The Colonial Parkway Murders

Hi, I'm Holly. And I'm Haley. Welcome to Mountain Mysteries, Tales from Appalachia. Hello.

Hi. Hi. I'm having some popcorn. Yeah.

Oh, there's the Wushing noise. Oh, I know. It's the heater. We're cold.

I'm cold. Nothing like a little popcorn. No. Dollar $25 from the grocery store.

That's right. I like it too. Oh, my goodness. Okay.

Are you popping and clicking over there? Holly. Yeah. Oh, right.

No. No, I'm not okay. Everything hurts. I'm not going to do this crazy new thing where I've decided.

Sleep on hay, people. Yeah. That too. That I was going to take an adult ballet class.

Ooh, yeah. It's been fun. I've done one week so far. And I was very sore.

I bet. We got through the first section of it, which if you know ballet is plies at the bar. We did plies. And as we finished those, I was like, oh my God, I'm going to die.

And I had an hour and ten minutes left for class. So we made it. Yeah. It was tough.

Yeah. Tough time. How'd your friend feel? Well, I'm impressed.

Well, we paid for four classes. You have to. You're invested. Yeah.

We got back. But actually, no, it was really great. The instructor was lovely. She was very positive.

Just... Well toned. Well toned. Yeah.

She actually had an injury in her back so she wasn't able to do a lot of stuff with us. But she was very helpful. She was very nice. But yeah, that's what I've been doing.

I was a painted in my school. I saw that. We painted the doors in our school building. We just decided they needed to be brown.

I think they were black. They were brown. They're architecture brown. I thought they were black for the color.

It was hard to tell, but they're definitely brown in person. It's an architecture brown that all the offices and stuff used so you can match it. Oh, gotcha. So it's the same color.

And you just thought, what the heck? Well, we had some stuff in that area that was already brown and we have blue in places that doesn't match anything. Because blue is hard to match. Yeah.

So we had like 12 shades of blue. So we were like, no. We just need to...let's make it brown. That makes sense.

Unity. Tidal together. I like that. I don't know if you noticed.

But in the downstairs bathroom, we painted the door. We did another coat on the door. We did the ceiling. We did some of the trim.

So we did some of that. We did some painting in the garage. We painted some of the things in the garage just to make it look lighter. Is your garage door like your like people door?

Not the garage door, but you know what I mean. Is it a different color? In the inside, yes. So that outside looks more purpley now.

It doesn't. Interesting. It's like lavender almost. It's blue.

Oh. Interesting. Interesting. Yeah.

Well, maybe it's just the lighting. It was the lighting. It was here in the daylight this time. It is true.

I did arrive before the sunset. It's true. Which doesn't usually happen. No, usually you're here when it's very dark.

Yeah. We'll pop off. Oh, yes, it will be. It's dark now.

It is. For all those who ship us. Ha ha ha ha ha. Kaylee, we'll leave.

You've never spent a night here. I haven't. I've never spent a night with you either. No.

No. Oh. New years of evolution. I know.

Sleepover. I'm not good at sleepovers. I like my own bed. I like my own bed.

I like my own bed. We can do a phone call. Or we can text each other like, hey, let's both watch this movie. Virtually.

And then we both watch that movie. And then we can just text each other throughout it. And then we can. But the text also says, why are you talking to me so much throughout this movie?

Yeah. Also that. You're talking a lot through this movie. And then we go to bed.

Can I just say something about texting with you? You drop me like a hot potato. I do it to everybody. If you are texting with Kaylee, you'll be texting with her.

And sometimes she will be the one who initiates. And so she'll text you. And you're like, okay. And so you're responding to her.

And then she just stops her stomach. And then she's just, that's it. There's just no response. Yeah.

You're like, all right. Yeah. It's not just you. No, I didn't.

So I don't take it personally because I didn't figure with me. So speaking of texting. So I, my friend Elizabeth, who doesn't listen to this? Good job.

Yeah. She texted me the other night. And it was 1148 p.m. I was asleep.

It was a school night. Obviously. She asked me a question about something we talked about earlier in the day. And she said, sorry, it's so late.

I didn't notice until I sent that last message. So apparently I had woken up and looked at my phone and read that. And sleep, you know how you sleep talk when you start kind of waking up. Sometimes like you catch somebody at the right time.

They'll kind of like say crazy things. Yeah. As I was waking up, my brother does it all the time. Uh oh.

My mom's going to work. I text, I sleep texted her. And I said, it's the bottom one. Disco ruins.

It's the bottom one disco ruin. Disco ruins. This go. Ruins.

Like ruins. Huh. Yeah. It's the bottom one.

This go. Ruins. She then responded with a question mark. She thought you were drunk.

And I had started to kind of wake up at that point. And so I sent a quick message back and I was like, I don't know what my phone is trying to auto correct. Trying to save your child. Yeah.

And then I answered the question and she said, if you're asleep, just respond to me in the morning. And then, you know, I had to like try and save myself and be like, how was it asleep? I was like, I'm totally cool. I was asleep at 1148 p.m.

Like passed out to the point that I sleep texted. I am a middle-aged woman. And I'm going to say something right here and now. If you text me at that time.

Somebody better be dying. Somebody better be dying. Yeah. Because people will text me stupid shit at times like that.

And you will send me over the edge. If you wake me up to send me a stupid text, I will be furious. Somebody, it better be something like, I wanted you to know grandma is dead. I wanted you to know my house was on fire.

I wanted you to know blah blah blah. That is important. Or school is closed. Or work is closed.

Or something important. Right. That is valid. Or, hey, I want you to know.

At least dead again. Again. Again. She is back on coke again.

Whatever. We are under a water boiling advice. We are under a boiler water people. That is important.

For the love of God. Something like, what is your favorite nail polish color? Really? You are going to text me at night?

I will end you. It will be your sleepy text. Your sleep text. It is the ruins again.

They are back. The ruins are back. They are at the top of the bottom. The bottom.

The bottom. Get back to your hey and get to sleep. Get back on your straw mattress. Alrighty.

With Fitzgerald. Cool. I have changed the game. You are not on the straw mattress sharing it with me.

You are there with Fitzgerald. Why did you say it in some gross like, ehhh, I guess I will take you. I was like. No, no, I know.

But it was gross with Fitzgerald or Holly. I will say Holly. Thanks. Welcome.

Thanks to the compliment. You are the most vulnerable. Okay. So this week we are going to talk about the colonial parkway murders that happened in southeast Virginia between 1986 and 1989.

Okay. So, during that time there were at least eight people that were murdered along the colonial parkway. Are you saying meded because it is the term colonial parkway? Yes.

The colonial parkway is a 22 long thoroughfare that cuts through the colonial national historical park and connects Jamestown, Williamsburg and Yorktown. Oh, very colonial. Very colonial, Virginia, yes. Long stretches of the road are the void of industry lamps or red lights and are extremely isolated, making it a popular lovers lane location frequented by many young adults.

That's where I go to make all my babies. Oh. The colonial park? Just a one.

Okay. Alrighty then. And each incident of murder. A young couple was sitting in their vehicle and they were targeted and both were killed.

Three pairs of victims were recovered and another couple remains missing and presumed murdered. Several other additional homicides have also been tentatively linked to the four confirmed cases. The calls of death included strangulation, gunshot and stabbings. There is no evidence of burglary or sexual assault in any of the cases and the killer drove his victim's vehicle away from the murder site.

The linking of the four crimes is circumstantial. So, it seems like the killer would have been on foot himself then if he had the ability to drive the vehicle away or he had an accomplice. Right. Yeah.

So, we're going to talk about the victims a little bit. First two we're going to talk about are Rebecca Dowsky and Kathy Thomas. Okay. So, we do the first two known victims were United States Naval Academy Class of 1981 graduates, Kathleen Marion Kathy Thomas, who was 27, and College of William and Mary Senior Rebecca Ann Dowsky, who was 21, and she was majoring in business management and working as a stock broker at the time of the murder.

On Sunday morning, October 12, 1986, Columbus Day weekend, a pedestrian jogger saw a car down in Bankman at the Chatham. Sure. Chatham? Yep.

Annix Overlook on the Colonial Parkway, seven miles east of Williamsburg, Virginia. And it was very obscured from the road. The vehicle had veered off the beaten path and into thick and dense shrubbery only a few feet from a 15 foot drop into the York River. The driver assumed that it was a drunk driver who had been accidentally swerved and they went ahead and alerted how he would patrol.

Like, hey, there's a car down there. When they arrived on the scene, they discovered Thomas and Dowsky's bodies inside Thomas' white 1980 Honda Civic. The lesbian couple had been missing since the evening of October 9th after they had been seen leaving a computer lab at William & Mary College. So they'd been missing since October 9th and they were found on October 12th.

So, three months. An autopsy found rote burns on their necks and wrists, signs of strangulation. Their throats had been slashed so deeply that they were nearly decapitated. And the killer had covered the bodies and vehicle with gasoline but not actually lit them on fire.

There were 150 partial prints found on in the car in addition to full prints, but they matched no one in the records. Rebecca's body was found in the back seat of the car while Kathy's was found stuffed into the hatchback. Here's that both women were fully clothed and there was no evidence of sexual assault. Authorities ruled out robbery as motive since both women's purses were located in the vehicle and no money or jewelry had been taken.

At that time, the police believed that the murders happened elsewhere and the bodies had been dumped in the car since there was not much blood in the car itself. So, with that, having marks on their wrists, they'd tie them up, take them out of the car, wherever you kill them, put them back in the car, and then push it or drive it to that location, and push it off? Like, I don't know. Maybe.

It's kind of weird. It's very weird. Yeah, it doesn't make a lot of sense. Okay, David, Nobling, and Robin Edwards were the next two.

On September 23rd, 1987, Virginia Salesman David Lee, Nobling, who was 20, an eighth grade Huntington Mill School student, Robin Margaret Edwards, who was 14. Wait a minute. Yep. Yep.

You're there. Wait, what did he do? He was a salesman. He was 20.

Um, Jay Ropp. Oh, greater. She was 14. He was 20 year old salesman.

They were on lovers laying together in a car. Okay. Just going to be angry over here. Just a minute.

Okay, go ahead. They were found shot to death, around 100 feet away after being washed ashore with a tide in the Ragged Island Wildlife Refuge, on the south shore of the James River, in Isle of Wright County, which was near Smithfield, Virginia. The two victims were last seen on September 19th, 1987. After the young couple, you have a couple?

They're not a couple. She is a 14 year old victim. Yeah. They had met at an arcade, and Robin had snuck out later that night to meet up with David.

He is a perp, and she is a victim. Both victims had been shot in the head. Well, sorry, Robin had been shot in the head, back of the head, execution style. David was shot twice in the head, and once in the shoulder, like he had been running away from the killer.

Both victims were partially clothed. Edward was found with her jeans and bassins and her bra around her neck. When investigators were unsure if there had been sexual assault, since despite Robin being under age and having a pregnant girlfriend, it was presumed that Robin and David had a sexual relationship. Okay.

It's a lot of time there. So they were probably in the car having sex. Yeah. Shoot her twice, or mix and get out of the car.

He makes her run for it. Yeah. He gets shot in the shoulder while running, and then gets shot in the head. Yes.

Yeah. What a hero he is, y'all. Yeah. Just bad, it's bad.

Oh, bad. Geez. So his black four-branger pickup truck was discovered on Monday, September 21, 1987, by a patrolling police officer at the refuge parking area next to the James River Bridge with a wipers, engine, and radio still running. And some articles are closing inside, which was near that wildlife management area.

About two miles upriver where their bodies would eventually be discovered. The officer found the black four-branger with both doors open, and the driver went to partially roll down, which cost placeably that the perpetrator had possibly been posing as, or was some sort of uniformed officer. There were two pairs of underwear, shoes, and novings wallet were found in the car, which ruled out robbery. Three days later, the two bodies were discovered by novings father and a search party along the water's edge of the James River.

So his father found him horrible and the girl. You never want to find your own child. Oh my gosh. Authorities immediately linked the double murder of Nobling of Edwards to the murder of Jawski and Thomas 11 months previously, because although their deaths did not occur on the colonial parkway, both sets of victims were couples who had been killed at or around lovers lane areas, and the two locations were only about 30 minute drive apart.

So they're pretty close together. On January, nope, we're going to talk about that later. Okay, let's see. Okay, let's talk about Cassandra Haley and Richard Call.

Hopefully everybody was of age in this one. They were. Okay, good. Great, Christopher Newport University students Cassandra Lee Haley and who was 18.

Good. And Richard Keith Call, who was 20. Good. We're reporting missing.

Cassandra left her family's residence in Grafton, Virginia on April 9, 1988, when Call picked her up for their first date, and they planned to spend the day together. The couple traveled and calls read 8 1982 Toyota silica silica. Silica. Silica.

Sure, important. Okay. It was her first date together and calls first date since he broke up with his girlfriend of nearly four years. They were last seen attending a party in the University Square area in Newport, Newes, Virginia at 1.30am on April 10th.

And neither of them has been seen again. Wow. Calls and occupied vehicles reported abandon at the York River Overlook on Colonial Parkway in Yorktown, Virginia at 7am on April 10th, two hours after it was found. The keys were on the driver's seats and a watch and eyelasses were on the dashboard.

Nearly all of the clothing Call was wearing, including his underwear, was also found in the back of the car as were some of Cassandra's clothes and her underwear. So we were getting busy on the lane. Haley did a little head move shoulder. Getting busy on the lane.

Police later confirmed that it was the same clothing Richard and Cassandra wore the night they disappeared. Her purse and cows wallet were missing. Their bodies have never been found, but both are presumed dead. Police dogs tracked the two students sent to the York River shoreline.

Authorities initially believed they had gone swimming in drowned, but an extensive search of the river turned up no sign of them. And foul play is suspected in their death. Alright, next. Annamarie Phelps and Daniel Lauer.

On September 5th, 1989, Annamarie Phelps was 18 and her boyfriend's brother, Daniel Lauer, 21, vanished on route to Virginia Beach. Lauer's car, which was a gold 1972 Chevrolet Nova, was soon found abandoned at the Interstate 64 Rest Stop in New Kent County facing away from Virginia Beach. So on the other side of the road, you know, the rest stops are on either side of the road. He was on the one going away from the beach.

That was supposed to be going to the beach. Interesting. I thought that was a little detail. It's unclear whether Annamarie and David pulled over and were killed at the rest stop or if they were killed elsewhere and they could move their car.

I'm going with that one. Both driver and passenger side doors were unlocked with the keys still in the ignition, police found dirt and grass stains on the vehicle's underside, suggesting the car recently drove through the woods. Phelps's purse was found inside the car, again, rolling out robbery. On October 19th, 1989, Skeletonized bodies of Phelps and Lauer were found in a wooded area by hunters along Interstate 64 between Williamsburg and Richmond.

The bodies were covered in an electric blanket from Daniel's car and were badly decomposed, which made it impossible to determine the cause of death or whether there had been any type of sexual assault. Hunters discovered the bodies on a logging road about a quarter mile from Courthouse Road, which is about a mile from the rest stop where Lauer's car was found. Even though the case of death could not be determined, there were what was suspected to be stab marks on Annamarie's bones and to her abdomen, suggesting she had been stabbed to death. In 2010, so several years later, a note was discovered in a box taking years earlier from Phelps' apartment.

The note was undated and reportedly written by Phelps indicated that she was about to meet someone in a blue van at a rest stop. While the Virginia State Police claim the information in this note was previously examined, one of the State Police investigators working at the 1989 murders told a television reporter that he was unaware of the existence of the note. But if it was examined, but we all know, I didn't know it existed. So those are the four that they believe are definitely part of this case.

Okay. We've got some possible additional victims to talk about. Holy cow, this person was busy. Yeah, we've got Mike Margaret and Donna Hall.

On August 21, 1984, the bodies of Michael Sturgis, Mike Margaret, who was 21, and Donna Lynn Hall, who was 18, were found in a wood area about 300 yards southwest of the King's Crossing apartment complex in the 10,000 block of Patterson Avenue, which is near, was in Henrico, Virginia. Margaret and Hall have been dating for four years and were engaged to be married. On August 17, 1984, Mike and Donna told their respective families that they planned to go on a camping trip together, and this is the last time they were seen alive. Three days later, a retired dentist is always a dentist.

Hey, don't talk about my husband now. A retired dentist who was walking his dog discovered Mike's jeep backed into a depression off the trail with a passenger door open, keys in the ignition and ash tray open. There was one red bandana hanging from the rear view mirror and another loosely tied around the clutch. The canvas top of the jeep had been rolled up and pinned back, even though it had rained over the weekend.

Inside the back end, there were two suitcases and a paper bag filled with clothes. We then found a trail of blood which led to the bodies of Hall and Margaret underneath a checkered red and blue blanket about 20 feet away. Both victims had been stabbed in their throats cut. The state coroner stated they died around 2am on August 18, only hours after their last scene.

Both had the sedative dimmeral in their systems. Donna's body was found without shoes, no defensive wounds and clutching pine needles, leaving investigators to believe that she and Margaret were actually killed where their bodies were found. So Mike also had defensive wounds and a lower dosage of dimmeral in his system. Some detectives believe that Hall and Mike were the first victims of the colonial park by killer due to similarities in the killing.

It's interesting with the dimmeral in this system. Had they taken dimmeral themselves? Was that just a coincidence or...? Right, but you wouldn't think as sedative.

Why would you take a sedative? Right. Or to be dry? Or to force them out of the car, make them take it.

That's just weird though. Seems like to me, maybe it was like met them somewhere, met them at a bar or something. Yeah, maybe drove them in the car. I don't know, something's weird about that.

Alright, so we've got Brian, Pettinger and Lori Powell. So Brian, Craig Pettinger, who's 25, who's a heavy equipment operator, was last seen at a Hampton, Virginia dance club on December 4, 1987, at 11.30 pm. Two months later on February 3, 1988, his body was found by fishermen floating in a marshy area of the James River in Suffolk, Virginia, near the mouth of the Chacatuck Creek that flows into the James River. Sure.

He was floating with his wrists and ankles tied and a rope around his neck. Lead investigator in the case believed that Pettinger had likely been hog tied. The autopsy showed that he had blunt force blows to the back of the head, and he had also been thrown in the river alive and then drowned. His murder remains unsolved and occurred during and around the area where the Colonial Park Remerters took place.

He also worked as a security guard and lost prevention officer for the same security services company where victim Robin Edwards' mother, Bonnie Edwards, worked as a receptionist at the time of Robin's murder. Interesting. Yeah, weird little coincidence there. So Lorien Powell, Compton, who's 18, she was a high school, a Gloucester high school graduate.

She went missing on March 8, 1988 after having an argument with her boyfriend, which ended with Lorrie getting out of his car. She was last seen by him at 11.30 pm walking on the dark and deserted route 614 towards route 17 in the White Marsh area. She was wearing a purple pullover, cotton shirt with a white collar, purple and cream colored pants, and a jacket. Lorrie was not scheduled to be at work on March 9, and her family assumed she was staying with a friend.

When she didn't turn out for work on March 10, her stepfather reported her missing. On Saturday, April 2, 1988, Lorrie's body was spotted Flippity James River off Cranny Island near Ragged Island, which we've heard before. Her body was found nude, no findings, and with multiple stab wounds to her back. Her death certificate said unknown for date and place of injury.

Compton worked for the same security company where Pettinger and Edwards' mother worked at the time of her murder. Wait a minute. So are we suspecting that this woman has something involved? Someone kind of involvement?

Excuse me. I don't know. It's weird though they all worked at the same place. It is because it seems like does someone have some kind of vendetta?

Right. So, there's an article that came out on January 9 of 2024. So just recently. Just recently.

It's very short. I'm just going to redo the whole thing. Okay. So the headline is Virginia Police, identify suspect in three cold case homicides from the 1980s, including victims of the colonial parkway murders.

Okay. So it's just three little- You tell- It's just three little- How are retro-us involved? I'm trying to always put retro- I don't know how retro-us are here. Okay.

I'm just going to read it to you. Sorry. A small time fisherman who died in 2017 has been linked to three cold case homicides in Virginia from the 1980s, including two that were among a series of unsolved slayings of couples known as the colonial parkway murders, long force beneficials announced Monday. Virginia State Police identified the suspect as Alan W.

Weilmer Sr., but offered a few details about how he's tied to the killings, which occurred in 1987 and 1989, or when he became a suspect. However, the word he said Weilmer would be charged if he was alive. The colonial parkway murders involved the death of three couples and the suspected death of the fourth couple whose bodies were never recovered. Killing is occurred between 1986 and 1989 on a sneer-on or near-a-senic drive that connects James Town, Williamsburg, Yorktown, and southeastern Virginia.

So I don't know, like- And there's not been a whole lot put out about it, but somehow he is connected. I don't know. I don't know if maybe he had some tie to this security company somehow. And what was his name?

His name is, let's see, Alan Wilmer Sr. Yeah, I don't know if there's anything else that's come out since I did this research. It's very possible because this was January 9th, but it's pretty crazy. So he's been tied to the murders of David, Robin, and then the 1999 homicide of Theresa Lin's Howl, which we did not talk about.

So it's just one of those kind of crazy things. So I'm looking at a newer article that says he lived about two and a half hours north, had no criminal records. He says he was never convicted felons whose genetic profile had never been submitted to DNA databases. Yeah, he was an avid hunter.

Yeah, it's pretty crazy. Yeah, ready wild. So they're obviously continuing to try to link him to the other ones as well. But to me, looking at all those other ones, yeah, it's weird that they're all in the same location, but they're so different.

Yes, very. So like the method. What's interesting is that going back and reading some of the stuff here, it's some of them were sexually assaulted. I don't know.

I guess it depends on what you're reading, but still it's, you got to think like what is this guy's motivation? It's not robbery. Yeah, like what are you doing? Right.

What's the point? Just the thrill of the kill? Well, right. He's an avid hunter.

So is he out hunting these nights and just comes across these people and just whatever he has on him is what he's using. Yeah, because there's different types of hunting seasons. I mean, most hunters carry a knife, but there's sometimes you can use a gun and there's sometimes it's bow and arrows that you can use. And for him, it's probably a power trip.

Yeah, it's just kind of scary. Scaring people. It's very strange. But that's the story.

If more comes back and we'll- Back in the 1800s when we were in our tavern. You wouldn't have gone for this. This wouldn't have been cool. No.

We just said no thanks. Not a fan. No, we're going back to our super eight. Yeah.

Back to the back to our straw mattress. Back to our straw mattress. That's where we'll be. Let's try and survive.

Saying just say to the drugs kids and also- Sound like cooking. If you're 20, date people your own age and stay away from the middle schoolers. Yeah, maybe don't date a 14 year old. Maybe date people who are adults who are over the age of 18.

Yeah, 18 plus, man. That's where it's at for you. Yeah. That's called being creep.

Just saying. Yeah, that's bad. We don't care for that. No, we don't.

No, we don't. We don't like that. So we're sitting in the tavern and we're judging you, even from the 1800s. You know, when you're dead like that, that's horrible.

That's horrible. I'm so sorry that that happened to you, but also don't have sex with 14 year olds. Yes, that's not cool. That's not good.

I was two years old judging. Yeah, since I'm not cool. That's a bad look. Yeah.

Yeah. Already. Well, if you want to tell us about your adventures on the colonial park, wait, not those adventures, maybe just the scenic part. Not the lovers lane section.

It could be scenic. I don't want to know about the scenes. You know, the nature. Wildlife.

Hey. Oh my God. Go ahead and send us an email so you can mount mysteries about Appalachia. And she feels sometimes in the winter, you don't shave a whole lot.

So you can find us on Facebook and from mountain mysteries, it tells you Appalachia. Find us on our Instagram about mysteries dot Appalachia and check us out on patreon patreon.com slash mountain mysteries. I am sending a shout out to Dublin, Ohio. Hey, thank you.

I tried really hard. You're welcome. Thanks. I put an effort just for you.

Lovely. I know. I know. I try.

Okay. Catch you then. Bye.