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E230: The Colonial Parkway Murders
3.1k Plays6 months ago
The Colonial Parkway Murders: a string of homicides that plagued Virginia from 1986 to 1989. Envision moonlit rendezvous twisted into scenes of horror, leaving communities reeling with fear. But here's what keeps us awake at night: despite exhaustive investigations, the perpetrator of these heinous acts remains at large, lurking in the shadows of the Colonial Parkway. Join us as we navigate through just a few of the twists and turns of the unimaginable horror involved in this unsolved case.
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Transcript
Introduction to Colonial Parkway Murders
00:00:00
Speaker
The headlights cut through the dense Virginia humidity, casting an eerie glow on the deserted Colonial Parkway. For over three decades, the Colonial Parkway has held a sinister secret, a string of brutal murders that casts a long shadow, leaving a wake of shattered lives and unanswered questions.
00:00:17
Speaker
The twilight cloak settled over the Colonial Parkway, swallowing the once vibrant hues of the Virginia landscape. A lone car crept along the deserted road, its headlights carving the fleeting beams through the heavy summer air. Inside, a young couple oblivious to the unseen eyes watching them share stolen glances and whispered promises.
00:00:35
Speaker
Laughter and hushed conversation spilled from a parked car, a fleeting moment of youthful normalcy before vanishing into the oppressive silence. There beneath the shadowy canopy of oaks, whispers turn to screams unheard and lovers' lane becomes chilling testaments to a darkness that lurks unseen. The idyllic scene held a sinister undercurrent. The scenic stretch of road, once a haven for lovers,
00:00:57
Speaker
had become a notorious hunting ground. Brutal murders shrouded in an unsettling silence had left a trail of blood and shattered dreams in their wake. For over 30 years, the Colonial Parkway has harbored a dark secret. Multiple couples vanished from the secluded pull-offs, their fates a chilling mystery whispered in the wind. The idyllic beauty of the park transformed into a chilling tableau,
00:01:18
Speaker
where the wrestling leaves seem to echo with unheard screams, a tale that delves into the heart of darkness where the line between love and violence blurs and the parkway itself becomes a monument to a terror that continues to haunt the memory. This is the story of the colonial parkway murders.
00:01:47
Speaker
Yeah.
00:02:07
Speaker
Welcome to Coffee and Cases where we like our coffee hot and our cases cold.
Meet the Hosts of Coffee and Cases
00:02:12
Speaker
My name is Allison Williams. And my name is Maggie Dameron. We will be telling stories each week in the hopes that someone out there with any information concerning the cases will take those tips to law enforcement. So justice and closure can be brought to these families.
00:02:26
Speaker
With each case, we encourage you to continue in the conversation on our Facebook page, Coffee and Cases podcast, because as we all know, conversation helps to keep the missing person in the public consciousness, helping keep their memories alive. So sit back, sip your coffee, and listen to what's brewing this week. Okay, so once again, sleuth hounds, eye sounds, dopped up because
00:02:51
Speaker
It's spring slash summer in the state of Kentucky and we swim through pollen when we go outside. Maggie is allergic to everything green outside. And obviously today we're in the beautiful state of Virginia. Okay, Virginia is for lovers. Literally.
00:03:12
Speaker
Literally. Side note, if I could move anywhere in the United States, like if I won the lottery, I would not come out and tell people, but there would be signs. One of which would be me moving to Boone, North Carolina, which is like you have to drive through Virginia. It's one of my most favorite drives. So just in case y'all never miss me. So this discussion about Virginia gets you in your fields. Yeah, gets me in the fields.
00:03:41
Speaker
So anywho, the Colonial Parkway murders take place along Virginia's Colonial Parkway and it happened in the late 1980s.
History of the Colonial Parkway Murders
00:03:51
Speaker
And listen, there's a possibility I might say 1880 because 1980 feels like yesterday, not X amount of years ago. Okay. So just a little heads up for you all. So this unsolved serial killer case while no longer, yeah. Yeah.
00:04:09
Speaker
It is no longer actively being investigated because they believe the person responsible has died. Okay. It still continues to captivate people though, because of the brutality. And there's so many lingering unanswered questions, all of which, Alison, we will explore today. But something that I think keeps drawing people back is
00:04:38
Speaker
The suspect is dead, but we may never solve it because there may never be a way to prove that he was the killer. Right. Because how do you get assurance? Yeah. Right. Just wait till we get to that part. That's crazy.
00:04:55
Speaker
So the Colonial Parkway runs through Virginia's Colonial National Historical Park. Longest name for a park ever. I feel like you all probably could have got together, Virginia, and came up with a shorter name.
00:05:12
Speaker
Can we not just say either colonial or historical? Do we need both? Do we need national in there? Could it just say Virginia's colonial? I think my problem with it is all the A.L.s. Colonial, national, historical. It's too much. Yeah. But through this historical park,
00:05:33
Speaker
No, the colonial-national historical part. Yeah, sorry, my bad. Gotta use all those words. That's right. This 23-mile scenic drive, commissioned in 1930 and completed in 1957, winds through lush forest, passed all these pretty shimmering rivers, it has breathtaking glimpses of the countryside, and it was designed to be that way.
00:05:58
Speaker
So it was designed to be a tranquil escape for history buffs in particular as a way for them to kind of get off the main road and it connects Jamestown, Colonial Williamsburg, and Yorktown Battlefield. Okay. And because this road is more scenic,
00:06:20
Speaker
Visitors are actually encouraged to pull off at these designated areas and wander through time exploring remnants of colonial past. But we know that this idyllic stretch of road turned into basically a hunting ground. And so I have put a few pictures
00:06:38
Speaker
OK, so you can kind of see there's I would say that's a trail. I don't know if that's like the road. That's not what I envisioned when I think it almost looks like a road covered in pine needles, but it definitely it's not.
00:06:55
Speaker
some dark, scary area. I mean, you can see the open sky through the trees. It's a wide path, whatever it is. So I guess if, if I were walking this, which I wouldn't be because I don't, it's not an exercise I partake in going out on hikes. But if I were to do so, I would feel safe with a partner group of people.
00:07:24
Speaker
walking along that trail because it is wide you do see the sky and there's in that second picture you shared there's an information sign so you know it's being monitored or you're not carving your own path through the wilderness
00:07:43
Speaker
But would your opinion of that change if it was nighttime? Oh, I'm sure. Yes. If I'm not going to hike during the day, I'm sure as heck not going to go at night.
The Modus Operandi of the Killer
00:07:55
Speaker
Yeah. When we both run to the trash can and we have to take trash out at nighttime. Alison, I say hunting ground because we know of at least eight people who are murdered along the stretch of highway. Yeah. So it is very, it's a very high number. And I know you talked about
00:08:13
Speaker
You know, it's open. You can see the trees in the sky, blah, blah, blah. But I think our feelings would change if it was nighttime, because if you look at that picture, there's no street lights. Right. You're in the middle of nowhere. It's very isolated. So I think that atmosphere would be totally different. And because of that isolation, it was very popular amongst levers to frequent those like back roads.
00:08:40
Speaker
Well, yeah, because if you're smooching, you don't want to be interrupted. Yeah, or found. Right. So it's no coincidence that this killer's victim of choice was young couples that were found along the highway.
00:08:55
Speaker
We are going to talk today about three couples whose bodies were recovered and then another couple who is still missing but now presumed dead. And there are actually additional homicides that we're not really going to touch on that people say could be victims of the Colonial Parkway murders. Wow. And that's so sad because number one, they're young. Number two, they're thinking about
00:09:21
Speaker
Oh, love and all these positive things. And then someone stole that. Yeah. Yeah. So you all don't know this because, you know, how would you, but Allison and I take took two days to record this episode. Yeah. So if I sound even more nasally in this, like last two thirds, it's because it's a new day and a new pollen day, new pollen count.
00:09:49
Speaker
Like most serial killers who stick to one particular method of killing, the colonial parkway killer would mix it up. So this person would strangle victims. There's some shootings and there's some stabbings. That is very odd. Yeah, and it initially made it very hard to link all the deaths together because I would imagine so. You know, you think of, oh, they strangle all their victims. Right.
00:10:19
Speaker
I mean, even when we talk about cases and we talk about theories and potential links to, say, serial killers, then we say, oh, this person's MO is to do this thing. And because in this case, we don't see that, then we say, oh, they're probably not linked. So that's very bizarre that the Colonial Parkway murders had all these different methods.
00:10:46
Speaker
And I don't know if initially they were like, you know, just made the connection because they're all along that right way.
00:10:55
Speaker
But there, in all of them, no evidence of burglary. And some sources say that there was no evidence of sexual assault in any of the cases, but there's one case where there could potentially be, but there could be another reason as well, if that makes sense. Okay. Not yet, but I'm sure it will. It will. It will.
00:11:16
Speaker
Most people believe that the killer drove the victims vehicles away from the murder sites some people think that he or she could have been impersonating a police officer because in some of the cases we'll talk about there's evidence that maybe They stopped along the roadway and rolled their window down to speak to someone Okay
00:11:40
Speaker
But since there are so many confirmed victims, you know, meaning there are more that could potentially be out there and are unconfirmed, I thought we would just go straight into my details of the victims and their deaths so we can get through everything. And I am going to preface this by saying most of the research that I'm going to talk about in this next little section comes from the crime museum. They had just the best
00:12:09
Speaker
overview? Yeah, overview and in-depth, I guess, analysis of all of these different scenarios. First, we meet Kathy Thomas and Rebecca Dowski, and they have a very grisly
00:12:28
Speaker
crime scene along the Parkway. So on October the 12th 1986, a passerby spotted a car down this sort of embankment hidden off the main road and they thought it was kind of weird so they called the highway patrolman who arrived to find the bodies of these two young women inside.
00:12:47
Speaker
And then they were identified as Kathy, who was a 27-year-old Naval Academy graduate and her girlfriend, Rebecca, a 21-year-old student at the College of William and Mary. Interestingly to me, the couple had vanished three days earlier after leaving the computer lab. So they've not been seen for three days. And no one reported the miss? Not that I read in this research.
00:13:10
Speaker
have especially thought at the Naval Academy, oh a graduate though you said, so she's not there. But the other is a student. Hmm. Unless it's like fall break maybe? Maybe.
00:13:25
Speaker
I'm not sure, but no, not that what I read here. Okay. Both women were bound, strangled, and suffered from severe throat cuts. And when I say that their throat cuts were severe, they were so deep that the two were nearly decapitated.
00:13:44
Speaker
Rebecca's body was found in the backseat of the car while Kathy was found stuffed into the hatchback. There was no evidence of sexual assault. The police believe that the murders had happened elsewhere and the bodies had been dumped in the car since there wasn't much blood in the car itself.
00:14:00
Speaker
They also ruled out robbery as a motive, since both women's purses were still there and no money or jewelry had been taken. The killer had tried to burn the car with gasoline, but had failed to do so. Despite the brutality, there were no signs of sexual assault and their belongings remained untouched. The lack of blood after seeing in the presence of gasoline suggested the murder happened elsewhere and the bodies were dumped later."
00:14:24
Speaker
Hmm. And there were extensive investigations on this crime scene and like the evidence I was collected, but they failed to yield any results. So this case sat unsolved. Bizarre because, okay, here's, here are the confusing things to me so far. Number one, I find it, this is going to sound really bad.
00:14:53
Speaker
I find it odd that the killer would go to a known lover's lane location but not have sexual assault as a motive.
00:15:09
Speaker
And I think that says a lot about this person's personality. They have something going on in there. They definitely do. So that is interesting to me. It's also interesting to me that it says there's not much blood.
00:15:25
Speaker
car. I mean, I guess they could have gotten out of the car, but I don't think it's very romantic to be kissing and smooching laying on pine needles. But maybe that's just me. And then number three, I would think if the plan is to burn the car with gasoline,
00:15:48
Speaker
I wouldn't think that that would be that hard to do, that you would fail to do it unless they started to do it and then they heard a noise and thought someone was coming and so stopped or something like that in the middle. Maybe just poured the gasoline out and never made a match.
00:16:07
Speaker
And to go on your thing about why were they out of the car? I wonder if that's one of the reasons that people say maybe this person was pretending to be a police officer and maybe he got them out of the car that way. But then I feel like there was, there's a crime scene somewhere and I guess they just didn't find it. Yeah. And you would, you're right. Because if they didn't even find it, you would think that they would be
00:16:32
Speaker
It would be somewhere close to the car. Unless maybe they live close to the parkway and they're somehow convincing these people to go home and then bringing them back afterwards. I feel like that's a lot of work. That is. Yeah, that's very odd.
00:16:49
Speaker
Things were quiet along the Parkway until September 22nd, 1987. So almost a year later, when the second couple to fall victim to the Colonial Parkway Killer, David Nobling and Robin Edwards were found.
Notable Victims: David Nobling and Robin Edwards
00:17:04
Speaker
I am going to say this is, this one's weird because David is 20 and Robin is 14.
00:17:18
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. If you're 27 and 21. If you're 36 and 30. Okay. 20 and 14.
00:17:32
Speaker
Yeah. And they had vanished on the 19th. So again, three days. And at first when I was, you know, just beginning to read this, cause I hadn't heard of this case before, but y'all know I'd, you know, have no lie. We're sheltered.
00:17:49
Speaker
Yeah. I was like, oh, maybe she's with her uncle or whatever. No. Oh, they were in a romantic relationship. Yeah. So earlier that day they had met at an arcade and then they part ways and go home. And I'm assuming, though I didn't read this anywhere, that Robin got in trouble because, or, you know, was able to... It's past her bedtime.
00:18:15
Speaker
Yeah. Well, I think she didn't. Yeah. I think maybe she was like, Hey, I'm meeting friends at the arcade and it's during the day. But then at nighttime, her mom's like, you have curfew. So you're not going back out as a child. And she sneaks out again on the night of the 19th to see David. And this is when they run into trouble.
00:18:35
Speaker
So the several days go by, the couple was missing, but then David's car was found abandoned near the James River Bridge and it held a grim clue. It contained their belongings, so clothes, there was underwear, socks, shoes, and even David's wallet. So again, robbery seemed very unlikely because anything of value was left in the car.
00:19:00
Speaker
Okay. And this one is when the investigators are wondering, hey, maybe they're posing as an authority figure because the window on the driver's side was partially rolled down. So that's why they think, okay, this killer may be posing as an officer. Now this is weird to me in comparison with the other one, because by saying, I'm assuming, where you said,
00:19:30
Speaker
The car held a grim clue. You didn't say anything about the couple being in the car. Yeah, so they were found on the shoreline. Huh, so not in the car. Right.
00:19:46
Speaker
Both David and Robin were shot. So Robin was executed with a single shot to the back of the head. David was actually shot twice, once in the shoulder. And many people say that is suggestive that he was running away. He tried to escape. And then shot again to kill him. Robin's clothing was disturbed. And this is when I was saying at the beginning,
00:20:12
Speaker
There's no confirmed sexual assault, a lot of people say, but some people think there could have been because her pants were partially rolled down, which is weird. But then you consider that the nature of her and David's relationship, that kind of complicated things because... Did this person catch them in the middle of something? Right, because it is believed the two are sexually active. So we don't know if the killer
00:20:42
Speaker
did that. Okay. Right. So not on the actual Colonial Parkway itself because remember they're found along the shoreline of that river. The murders shared a disturbing pattern. Both couples were young and they were both found in secluded areas. The locations were just about 30 minutes apart.
00:21:03
Speaker
But despite linking the cases and then an extensive investigation, this trail also went cold, leaving an unsolved mystery shrouded in a lover's lane, because now there's two couples that are dead along this stretch of highway. I have to admit, although there is the proximity, which I understand would lead law enforcement to say, hmm, this is odd, especially if there hasn't been much crime in these areas beforehand.
00:21:31
Speaker
But with the first couple, I don't know. The first couple, they're attacked with a knife and it didn't seem like that they were
00:21:47
Speaker
nude or anything like that. At least there was no mention of it. This couple is in a partial state of undress. And then the first couple, one found in the car, one in the trunk, the second couple not in the car. And then, I don't know.
00:22:13
Speaker
I don't know how they really linked it. I don't think I would have seen the same. So less than a year later, another couple vanished leaving a chilling echo in the area. Cassandra Haley, who was 18 and Richard Keith Call, who was 20 vanished on April the 10th, 1988 after their first date at a Newport news party. Oh, their first date? Yeah, I know. And that is like,
00:22:44
Speaker
I feel like it's different, right? Because the other people besides the 20-year-old and the 14-year-old, the girls were in a relationship. But this was still so new to this couple. They were so excited and then it just was so tragic. Right.
00:23:01
Speaker
But a day later, so on the 11th, Richard's car was found eerily close to the spot where Kathy and Rebecca had been discovered, which was along the York River Outlook on the Colonial Parkway. Their belongings, just like in the last couple, Richard's wallet and Cassandra's purse were all found inside. So again, mirroring those previous cases and again eliminating robbery as a motive.
00:23:28
Speaker
That's interesting because it's almost taunting. Like, I'm harming these couples, but look, I didn't take anything. That's not why I did it. Look, there's no sexual assault. That's not why I did it. It's scary. Yeah. Because I think anything like this is very creepy, but when there's no rhyme or reason to why people are being killed, it makes it even more upsetting. Yes.
00:23:58
Speaker
Despite relentless searches, their bodies were never recovered. So we really have just this mystery that's forever linked to the Parkway because we've never found their bodies and the couples are now presumed to be, or this couple is now presumed to be dead. I find it odd.
00:24:19
Speaker
I found a lot about this case odd, but in thinking about, now I'm going back to the first couple who you said law enforcement think that they were actually killed elsewhere and then brought here.
00:24:32
Speaker
And then this couple who's never found. And with the first couple, we said, well, obviously the crime scene couldn't have been anywhere close because there would have been a trail or there would have been some sort of a connection. Do we think that this killer is doing something like posing as an officer, getting them into the vehicle, driving them elsewhere? And I know you mentioned this earlier and now I'm going back to it. Driving them elsewhere and then
00:25:00
Speaker
bringing them back to this location? Well, I know with this couple, his keys were still in the car. So, maybe somebody did take them somewhere and drove them back and then just left. But then, like, where are the fingerprints? That's a fair point, but I mean,
00:25:24
Speaker
I don't, it could even be, it could even be somebody who's posing as like a forest ranger who says there's been dangerous animals or there's, they would have to come up with a reason though, that the person driving the car right, that they couldn't just start the engine and drive away.
00:25:44
Speaker
And I don't know what that would be. But I do know with this couple that dogs trace their sense, but lost it. Like they can never, they never found anything.
00:25:58
Speaker
Another Memorial Day came along, Allison, and yet another disappearance made headlines. So nearly a year and a half later, the Colonial Parkway's shadow loomed large once more when Daniel Lauer, who was 21, embarked on a trip to Virginia Beach with Anna Maria Phelps, who was his brother's 18-year-old girlfriend. So it's Daniel and girlfriend of the brother.
00:26:24
Speaker
I think they're going somewhere for Memorial Day weekend. Oh, for the holiday. Yeah, for the holiday.
00:26:33
Speaker
when they just vanished, gone. Their car was discovered on September 5th, but it was abandoned at a rest stop on I-64, which completely baffled investigators because it was on the wrong side of the road in which they were traveling. So they were going one way and it was on the rest stop that was on the side going the opposite way. Hmm. So that left people, you know, were they accosted there?
00:27:02
Speaker
Was the car relocated? Were they killed at this rest stop? Did the killer move the car? Like, why are we going the wrong direction? Right. Her purse
00:27:13
Speaker
offered an echo to prior cases because robbery, robbery wasn't the motive. Her purse was still in the car. Okay. And their bodies were nowhere. So it thought, people thought for a while it was going to be like Cassandra and Richard and the bodies were just never going to be found. But over a month later, hunters stumbled upon their remains on a logging road near the rest stop. And the bodies were covered with a blanket from Daniel's car. It was later identified that it came out of his car.
00:27:42
Speaker
but they were decomposed so bad that it obscured the cause of death or any evidence of sexual assault. They weren't able to tell that. They were able to tell that she was stabbed because there were stab marks on her bones, but that's all we know. And again, this investigation reaches a dead end. Now, this one doesn't seem to, I know,
00:28:11
Speaker
I feel like I'm all over the place in this episode. Well, this episode is all over the place. What about this? So now, I know that I said I wouldn't have been able to put together any of the cases.
00:28:26
Speaker
But at least there are some similarities, location, that sort of thing. But from what it sounds, this one is the most far-fetched to me to link with the other ones because we're
00:28:43
Speaker
at near a rest stop. They're not a couple who would be if, if there is something in the killer psyche that sees a couple making out and that puts them into a rage or whatever.
00:29:00
Speaker
I'm assuming there could have been something going on between Daniel and his brother's girlfriend, but I doubt it. But from the outside, maybe you would think they're a couple, since they're similar in age. Maybe, but there wouldn't be that, I don't know, kissing or physical touch that maybe, I guess in my mind, I was thinking would be the driving factor for something. And then with their bodies being covered,
00:29:30
Speaker
I know. So personal. Yeah. There's guilt there. And I didn't get the sense that there was that kind of guilt in the other cases. Yeah, I agree. And really the only
00:29:45
Speaker
Like you said, I guess linking thread there, a common thread, would be the apparent lack of sexual evidence and robbery as motive. Right. Because we don't know... I mean, in the research, it's going to say that the victims were shot, strangled, or stabbed.
00:30:06
Speaker
But there's only four couples. That's three different ways for somebody to die. And one couple, we can't tell how they died. So I don't know that we could really say that's a link. Right. Yeah, because I'm missing still. Yeah. And so I think, like you said, this was maybe motivated by anger or even thrill seeking because there is no clear pattern. It would have to be thrill seeking. That's the only thing I can think.
00:30:35
Speaker
And if you go down to the next page, I actually posted a map of the area and where the bodies were. And I think it's even, I mean, I don't know. I'm not a law enforcement person, but I think it's even hard to say.
00:30:55
Speaker
Like, why are we calling this the Colonial Parkway murders? Because two of them are pretty far away from the actual Parkway itself. Yeah, that's the second murder and the fourth. The fourth are nowhere close, and those are the ones
00:31:21
Speaker
where you've got the shooting and the second one and then the covering with the blanket and those sorts of things that don't fit in the fourth one. Now, the third couple, we don't know because you said they'd never been. So we don't know. That one, maybe if we did find them, there would be similarities with the first one because if you look at the map, they are,
00:31:50
Speaker
nearly on top of one another in terms of location. So that, I don't know, unless there's some fear of being found so they go a distance away. Yeah. Because we're not talking about different states. They're not far from one another, I'm sure, but
00:32:13
Speaker
Despite the proximity of some of the crime scenes, so the first and third, like we said, that were just, I mean, basically right on top of each other, the second and fourth were about like half an hour away from the Parkway. We know that robbery and sexual assault appeared not to be the motives, but there are some questions just kind of as we were saying, is this the work of a single person?
00:32:35
Speaker
I'm not convinced that it is. Because to me, the varying methods, so the strangulation and the stabbing of Kathy and Rebecca,
Theories and Multiple Perpetrators
00:32:44
Speaker
gunshots for David and Robin, the possible stabbing for the fourth couple, the third we don't know, could this have been multiple purpose-readers? I mean,
00:32:57
Speaker
I know that there are serial killers who just do whatever they're feeling at the moment. But I feel like those are few and far between. I think more commonly we see that there is a pattern or even if there's a shift, it slowly shifts between one weapon and another. It doesn't rotate between three.
00:33:27
Speaker
Since there's so many questions, there are a lot of different theories that emerged throughout the investigation. So we're going to talk about a couple of those versus a theory that we've kind of already discussed, this theory that the deaths may not even be connected at all.
00:33:47
Speaker
So there was a detective who was brought on as a private investigator to investigate all of these murders and after his investigation he actually came to the conclusion that the murders of Kathy and Rebecca were not related to the others and he actually
00:34:03
Speaker
the Crime Museum connected their deaths to another double homicide that happened in the Shenandoah National Park in 1996. And this was the disappearance of Julie Williams, who was 24, and Lolly Winans, who was 26, again over Memorial Day weekend.
00:34:22
Speaker
Okay. So in this case they didn't return home and their bodies were found on June 1st with a very chilling resemblance to Kathy and Rebecca as they were bound, gagged, and had their throats slashed. So then this similarity is what fueled the speculation by that detective who theorized the perpetrator might have been responsible for these sets of murders
00:34:45
Speaker
but felt that there was a lack of conclusive evidence to say all the murders around the Colonial Parkway were connected. I, you know, obviously I'm not privy to the police files and what's in them and all of the details.
00:35:04
Speaker
But it's interesting to me that this investigator of all four of them doesn't say the last one where they're covered with a blanket as the outlier that they think is connected. It's the first one. And so, which implies that the investigator thinks that the others are connected despite those
00:35:34
Speaker
dissimilar details. And Shenandoah National Park, well, you know, because this is a parkway, but I mean, I would say probably roughly between like an hour and a half and two and a half hours from the parkway, but still in the state of Virginia.
00:35:52
Speaker
Even though there are some that believe the crimes are not connected, most of the people that follow this case feel that their deaths are the work of the same person. And I read in my research that authorities have questioned over 150 people in connections with these deaths, which is a ton of people. But all of them have been cleared.
00:36:12
Speaker
In 2018, the Facebook page, Colonial Parkway Murders, which is ran by Kathy's brother, Bill Thomas, revealed that DNA had been found at three of the four crime scenes, which could potentially and conclusively link the cases and lead to an arrest. So according to this Facebook page, hair had been found in Kathy's hand.
00:36:32
Speaker
And this was what I was talking about when I said some people think they were sexual assault because of biological sample. And in my mind, that is semen, but I could be wrong. I guess that could be blood or anything was found on Robin, but they have never been tested. The hair. Why? Or the biological sample? Do we know why? Well,
00:37:01
Speaker
There's a lot of, you're going to see here in just a second, red tape in this case. And it's frustrating because I think if there weren't these laws, I know we have to have laws, but like if there was a way to work around these, I really think these families would finally get some answers. Hmm.
00:37:29
Speaker
So there are some that say, which we've talked about because of this sporadic locations, they're so far apart. Some of them, there's no way the deaths could be connected because this person obviously did not, if they were connected, wasn't from that area even. There's some people that say,
00:37:47
Speaker
But then others say that the distance between the locations could have been very intentional. And so instead of highlighting someone's unfamiliarity with the Parkway, it actually does the opposite. So they say the killer was so familiar with the Parkway's layout, it allowed him to kind of exploit the secluded areas. So more targeted, I guess. That makes more sense to me. Yeah, me too. And then still yet is the theory that this could be multiple.
00:38:15
Speaker
Murderers. Right. So the investigation did stall for years due to a lack of forensic evidence, but in 2024, the southeastern part of the state of Virginia would start to breathe a little bit easier because DNA testing linked a man named Alan Wade Wilmer Sr., who was
Challenges in Solving the Cases
00:38:38
Speaker
a local fisherman and died in 2017, to the murders of Nobling and Edwards.
00:38:44
Speaker
So we have linked someone to these murders. And then Nogling and Edwards, that was the 20-year-old and the 14-year-old, right? Yes, they were the 20-year-old and the 14-year-old. The ones who were shot.
00:39:06
Speaker
Yeah, and David thought they thought he was running. She was killed like execution-style. Yes. So we have DNA that link them to Wilmer. Well, if we think that all of the cases other than the first one are connected,
00:39:23
Speaker
then it would link him to all of them. Right. So what's his story on these dates? I mean, does he have an alibi for any of them? What's strange about this case is because he died at his home in December of 2017, the case gets complicated.
00:39:44
Speaker
because it took, he was only 63, so relatively young, it took him or his family or whoever over a month to find him at his house. So by the time he was found at home, he was so badly decomposed, they had to take a DNA sample to confirm that it was him.
00:40:15
Speaker
So they take the DNA sample and then they confirm that this is who this person is. And working together with local law enforcement, the FBI, Hampton Police, they say, according to 13 News Now, they've been reviewing evidence from all of these unsolved murders that have happened in the 80s.
00:40:39
Speaker
And according to 13 News Now, they say, quote, they have learned, quote, at least one Hampton Roads Police Department recently checked Wilmer's DNA to see if he was a match for one of their unsolved cases. Another local police department is currently reviewing all sexual assault cases to match Wilmer's MO. And a third local police department spent part of January reviewing more than a dozen cold cases from the 1970s and 80s.
00:41:03
Speaker
to see if Wilmer was ever on their radar and whether he could be considered a suspect today. So the issue is when they put his or take his DNA he's never been arrested for a crime.
00:41:20
Speaker
So like when they run his name, he doesn't show up into anything. And CODIS, we only put people's DNA in CODIS when they've been arrested. Right. Well, he's never been arrested. So his DNA isn't in CODIS. So they're saying that there's this like red tape now.
00:41:45
Speaker
Because Virginia law mandates collecting DNA upon arrest for murder, but CODIS policy apparently requires conviction first. So we can't.
00:41:58
Speaker
run the DNA and code us to see if it matches anything because we can't convict him because he's dead. So we have this loophole in the investigation which could hinder or is hindering connections to these murders and potentially other ones, which is really frustrating. Right.
00:42:19
Speaker
Because we have, you know, the FBI and all these other agencies, the Virginia State Police, coming to this sudden decision to test his DNA and saying things like if he were alive, he would be arrested today for these deaths. But we can't use all of the technology that we have, which is frustrating. That is such a shame. He was ruled as dying of natural causes.
00:42:48
Speaker
But, you know, because again, he had those, a clean record, no prior felony convictions. It's just, we're in like kind of a tight spot. So, I mean, I guess the case isn't technically solved because we wouldn't be talking about it if it was, but most people are going to say that it was Wilmer. And even if you,
00:43:15
Speaker
like some of the research or like articles and stuff will say that it's him. Like they'll say it's solved. The Colonial Parkway murders is solved, but it isn't because in my opinion, because nobody official has declared him the murderer. Right. It may be, it's not closed.
00:43:38
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. That's probably a better, better wordage. So I don't know. This one was weird. It was kind of crazy. What do you think? Yeah. I don't, I have to say, I mean, I just don't know. I'm still not necessarily convinced that all of the cases are the same killer. But I will say, I mean, at least we have,
00:44:09
Speaker
a lead here and we have a DNA linking him. But like you said, I mean, because of these problems, we can't verify really anything. I almost feel like, and maybe there is, and I just didn't see it, there needs to be a petition.
00:44:32
Speaker
The people want answers. Well, and I have to say, this is, I'll use our little platform here to say there, you mentioned Bill Thomas, who is Kathy's brother.
Mind Over Murder Podcast and Advocacy
00:44:46
Speaker
Bill Thomas and Kristen Dilly actually have a podcast as well. It is called Mind Over Murder, and they are both
00:44:59
Speaker
advocates and obviously use it as a platform to
00:45:07
Speaker
continue to bring awareness to the Colonial Parkway murders. So if you're interested, you can definitely check out their podcast. And theirs is probably much more in depth than we can go in an hour. Right, yes. And they will be at CrimeCon, if anyone who listens is going to be at CrimeCon here in, I don't know, like 10 days? Mm-hmm. Eight days? About a little over a week. I don't math.
00:45:37
Speaker
So yeah, somewhere around there. But if you do go check them out, Bill Thomas, Kristen Dilly, and tell them that you heard about their show.
00:45:51
Speaker
The Colonial Parkway murders remain a chilling reminder of the enduring impact of unsolved crimes. Despite decades of investigation, the lack of a suspect leaves the families of the victims without closure and the public feeling a sense of unease. Technological advancements like CODIS offer powerful tools for solving cold cases.
00:46:08
Speaker
Yet gaps in protocol can hinder progress. In the Colonial Parkway murders, the exclusion of the suspect's DNA from CODIS due to a technicality exemplifies such a roadblock. Continued investigative efforts, including a reevaluation of existing evidence and potential code case leads are essential.
00:46:25
Speaker
Additionally, a re-evaluation of CODIS policy regarding pre-conviction DNA inclusion is necessary. By closing these loopholes and maximizing the use of available resources, we can bring renewed hope for solving the Colonial Parkway murders and prevent similar tragedies in the future.
00:46:42
Speaker
Again, please like and join our Facebook page, Coffee and Cases podcast to continue the conversation and see images related to this episode. As always, follow us on Twitter, at casescoffee, on Instagram, at coffee cases podcast, or you can always email us suggestions to coffeeandcasespodcastatgmail.com. Please tell your friends about our podcast so more people can be reached to possibly help bring some closure to these families. Don't forget to rate our show and leave us a comment as well. We hope to hear from you soon.
00:47:12
Speaker
Stay together. Stay safe. We'll see you next week.