It took the authorities one week to search out the our bodies of Julianne Williams and Laura Winans close to their campsite at a nationwide park in Virginia in 1996 after their household reported them lacking. However it could take almost three a long time for the authorities to determine the individual they imagine killed them.
The F.B.I. workplace in Richmond on Thursday introduced that new DNA proof confirmed that Walter Leo Jackson Sr., a convicted serial rapist from Ohio who died in jail six years in the past, had killed the couple in what initially was believed to have been an anti-gay hate crime and led to prices in opposition to one other man that have been finally dropped by prosecutors in 2004.
“After 28 years, we at the moment are in a position to say who dedicated the brutal murders of Lollie Winans and Julie Williams in Shenandoah Nationwide Park,” Christopher R. Kavanaugh, the U.S. legal professional for the western district of Virginia, mentioned in a information launch. “I need to once more lengthen my condolences to the Winans and Williams households and hope right this moment’s announcement offers some small measure of solace.”
An F.B.I. investigative crew revisited the case in 2021, the company mentioned. It re-examined earlier leads and interviews and proof recovered from the positioning of the killings. Investigators submitted a few of the proof for DNA testing and located a match to Mr. Jackson’s DNA, the company mentioned.
“Though we had this DNA match, we took further steps and in contrast proof from Lollie and Julie’s murders on to a buccal swab containing Jackson’s DNA,” Stanley M. Meador, the F.B.I. particular agent in cost in Richmond, mentioned in a information launch.
Mr. Jackson, who painted properties for a dwelling, died in an Ohio jail in March 2018, officers mentioned. He had an intensive prison historical past, together with convictions for rape, kidnapping and assault.
At a information convention on Thursday, officers mentioned that there was proof that Mr. Jackson had sexually assaulted each girls earlier than killing them.
Park rangers found Ms. Williams and Ms. Winans with their throats slashed on June 1, 1996, close to the Skyland Resort in Shenandoah Nationwide Park, in response to officers and a report in The Roanoke Instances in 2002.
That 12 months, federal prosecutors introduced that one other man, Darrell David Rice, had been indicted within the slayings of the ladies, The Roanoke Instances reported.
The U.S. legal professional basic on the time said that Mr. Rice, who had a historical past of violence towards girls and had been charged for attacking a lady on the identical nationwide park, had focused the couple as a result of they have been girls and so they have been lesbians, the paper reported.
In 2004, prosecutors dropped the homicide prices in opposition to Mr. Rice as a result of DNA proof in the end didn’t match him or the ladies.
On the information convention, officers mentioned that that they had investigated whether or not Mr. Jackson might be charged with a hate crime, however discovered no proof suggesting that he knew in regards to the sexual orientation of the ladies.
On the time of the killings, Mr. Jackson, who officers mentioned was an avid hiker, was believed to have been driving a 1984 Chestnut Brown AMC Eagle 30 and later drove a Ford van.
On the information convention, the F.B.I. launched particulars about his automobiles together with images of Mr. Jackson and requested for the general public’s assist figuring out whether or not he had further victims.
