– FBI identifies suspect in Virginia double homicide
– FBI releases suspect in Virginia double murder case.
Accident – Death – Obituary News :
A deceased convicted serial rapist from Ohio has been identified as the suspect responsible for the murders of two women in Shenandoah National Park nearly three decades ago, a case that has puzzled investigators for years.
Identification of the Suspect
DNA evidence that was recently retested linked Walter Leo Jackson Sr., of Cleveland, Ohio, to the killings of 24-year-old Julianne “Julie” Williams and 26-year-old Laura “Lollie” Winans, the FBI announced on Thursday.
U.S. Attorney Christopher Kavanaugh stated, “After 28 years, we are now able to say who committed the brutal murders of Lollie Winans and Julie Williams in Shenandoah National Park.”
The Victims
Both women, who were in a relationship, were killed on May 24, 1996, at their campsite near the Skyland Resort in Virginia. They had set out on a hiking trip in Shenandoah National Park on May 19 and were expected to return to their summer jobs in Vermont on May 28. Concerned family members contacted the National Park Service when the women failed to return home.
Their bodies were discovered on June 1, 1996, during a search conducted by park rangers. The women had been bound and their throats had been slashed.
Investigation and New Developments
Jackson, who passed away in a prison in Cuyahoga County, Ohio in March 2018, had a criminal history that included kidnapping, rapes, and assaults. He was forensically linked to two rapes that occurred in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, in June and July 1996, shortly after the murders of Winans and Williams.
Another man, Darrell D. Rice, was indicted for the murders in 2004, but the charges against him were dropped just before his trial when his DNA did not match the evidence. In 2021, the Virginia FBI reopened the case, re-examining all evidence and conducting new DNA tests with the help of the Department of Justice’s sexual-assault-kit initiative.
Confirmation of the Suspect
The new DNA tests confirmed that Jackson was the perpetrator, with a statistical likelihood of one in 2.6 trillion that the DNA found at the crime scene belonged to someone other than him. Federal investigators believe that Jackson was driving a 1984 Chestnut Brown AMC Eagle 30 at the time of the murders, although he frequently changed vehicles and manipulated license plates.
The FBI is currently investigating whether Jackson may be linked to other unsolved crimes. The identification of Jackson as the suspect in the murders of Julie Williams and Lollie Winans has brought closure to their families after nearly three decades of uncertainty.
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1. FBI names suspect in Virginia double murder
2. FBI identifies suspect in Virginia double homicide.
