Two young women camping in Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park were murdered in 1996. Now, the FBI knows who killed them.
DNA has linked serial rapist Walter Leo Jackson Sr. to the murders of 26-year-old Laura “Lollie” Winans and 24-year-old Julianne “Julie” Williams, who went missing while camping in May 1996, the FBI announced. The two left on May 19 and were supposed to return on May 28, People Magazine reported.
Family members called the National Park Service when the two didn’t return home on the expected date.
Their bodies were found bound and gagged, with their throats slit, on June 1, but it was determined they had been murdered at their campsite near the Skyland Resort on May 24. The case went cold, and no one knew who killed the women for more than two decades.
In 2021, investigators at FBI Richmond were assigned to investigate the case. They reassessed hundreds of leads and interviews conducted over the previous two and a half decades. They also submitted evidence from the crime scene to be retested by a private lab.
That lab was able to pull DNA from the evidence and develop a suspect profile, which was put into the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). The DNA matched that of convicted serial rapist Walter Leo Jackson, who was originally from the Cleveland, Ohio, area.
“Even though we had this DNA match, we took additional steps and compared evidence from Lollie and Julie’s murders directly to a buccal swab containing Jackson’s DNA,” Stanley M. Meador, the FBI Richmond special agent in charge, said in the press release. “Those results confirmed we had the right man and finally could tell the victim’s families we know who is responsible for this heinous crime.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP
Jackson died in prison in March 2018 and had a lengthy criminal history, including convictions for kidnapping, multiple rapes, and multiple assaults. Jackson was a residential painter and avid hiker known to visit Shenandoah National Park. The FBI said he would use temporary tags, frequently change vehicles, and alter his license plates.
“After 28 years, we are now able to say who committed the brutal murders of Lollie Winans and Julie Williams in Shenandoah National Park,” U.S. Attorney Christopher R. Kavanaugh said. “I want to again extend my condolences to the Winans and Williams families and hope today’s announcement provides some small measure of solace.”
Authorities are seeking any information that could connect Jackson to other crimes.
