FBI identifies serial rapist responsible for murders in Shenandoah National Park

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Nearly three decades after two young women were found with their throats slit in Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park, federal authorities announced Thursday that they had identified a now-deceased Ohio serial rapist as the perpetrator.

The bodies of Julianne “Julie” Williams, 24, and her partner Laura “Lollie” Winans, 26, were found bound and gagged at their campsite in the park in 1996. The killings sparked a wave of fear in the LGBTQ+ community, but the FBI said during a press conference Thursday there was no evidence the women were targeted because of their sexual orientation.

The long-unsolved murders will be investigated by a new investigative team starting in 2021, said Stanley Meador, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Richmond office. Recently, a private lab extracted DNA from several pieces of evidence from the crime scene and sent the genetic profile to the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System, a database used by law enforcement to match DNA to a suspect.

They got a match to Walter “Leo” Jackson Sr., a convicted rapist from the Cleveland, Ohio, area. Meador said the FBI then obtained DNA from the original swab of Jackson, who was accused of committing another rape in Ohio, which confirmed the match. He said recent DNA testing found the odds that the DNA found at the crime scene came from someone other than Jackson are only one in 2.6 trillion.

This week, FBI officials were able to tell the families of the two women who they believe committed the murders, Meador said.

“They have been looking for answers for far too long,” Meador said.

Jackson, who worked as a house painter, died in prison in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, in 2018 at the age of 70. He had served at least four prison terms after being convicted of kidnapping and multiple counts of rape and assault.

Recent re-examination of evidence at the crime scene showed that both Williams and Winans had been sexually assaulted, said Christopher Kavanaugh, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia. Kavanaugh said authorities were investigating whether the rapes and murders could be considered hate crimes, but he said they found no evidence that Jackson knew about her sexual orientation or targeted her for that reason.

“Make no mistake, this crime was brutal, this crime was definitely motivated by hate, yet we have no evidence” that the crime was motivated by anti-gay prejudice, Kavanaugh said.

When asked whether the same DNA test could have been carried out years ago and the suspect could therefore have been identified earlier, authorities were vague.

In 2001, authorities arrested another man in connection with the murders. Darrell David Rice, a computer programmer from Maryland, was charged with capital murder. Authorities claimed he targeted Williams and Winans because of his hatred of women and homosexuals.

Rice had pleaded guilty in 1998 to kidnapping a bicyclist and forcing her into his truck, also in Shenandoah National Park. He was serving an 11-year prison sentence when he was charged with the murders of Williams and Winans. The charges were eventually dropped after forensic tests revealed that hair found at the crime scene ruled him out as a possible suspect.

Williams, who was from St. Cloud, Minnesota, and Winans, who grew up in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, were both experienced hikers and passionate about environmental issues, Kavanaugh said. They were hiking with a golden retriever named Taj when they were last seen by park staff on May 24, 1996. Their bodies were discovered at their campsite near the Skyline Resort on June 1, 1996.

Meador said the FBI continues to work with other law enforcement agencies to determine whether Jackson is responsible for other unsolved crimes.

“Our investigation will not be discontinued,” he said.