'Their murders sparked shock and fear'

The FBI Richmond Field Office and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Virginia announced Thursday that a suspect has been identified in the murders and sexual assaults of Laura "Lollie" Winans and Julianne "Julie" Williams.

FBI

Winans and Williams were murdered at their campsite in the Shenandoah National Park on May 24, 1996, according to law enforcement.

“Their murders sparked shock and fear throughout the community and nation,” said Stanley Meador, the special agent in charge of the Richmond Field Office in Virginia. “They volunteered in their communities, worked hard in school, and we know they absolutely loved the outdoors."

The women went missing during a planned trip to the national park. Their bodies were located on June 1, 1996. Their hands were bound. Their throats had been slashed.

“Today we are proud to stand here and tell you we now know who was responsible for this heinous crime,” Meador said.

Meador and Christopher Kavanaugh, United States Attorney for the Western District of Virginia, said DNA evidence linked Cleveland native Walter Leo Jackson, Sr., to the crimes.

FBI

Meador said the discovery came after a new investigative team started digging into the case in 2021 and eventually submitted items from the crime scene to be retested utilizing advancements in DNA testing.

“Those match results confirm a certainty that is rarely seen. One in 2.6 trillion,” Meador said. “Sadly as a result of the retest and further DNA comparisons, we are now able to say both (Winans and Williams)  were sexually assaulted.”

The new evidence in the double murder case led authorities to connect with Cleveland Police and the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office.

The FBI’s Richmond Field Office said Jackson was a serial offender who committed kidnappings and rapes of women in June and July of 1996 following the murders of Winans and Williams.

But Cavanaugh said Jackson wouldn’t be “forensically linked” to the June 1996 and July 1996 crimes until a later conviction in a separate case.

“Jackson in 2011 violently abducted and raped a woman again in Cuyahoga County, Ohio,” Cavanaugh said. “But this time he was arrested, charged and pled guilty to kidnapping, gross sexual imposition and felonious assault."

Jackson died in prison in 2018.

Cavanaugh said if Jackson were alive, there’s no doubt he’d be convicted for the crimes against Winans and Williams.

“I have no doubt under any standard that Walter Leo Jackson, Sr., committed these murders,” Cavanaugh said. “And in light of the strength of the evidence I firmly believe that we would be able to prove this case to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Investigators said Jackson worked as a residential painter by trade, was an avid hiker and was known to visit Shenandoah National Park.

Meador said relatives of Winans and Williams are grateful for investigators' efforts to solve the decades-long case.

“We can’t imagine how extremely hard it is for the family members to receive this information,” Meador said. “They’ve been seeking answers for far too long.”

At the news conference, Cavanaugh mentioned that another man had been indicted in 2001 for the murders of Winans and Williams, but charges were dropped after it was determined it was not his DNA on the crime scene.

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