While it took place nearly 30 years ago, the unsolved double murder that took place in 1996 near a campsite at Shenandoah National Park continues to affect the reputation of the Virginia park that attracts around 1.4 million visitors annually.
Known for its scenic trails and stunning fall foliage, the national park so beloved by President Franklin D. Roosevelt spans over 196,000 acres many of which are made up of remote backcountry that makes it particularly difficult to search for missing people.
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In May 1996, 26-year-old Laura “Lollie” Winans and 24-year-old Julianne “Julie” Williams were discovered murdered near Shenandoah’s Skyland Resort. While a nationwide hunt for the killer was immediately announced, it proved unfruitful for nearly three decades. Only now, on June 19, 2024, was the Federal Bureau of Investigations able to use DNA evidence to identify a 77-year-old Cleveland man named Walter Leo Jackson Sr. as the suspect.
‘Results confirmed we had the right man’
Improved DNA identification methods allowed the new team picking up the investigation to test evidence discovered when Winans’ and Williams’ bodies were found on June 1, 1996. Jackson Sr. was a convicted serial rapist with a track record of other crimes for which he was eventually arrested and convicted. He died in prison in Ohio’s Cuyahoga County in 2018.
“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 assigned to review the case in 2021. “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.”
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Other evidence unveiled by the lab tests suggest that Jackson Sr. Was drove either a 1984 Chestnut Brown AMC Eagle 30 or Ford Econoline 250 van at the time he pulled Winans and Williams into one of his vehicles. According to the FBI’s report, he was known to switch cars or put up fake license plates on the ones he was driving in order to conceal his tracks.
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Be aware of your surroundings and stay safe
“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 in a 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.”
While their remoteness is precisely what attracts millions of tourists looking to experience untouched nature, the country’s national parks also pose certain dangers as help in areas far away from the visitor center may be slow in coming. The NPS reminds visitors to always “be aware of their surroundings” and have a plan in which at least one other person knows where you are at all times.
Other dangers also include wild animals that can sneak up on visitors and extreme heat in some of the country’s southernmost parks – at the start of June, two visitors escaped near death after being left without water several hours into a hike at Joshua Tree before being rescued by helicopter.
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