According to the FBI, a serial rapist in northeast Ohio killed two hikers in Shenandoah National Park

RICHMOND, Virginia – The FBI says a convicted Cleveland-area kidnapper and serial rapist who died in prison was the murderer of two hikers in Shenandoah National Park in 1996.

Investigators say they have used DNA evidence to link Walter “Leo” Jackson Sr. to the crime. Jackson, a house painter who went by the nickname “Leo,” died in an Ohio prison in March 2018 at age 70. He had a long criminal history that included kidnapping, rape and assault. Investigators said they are looking into whether he could be linked to other unsolved cases.

“We encourage anyone with additional information about Jackson to contact us at 1-800-Call-FBI or online at tips.fbi.gov,” Stanley M. Meador, special agent in charge of the FBI in Richmond, said at a press conference Thursday.

Investigators say Jackson killed Laura “Lollie” Winans, a 26-year-old who grew up in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, and Julianne “Julie” Williams, a 24-year-old from St. Cloud, Minnesota, at their campsite near Skyland Resort on May 24, 1996. The two were experienced hikers and committed to environmental conservation.

When the couple did not return home, family members called the National Park Service. Their bodies were found on June 1, 1996, after an extensive search by National Park Service rangers. Their hands were bound with duct tape, they had been sexually assaulted, and their throats were slit.

The long-unsolved case inspired a book and eventually disproved theories that other men – one of them a dead serial killer – had committed the crime. Because the two were gay, their murders raised fears that it was a hate crime.

Christopher Kavanaugh, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia, said the investigation found no evidence that Jackson targeted the victims because they were members of the LGBTQ community.

He said that on June 5, 1996, just days after the Shenandoah National Park murders, Jackson returned to Cuyahoga County, where he violently abducted and raped a woman while holding a knife to her throat. A little more than a month later, on July 16, 1996, Jackson, also in Cuyahoga County, broke into an apartment and abducted and raped a woman at knifepoint. He was not initially identified in that investigation and is still at large, Kavanaugh said.

Fifteen years later, seven of which Jackson spent in prison for a different crime, Kavanaugh said Jackson forcibly abducted and raped another woman in Cuyahoga County. He was arrested for that crime and pleaded guilty to kidnapping, sexual assault and aggravated assault.

While Jackson was serving his sentence for that 2011 crime, he was forensically linked to the 1996 kidnapping and rapes in Cuyahoga County. Kavanaugh said a jury unanimously found him guilty on two counts of rape and kidnapping in those cases and sentenced him to an additional 20 years in prison.

He said a re-examination of evidence in the Winans and Williams case, launched in 2021, found DNA evidence that could be traced back to Jackson. Kavanaugh said there was a one in 2.6 trillion chance the DNA could have come from someone else.

“I have followed many unsolved murder cases and have never seen numbers this high,” Kavanaugh said.

Investigators described Jackson as an avid hiker and said he was known to visit Shenandoah National Park. At the time of the murders, they believe he was driving a maroon 1984 AMC Eagle 30. Later, Jackson drove a 1979 Ford Econoline 250 van. He was known to use temporary plates, change license plates and frequently change vehicles.

They said he could not have committed any crimes while in prison. In addition to the 2012 incarceration that preceded his death in 2018, they said Jackson was incarcerated from January 1984 to February 1989 on charges from Geauga County, from May 1994 to September 1994 on charges from Cuyahoga County and from August 2000 to May 2007 on charges from Cuyahoga County.

“Even though Jackson is dead, our work doesn’t end,” Meador said. “We are compiling a timeline of Jackson’s movements to share with our partners and help them with unsolved cases.”

Sabrina Eaton writes for cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer about the federal government and politics in Washington, DC.