FBI reveals killer in 1996 double-murder in Shenandoah National Park

Federal investigators still trying to connect serial rapist to other crimes

By Randy Arrington

LURAY, June 20 — On May 19, 1996, “Julie” and “Lollie” entered Shenandoah National Park for a five-day hike. The two women in their 20s spent several days on the trail and were last seen around 5:30 p.m. on May 24, 1996, after getting a ride from a park official. Their bodies were found eight days later at a campsite about a half mile from Skyland Lodge with their hands bound and their throats slashed. Federal authorities spent the next 28 years searching for the killer — including one arrest that was later dismissed.

On Thursday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Richmond Field Office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Virginia announced that the killer has finally been identified. Degree of certainty? One in 2.6 trillion.

“After 28 years, we are now able to say who committed the brutal murders of Lollie Winans and Julie Williams in Shenandoah National Park,” United States Attorney Christopher R. Kavanaugh said at Thursday’s press conference. “I want to again extend my condolences to the Winans and Williams families and hope today’s announcement provides some small measure of solace.”

Recently, a private lab successfully pulled DNA from several items of evidence and, with assistance from the Virginia State Police, the profile was submitted to the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), according to an FBI press release issued following Thursday’s press conference.

Walter Leo Jackson Senior proved to be a positive DNA match to several pieces of evidence in the 1996 national park murders. The Cleveland, Ohio native and residential painter by trade, was also a convicted serial rapist, according to the FBI report, and “was an avid hiker and was known to visit Shenandoah National Park.”

In 2021, a new FBI Richmond investigative team was assigned to conduct a methodic review of the case, Thursday’s report stated. FBI special agents, intelligence analysts, and other FBI Richmond employees reassessed hundreds of leads and interviews. They spent countless hours to identify and prioritize evidence from the crime scene to retest and submitted the items to an accredited private lab.  

“Even though we had this DNA match, we took additional steps and compared evidence from Lollie and Julie’s murders directly to a buccal swab containing Jackson’s DNA. Those results confirmed we had the right man and finally could tell the victim’s families we know who is responsible for this heinous crime,” said Stanley M. Meador, the FBI Richmond special agent in charge. 

In October of 2003, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft moved to continue the case he had placed against Darrell David Rice for the park murders, basically dismissing the charges that had been placed “under intense public pressure to blame someone,” according to Kavanaugh’s comments on Thursday. He stated that the case against Rice was “not built on forensic evidence.”

However, the DNA match to Jackson has a margin or error of one in 2.6 trillion.

“I have never witnessed that high a level of certainty,” Kavanaugh said. “If he were alive today, with the evidence we have today…I would seek two counts of first degree murder, and I have no doubt, based on the strength of the evidence, we would have success in court.”

Jackson, who went by the name “Leo,” died in prison in March 2018 in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. Jackson had a lengthy criminal history, including kidnapping, rapes, and assaults, according to the FBI press release. The investigative team continued taking steps to learn more about Jackson’s activities through the years, which included coordination with the Cleveland Police Department and Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office.    

Back in 1996, when the two young women did not return home and their families had not heard from them, an extensive search was launched by National Park Service rangers for Julianne “Julie” Williams, 24, of St. Cloud, Minn. and Laura “Lollie” Winans, 26, of Grosse Pointe, Mich. They were found on June 1, 1996 — just under two weeks from when they entered the park, and just eight days after last being seen. Investigators later stated that the women had likely been killed on May 28, 1996.

At the time, federal authorities had as estimated 30,000 to 50,000 suspects — the projected visitation to Shenandoah National Park during a Memorial Day surge over the three-day weekend.

“It’s a challenging case in the sense that the potential witnesses are vast,” stated then-spokesperson for the FBI Richmond office, Mary Johlie, on the five-year anniversary of the SNP murders.

The crime scene was several days old when the bodies were found and in an area where animals and people were coming and going constantly. The FBI offered a $50,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest. Within the first year, park officials stated that investigators from both the FBI and the National Park Service had ruled out more than 200 potential suspects. However, national media attention drew thousands of leads from the public.

“The media focus helped in the sense that it brought more attention to the case… jogged people’s memories and made more people aware of what we were doing,” Johlie told the Page News and Courier’s Jeb Caudill in 2001. “Obviously, it didn’t turn up the lead that we were looking for.”

Much of the national media attention centered around the couple’s sexual orientation, thus framing them as victims of a hate crime. The incident appeared as a featured segment on television’s “America’s Most Wanted.” This created at least a portion of the public pressure that Ashcroft felt to hold someone accountable for the Shenandoah National Park killings. Public speculation also linked the Skyland murders to the 1986 killing of a lesbian couple in Colonial Park near Williamsburg — a connection the FBI also explored, but no link was found.

Authorities contended throughout the investigation that there was no evidence indicating a hate crime because the women were a lesbian couple. In fact, investigators could not establish a motive in the killings until they found the killer and identified him as a serial rapist.

At Thursday’s press conference, Kavanaugh revealed that the new evidence not only linked Jackson to the killings, but also showed clear evidence of sexual assault on both women. The U.S. District Attorney also noted that within two months after the killings in Shenandoah National Park, Jackson returned to Ohio to rape and kill two more victims. Fifteen years later, in 2011, Jackson violently abducted and raped another woman in Ohio…and he was finally caught. Forensic evidence, including DNA, started linking Jackson to the crimes listed here. He was convicted of the two 1996 Ohio rapes and murders in 2014 and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He died in prison in 2018. Federal authorities believe there may be more cold cases out there that Jackson could be connected to.

“At the time of Lollie and Julie’s murders, we believe he was driving a 1984 Chestnut Brown AMC Eagle 30. Jackson later drove a 1979 model Ford Econoline 250 van. Jackson was known to use temporary tags, alter license plates, and frequently change vehicles,” reads the FBI press release. “The FBI will continue to work with law enforcement partners to determine if Jackson is responsible for other unsolved crimes. Anyone with information on Jackson should call 1-800-CALL FBI or submit online at tips.fbi.gov.”

The FBI hopes to use future tips and leads to create a timeline for the period before Jackson was incarcerated in Ohio.

On the first anniversary of the Skyland murders, a group of outdoor education leaders called the Women’s Professional Group of the Association for Experiential Education organized a “Take Back the Trails” initiative, where thousands of women hiked trails nationwide over the Memorial Day weekend to call attention to violence against women. Williams’ parents took part by hiking in the area where their daughter was killed. Accounts of these “Take Back the Trails” hikes appeared in newspapers and on television stations nationwide.

This week, the 28-year-old cold case was closed and federal authorities noted the efforts of many agents and many agencies, new resources and new technology, that lead to their eventual success.

“No matter how long it takes, our investigation will not stop,” FBI Special Agent Meador said on Thursday. “No one can imagine the pain the families of Julie and Lollie have endured for the last 28 years. This is a great example of our persistence to not give up on a case.”

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