THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 11, 1995 TAG: 9508110227
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
Two women who broke into the home of a third woman forced the resident to write a suicide note, bound her with handcuffs and stuffed sleeping pills in her mouth, police said.
The suspects ran when they heard sirens approaching, police spokesman Lou Thurston said. They two were caught nearby and are in jail.
A motive for the Wednesday assault isn't clear, although police said one of the suspects had a prior relationship with the victim's husband.
According to Thurston, this is what happened:
Cathy D. Cuffee, 34, and Tammy T. Foster, 26, showed up at the Lake Edward residence of 37-year-old Renee Johnson Scott early Wednesday.
They knocked on the door of the Timon Court apartment, and Scott's 5-year-old son opened it. Cuffee and Foster barged in and grabbed Scott.
The women forced Scott to copy a suicide note they had drafted so the note would be in Johnson's handwriting. They cinched her wrists, stuffed sleeping pills into her mouth, and gagged her with duct tape.
Scott feigned unconsciousness, Thurston said.
While the women ransacked the apartment, Scott spotted a gun one of the suspects had left on a bed. She broke free and grabbed the weapon, but the gun wasn't real. The suspects again attacked Johnson, and one stabbed her.
During the scuffle, Scott yelled to her son to call police. When police cars approached the residence, the suspects ran.
They were arrested at a nearby car wash when an employee noticed them acting strangely.
Cuffee, of the 700 block of Ray St. in Chesapeake, was being held in the city jail on $500,000 bail. She was treated at a hospital for an eye injury from the scuffle with Scott.
Foster, of the 1100 block of Wilson Road in Norfolk, was in jail on $250,000 bail.
Both have been charged with abduction and malicious assault. Other charges are pending, Thurston said.
Scott, the victim, was treated at Virginia Beach General Hospital and released. Attempts to reach her were unsuccessful. ILLUSTRATION: Photos
Tammy T. Foster, 26, left, and Cathy D. Cuffee, 34, were arrested
for allegedly breaking into Renee J. Scott's home Wednesday, forcing
her to write a suicide note, and stuffing sleeping pills in her
mouth. Their motive for the attack isn't clear.
KEYWORDS: ASSAULT STABBING ARREST INJURIES by CNB