Photo: Federal Bureau of Investigation
What began as an eagerly anticipated camping trip in Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park ended in tragedy when two young women were brutally murdered on May 24, 1996. Julie Williams, 24, and Laura “Lollie” Winans, 24, had set off for a camping adventure near the Skyland Resort, but their lives were cut short when they were found bound and gagged with their throats slit a week later, on June 1, 1996. report from CBS News.
Nearly three decades later, the FBI announced that they had finally identified the man responsible for the horrific killings—Walter “Leo” Jackson, a convicted serial rapist. The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Richmond Field Office, along with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Virginia, confirmed Jackson’s involvement in a statement.
“After 28 years, we are now able to say who committed the brutal murders of Lollie Winans and Julie Williams in Shenandoah National Park,” said United States Attorney Christopher R. Kavanaugh. “I want to again extend my condolences to the Winans and Williams families and hope today’s announcement provides some small measure of solace,” told BBC.
Winans and Williams had been excited about their trip and loved spending time outdoors, according to Appalachian Trail Histories. They left for their camping trip on May 19, 1996, intending to return by May 28, but when they didn’t come back, their families alerted the National Park Service. Rangers soon discovered their bodies at the campsite, bound and slain.
#Breaking: A suspect has been identified in the 1996 murders of Lollie Winans and Julie Williams in the Shenandoah National Park. Evidence from the crime scene matched Walter Leo Jackson, Sr., of Cleveland, Ohio. pic.twitter.com/7NM7sH5kp3— FBI Richmond (@FBIRichmond) June 20, 2024
For years, the case remained unsolved. However, in 2021, a new FBI investigative team was assigned to revisit the case. Using fresh forensic techniques, they retested evidence from the crime scene and sent it to an accredited private lab. Recently, the lab successfully extracted DNA from the evidence, which was submitted to the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). A positive match was found with Walter Leo Jackson, who had a lengthy criminal record, including multiple kidnappings, rapes, and assaults.
Jackson, originally from Cleveland, Ohio, died in prison in March 2018. Though he is no longer alive to face justice, his identification has provided closure to the families of Winans and Williams, nearly 30 years after their tragic deaths.
