Virginia rape survivor received a VINE text that the parole board may review her attacker's case months after DNA evidence solved her 1992 cold case and Anthony Favors was sentenced. For 33 years, Amy has lived with the trauma of a 1992 Valentine's Day rape in Virginia, a cold case that finally cracked last year when DNA evidence linked the crime to a convicted rapist. In September 2025, Anthony Favors, 57, who initially faced six indictments, including abduction and burglary, took a plea deal for two counts of rape to secure a 24-year prison sentence. Norfolk Judge Everett A. Martin Jr. ordered 12 years for each count to run consecutively. Months later, Amy received an automated VINE text that Virginia’s parole board planned to review Favors’ case for possible release. "I finally get some sort of closure and justice. And then I get a text," Amy told Fox News Digital. "Nobody yet has told me how he's even eligible for parole." Amy was sexually assaulted by Anthony Favors while she was in the Navy. (Courtesy of Amy) SUSAN SMITH ELIGIBLE FOR PAROLE AGAIN AFTER BEING DENIED RELEASE FOR DROWNING HER 2 SONS IN 1994 Norfolk Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi confirmed to Fox News Digital that Favors will likely have a "discretionary parole hearing" within the next few months. Fatehi explained that a bureaucratic overlap triggered the hearing: the parole board previously considered Favors for release on a previous rape conviction but never granted it, legally opening the door for the upcoming review. "It’s discretionary because he had been locked up for so long. He is theoretically eligible," Fatehi said. FORENSIC GENEALOGY UNMASKS COLD CASE SUSPECT AS STRANGLER, SEXUAL PREDATOR DECADES LATER: OFFICIALS Favors was serving a 60-year sentence for a separate March 1992 rape when a 2024 DNA hit linked him to Amy’s case. Since he committed his offenses before Jan. 1, 1995, Virginia's old sentencing laws authorized the Virginia Parole Board to consider him for release. Anthony Favors was sentenced to 24 years in prison for raping a woman in 1992. (Virginia State Police) Fatehi said that there is a "slim chance to zero" of actually releasing Favors, but the possibility of an impending hearing left Amy reeling. MAX FACTOR HEIR'S FORMER LAWYER DETAILS JUDGE'S ERROR THAT WIPED OUT 124-YEAR RAPE SENTENCE "The only word I can think of right now, honestly, is disgusting," she said. "It's wrong. How can you do that? Where is my justice?" The attack altered the course of Amy's life. Favors beat and assaulted the active-duty Navy sailor for hours at her Norfolk apartment. Despite the trauma, she reported directly to her shift on a Navy ship immediately after the attack. SERIAL KILLER SURVIVOR WHO ESCAPED 18-HOUR CAPTIVITY REVEALS INSTINCT SHE WISHES SHE NEVER IGNORED Decades later, the psychological scars have dictated her daily routine. She battles severe PTSD , chronic sleep deprivation, and hypervigilance that forces her to constantly check and recheck her door locks. Amy was raped in Virginia while she was in the Navy. (Courtesy of Amy) "Some of the things that I did that I thought were normal, were not normal. And I still do," Amy said. "Check the locks, recheck the locks, check the locks, recheck the locks. I'm not sleeping again because... it's the unknown." CONVICTED PREDATORS FACE LIFETIME BARRIER UNDER GOP LAWMAKER’S SWEEPING VICTIM PROTECTION BILL "If you took the Amy before my rape and the Amy after my rape, I am two different people." Heather Keeley, director of the nonprofit advocacy group Stand Tall , said survivors already carry the weight of their past assaults. By granting Favors a future parole hearing, she argued, the justice system actively expands that trauma by forcing victims to endlessly relive it. CALIFORNIA SUED OVER POLICY THAT COULD FREE SERIAL KILLERS AS LACI PETERSON'S FRIEND SOUNDS ALARM "He was sentenced to 24 years in prison, which wouldn't even put him up for parole 12 years later," Keeley told Fox News Digital.
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