Pod Insights Crime, Conspiracy, Cults and Murder Ep. 99 | The Colonial Parkway Serial Killer About this episode Between 1986 and 1989, a string of young couples were found murdered along Virginia’s scenic Colonial Parkway, their deaths eerily staged and chillingly unsolved. In this episode, we unravel the haunting mystery of the Colonial Parkway Murders - and the questions that still linger decades later.
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Transcript 0:00 Speaker 00 Eight victims in three years. All taken from the same darkened road. And for 40 years, these murders were a total mystery. Until one piece of evidence blew the case wide open. These are the Colonial Parkway murders. Crime, conspiracy, cults, serial killers, and murder. All things that I love to consume, and I know you do too, you sick, twisted, beautiful, intellectually-minded freak. Today, we are getting into an extremely interesting case that I knew nothing about a week ago. And now, I'm about to educate you on it. So without further ado, let's unbuckle our seatbelts, go mock-firing the highway slam on the brakes, and bust through the windshield into this crazy case together.
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1:53 Speaker 00 The Colonial Parkway is a 23-mile stretch through the heart of Virginia's historic triangle, and it connects Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown all along a winding road between the York River and the James River. Built between 1931 and 1957, the Parkway was designed to be a meticulously crafted landscape, allowing visitors to experience nearly 400 years of American colonial history without any commercial advertising. And there are no gas stations along the length, no restaurants, no billboards. The pavement itself is made of rounded river gravel that's set into concrete, giving the road an earth-toned color with no painted lane markings.
2:35 Speaker 00 And several million people venture down this path, drawn by its natural beauty and historical significance. And during the day, it's a beautiful drive with forests on both sides of the road, and the York River appears through the gaps in the trees. But at night, it becomes something else entirely. There are no streetlights to be found, and long stretches pass through dense woods where the towering trees block even the moonlight. And more than 50 pull-offs and overlooks can be found throughout. And in daylight, families use them to stretch their legs and take pictures. But after dark, these same spots become completely isolated, invisible from the main road.
3:17 Speaker 00 And National Park Service Rangers are responsible for patrolling that route, but jurisdiction is complicated. And Rangers handle traffic violations and have sole authority over certain sections. In James City, Williamsburg, and York County Police have jurisdiction within their respective limits. Except in areas belonging to the Park Service. So state police can patrol most of the Parkway, again, except for where the Rangers have exclusive authority, and this is important. So put it all together, and you're left with a bunch of overlapping responsibilities that leave potential gaps in coverage. And a local to the area, Bill Thomas, described the situation bluntly. Quote, "Some longtime law enforcement people have said to me that..."
4:03 Speaker 00 It was like the Wild West out there at night because it was only patrolled every few hours. So people knew you could go there and basically be left alone, especially at night, unquote. And nearby young couples figured this out quickly. And while most unmarried people still lived with their parents, making privacy hard to find, the Colonial Parkway offered a solution. As one author noted, quote, "As soon as the sun set, these isolated dark corners became a popular place for young couples to park their cars and hook up," unquote. And during the 1980s, the Parkway was known specifically as Gay Lover's Lane. And according to former homicide detective Steve Spingola, author of Predators on the
4:45 Speaker 00 Parkway, quote, "It was known not only by the homosexual community, but by the haters of the homosexual community," unquote. So the Parkway has an eerie dual nature that people who live nearby seem to understand naturally. And true crime author Blaine Pardo, who would later co-author A Special Kind of Evil: The Colonial Parkway Serial Killings, observed, quote, "Having done the research for the book, I've since found that it's a creepy place to go to at night. It's lost its romance. There are alternative routes," unquote. And that reputation would prove well-earned. So the surrounding Virginia peninsula was heavily influenced by military and college towns in the mid-1980s.
5:28 Speaker 00 And Hampton Roads was, and still is, one of the most significant military spots in the United States. And the area supported a number of major bases: Naval Station Norfolk, the world's largest naval base, and Langley Air Force Base, Fort Monroe, Fort Eustis, the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, the oldest Navy shipyard in the country. So these bases brought in a steady stream of service members and their families to the area, creating a moving population where unfamiliar faces rarely drew attention. And alongside the military presence, the peninsula is home to a large student population. And the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, founded in 1693, is the second-oldest institution of higher education in the United States.
6:13 Speaker 00 And Christopher Newport College, though it wouldn't gain university status until 1992, is an anchor for the academic community. So, young people were just everywhere. And the late-night culture was vibrant. But what didn't exist was any way to call for help. Because this was before everyone had cellphones. And once a couple pulled off the main road and into one of the parkways secluded areas, they were completely cut off from any means of communication. So if something went wrong, there was no one to call, and no way to reach them either. And former FBI Special Agent Maureen O'Connell later explained, quote, "Couples go to Lover's Lane because it's isolated. They're usually in a dark area. They're secluded, especially when they're there to engage fully with one
6:57 Speaker 00 another. All those things could feed the fantasy of a serial killer," unquote. So the combination of minimal patrols, complete isolation, multiple secluded pull-offs, no lighting, and a population of young people from nearby military bases and colleges created a swirl of conditions that would prove disastrous. Now, the parkway's darkness was perfectly suited for someone to take advantage of those who were unprepared. So Kathleen, or Kathy, Mary Ann Thomas, was 17 years old in October of 1986. And her brother, Bill, would later describe her as "stereotypically Irish in her physical features, pale skin, blue eyes, bright red hair, with a sweet and innocent look." And
7:37 Speaker 00 she had always been extremely smart and socially conscious, even from a young age. She was articulate and funny, with what he called "a quick Irish wit." And Kathy had already accomplished more than most people twice her age. And in high school, she was an excellent athlete. She was a forward on the basketball team and competed in track and field. And she was just a natural leader. And when one friend from high school learned about Kathy wanting to go to the Naval Academy during their senior year, she immediately thought it was so Kathy, because not only was it exceptional, it was groundbreaking. And even though that was an unusual thing for a woman at the time, that same friend recalled just how well-liked Kathy was. She was friends with nearly everyone. And in the classroom, she excelled.
8:23 Speaker 00 She was a great writer with a natural aptitude for learning new languages even. So from 1977 to 1981, Kathy attended the United States Naval Academy as part of only the second class in the institution's history to admit women. And the Thomas family became the first father, son, and daughter trio to graduate from the academy. And while there, she played basketball and ran cross-country. And she would graduate and become an ensign in the US Navy. And she even studied to become fluent in Russian at the height of the Cold War and was awarded Most Improved Russian Student at graduation. And she would be assigned to duty in Norfolk, Virginia, where she served abroad the L.Y. Spear as a logistics officer in charge of cranes and the movement of torpedoes.
9:08 Speaker 00 And she was one of the first women to become surface warfare officer qualified and earned a number of outstanding fitness reports. And several sailors said she was the best officer they ever served under. So just an extremely accomplished woman. But Kathy eventually would leave the Navy due to their general hostility towards homosexuals. As her brother would later describe, quote, "She had been very sorry to leave the Navy after five years, but she didn't feel that it was welcoming for her as a gay woman," unquote. So she would jump into a new career as a stockbroker. And it would be around this time that she would meet Rebecca, or Becky, and Dowski. Now Becky Dowski was 21-years-old, originally from Poughkeepsie, New York.
9:53 Speaker 00 And she majored in business management at the College of William and Mary, where she was in her senior year. Now Becky held two jobs while pursuing her studies. And one at a daycare center looking after young children, and another as a clerk in the college's English department. And she would be described as a very talented musician and college student with a very promising future. And she was also creative, kind, and just loved music. So Kathy and Becky would start dating in the spring of 1986, which was not something easily discussed in the mid-1980s, as people's attitudes towards same-sex relationships at this time made openness Hard, especially for someone with Kathy's military background.
10:36 Speaker 00 So the two kept their relationship private, seeking out places where they could spend time together without fear of judgment. And the Colonial Parkway was one of those places. So on the evening of October 9th, 1986, Becky was seen leaving the computer lab on the William and Mary campus sometime around 6:30 in the evening, because she and Kathy had made plans to be together later that night. But after that, they would vanish, and their families would grow more and more worried as attempts to reach them failed. And no one would have any idea what had happened to them for three days. So on October 12th, 1986, a jogger spotted a white 1980 Honda Civic somewhere between 5:30 and 5:45 a.m.
11:20 Speaker 00 And the car would sit at the bottom of an embankment at the Cheatham Annex Overlook. And the location was about seven miles east of Williamsburg. And the vehicle had gone off the road into thick brush, and it came to rest just a few feet from the 15-foot drop into the York River. So a state trooper responded and found both women inside. And both had been killed. Now Kathy's body had been shoved into the rear hatchback area, and Becky was found in the backseat. And from what the ranger could see, both women looked to have been strangled with a rope, and also their throats had been cut. And evidence suggested Kathy had actually tried to fight back, because a clump of hair
12:02 Speaker 00 was found gripped between her fingers, and a piece of nautical line was tangled in her hair. And the killer had also doused the car's interior with diesel fuel, but the fire was never lit. And whether this was intentional or a failed attempt remains unclear, but several details pointed toward a methodical killer. And the driver's seat had been adjusted for someone much taller than Kathy, which possibly indicated the killer had driven the vehicle after taking control. But no blood was found in the surrounding area. And the murders likely occurred somewhere else before the bodies were transported. And both women remained fully dressed. So there was no indication of any
12:43 Speaker 00 And their purses were also still inside the car with money and jewelry untouched. So robbery did not appear to be the motive. Investigators collected more than a hundred fingerprints from inside and outside the Honda, though none matched anyone in law enforcement databases at the time. So they had no leads and the case started to go cold. Then, there was David Lee Nobling, who was 20 years old. And he lived in Hampton, Virginia, where he did landscaping and sales work. And his girlfriend had recently found out she was actually expecting a child. But David would meet another girl at that time named Robin Margaret Edwards, who was just 14 years old. And she would be described as fearless and just full of energy.
13:28 Speaker 00 But she had reportedly run away from home a number of times before. And according to one source, her experiences had left her aged beyond her years. But it was around this time where she actually seemed to start turning things around for herself. So on September 19th, 1987, David offered to drive his younger cousin, Jason, to see Robin for a date. So Jason was actually going out on a date with Robin that night. And the plan was to see the movie Dragnet. And David's brother, Michael, came along as well. However, when they arrived, the movie was sold out. So the group went to an arcade instead. And at around 10:00 PM that night, they brought Robin back to her parents' house in Newport News.
14:11 Speaker 00 And Robin's mother, Bonnie Dodson, remembered their last conversation. Quote, "I told her that she had to be home by 11:00, and she called me about a quarter after 11:00 and let me know that she was home safe." But Robin did not stay home. And she actually slipped out later that night to meet up with David again, this time alone. And together, they drove to Ragged Island Wildlife Refuge. And that area sits about 30 miles from the Colonial Parkway along the James River. And like the Parkway overlooks, it was a secluded location. But unfortunately, neither of them would ever be seen alive again. So two
14:53 Speaker 00 Days later, on September 21st, a sheriff's deputy patrolling Ragged Island found David's Ford Ranger pickup. And the truck appeared abandoned, and the doors were closed but not locked. And the window on the driver's side was rolled down and the radio was still on. But there was no sign of David or Robin anywhere. And two days after that, on September 23rd, a person walking the shoreline discovered their bodies. Because both had washed up with the tide about 100 feet apart from each other on the beach. And Robin looked to have been shot once in the back of the head. And evidence indicated she actually had been S.A. Because she had been found with her clothing partially removed, and her jeans were unbuttoned. And her bra had been pushed up around her neck.
15:38 Speaker 00 And David would be found shot twice, once in the shoulder and once in the head. And the shoulder wound suggested he may have attempted to flee, and he likely turned away from his attacker before being struck. And in a stroke of unfortunate timing, a heavy rainstorm had passed through the area on the night they died. So investigators found that most of the evidence found at the scene had already been washed away. So again, any tangible evidence at this time was lacking, and there were no suspects. So Richard Keith Call was 20 years old and studying in computer science at Christopher Newport College. And his sister Joyce would describe him as "someone who really enjoyed life a lot and was just fun to be around."
16:21 Speaker 00 He was passionate about computers, and he even had a Commodore 64 set up in his bedroom. And at this time, Keith was on a temporary break from his girlfriend. And they had been together for close to four years, but he had just asked for a couple of weeks apart to sort through his feelings. And it would be during this break that he would meet Cassandra Lee Haley. Cassandra was 18 years old and had just begun her freshman year at Christopher Newport College. And she stood about 5'7" with an athletic build. And she had competed as a gymnast in high school and taught gymnastics to younger students. And her mother, Joanne Haley, later would describe her as "very warm and had openness", saying-
17:03 Speaker 00 was unique, there was nobody she wasn't going to be a friend to. She was very generous with everything. Unquote. But Cassandra had a fear of water and she had also expressed unease about the Colonial Parkway. And after the murders of Kathy Thomas and Becky Dowsky two years earlier, she thought the place felt unsettling. But April 9th, 1988 would be the day of their first date. And by most accounts, this was just meant to be casual. So that evening Keith picked Cassandra up from her family's home in Grafton, Virginia. And he was driving his red 1982 Toyota Celica. And they would first go to see a movie and then they would head to a party near campus in the university's square area. And at the party witnesses noticed they spent time apart.
17:48 Speaker 00 And Keith talked with his own friends and Cassandra caught up with an ex-boyfriend, actually. It was a very relaxed, fun evening with nothing unusual. And after they had enjoyed themselves, they left the party together sometime between 11:30 PM and 2:25 AM. So very big gap of time. And despite Cassandra's discomfort with the Colonial Parkway, that's where they ended up going anyway. So the next morning, April 10th, Keith's red car was spotted at the York River Overlook in Yorktown. And it was found around 7 AM, but not reported until 9 AM. And this location was only a few miles from where Thomas and Dowsky had been discovered 18 months earlier.
18:29 Speaker 00 And the driver's door was hanging open and Keith's keys sat on the seat. And his watch and glasses had been placed on the dashboard. So the arrangement seemed deliberate. And inside the backseat investigators found most of Keith's clothing. And nearly everything he had worn that night, including his underwear. And some of Cassandra's clothing was there too, along with her underwear. And empty beer cans were scattered throughout the backseat as well. And both Cassandra's purse and Keith's wallet were gone this time. And true crime author Blaine Pardo later observed a pattern across the cases, saying, quote, "It's almost like a fingerprint to each one of the Colonial Parkway cases. The keys were left
19:13 Speaker 00 in the car, the door was left ajar, the radio was on. They were all set up so someone would see that car and steal the car and muddy the case even more. Unquote. But tracking dogs were brought into search because at this point neither of them were anywhere to be found. But the dogs would pick up a scent leading away from the vehicle and the trail ran along the parkway past the spot where Thomas Andowski's car had been found. And it ended at Indian Field Creek where the dogs tried to go into water and handlers had to hold them back. And the behavior suggested a boat may have been involved. So park officials initially theorized that Keith and Cassandra had just gone swimming and potentially drowned.
19:57 Speaker 00 But investigators were doubtful that that was the case. Because the water temperature at that time of year was around 40 degrees, which is cold as fuck. And a 20-foot embankment separated the overlook from the river. And, as mentioned before, Cassandra was known to be afraid of water. But unfortunately, an extensive search of the river turned up no sign of them. And with no bodies, they really had nothing to go on, so the case would go cold. And next, there was Anna Maria Phelps, who was 18 years old. And her family said she had such a great sense of humor, just very sharp and very witty. And she had been living in Virginia Beach with her boyfriend Clint Lauer. But the couple was struggling to make ends meet because Clint had recently been let go
20:42 Speaker 00 from his job at Wendy's and their electricity had even recently been disconnected. But Daniel Lauer, who was 21 years old and Clint's brother and from Amelia County, Virginia, said that he would move in with them to help with payments. And those who knew Daniel described him as being exceptionally generous, saying he was, quote, "The kind of guy who refused paychecks from his father's painting business." So Daniel had agreed to move in with Clint and Anna Maria to help cover their expenses. And he also wanted to spend Labor Day weekend with them in Virginia Beach, but he needed to return back to his parents' home in Amelia County to gather his belongings and officially move in. And Anna Maria decided to go with her boyfriend's brother, Daniel,
21:26 Speaker 00 so she could visit her own family back in Amelia County. So by all accounts, it should have been an uneventful trip, but it wasn't. So on the evening of September 4th, 1989, Daniel and Anna Maria left her parents' house heading east on Interstate 64 toward Virginia Beach. And Daniel drove his gold 1972 Chevrolet Nova. And he had cash on him from recent work he had done for his father's painting company. And the trip should have taken about an hour, but they would never arrive. And witnesses later reported seeing them at a rest area at the eastbound side of I-64 in New Kent County. But what happened after remains unclear. So the next day, Daniel's Nova was found abandoned
22:09 Speaker 00 at the rest stop on I-64 in New Kent County. But something was wrong. The car was on the westbound side of the highway, which was odd because they had been traveling east toward Virginia Beach. So someone had turned them around. And the car sat at an odd angle on the merge ramp. And the driver's window was halfway down with both doors unlocked. And the keys remained in the ignition. But a small detail inside the car caught investigators' attention because Daniel had a feathered roach clip that he normally kept hanging from his rearview mirror. But it had been moved to the driver's side window. So the repositioning appeared to be very deliberate. And some investigators saw it as a taunt from whomever had taken them.
22:54 Speaker 00 And dirt and grass were caked underneath the vehicle, which made it look like the car had been driven off-road recently. And Daniel would have had no reason to leave the highway. And Anna Maria's purse was still inside, once again ruling out robbery. So at first, investigators speculated that Daniel and Anna Maria had simply run off together. And for six weeks, neither was found. But finally, on October 19th, 1989, hunters walking along a logging road made a discovery less than a mile from the rest stop. And the discovery was skeletal remains in that wooded area covered by an electric blanket. And the blanket had come. from Daniel's car. But decomposition had destroyed most of the physical evidence,
23:38 Speaker 00 which unfortunately made it so the exact cause of death could not be determined. And whether Anna Maria had been S.A. was also impossible to establish. But one finding stood out. Stab wounds were visible on Anna Maria's bones because she had a cut mark on one of her finger bones suggesting she had fought back against her attacker. So whatever happened in those woods, she did not give up without a struggle. But years later, investigators would discover a note Anna Maria had written, and it had been sitting in a box of evidence from her apartment overlooked during the original investigation. And the note described plans to meet someone at a rest stop. And it included a name and mentioned the person would be driving a blue van.
24:22 Speaker 00 And how this detail connects to what happened has never been explained. And by September of 1989, at least eight young people had been killed or disappeared along or near the Colonial Parkway over a span of just three years. But at this point, the person responsible remained free.
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25:09 Speaker 00 So the FBI did not wait long to share their theory with the Thomas family. And four days after Kathy and Becky's bodies were discovered, agents approached Bill Thomas. And they believed the killer might be someone in law enforcement or possibly someone impersonating law enforcement. And when Bill asked them to clarify, the agents explained they were looking at police officers, park rangers, or someone presenting themselves as an authority figure. And the theory came from what investigators observed at the crime scene. The windows of Kathy's Honda had been rolled down and her wallet had been pulled from her. So it looked like she had been preparing to show identification. And retired FBI specialist Agent Urban Wells later pointed to those rolled down windows.
25:52 Speaker 00 And they suggested the victims believed they were dealing with someone who had authority over them. And former FBI profiler Jim Clement reached a similar conclusion. And wallets were found open in the victim's vehicle across multiple cases. Quote, "That tells me that either they were getting ready because they thought they were being pulled over by a police officer or park ranger, or whoever approached them pretended to be a cop or was a cop." But criminal profiler Pat Brown interpreted it slightly differently. And she believed the perpetrator, quote, "could be involved in law enforcement or more likely wished he were." And this was someone who, quote, "wanted authority and probably did not have it," she said. And, quote, "His crimes gave him this feeling.
26:36 Speaker 00 He was able to surprise, control, and punish wrongdoers." Unquote. So the theory explains something that had puzzled investigators. How could one person control two victims at once? And why was there no evidence of a struggle in most cases? And why, other than David, did nobody try to flee? Because if the victims thought they were dealing with a cop, then compliance made sense. And they would stay calm and just follow instructions. And they would have no reason to suspect danger until it was already too late. But a theory is, of course, not a suspect. And for nearly two years, the FBI had a profile but no one to attach it to. But that changed in the spring of 1988.
27:17 Speaker 00 So shortly after Keith Call and Cassandra Haley vanished on April 10th, a suspect surfaced. And he was a waterman. And he made his living harvesting oysters and clams from the rivers and creeks of the Virginia Tidewater. Because he knew those waterways intimately. And he had built his own boat. And he also drove a truck that people remembered. And it was a blue 1966 Dodge pickup truck with oversized tires with a rifle rack in the rear window. And the vanity plates read EM Raw, short for Eat 'Em Raw. Which I know he does oysters, but I don't like... Like that at all. And witnesses had come forward with stories about this man. Because he wasn't content to watch from a distance.
28:01 Speaker 00 He had been approaching couples parked in the pull offs along the parkway. And he walked up to the vehicles and he knocked on the windows and he made contact. And people who encountered him described him as bolder than the typical peeping Tom. In fact, one incident in particular stood out. And a couple was parked in their car when someone knocked on the glass. And the man outside peered in and asked, quote unquote, "Are you girls having fun?" Oh, God, fucking creepy. And when he realized one of them was actually a young man with long hair, he backed off and left. And FBI profilers had been building a picture of the killer based on events from the crime scenes. The piece of nautical rope that was found in Kathy Thomas's hair.
28:43 Speaker 00 The killer had used diesel fuel in an attempt to burn the evidence. And diesel was far more common in boats than in cars. And the knife wounds on the victim suggested someone comfortable with a blade. Perhaps someone who processed fish and shellfish for a living. And tracking dogs had followed victim scents to the water's edge in multiple cases. So the FBI started watching their fisherman suspect almost immediately. And what they saw was concerning. Because he was repainting the bed of his pickup truck, vacuuming the interior carefully. So to the agents watching it, it looked like someone eliminating traces of what his vehicle might have been used for. So investigators would obviously be worried evidence was disappearing. So they would move quickly to obtain a search warrant.
29:28 Speaker 00 And they executed it at the trailer where the man lived. And inside, they found items that fit their developing profile. Handcuffs, a gun, and pornography. An FBI agent, Joe Wolfinger, later described the search, saying, quote, "They got everything. We got his vacuum cleaner and they did a search of his truck and they found a gun, handcuffs, and I can't remember what else." But nothing directly tied him to Keith and Cassandra. No blood, no belongings, nothing that placed him at the scene of their disappearance. But then the suspect said something. Because under questioning, he admitted he had been parked at a pull-off near the Colonial Parkway around the time the couple went missing.
30:10 Speaker 00 And Wolfinger confirmed this, saying, quote, "He even admitted being at the next cutoff around the right time, so he was seen by somebody else that night," unquote. And with that, the circumstantial case started to build. And they had a suspect who matched the profile. And he had behavior consistent with destroying evidence, like restraints and a weapon in his home. And his own admission that he was nearby when Keith and Cassandra vanished. And today, this combination might have been enough to pursue charges, or at least to keep the pressure on while forensic testing continued. But this was 1988, and DNA analysis was not yet standard, and the fingerprints from the crime scene had not matched anyone in existing databases.
30:53 Speaker 00 And since Keith and Cassandra hadn't been found, there were no bodies to examine. So the FBI decided on one more step. They would administer a polygraph test. So the Bureau brought in one of their very best, because the examiner had a reputation. He was known as a "polygrapher extraordinaire," and his name was Barry. And he had worked major cases, including the John Walker spy investigation. And John was a Navy communications specialist that ran an 18-year spy ring and passed sensitive info to the Soviet Union. So a serious guy, to say the least. So when Barry rendered a verdict, people trusted it. And the fishermen sat for the test. But surprisingly, he passed effortlessly.
31:37 Speaker 00 And based on the results, the FBI removed him from suspicion and released him. He simply walked out and went back to his life. And FBI Special Agent in Charge Ervin Wells was furious. And he told author Blaine Pardot what he had said to the polygraph team, saying, quote, "I know this guy did it. You guys better be right," unquote. But Wells deferred to the examiner, quote, "We brought in a polygrapher, one of the best the Bureau had." And he said, "This guy didn't do it," unquote. And at this point, it was the spring of 1988. And by then, the suspect had Already killed David Nobling and Robin Edwards the previous September. And he had killed Kathy Thomas and Becky Dowsky a year and a half before that.
32:22 Speaker 00 And then five months later, Anna Maria Phelps and Daniel Lawyer became the next victims. But the fisherman was not the only suspect that surfaced. And over the following decades, more than 130 people drew investigative attention. And more than 3,500 reports were generated. And the case file swelled with tips and theories and dead ends. But one name that emerged was Fred Atwell. Now, he was a former deputy in Gloucester County. And Atwell would be eventually arrested, but not for murder. He had actually run a fraudulent car raffle that targeted families of the Parkway victims, which is fucking awful and disgusting. Just exploiting their grief for money.
33:04 Speaker 00 And the scheme brought investigators to his door, but nothing connected him directly to the killings. So they hit another dead end. But then another name persisted, and that was Daryl David Rice. Now Rice had been charged in connection with the 1996 murders of Julie Williams and Lowly Winnens in Shenandoah National Park. And the two women had been killed in a remote outdoor location, and the case had some similarities to the Parkway murders on the surface. A couple targeted in an isolated area, possible selection based on sexual orientation. So investigators explored whether Rice might be responsible for both murders for years. And finally, in 2024, DNA testing would eliminate him.
33:46 Speaker 00 And the actual killer in the Shenandoah case was identified as Walter Leo Jackson. Now, Jackson had no known connection to the Colonial Parkway. And Rice was tragically hit by a car while riding his bike and died just 15 days after being exonerated. So despite every other lead, the investigation kept circling back to the waterman with the blue truck. But officially, as we know, he had been cleared, so they were back at a dead end. So the Colonial Parkway investigation had faced a number of problems from the start. Jurisdiction was a mess, as we kind of discussed at the beginning of this video. And the Parkway Parkway itself fell under National Park Service authority, which meant there could be FBI involvement.
34:28 Speaker 00 But the Nobeling and Edwards murders happened at Ragged Island, which was Isle of White County territory. And the Phelps and Lawyer case occurred at a rest stop in New Kent County. And Virginia State Police were involved across all the cases. And each agency had its own protocols and information didn't always flow freely between them. And the technology of the time offered little help, as we know, because as mentioned, DNA testing was not standard practice yet. And even though fingerprints were plentiful, over 100 were lifted from just the Thomas and Dowski crime scene alone, there were no databases to match them against. So they sat in evidence storage, effectively useless without a comparison. And some of the crime scenes had been compromised, as we know, because at the York River overlook,
35:12 Speaker 00 where Keith's car was found, park rangers reportedly disturbed evidence before investigators arrived, causing the original state of the scene to be lost. And the killers' methods created additional confusion, because Thomas and Dowski were strangled, with their throats cut, and Nobeling and Edwards were shot, and Phelps and Lawyer showed signs of stabbing. So if one person truly was responsible, why did their approach keep changing? That was odd. Usually, these killers have the same MO across the board. And some investigators questioned whether the cases were even connected because of that. Furthermore, two of the cases left almost nothing to work with, because Keith and Cassandra's bodies were not found, and Anna Maria and Daniel were not discovered until six weeks later.
35:56 Speaker 00 And by then, decomposition had destroyed most of the physical evidence. So the families remained in this just dreadful limbo with no answers and no closure. So by the early 1990s, the Colonial Parkway investigation had completely stalled. And the last confirmed victims, Anna Maria Phelps and Daniel Lawyer, had been found in October of 1989. And investigators had continued working leads in the months that followed, interviewing potential witnesses and reviewing evidence, but nothing broke open. And the steady stream of tips slowly trickled out. And then it would dry up entirely, and the case went cold, but that did not mean it was forgotten because every few years a new detective would pull
36:37 Speaker 00 the files and take another look and journalists revisited the story on anniversaries publishing retrospectives that briefly rekindled public attention and true crime writers reached out to families promising fresh perspectives and books that never produced breakthroughs. None of it really led anywhere but Bill Thomas refused to let his sister's case disappear and he would stay in contact with investigators following up on every single lead and he kept Kathy's name in front of anyone who might listen and he wasn't alone because other families did the same attending press conferences and talking to reporters refusing to let the victims become footnotes but time kept passing and the 1990s ended and the
37:19 Speaker 00 2000s came and went three decades would slip by children who weren't even born yet when Kathy and Becky died had now graduated from college new students filled the dorms at William and Mary in Christopher Newport and most of them blissfully unaware of what happened on the parkway their parents once warned them about but the overlooks remained still isolated and still dark after sunset and somewhere in Virginia the killer just kept living his life but on December 15th 2017 a delivery driver in Lancaster County, Virginia noticed something wrong a front door stood open at a rural residence and the signs suggested a home that had been abandoned or perhaps someone who could no
38:02 Speaker 00 longer care for themselves and the driver reported what he saw and police conducted a welfare check and inside the home they found a 63 year old man and he was dead and the medical examiner ruled the death by natural causes at a rosclearotic cardiovascular disease aka plaque buildup that had stopped blood flow to his heart and based on the condition of the body he had likely been dead for at least a month before anyone found him and he had died alone so as part of routine procedure the medical examiner collected a DNA sample and this was standard practice in cases requiring identification or documentation and the sample was then preserved and
38:43 Speaker 00 But no one had any idea of its significance at the time because the man had no felony convictions and his DNA had never been entered into any law enforcement databases. But he had been investigated three decades earlier when FBI surveilled, searched, questioned, and polygraphed him. But he had never been arrested or charged or required to provide a sample. So this routine collection at his death would eventually become the most important piece of evidence in a case that had gone unsolved for more than 30 years. But that realization was years away yet. So in December 2017, he was simply another body discovered during a welfare check, a
39:26 Speaker 00 brief report, a standard autopsy, nothing more. And the families of the Colonial Parkway victims didn't know the man investigators had long suspected was now dead. They also didn't know he had walked out of the FBI interview room in 1988 and lived freely for nearly three decades. But now, the key to the truth was sitting in a medical examiner's file, just waiting for science and determination to catch up with a killer who had escaped justice his entire life. So in 2022, the FBI and Virginia State Police made a decision that would reshape the entire investigation. The Colonial Parkway murders had been cold for more than 30 years at this point, and traditional methods had been all but exhausted.
40:08 Speaker 00 And witnesses died or disappeared, and memories had faded with all that time passed. And the physical evidence that remained was sitting in storage lockers untouched by modern forensic science since it had been collected before DNA testing was really even a thing. So investigators decided to go back to the beginning, and they would reexamine every piece of preserved evidence using technology that had not existed in 1986. And this was no small task, because more than 830 people were investigated over those years, and files accumulated and names were added and removed, and some suspects had died, and others moved away or vanished from investigative radar entirely. But DNA, of course, does not fade with time, and evidence properly stored can reveal a
40:53 Speaker 00 ...secrets decades after a crime. And among the samples submitted for comparison was one collected in December of 2017. The one taken from a 63-year-old man found dead in his Lancaster County home. And that man was the Waterman who had been the FBI's primary suspect in 1988. The one who had passed a polygraph and walked free. And for 35 years, the polygraph result had protected him. Despite every piece of circumstantial evidence, despite the instincts of veteran investigators, the Bureau had let him go. Just let him go, based off a fucking polygraph test. And now, science would deliver the final verdict.
41:34 Speaker 00 And in 2023, the Virginia Department of Forensic Science confirmed what investigators had long believed. The DNA conclusively matched. And the testing was performed by DNA Labs International in Florida, and funding came through the Virginia Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, which was a program created to address the backlog of untested evidence in sexual assault cases across the state. The same initiative that had brought closure to survivors of sexual violence was now delivering answers to families who had waited nearly 40 years. And the Waterman's genetic profile matched evidence records from the crime scenes, and it left no room for doubt.
42:15 Speaker 00 So the man who had sat in the FBI interview room in 1988 and convinced a polygraph examiner of his innocence had been guilty the entire time. And his name was Alan Wade Wilmer Sr. And he had been the FBI's top suspect from the moment they'd identified him in April 1988. Everything about him aligned with the profile investigators had constructed, from the nautical line, the diesel fuel, the blade work, etc., all pointing to a pattern of a predator who knew the parkways' isolated overlooks and used that knowledge to hunt. And that single test derailed the whole investigation, and it gave him a second chance at life, which he milked for 29 more years, free from suspicion, prosecution, and consequence.
43:00 Speaker 00 And then he died in his bed of November of 2017. And he was never forced to answer for what he had done to those innocent people between 1986 and 1989. And the DNA confirmation came six years after his death, nearly 40 years after his first murder. So justice in any traditional sense was no longer possible. But the confirmation of Wilmer's identity came in stages as investigators methodically linked his DNA to one crime scene after another. And in January of 2024, the FBI announced that Wilmer had been connected to the murders of David Nobling and Robin Edwards, the 20-year-old landscaper and the 14-year-old found on the shores of Ragged Island in September of 1987.
43:44 Speaker 00 Yet the same announcement revealed something unexpected. Wilmer had also been linked to Teresa Lynn Howell, a victim who had never been associated with the Colonial Parkway investigation. Now Howell died in July 1989, two months before Anna Maria Phelps and Daniel Lawyer vanished. So it turns out the scope of Wilmer's crimes was larger than anyone had realized. And in November of 2025, investigators announced another connection. Wilmer's DNA matched evidence from the murder of Lori Ann Powell. And she had been killed in March 1988, just one month before Keith Call and Cassandra Haley disappeared. And like Howell, her case had been investigated separately for decades.
44:29 Speaker 00 And then in January 2026, the FBI made the announcement the families had been waiting nearly 40 years to hear. Alan Wade Wilmer Sr. was responsible for the murders of Kathleen Thomas and Rebecca Dowsky, the first known victims. The case that had started everything. The circle was finally closed. For the families who had spent decades searching for answers, the confirmation brought a complicated kind of relief. Bill Thomas had pursued his sister's case for a significant portion of his life. And when the announcement came, he spoke publicly saying, quote, "I've been pursuing answers for 39 years," unquote. And even after all that, even after everything he had learned-
45:13 Speaker 00 About the investigation, the confirmation just caught him off guard, saying, quote, "I was still surprised it was Wilmer," unquote. And the surprise made sense because Bill had known about Wilmer for years and knew he had been a suspect. And he even knew about the polygraph test. But suspicion and proof are different things. And after 39 years of uncertainty, the finality of DNA evidence still hit harder than expected. And the families of David Nobling and Robin Edwards expressed relief at finally having answers, saying, quote, "Now we have a sense of relief and justice," unquote. But the word "justice" carried a bitter undertone because Wilmer was dead, which meant that no courtroom would ever hold him accountable.
45:58 Speaker 00 But knowing who had taken their loved ones provided something that had seemed impossible for so long. And Wilmer's own family released a statement saying, quote, "The Wilmer family continues to be deeply impacted by the revelations of Alan W. Wilmer Sr.'s previous crimes. Learning that another crime has been connected to him is devastating," unquote. And the statement just acknowledged the horror of what their relative had done and recognized the suffering of the victims' families. It just captured the impossible position a killer's family occupies, connected by blood to someone whose actions they could have never predicted or prevented. But as of January 2026, DNA evidence has definitively linked Alan Wade Wilmer Sr. to six victims.
46:43 Speaker 00 Kathleen Thomas and Rebecca Dowsky were the first to pass. They were killed in October 1986. And David Nobling and Robin Edwards were killed in September of 1987, and their case was the first officially connected to Wilmer when DNA results were announced in January 2024. And the investigation also tied Wilmer to the two victims who had never been part of the original Colonial Parkway case, Lori Ann Powell, who was killed in March 1988, and Teresa Lynn Howell, who was killed in July 1989. So six people, six lives ended by the same man, and potentially more. But a pattern of violence that stretched Across nearly three years and stayed hidden for nearly 40.
47:26 Speaker 00 But the DNA evidence is conclusive, but sadly, not every case has been resolved. Keith Call and Cassandra Haley remained classified as endangered missing persons. Their disappearance in April of 1988 fits the pattern of Wilmer's other crimes, because they vanished from a Colonial Parkway overlook only a few miles from where Kathy Thomas and Becky Dowsky had been found. And investigators have told the Call and Haley families that Wilmer is believed responsible. And the circumstantial evidence is just overwhelming and points in his direction. And he was the FBI's primary suspect at the time. And agents spotted him near the Parkway days after Keith and Cassandra had vanished. And his knowledge of the waterways explain how he could have moved victims without leaving
48:11 Speaker 00 any trace. But without bodies, there is no DNA test, and Keith and Cassandra have been missing for 37 years. And without physical evidence, investigators cannot make the same definitive determination they have made in the other cases. But the families know what happened. And investigators know what happened. But officially, the case remains open. And Anna Marie Phelps and Daniel Lawyer have also not been forensically connected to Wilmer. And their disappearance in September 1989 was the last in the series attributed to the Colonial Parkway killer. And their bodies were found six weeks later, covered by that blanket from Daniel's car. But unfortunately, the decomposition of the bodies had advanced too far to determine
48:56 Speaker 00 the cause of death with certainty. But testing still continues. But no official announcement has linked Wilmer to their murders. And even in death, Alan Wade Wilmer Sr. exists in a kind of legal limbo. Because under current law, his DNA cannot be uploaded to CODIS. And CODIS, for anyone unaware, is the Combined DNA Index System, or the national database that allows law enforcement agencies to compare genetic profiles from crime scene to known offenders. An entry into the system requires a criminal conviction, which is crazy to think about. I mean, he's killed people. He died, but like, put him into the system. That makes no sense, but since Wilmer was never convicted of anything,
49:38 Speaker 00 he was never charged of anything, and he died before the DNA match was made. And because he has no felony record, his profile cannot be entered into the system that might connect him to unsolved crimes in other jurisdictions. And CBS 6 legal analyst Todd Stone explained the limitation. Quote, "The only way to address something like that really is through general assembly. They'd have to change the law." Then change the law! What the fuck? That makes no sense. Like, you could give closure to god knows how many families, but, "We gotta change the law." What are we even talking about? It makes no fucking sense to me. And the Virginia Attorney General's Office has confirmed it cannot intervene, saying,
50:22 Speaker 00 "The Attorney General's Office doesn't have jurisdiction to intervene in an ongoing investigation." A spokesperson said. And Bill Thomas has taken up the fight to change the law, saying, "Right now, the way the laws are set up, even though Alan Wade Wilmer Sr. is a serial killer and has killed at least six people, including my sister and her girlfriend Rebecca Dowsky, we do not have the capability to upload his DNA into CODIS because he was never convicted of a crime before he died in 2017." And he and other family members are pushing for legislative reform. Quote, "We are going to be asking the legislature, the governor, and the new attorney general to change this law, because I can't believe we're protecting the civil rights of a dead
51:05 Speaker 00 serial killer over the rights of my family and all of these families who are still waiting for answers." But without the CODIS entry, investigators must work case by case. And every potential connection requires a direct comparison between Wilmer's DNA and evidence from that specific crime scene, which is a slow, incredibly painstaking process. And the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia has confirmed what the evidence makes clear. If Wilmer were alive, the evidence developed through this investigation would support federal prosecution. A moot point, considering he is, in fact... And not alive. And Commonwealth's Attorney in Isle of Wight County, the city of Hampton and Gloucester
51:49 Speaker 00 County have all stated that charges would have been filed in their jurisdictions. But since he died before he was caught, he will never see the inside of a courtroom. And the DNA confirmation answered the question that haunted this case for nearly 40 years. The families now know who killed their loved ones, but other questions remain. Did Wilmer have an accomplice? Because the methods used in the murders varied dramatically in how they were killed, in how they were disposed of, etc. And the inconsistency of them all has puzzled investigators for decades. And Larry McCain led the Virginia State Police Behavioral Science Unit. And he argued that two people were working together.
52:31 Speaker 00 The level of control demonstrated over the victims with multiple people subdued at once, no evidence of escape attempts, suggests more than one perpetrator. And Irvin Wells at the FBI shared similar suspicions. And Bill Thomas also supports this idea, saying, quote, "I'm fairly certain that he did not act alone," unquote. An author, Blaine Pardo, raised a question investigators have not publicly answered. Quote, "So when they were in this DNA testing, did they come across anyone else's DNA profile on the victims that could be a potential accomplice with Wilmer? We just don't know that at this point," unquote. And the other question is, are there more victims? The FBI has been direct about this, saying, "We are not finished.
53:14 Speaker 00 We are actively investigating other cases linked to the Colonial Parkway murders and remain committed to pursuing every lead for the families who are still waiting for answers," unquote. And Virginia State Police Captain Timothy Rayboll confirmed the investigation's scope, saying, quote, "We are not ruling anything out when we examine other cases." Today's announcement also does not conclude our agency's investigative efforts to determine if Alan Wilmer Sr. was responsible for additional crimes," unquote. And investigators have urged anyone who knew Wilmer to come forward, saying, quote, "Even though Alan Wilmer Sr. is deceased, it is not too late to come forward," unquote. So the full extent of what Alan Wade Wilmer Sr. Did during his years on the Virginia waterways may never be known,
53:58 Speaker 00 but hopefully we can get more answers in the near future. But that is it on the Colonial Parkway murders. I it's a absolutely wild case. So many, so many failures in this case. It's it's so sad to hear that he just got to live his life as a free man and then just die in the comfort of his own home. But hopefully he is burning somewhere out there in the ether of hell or whatever's going on and hopefully, hopefully the families of victims, not even in this whole particular story, hopefully they can find closure and investigators can work towards giving them that closure.
54:39 Speaker 00 But if you know anything, if you've heard this name or know anything about anything, make sure to contact Virginia State Police. But with that, please let me know if there are any other cases you want me to deep dive into. I always read the comments and until next time, I will see your beautiful face. Stay safe out there. All right. Bye.
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Previous Ep. 98 | Tortured for 44 Days Straight | Junko Furuta Next Ep. 100 | The Serial Killer Who Hunted Women For Sport | Robert Hanson Page updated October 31, 2026 · transcript and summary are machine-generated