FBI announces findings in 1996 slaying of two women in Shenandoah Park

The identification Thursday of Walter “Leo” Jackson Sr. as the likely killer punctuated a case that vexed authorities for years. Investigators at points eyed at least two other men — one of whom was charged with capital murder. After prosecutors dropped that case, court documents detailed evidence potentially linking the murders to a dead serial killer.

“We now know who is responsible for this heinous crime, ” said Stanley M. Meador, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s field office in Richmond. He said new DNA tests from evidence matched Jackson’s profile in a computer database. Authorities said the genetic match to Jackson is 2.6 trillion to one, more than 300 times larger than the world’s population, an exceedingly strong probability of a connection in the realm of DNA testing.

Meador said “we can’t imagine how extremely hard it is for the family members to receive this information. They’ve been seeking answers for far too long.” The victims’ throats had been slashed and their hands bound, and authorities said they had been sexually assaulted. They were last seen May 24, 1996; their bodies were found June 1.

“Make no mistake that this crime was brutal,” said Christopher Kavanaugh, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia. He said there is no evidence the killings of the couple were motivated by hate bias, as authorities had initially believed.

The latest development came after a new special agent in charge in the Richmond office requested a full review of the case in 2021. Authorities were unclear about whether the same testing could have been done long ago. Authorities said Jackson died in an Ohio prison in 2018.

At the time of her death, Winans, who grew up in Grosse Point, Mich., was completing studies at Unity College in Maine and was working toward being an accredited outdoor guide. Williams was from St. Cloud, Minn. They met through an outdoors program for women and both were described as experienced hikers.

Jackson, who lived to 70. was originally from the Cleveland area and worked as a house painter. Authorities said Thursday he had been convicted as a serial rapist as part of a lengthy criminal history in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, that also included kidnapping and assault.

Federal authorities had initially arrested another man in the killings of Williams and Winans, and in 2002 filed capital murder charges against Darrell D. Rice, a computer programmer from Maryland. They said at the time they believed the attack was motivated by anti-gay, anti-woman rage. Authorities cited mounting circumstantial evidence: surveillance video twice showed Rice entering the park around the time of the killings. He had attacked a woman in the park a year later, and he had a history of violence against women and reportedly made admissions about the case to prisoners.

The U.S. attorney general at the time, John Ashcroft, announced the indictment against Rice, the first time prosecutors used a 1994 law allowing for enhanced penalties for crimes motivated by bias against gay people. Ashcroft said then that Rice could be eligible for the death penalty.

But charges against Rice were dropped in 2004, shortly before his trial, after forensic testing showed that hairs found at the murder scene excluded him as a possible suspect and instead could implicate another man, convicted serial killer Richard M. Evonitz. He had taken his own life in 2002, before he was implicated in the slayings of Spotsylvania County, Va., girls Sofia Silva, 16, Kristin Lisk, 15, and her sister Kati, 12.

Meador with the FBI said they compared evidence from the victims directly to a buccal swab containing Jackson’s DNA.

Authorities said Jackson was known to visit Shenandoah National Park. and was believed to be driving a 1984 Chestnut Brown AMC Eagle vehicle at the time of the killings. They said Jackson often used temporary license plates, altered license plates and frequently changed vehicles.

This is a developing story and will be updated.