If anyone is interested in the Colonial Parkway Murders, please feel free to contact me. Here are a few quick thoughts.
Conversation springing from discussions of the September 2o14 disappearance of Hannah Elizabeth Graham and suspect Jesse Leroy Matthew, Jr.
Obviously, the Colonial Parkway Murders are too far back to have involved JLM Junior. The JLM Junior/Senior theory is a bit wild, but I suppose you never know.
Fall dates again: my sister Cathy and her girlfriend Rebecca 'Becky' Dowski's murder kicked off the Colonial Parkway Murders on or about October 10, 1986.
3 of the 4 Colonial Parkway double homicides also happened in September or October.
DNA: remember there was no DNA testing when the Colonial Parkway murders happened in 1986-1989. FBI Norfolk/Newport News, who are responsible for the Thomas/Dowski killing and the Call/Hailey disappearance are re-testing evidence for DNA at FBI labs in Quantico. Cold cases like our are lower priorities, although I do like to say that we have been standing in this line for almost 28 years.
The Phelps/Lauer and Knobling/Edwards murders are both Virginia State Police cases, handled by separate VSP offices. Not sure that they are retesting evidence; I really doubt it.
Forensics: none of the four double homicides in the Colonial Parkway Murders are linked by forensics. It is possible that they are not related.
1996 Williams/Winans connection: the FBI said publicly in 1996 that they were looking at possible connections between the killing of Julie Williams and Laura 'Lollie' Winans and that of Cathy Thomas and Rebecca Dowski in 1986.
I see possible overlap in the following areas: National Parks in Virginia, isolated rural locations, athletic lesbian couples, holiday weekends (Columbus Day 1986, Memorial Day 1996), both crimes investigated by National Park Service Investigative Rangers (I believe that 4 NPS Rangers overlap-- they were assigned to Colonial Parkway in 1986 and then assigned to Shenandoah National Park in 1996) and FBI, both female couples bound with throats cut.
Route 29 Stalker case: For me, the 1996 Alicia Showalter Reynolds killing has some similarities to the recent missing women.
Now back to JLM.
Cassandra Morton: This one deserves another look. If she was on the street, and may have been using drugs or alcohol, she might be the incapacitated woman that this killer looks for.
JLM type: Note that in the Coy Barefoot JLM timeline story, he seems to be an equal opportunity offender. If he is the right guy, he might not just go for pretty blondes, but women who are out of it and highly vulnerable. I think one of his friends even said that he tended to go for women who were drunk, high or otherwise out of it.
Newport News: Those 3 women that went missing during his time there deserve a much closer look. Way too close for comfort.
Overlap: I have begun to think about JLM's history as being like a Venn diagram. Remember those circles from math class or (shudder at the thought) statistics? If you start overlapping the circles, there are just so many that overlap that include JLM. Those with a history of accusations of sexual violence, socially awkward, impulse control, assault charges, lack of boundaries, creeper/stalker behavior, seen on video with Hannah, resemblance to the sketch, went to school near Anchorage Farm, attended Liberty University, cab drivers, proximity to where Morgan's shirt was found, the fall failed football career thing, the overlapping dates with so many of the other recent cases. I am sure that I have forgotten a few, but the hits just keep on coming.
Finally, DNA: In the Hannah Graham disappearance, I think DNA may provide the link we are looking for in some of the recent cases.
Thanks for listening.
Bill Thomas
Brother of Cathy Thomas
Colonial Parkway Murders
