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Colonial Parkway Murders - Part IV · Murder Files Unsealed

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  Speaker 1: Lorrie Ann Powell Compton, an eighteen year old graduate of
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  Gloucester High School, disappeared on March eighth, nineteen eighty eight,
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  following a dispute with her boyfriend, which culminated in her
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  exiting his vehicle. The last sighting of her was at
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  eleven thirty p m. As she walked along the dark
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  and deserted Route six fourteen, heading towards Route seventeen in
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  the White Marsh area of Gloucester County. At the time,
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  she was dressed in a purple pullover, a cotton shirt
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  with a white collar, purple and cream colored pants, and
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  a dungaree jacket. Although Lorry was not scheduled to work
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  on March ninth, her family believed she was staying with
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  a friend. When she failed to report for work on
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  March tenth, her stepfather filed a missing person report. On
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  April second, nineteen eighty eight, Lorry's body was discovered floating
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  in the James River near Craney Island, close to Ragged Island.
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  She was found without clothing, showing no signs of binding,
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  and had sustained multiple stab wounds to her back. The
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  death certificate indicated unknown for both the date and location
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  of the injury. At the time of her murder, Compton
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  was employed at the same security company as the mother
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  of Pettenger and Edwards. Chris Cutler, Powell's boyfriend nineteen sixty
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  seven to two thy sixteen, emerged as a suspect in
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  the case. His pickup truck was located at a nearby
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  convenience store, exhibiting a flat tire and front end damage.
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  Inside the vehicle, broken glass and dirt were discovered, along
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  with a bloody shirt in the back seat that contained
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  blood matching both Cutler's and Powell's blood types. Cutler acknowledged
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  that he had traveled south towards the James River after
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  parting ways with but he claimed that friends had borrowed
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  his truck and subsequently left it at the convenience store.
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  The remains of Julianne Marie Williams, age twenty four, and
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  Laura Salisbury Winan's, age twenty six, were discovered by park
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  rangers at Shenandoah National Park on June first, nineteen ninety six,
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  following the discovery of Lolly's golden retriever taj wandering near
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  the White Oak Canyon trail. The two women were in
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  a romantic relationship and had embarked on a camping trip
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  to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia on May nineteenth, nineteen
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  ninety six. They were last seen alive on May twenty fourth,
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  within the park's boundaries. Their families reported the missing on
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  May thirty first. The bodies were located at a secluded
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  campsite approximately a quarter mile from Skyline Drive, adjacent to
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  the Appalachian Trail. Laura was found inside the tent, while
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  Julianne was discovered in her sleeping bag roughly forty feet
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  away down an embankment. Both women had their hands bound,
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  mouths gagged, and throats slit. They were partially undressed, but
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  there was no evidence of sexual assault. The FBI examined
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  the possibility of a connection between the murders of Julie
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  Anne and Laura and the nineteen eighty six Colonial Parkway
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  murders of Kathleen Thomas and Rebecca Adowski, where the victims
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  were similarly bound and stabbed without evidence of sexual molestation.
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  Both double homicides occurred on National Park property, specifically the
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  Historic Colonial Parkway and Shenandoah, linked by Interstate sixty four
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  Detective Steve Spingola, who was later engaged as a private
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  investigator for the Colonial Parkway murders, opined that the cases
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  of Cathy and Rebecca were not related to the other
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  Colonial Parkway murders, but were instead connected to the murders
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  of Williams and Winans. In two thousand and one, the
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  Department of Justice charged Darrell David Rice with the murders. However,
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  the charges were dismissed when DNA evidence from the crime
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  scene did not match Rice or the victims. In twenty
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  twenty four, just fifteen days after his exoneration, Rice died
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  in a car accident. In June twenty twenty four, the
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  FBI revealed new DNA evidence linking the murders to serial
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  rapist Walter Leo Jackson, with a staggering two point six
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  trillion to one match between Jackson's DNA and that found
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  at the crime scene. Jackson passed away in two In
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  the initial homicides of Dawski and Thomas, a segment of
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  nautical line was discovered in Thomas's hair. The assailants attempted
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  to ignite the victim's vehicle using diesel fuel, indicating that
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  they likely procured the fuel from a gas station intended
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  for boat use rather than from a marina, a common
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  practice among local watermen. The knife's sharpness, which nearly severed
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  Thomas's head, further implied the involvement of a waterman. Nobling
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  and Edwards were located along the banks of the James River.
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  In the Hailey Call investigation, police dogs followed ascent from
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  the vehicle to the nearby York River, implying the potential
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  use of a boat. In twenty twenty four, the theory
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  regarding the watermen was substantiated when the DNA of waterman
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  Alan Wade Wilmer Senior was linked to the Nobbling Edward's case,
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  and he was publicly identified as a long standing prime
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  suspect in the Hailey Call case. Vehicle staging, Kathy Thomas's
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  car was discovered with the driver's seat positioned for an
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  individual taller than herself, indicating that the assailant may have
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  operated the vehicle prior to its being pushed off the embankment.
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  A thorough search of the vicinity did not reveal any
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  pools of blood.