Lorenzo Hawes, 64, has finally admitted to a crime that haunted a James City County neighborhood for decades. On Thursday, he pleaded guilty in county court to a 1994 home-invasion rape after modern DNA testing linked him to the long-cold case. Hawes, who has been living in Knoxville, Tenn., was indicted on charges of rape and sodomy, although prosecutors say the sodomy charge was nolle prossed under the plea agreement. He is scheduled to be sentenced on April 6, 2026, and remains in custody at the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail.
How DNA Led Detectives Back To Knoxville
The case did not budge for years until investigators gave the evidence one more shot. In February 2024, they resubmitted biological evidence from the 1994 assault for modern forensic analysis. Updated DNA technology produced a match to Hawes. Detectives then traveled to Knoxville to interview him, later returning to James City County to pursue charges. According to James City County, the DNA hit set off the chain of events that led to an indictment on rape and sodomy.
The 1994 Attack
On Sept. 27, 1994, just after midnight, a man slipped into a home on Las Brisas Court around 12:45 a.m. and raped the 32-year-old woman inside. At the time, authorities released a composite sketch and chased leads, but the case eventually went cold. The decision to resubmit the biological evidence, paired with improved forensic methods, produced a DNA profile that could be matched to an individual already in existing databases. As reported by WATE 6 On Your Side, that match led directly to Hawes' identification, indictment, and the recent court proceedings.
A Long Record In Knoxville
Court records and public registries show this is not Hawes' first encounter with serious felony charges. He previously pleaded guilty to rape and assault in multiple Knox County cases between 2000 and 2013, and he has been listed on Knoxville's sex-offender registry. Online aggregators and wanted postings indicate that Virginia authorities obtained extradition warrants after the DNA match and that Hawes was already well known to law enforcement in Knoxville. See OffenderRadar for public listings and aggregated records.
Plea And What Comes Next
Hawes had been headed for a jury trial set for March 19, 2026, but he changed course this week and entered a guilty plea to rape. In exchange, the commonwealth agreed to dismiss the sodomy charge as part of the plea deal. Sentencing is scheduled for April 6, 2026, and Hawes will remain in custody at the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail until that hearing. The county's release notes that prosecutors settled on the agreement after reviewing the new forensic findings alongside the rest of the case file.
Why The Case Resurfaced
The Hawes case is part of a broader push in Virginia to revisit older sexual-assault investigations by inventorying and retesting preserved evidence with modern DNA techniques. State and federal funding efforts have supported the testing and review of previously unprocessed or long-stored sexual-assault kits, which in turn have generated fresh leads in a number of cold cases. Many of those retesting efforts have been funded and overseen by the state Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, according to the SAKI program.
