Nearly 30 years after two women were found dead in a national park in Virginia, their killer has been identified through forensic tests, the FBI announced on Thursday.
DNA tests revealed that Walter “Leo” Jackson Sr., who died in prison in 2018, was responsible for the murders of Laura “Lollie” Winans, 26, and Julianne “Julie” Williams, 24, at Shenandoah National Park on May 24, 1996, according to a joint statement from the FBI’s Richmond Field Office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Virginia.
“After 28 years, we are now able to say who committed the brutal murders,” said U.S. Attorney Christopher R. Kavanaugh 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.”
The women’s family members contacted the National Park Service when they did not return home as planned. Their bodies were discovered on June 1, 1996, after an extensive search.
The FBI reported that they had been killed at their campsite near the Skyland Resort.