Colonial Parkway Killer

Colonial Parkway Killer
Killings
Victims 8
Span of killings
 1986–1989
Country United States
State(s) Virginia
Date apprehended
 Unapprehended

The Colonial Parkway Killer was an apparent serial killer believed to have murdered at least eight people along the Colonial Parkway of the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia (or nearby) between 1986 and 1989. During that time, three couples were murdered and one couple is missing and presumed to be dead.

Victims

First couple

The first two known victims were Cathleen Thomas, 27, and Rebecca Ann Dowski, 21. The lesbian couple liked to park on the Colonial Parkway for privacy. On October 12, 1986, their bodies were found inside Thomas' Honda Civic, which had been pushed down an embankment near an area of the parkway that was popular with gay couples. An autopsy found rope burns on their necks and wrists, signs of strangulation, and their throats had been slashed. Their purses and money were found inside the car. It appears that Thomas may have struggled with her attacker. A clump of the suspect's hair was later captured by her fingers. Both women were fully clothed and there was no evidence of sexual assault.

Second couple

On September 22, 1987, David Knobling, 20, and Robin Edwards, 14, were found murdered in the Ragged Island Wildlife Refuge, on the south shore of the James River in Isle of Wight County, near Smithfield, Virginia. Knobling's truck was found at the refuge three days before the bodies were discovered by his father.

Third couple

On April 9, 1988, Cassandra Lee Hailey and Richard Keith Call were reported missing after attending a party in the University Square area in Newport News during their first date together. Call's vehicle was found, unoccupied, on the Colonial Parkway the next day. Neither body has been found, but both are presumed dead.

Fourth couple

On October 19, 1989, the bodies of Annamaria Phelps, 18, and Daniel Lauer, 21, were found in New Kent County by hunters in the woods near a rest area on Interstate 64 between Williamsburg and Richmond. They had been missing since September 5 when the couple vanished on route to Virginia Beach. The hunters discovered the bodies on a logging road about a quarter-of-a-mile from Courthouse Road, a location about a mile from the I-64, New Kent rest stop.

Television broadcasts

In 1996, the unsolved case of the Colonial Parkway Killer was presented on national television on the program Real Stories of the Highway Patrol, a series that aired from 1993-1999. Actor Steve Altes portrayed the killer.

In 2007, the murders of Cassandra Hailey and Keith Call were featured in the Investigation Discovery program "Sensing Murder," whereby investigators brought in psychics Pam Coronado and Laurie Campbell to gain new insights into the crimes. The show mentioned these murders may be part of the Colonial Parkway killings. Psychic Pam Coronado felt that the killings were all related but that the location of the cars were not where the actual violence occurred.

Assistance of Spingola

In June 2010, the victims' families requested the assistance of a retired Milwaukee Police Department homicide detective,[1] Steven Spingola,[2] an investigator with a national reputation for excellence.

After visiting the crime scenes, Spingola spoke with a handful of family members, tipsters, and law enforcement veterans. In August 2010, Spingola released Predators on the Parkway: a Former Homicide Detective Explores the Colonial Parkway Murders, a 29-page magazine article that detailed his findings.[3]

Profile

Spingola ascertained that the murders are the work of different killers, especially the slayings of Cathleen Thomas and Rebecca Dowski. The former homicide detective believes the Thomas-Dowski crimes are directly linked to the deaths of Lollie Winans and Julie Williams—a lesbian couple found with their throats slashed in the Shenandoah National Park, 180 miles west of the Colonial Parkway, in 1996. Spingola identified the deaths of these lesbian couples as crimes of hate and profiled the killer.

After Spingola's team of investigative journalists, known as the Spingola Files (SF), after their Web site's online moniker,[4] visited Yorktown, Virginia, a family member of one of the victims searched the belongings of her deceased relative. A note was discovered that may identify a possible person of interest in one of the couple-homicides.[5] While the Virginia State Police claim the information in this note was previously examined, one of the lead investigators at the time of 1989 murders told a television reporter from WAVY that he could not recall such a note.[6]

Criticisms

Spingola's lengthy magazine article has its critics. A family member of one of the victims claimed the former detective sought to profit from his writings. In Predators on the Parkway, Spingola also described the vehicle of the possible person of interest mentioned in the recovered note, which a family member of a victim dubbed "irrelevant" to the overall investigation.[7] But Spingola and his SF staff insist that the note found in a victim's belongings is "very significant"[8] and that the proceeds from Predators on the Parkway are used to off-set costs associated with records requests and travel to explore other unsolved homicides.

Investigation status

In January 2010, after crime scene photographs of Colonial Parkway murder victims were used inappropriately to instruct a class by a retired and now deceased former FBI photographer, the bureau reopened its investigation of the Colonial Parkway murders.[9] Investigators soon found that evidence, stowed for over two-decades, had yet to be tested for DNA. Responding to media criticism, the FBI met with the victims' families. Dozens of pieces of evidence were then submitted to the FBI's crime lab for DNA analysis. The FBI reportedly told the victims' families that the results of DNA testing should be available in the latter part 2010, although the testing of crime scene evidence and interviews of suspects have continued through the fall of 2011.

As of 2014, the killer has not yet been identified. Investigators have speculated that the suspect might be a law enforcement officer, someone impersonating one, or perhaps a rogue operative from the Central Intelligence Agency, which has a training facility nearby at Camp Peary in York County. Other investigators believe the killings were committed by more than one person working as a team.

References

General
Specific
  1. ↑ http://www.wtvr.com/news/wtvr-colonial-parkway-murders-100517,0,1713324.story
  2. ↑ http://badgerwordsmith.com/spingolagroup/
  3. ↑ http://badgerwordsmith.com/books.html#parkway
  4. ↑ http://www.badgerwordsmith.com/spingolafiles/
  5. ↑ http://www.wtkr.com/news/wtkr-colonial-parkway-note-details,0,6781678.story
  6. ↑ http://www.wavy.com/dpp/news/local_news/Is-note-a-break-in-Colonial-Parkway-murders
  7. ↑ http://www.vagazette.com/articles/2010/08/28/news/doc4c78366490c6c432274267.txt
  8. ↑ http://www.badgerwordsmith.com/spingolafiles/2010/08/31/note-left-by-murder-victim-continues-to-spur-controversy/
  9. ↑ http://www.wtkr.com/news/wtkr-parkway-photos,0,6599554.story[]

External links