International Courant
After practically three a long time, a convicted serial rapist has been recognized as a suspect within the 1996 double homicide of two girls in a Virginia nationwide park, federal authorities mentioned.
However the suspect is not going to be charged as he died in jail six years in the past, authorities mentioned.
On Could 24, 1996, Laura “Lollie” Winans, 26, and Julianne “Julie” Williams, 24, had been sexually assaulted and killed in a “brutal” assault at their campsite in Shenandoah Nationwide Park, Christopher Kavanaugh, U.S. Legal professional for the Western District. of Virginia, mentioned at a information convention Thursday.
Winans and Williams met by a company that provides out of doors journey and academic applications for girls, Kavanaugh mentioned.
The ladies went into the park on Could 19 and had been final seen alive on the night of Could 24, Kavanaugh mentioned.
Their family members referred to as the Nationwide Park Service after they did not return house, and their our bodies had been found per week later, the FBI mentioned.
A long time handed with out solutions.
A brand new FBI workforce was then assigned to analyze the case in 2021, and the workforce decided what proof could be applicable for retesting, FBI Richmond Particular Agent Stanley Meador mentioned.
A laboratory not too long ago “extracted DNA from a number of items of proof” and that DNA profile has been submitted to CODIS, the nationwide legislation enforcement DNA database, the FBI mentioned in an announcement.
The DNA profile positively matched Walter “Leo” Jackson Sr., a convicted serial rapist and avid hiker who was recognized to go to Shenandoah Nationwide Park, the FBI mentioned.
“Whereas we had this DNA match, we took extra steps and instantly in contrast the proof from the murders of Lollie and Julie to a buccal swab containing Jackson’s DNA,” Meador mentioned in an announcement. “These outcomes confirmed that we had the fitting man and will lastly inform the victims’ households that we all know who’s answerable for this horrific crime.”
Walter Leo Jackson Sr.
FBI
The FBI mentioned: “Jackson had an intensive legal historical past, together with kidnapping, rape and assault.”
On June 5, 1996, simply days after the double homicide in Shenandoah Nationwide Park, Jackson kidnapped and raped a girl at knifepoint in Ohio, Kavanaugh mentioned. A month later, he kidnapped and raped one other girl at knifepoint, Kavanaugh mentioned.
Jackson was final despatched to jail in 2011 and died behind bars in Ohio in March 2018, the FBI mentioned.
Kavanaugh famous that 22 years in the past, a federal grand jury returned an indictment charging one other man with the murders of Winans and Williams, however “that case was not based mostly on forensic proof.”
In 2003, within the run-up to the trial, “prosecutors determined to pursue the case as a result of authorities specialists concluded that DNA” from the crime scene got here from a then-unknown man — and never from their defendant, Kavanaugh mentioned .
Prosecutors subsequently dismissed the case, Kavanaugh mentioned.
Retesting the proof on the crime scene created the DNA profile that was uploaded to CODIS, which led to Jackson, Kavanaugh mentioned.
Suspect recognized in 1996 double homicide of girls at nationwide park campground: FBI
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