Decades after 2 women were killed in Shenandoah National Park, serial rapist is linked to their deaths
Nearly three decades after two women were found dead in a national park in Virginia, their killer — a "serial rapist" who died in prison in 2018 — was identified through forensic tests, the FBI said Thursday.
Nearly three decades after two women were found dead in a national park in Virginia, their killer — a "serial rapist" who died in prison in 2018 — was identified through forensic tests, the FBI said Thursday.
DNA tests determined that Walter "Leo" Jackson Sr. killed Laura “Lollie” Winans, 26, and Julianne “Julie” Williams, 24, at Shenandoah National Park on May 24, 1996, the FBI's Richmond Field Office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Virginia said Thursday in a joint statement.
“After 28 years, we are now able to say who committed the brutal murders,” U.S. Attorney Christopher R. Kavanaugh said in the statement. “I want to again extend my condolences to the Winans and Williams families and hope today’s announcement provides some small measure of solace.”
Their family members called the National Park Service when the women didn't return home as planned. Their bodies were found June 1, 1996, following an extensive search.
They had been killed at their campsite near the Skyland Resort, the FBI said.
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