fatehi called the case an example of how technology and persistence can finally bring justice — even after decades. He credited the SAKI program for giving prosecutors the tools they needed.