California officials say they have identified the man they say is responsible for brutally raping and murdering a teenager in 1979.
In February of that year, Esther Gonzalez, 17, was attacked while walking from her parents’ house to her sister’s home in Riverside County, about 55 miles east of Los Angeles.
The next day, the teenager’s body was found dumped in a snowpack near a highway. Authorities at the time determined she had been raped and bludgeoned to death.
The case went cold for more than 45 years until officials were able to use forensic technology to find her killer. In a news release issued on Wednesday, the Riverside County District Attorney said that a man named Lewis Randolph “Randy” Williamson is now tied to the case.
Williamson died in 2014. He served in the US Marine Corps and moved to Florida, according to the Los Angeles Times. He had a history of assault allegations but had no convictions for violent crimes, the outlet reported.
Following Esther’s murder, Williamson called the Riverside County Sheriff’s Station to report finding a dead body. He told police he didn’t know if the person was male or female. Officials noted the man was “argumentative.” Once investigators were able to identify the caller, they brought him in for a polygraph test five days later.
Williamson agreed and passed the test, effectively clearing him of wrongdoing. A semen sample was recovered from Gonzalez’s body but DNA testing wasn’t available at the time. The sample was eventually uploaded to the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), a national DNA database widely used by law enforcement officials.
Detectives continued to investigate the case for years.
In 2023, members of the county’s homicide cold case team sent various items to a lab in Texas for testing. Officials were later able to use a sample of Williamson’s blood from an autopsy to determine his DNA matched the DNA found on Gonzalez, bringing closure to the girl’s family.
Jason Corey, a county investigator, told the newspaper: “This killing still haunts them,” speaking of Gonzalez’s family.” But Esther was never forgotten by us all these years.”
Authorities are asking that anyone with information on the case or potential victims contact county officials.
