Local prosecutors have won a conviction in a 1992 Norfolk rape case that had gone unsolved for more than 30 years.
Vernon Lorenzo Gay, 56, was convicted by a Norfolk jury on rape and armed burglary charges in the case, which was reopened in 2022 due to DNA testing provided by the Virginia Sexual Assault Kit Initiative.
The Office of Attorney General, under the former attorney general of Virginia, Mark Herring, began working in 2016 with the National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, which has awarded the Commonwealth more than $6 million in grant funding to jumpstart the state-level program.
The grant funds were used identify untested DNA evidence from Physical Evidence Recovery Kits, inventory them, have them tested, and support the prosecution of criminal cases that emerge from them.
The case in Norfolk involving the 1992 case is the first of SAKI-identified cases throughout the Commonwealth to reach a conviction by jury trial.
“Once again, Norfolk leads Virginia with the first SAKI jury to go forward in the Commonwealth,” Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi said. “Thank you to former Attorney General Mark Herring and Attorney General Jason Miyares for devoting resources to test back evidence cases in cases like these.
“The wheels of justice may move slowly, but they never stop, and we have served justice today. I am glad that we were able to bring a measure of closure, after all this time, for the survivor and her family, and to be able to hold Vernon Gay responsible for this terrible crime,” Fatehi said.
“Today’s verdict brings much-needed solace and closure in this cold case, underscoring the unrelenting commitment of state and local law enforcement to secure justice, no matter how much time has passed,” Miyares said in a statement after the verdict.
“I’m gratified that our SAKI initiative helped fund this vital partnership and made this resolution possible,” Miyares said.
The 1992 case
According to court documents, on May 5, 1992, the victim was at home with her three small children and sleeping when Gay entered through one of the children’s bedroom windows armed with a knife.
Gay found the victim in her bedroom and raped her while one child was in the bed with her, another child was in a crib in the same room, and the third child was in the bedroom next door.
The victim reported the rape to Norfolk Police and sought medical treatment, where sexual assault nurse examiners assembled a PERK with DNA evidence from the then-unknown suspect.
After no investigative leads were developed, the case went cold, and the PERK evidence remained in Norfolk Police custody.
In July 2022, as part of SAKI, the DNA evidence was sent off for re-testing with current technology. In August 2023, the Virginia Department of Forensic Science provided a certificate of analysis indicating that the DNA recovered from her PERK matched Vernon Gay.
When Norfolk Police investigators brought Gay’s information to the victim’s attention, she confirmed that she did not know who he was and that she had never had consensual sex with him.
The Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office in November 2023 secured charges by direct indictment against Gay for rape by force/threat and armed burglary with intent to commit rape.
Gay pleaded not guilty and requested a jury trial, which resulted in the conviction handed down on Wednesday.
Sentencing is set for Dec. 20.
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Chris Graham
