Convicted serial rapist linked to Shenandoah park murders, FBI says

The FBI is seeking information in the 1996 deaths of Julianne “Julie” Williams and Laura “Lollie” Winans in Shenandoah National Park. RICHMOND — Federal authorities on Thursday announced that they now believe a convicted serial rapist from Ohio killed two female hikers nearly three decades ago at a secluded campsite in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia.

The identification Thursday of Walter “Leo” Jackson Sr. as the likely killer punctuated a case that vexed authorities for years. Investigators at points eyed at least two other men — one of whom was charged with capital murder. After prosecutors dropped that case, court documents detailed evidence potentially linking the murders to a dead serial killer.“We now know who is responsible for this heinous crime,"said Stanley M.

“Make no mistake that this crime was brutal," said Christopher Kavanaugh, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia. He said there is no evidence the killings of the couple were motivated by hate bias, as authorities had initially believed.The latest development came after a new special agent in charge in the Richmond office requested a full review of the case in 2021. Authorities were unclear about whether the same testing could have been done long ago.

Federal authorities had initially arrested another man in the killings of Williams and Winans, and in 2002 filed capital murder charges against Darrell D. Rice, a computer programmer from Maryland. They said at the time they believed the attack was motivated by anti-gay, anti-woman rage. Authorities cited mounting circumstantial evidence: surveillance video twice showed Rice entering the park around the time of the killings.

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