Apex Predator /// Part 2 /// 744 | Forensic Files

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Captain the four Colonial Parkway murders and we now know in 2024 the Allan Wade Wilmer senior is
responsible for what is the third set of these double homicides the the one that
falls third on that timeline again there's been debate over the years are these four cases connected or not now
one thing I want to point out here that makes me believe that at least two of these four are absolutely connected is
because it's not until the third case 1988 April 10th Keith call cassandre Haley the two that have never been
found it's my understanding captain that that is when this man falls on onto police radar with Witnesses coming
forward saying I've been approached or we've been approached by a man that looks like this who has a vehicle that
looks like this and they use those descriptions and that vanity plate to lead them to Allan Wade Wilmer senior
now fast forward all those years later we know that he killed David nobling and Robin
Edwards about six months prior so if he was active and he killed David nobling and Robin Edwards and he doesn't come
onto the police radar until the investigation of Keith call and Cassandra Haley six months later to me
it stands to reason that he's very likely responsible for both right of these cases that's four of the eight
victims and then unfortunately we have the sad fact and this is what will prevent I believe prevent them from
ever saying 100% that he did kill Keith Cole and Cassandra Haley we've still not
found their bodies all of these years later right so you wouldn't be able to link his DNA to the victims and I don't
think that that's going to be possible who knows let's let's stay glass half full here let's stay fluid in the
situation we don't know what new evidence could be uncovered I'm just glad to have a cup that's right tomorrow
next week who knows what police will find and these cold cases are heating up I think that it's no mistake
that they're telling us we figured out a lot of this information last June we are
doing a lot of work behind the scenes and did not feel it was necessary to present this to the public until January
so to me that that tells me a couple things one they're doing a lot of work behind the scenes what is that work well
I think that they have said what they're not saying to us is that we're probably
they've probably been trying to tie him to these cases and maybe some others and
just have not been able to do so yet but I'm guessing captain that in a lot of these
scenarios they have a situation where they're looking at it under the microscope and they're going you know
what we can't rule him out we're not we're not going to go to the public and Rule him out on anything because of the
nature of this Beast right that he could have been hunting and killing in this area in these we're already up to
multiple counties that we can tie him to and he got away with it until he was deceased
even when he was on the radar he gets away with it if he is responsible for all the Colonial Parkway murders that's
eight victims plus the other victim that they connected him to that's nine Teresa
howo yeah right I mean so is that just the beginning well and here's the other thing too I think that there's been a
bit of a misconception over the years at large for for the the masses anyway okay
explain with these eight victims of the Colonial Parkway murders I think that it's just kind of thought that all eight
of these victims they fell prey to the Predator because they were on the parkway that night when in fact in a
couple of these cases there's evidence to suggest that two of the couples would not have been on the
parkway that night meaning what this to me expands the Killer's M Mo we don't have
to limit him to the parkway meaning we also don't have to limit him to Parkway victims and we know that based off of
the Teresa Howell case she was nowhere near the parkway she was at this zodiac club that was a popular nightclub
she vanishes her body's found hours later so right just We Know by the timeline with with that victim not much
could have occurred in her life or events in her life between the time she goes missing from leaving the club to
when her body is found she's found relatively quickly it's a good thing because that was an easy way for them to
collect evidence at the time so that's 1989 the Teresa case and that actually the the date that
she is murdered I believe would fall within the 4 case timeline so it falls somewhere
between the third case of Keith call cassandre Haley and then the fourth case the anamarie Phelps and Daniel low case
September 5th 1989 yeah Teresa how was killed in July according to my notes of that same year
so she falls within that timeline but the other thing is the m mo one has to look at this and go he
probably I I wish that we knew more about this case and I'm going to and I look I understand that we're not perfect
we get things wrong we we don't always nail it in the garage we do our best attemp to nail it in the garage but one
thing that was very disappointing in looking back on some of these cases not the not the ones that fall into the
Colonial Parkway murders category but Teresa's case there was very little media coverage of the case I
think that is partly because she was not from the area she had moved to the area
I don't think she had family she had family living states away right that were probably not there to to pound the
table and shout it from the mountain tops and it sounds like police had very little leads to go on other than the
fact that they knew that she left that nightclub but one has to sit here and go okay how did the killer intercept her
it's always kind of been just generally thought that all of these eight victims were caught in some kind of net on the
parkway the night that they were traveling again two of these may have never been on the parkway that night at
all and so then you look at the how case could he have been in the nightclub himself right spots a young attractive
woman leaving on her own and decides to follow her into the parking lot could he
have been in the nightclub earlier positioned himself in the parking lot and thought you know what I'll wait till
I see someone come out by themselves and she she just happened to be the one that
he spots does he pull into the parking lot knowing I could find a young single person a
young single victim here he could sit there and wait or like you said he could go inside the bar and if he did this at
this club he probably did it at several other clubs sometimes being successful sometimes not being successful that's
the part that involves when you go back to David nobling and Robin Edwards as well
they're out at this isle of White County Wildlife Refuge ragged Island the way that that crime scene looks to me so you
have David nobling who is found shot near the shoreline and then you find Robin Edwards the other victim who's
found not terribly far from him killed shot and killed as well it's almost like this guy wanted to hunt every type of
animal and he decided that well I'll just throw humans into that category as well I don't think that he drove David
nobling and Robin Edwards to ragged Island Wildlife Refuge in fact David nobling was known to go to this area to
hang out kind of like a party spot right and this is not the Colonial Parkway I think he found them there and
then moved the vehicle later right moved that nobling pickup to that small parking lot which would makees sense and
would throw law enforcement off the scent which is off of the Colonial Parkway so yeah now people are like oh
they he he caught them on the Parkway and then moved the B no look at those crime scenes nobody would come to the
conclusion that they were transported to where they were killed I think they were
killed and then after the fact the vehicle was transported to where it was found in an attempt to throw the cops
off and in ways it kind of worked because they weren't found for a couple couple of days and it also
makes you wonder and and and tell me if this is a dumb thought because if he has
a boat is he traveling by car on some of these cases and maybe traveling by boat
on other cases you're right I think there's a chance that in the nobling Edwards case that he stumbled onto those
victims via boat that he was out there with the boat that night we as you pointed out captain in episode one he
was an avid Hunter both Bow Hunter and with a gun and usually some of those types are
keeping a bow and or gun and if you're a fisherman knives with you most of the time you're going to have those items on
your boat you're going to have them in your truck it's also not that hard to get people onto your boat you strike up
a conversation with people at a bar hey oh yeah well you know I I walked here well I actually took my boat would you
guys like to go for a ride I've seen too many movies to get onto a stranger's boat well see I'm the captain so
whatever boat I go on I own I'm pointing out how these murders could have taken place and in fact the three that he's
responsible for may not have involved the parkway at all other than he moved the pickup truck to off of that
Parkway again it's a lot easier to move a vehicle than it would be to move victims well and this is return in us
now to let's take that information that we've just discussed and revisit the Keith call Cassandra Haley case the two
that have never been found the two that were together at a college party leaving
that college party Keith call was going to drive Cassandra Haley home and in fact all the evidence points to that
because she had a curfew and they left the party with roughly the right amount of time to drive straight from the party
to her home to return her to her parents home in time for the curfew that route the fastest route from point A to point
B did not involve the parkway at all right I'm pointing out the situation with Teresa Howell's case
because if the killer if Wilmer intercepted her before she could get to her vehicle in the parking lot that night
we're talking it's like 2 or 3 in the morning right could we have another scenario where in 1988 where he's parked
somewhere around this college party wherever this college party took place and saw the two of them well he would
have been what late 20s early 30 so it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility that he could just go into a
party yeah I don't know that he I'm not saying that he would I'm just saying that like he he wouldn't it wasn't like
he was in his 60s when these crimes were committed so it wouldn't if he's at a bar if he's hanging around to college
he's not going to stick out like a sore thumb right he he he is younger looking I would say so I have
also he's shorter so sometimes when individuals shorter sometimes you just kind of assume their age as being
younger could be every short so you're like hey that guy's short he must be in college now so I the problem I'm just
saying that if you saw him from a distance maybe you would you wouldn't even think college student you might
think high school student if you saw him from a distance I'm gonna have to push back because I don't think he would have
fit into the college party at all I mean we're talking he would have been 34 years old right and he's he's an
Outdoorsman like I'm not saying it's it's certainly not out of the realm of possibility but I don't think he was
hanging out with these college kids you're not factoring in another part of this equation the other part of this
equation is the police are very the P persons that attended this party this wasn't uh this wasn't a four-person five
person 10 person party this was a a larger party they interviewed these individuals if they if they talk to
multiple people and they're like yeah there was there was this short old guy that was here which seemed kind of odd
that's going to stand out to them in their notes again not out of the realm of possibility but I'm also speculating as
well so I can't fault you for that I'm my speculation is is it a possibility that he saw them leaving right
intercepts them in the parking lot or somehow figures out I can fake pull these people over which that was always
one thought to be considered in the parkway cases but again pointing out that the parkway does not involve these
two individuals who he is the prime was the Prime Suspect of their Disappearance
in 1988 okay question for you if we're trying to profile this individual this penis dick
balls right is he the type of killer do you think he's the type of killer that he's in stealth
mode where he's I'm going to sit in the parking lot I'm going to stalk I'm going
to hunt my prey that way or is he I'm going to go into the bar I'm going to make
conversation I'm going to find my individual that way then I'll follow them out of the bar cuz to me because of
his hunting background fishing background he's a stealth mode lie away and weight type of killer yeah but I
don't think he's a stalker right I don't think that any of these victims fell prey to him because he had been watching
them for a considerable amount of time no I meant stalking in the moment is what I me yeah so I I think what we have
here is an opportunistic killer he goes out out looking for a victim and he some
nights he finds them and some nights he does not and he'd be patient I mean you have to have patience if you're into the
sport of hunting or fishing so that makes him very lethal because he he's he can lie and
wait and wait for the perfect opportunity well and the opportunity is going to not just be when the victim
presents themselves but also when the situation pres presents itself as being the right situation right I'm not going
to be seen by somebody else or when I gain control of these victims there's not going to be ey Witnesses or ear
Witnesses well no and and we almost have proof of that and maybe you can back me
up on this we have individuals that say well this guy pulled us over or this guy
approached us on the park scenarios it's approached and which is I think key because the one of the theories over the
years was that maybe this person had a law enforcement background or was pretending to be law enforcement because
in some scenarios it looked like these individuals had been pulled over I think that's exaggerated a little bit I think
what we have here most of these scenarios is they're either the victims are intercepted before they can get to
their cars or outside of their cars like we know in like I believe in the nobbling Edwards case that we're saying
he absolutely did do but these other scenarios I mean when he's approaching these people they obviously didn't get
killed so there was something that he didn't think was right about the situation or the opportunity if you can
connect the eight Parkway murders and this other victim this could just be the beginning
or the end or the middle and that's that's what I want to talk about here today the the potential for other cases
and expanding potentially expanding the timeline of this killer and and who who are the other victims that he's
responsible for he would have been 32 years of age roughly when the First Colonial Parkway murder took place and
we've talked about this plenty of times that the the average age of a serial killer the an active serial killer is
their late 20s your expertise lends you to believe that this is not the start of
his murders I would wager a Franklin that he killed before the parkway murder started in ' 86 and I would wager
another Franklin that he killed after he killed Teresa Howell in 1989 right so some other cases to be
considered one that stands out is the murder of Belinda an Ashburn who would have been about 33 years of age when she
was killed her body was found in North Carolina and so immediately some people are going to go well all these other
cases you've talked about took place in Virginia yes that's true they took place
on the Eastern the east coast of Virginia but if you look at the Isle of white case that we know that he would be
tried with they would take him to trial arrest him for and try him for the double murder in the Isle of white case
right that is a southern County in Virginia and then you have North Carolina of course that is just south of
the state of Virginia in the Ashburn case in the Belinda Ashburn case she is found in the
water in curry tuck County which is East Coast very the most northern County on that East Coast so we're talking it's
it's right on the Virginia North Carolina border there's not a whole lot of information about her case out there and
sadly I found what information I did find sounds like there was not a great investigation that took place with her
murder one piece of information that we found was saying that her father was was
conducting his own investigation and in our experience Captain when does that take place we see that when either the
family doesn't think that the police are doing a good enough job or if their inves in their investigation is not
really taking place right so here's what we do know Belinda an Ashburn 33 she was
from Chesapeake Virginia that is this man's general hunting area that is where he was looking for victims and we have
proof of that by the three known victims that we have correct Chesapeake Virginia
she was found floating in a canal in curry tuck County and I apologize if I'm not saying that correctly that's how I
believe it to be said but I didn't have the time to ask around been wrong before
yeah so you can stick that in your hat and smoke it well yeah it's right on the Virginia North Carolina line this was in
1988 listen to this detail though this is a detail that very much mirrors some of the details of the previous cases
that we've discussed her car was found earlier the day that she was found abandon at the
south end of Blackwater Road with the keys in the ignition okay two of the other cases both had keys in the
ignition it's almost like a calling card the front door open yeah another calling
card a purse containing $300 we found found in all these other cases or most of these other cases I
should say right money on the persons money in the vehicles we've also found valuables on the victims that that were
left that the killer could have taken jewelry could have taken money could have taken items of
value but did not that was not a part of what he wanted to do or wanted to bother
to do her clothing and other personal items were found on on the seat of her vehicle so she's found either nude or
partially clad sexually assaulted and floating in a canal and in fact I'll read the
information about her father and sadly her her parents are no longer with us this is but I still have hope that this
case could be solved and I just wish that her parents would have gotten answers before they had grown too old so
her father's name is Robert zerel he lives lived at Virginia Beach this article says the murder of his daughter
Belinda Ashburn has been an all consuming for the last 6 months he has been investigating her death and
interviewing anyone who might know something quote you never get over this type of thing zern held said I never
sleep anymore unless it's with a sedative I spend three to four hours a day running leads so her family gets
together with some of the other families of the Colonial Parkway murders and they
were trying trying to raise money and petition the state of Virginia to create a task force to look into these unsolved
murders this also includes murders that were not linked to the Colonial Parkway right there was a task force that was
assembled at some point but one problem that we discussed back in 2018 was that a lot of these cases took
place in different jurisdictions yes so the left hand didn't know what the right
hand was doing or would bother to even tell the the other hand what we were doing two is some of this land is
federal land so you have you have state law enforcement you have local law enforcement and you have federal law
enforcement all either involved or not involved and in some cases I believe pointing the finger saying no that's not
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garage and cheers to you all cheers to you Colonel cheers to you Captain cheers to the people in the back of course yeah
get you some Amber lungren is one that has been mentioned with the recent development of Allan Wade Wilmer senior
being properly referred to as a serial killer by Virginia State Police this is one that that the police have not lumped
her in with the other victims but we we have very smart podcasters and and people on social media saying wait a
second this Amber lungren case feels very familiar in fact it feels a lot like the Teresa how case so Amber
lungren very similar situation she's down in Asheville so that puts her a considerable distance from some of these
other cases that we've discussed keep in mind at this time in our timeline when she goes missing and then later is found
we believe and the authorities believe that Allan Wade Wilmer senior had moved on from the Waterman business and was
now doing the tree service business and there were storms severe storms in this area prior to her death so he could have
been down there chasing work like we talked about I'll point out one problem that I find with linking him to this
case but before I get to that here's the things that that are similarities okay Amber lungren is 20
years of age at the time she reportedly by her friends somehow they're out together she's out with a group of
friends and she gets separated from these friends she's leaving a downtown nightclub around it's believed this I
wrote 2:30 a.m. in my notes I've seen as early as 2 a.m. I've seen as late is 3:00
a.m. most reports are saying 2:30 a.m. this is on June 7th 1997 so this would be 8 years after the
believed last Parkway murders and it would be eight years after the killing of Teresa how but he'd still be in his
40s here's the victim who's leaving a nightclub late 2:30 a.m. that's roughly about the same time that would have been
leaving the Zodiac Club years prior it's believed that she was last seen on Lexington Avenue I'm not familiar with
this area her body was eventually found on aelia road this is near a recreation park in East Asheville there was a
description from a potential eyewitness or possible eyewitnesses who said that they spotted
a man between three and 4 a.m. on that day on aelia road standing near an older dark colored pickup truck
with a utility bed okay so right there the older colored pickup truck MH similar to
something that we've already discussed it we do know that he painted his truck I can't speak to what colors win but we
do know the pictures that are circulating today of that 1966 Dodge truck they BL it's a blue
truck which may even appear to be even darker right at in a low light middle of the night situation the man was
described as between 20 and 45 years of age that doesn't help us a whole lot because that's a wide age range but he
would fall somewhere into that category I believe I'd have to check my math here
closer to the end of that 45 46 years old the thing though that stands out as being possible connection dark reddish
brown hair and a beard and we're going to put out some pictures and this would this would make
some sense a stocky build that makes sense Wilmer was but built was always described as very short and muscular so
maybe even a stocky appearance the problem here is the next piece of the description medium height well some
would say he had a athletic George castanza build maybe maybe and it's a stretch pun intended maybe if he's
wearing boots as you know tree trimmer Outdoorsman would suggest is is likely or a possibility maybe he's a looking a
little bit taller I don't know if I got 100 people in a room if if any of them would describe
5'5 in tall for a male full grown male to as medium height I certainly wouldn't describe that as medium height lungren
was 5'4 in tall so keep in mind if they see this man near her or they don't have
much of a point of reference of how tall he could be maybe medium height was just
playing it safe with the the description it's also tough too because sometimes shorter people look taller
when they sit down it all depends on how like I I'm a pretty tall guy but I can sit next to people because I have very
long legs and we look like we're similar in height but once I stand up I Tower over them well and I think you will see
police did have a a sketch of the person that was seen standing near this dark pickup truck as well as a sketch of
the pickup truck itself the I don't love the the written description of that truck where it says a utility bed and
maybe I have a different understanding of a utility bed for some reason I when my the first picture that I get captain
is like more of a flat bed but I guess utility bed would also maybe they have like buckets on the side buckets on the
side or those those big lock tool boxes in the back right which his truck certainly had that and we will post
those pictures and this sketch on our social media and I believe that we're going to get a lot of people that will
go yeah I can see the connection here now back in 2018 may or may not be related to the
Colonial Parkways but murders but we did discuss the case of David Lee metzer age
19 of Lynchberg and Heidi lynchs 18 of forest they were both Virginia Tech students in 2009 a man walking his dog
found their bodies in a parking lot of a wildlife and Campground area in the Jefferson National Forest this was a
popular hangout spot for Virginia Tech students both had been shot with a 3030 caliber hunting rifle David's body was
found in his vehicle and Heidi's body was found outside of the vehicle and the campground is about 15 miles from
Virginia Tech campus in blackburg which is a little it's about a a little more than a three-hour drive to the Colonial
Parkway so this one is kind of well off the way there but again the the gun used
is a similarity the vehicle situation and yeah and we have even the victims that are not found near the parkway or
ties to the parkway what is a constant that we are hearing victim found in wooded area or Forest type area Wildlife
Preserve Wildlife Refuge all places that we could imagine someone with the lifestyle of Allan Wilmer being out
hunting and maybe it's not humans that he's hunting that night but he comes across somebody else in the process
right but he's also familiar with those areas and we know serial killers like to
kill people or take their victims to places that they're familiar with it feels safer there I think the other
thing too is like do you find something strange about the age of the victims it all seems like they're of a younger like
student age and maybe it's just because those would be the people that would be out later and maybe he's that's the time
of night that he is comfortable with looking for victims but I'd also want to know did
something happen in his past around that age where he's targeting people of a younger age does that make any sense at
all both makes sense and I think what what you're hitting on here that I would really lean toward is what you said at
the start of that that I believe him to be a very opportunistic type of killer and as you
said younger people tend to be out later and it just may be happen stance that those are the persons that he's finding
when he's out looking yeah that's why it's disappointing to not have more information in the Belinda Ashburn case
because while it shares so many similarities again the water the water is the key here with this perpetrator I
believe she's found in the water in a canal and we don't know the situation of well when was she last seen or where do
we believe she was traveling too uhhuh and at what time of day would that have been and why I would want to know that
is because she is older than most of the victims that we've discussed like I believe the
oldest of the victims that we've discussed so far is 27 years old Kathleen Thomas Kathy
Thomas and she's Belinda is 33 she's a youngl looking 33 from the pictures I've seen but again it we don't
know enough about her case other than the similarities that we've all already covered some other ones that are are
potential this is this would be rather early in our timeline so this would put us in
1979 Alice ASU or Alice escu who was killed in September of 1979 her body was found in a densely wooded area of
Seashore State Park um other than the manner and where she was found and her age she was 18 petite white female those
are really the only simil similarities one case here that stands out to me which I would love to know some more
details is Joan Zigman and Christine pilac uh this is August of 1983 these two women were from out of
town they were had traveled to the area together to Virginia Beach to attend a convention related to their employment
they were last seen at night at approximately 700 p.m. on August 18th 1983 Unfortunately they were found by
the Coast Guard a pilot boat operator had notified the Coast Guard of two bodies floating in the water these
victims were both 26 years of age again the water is important to me in this case here uh and it's only a few years
prior to the coloni Parkway murders raphaela Bryant July 1985 this was a carire so she had been
killed and the vehicle was set on fire which we know in one of the other cases they tried to do it was an attempt yes
right so her case is interesting as well those those three cases that we've just
discussed those are all considered to be cold cases the investigating Agency on that one on all three are the Virginia
Beach police well I know this goes without saying we have a lot of intelligent individuals that listen to
this podcast a lot of sleuther out there and if you're a sleuther and you're going hey this is kind of interesting
and I'm going to dive into some cases in this area if you see a similarity look reach out to law enforcement let them
know it might it might be something that they a case that they're not aware of that has similarities anybody looking
for information to solve these cases it's a good thing the more people that can we can connect more crimes to this
individual I I don't think these three will be the only cases that he's found guilty of correct if if they have the
evidence then becomes right right what what do they have and what can they prove when when we Elevate him to what
the state is saying serial killer now you have to look at it and I'm not trying to pull one of these situations
where it's like oh we've identified a new serial killer so he must be responsible for the murders of every
unsolved murder that took place during his lifetime in the state of Virginia we're not trying to do that here because
there were other cases that we looked at and we said no this doesn't make sense like some of these other cases may make
sense now we haven't got to the one that makes the most sense and this is probably this is a case with a lot of
twist and turns and a case that maybe some of the listeners out there may be familiar with so this case takes place
in Virginia so right now right away we've checked a box this is the still unsolved murder of Mary keer or Kaiser
Mary Harding her last name's Harding her middle name I'm not sure how to say that
Mary Harding was a young mother of two she was married to a man named Emerson Harding they live in Lancaster County
Virginia Which at the time back in 1985 when she was killed had a population of roughly
10,000 people still has that small population to this day flags were raised Captain when she is found missing from
their home so her husband Emerson he is like many people he works the waters okay so in Lancaster County most men
pretty broad statement here but most men back then worked the waters most of them
work big corporate ships in Chesapeake Bay either crab or oysters off of the rapaic I believe is how you say it River
her husband works the waters and the way that his schedule Works he's gone a lot
due to the trade this is a very low extremely low crime area extremely low violent crime area so when this murder
took place it freaked everybody out of course so what we have here is Mary Harding is she works part-time at the
bank of Lancaster as said her husband is gone often times for days and many times
overnight and for days working on the waters because of their careers with the two small kids she would often drop them
off with a relative to be watched when she would go work her bank of Lancaster shift she was scheduled to drop them off
it I believe it was her the her grandmother's or either her husband's grandmother or her grandmother's house
on Friday August 23rd 1985 she didn't drop him off as scheduled grandmother makes a phone call nobody answers so
Grandma decides to drive out when she gets to the house the kids are fine in fact the little boy he's like four or
five he opens up the door and he's like mom's gone right and dad's out working on the boats he's been gone for a couple
days not good no Grandma knows that this is not a situation that the parents would have at all so she calls the
police police arrive on the scene and here's what they find they find the kids food
from the night before still out on the table they find Comet or Ajax in the sink you know like the cleaning yeah
it's like cleaning scrub they find the kitty litter box outside of the back door and it
looks like it had been like like dropped they they find one of her flip-flops near the kitty litter box and
then out on the driveway they find her second flip-flop this is painting a picture for detectives here what it
looks like is that she had put the kids to bed they're they're both very young kids the boy's the oldest he's only four
or five fed him dinner put him to bed and was in the process of like cleaning the house once she got some time to
herself and somebody grabbed her startled her something startled her when she was
outside dealing with the kitty litter box she hadn't cleaned up the dinner for the night before she hadn't scrubbed out
the sink as it would appear was her intention and then these flip-flops are found outside so they very quickly
figure out she's been abducted but this is also a different a very different way
of finding a victim compared to the cases that we've discussed 100% right on August 27th her body is found floating
face down in that rapaic River okay so she is has been strangled and this is just off
of a location called Bell Isle the body's naked bloated no clothing cuts and slashes are on her back rope is
around her neck a large cinder block with a heavy chain was connecting the right leg to that same rope that was
connected to the cinder block so somebody abducted her killed her and ATT to conceal the body by throwing her in
the water and waiting her down police do point out at the time look this is all things that we would expect a boat
person or Waterman type of equipment used to waight her down now we should also say it's not terribly uncommon for
people to have rope heavy chain or cinder blocks that don't own a boat or don't work in that line of work yeah
Scott peeterson there was a $20,000 reward W offered and eventually this leads to an arrest so
she's reported missing on Friday August 23rd body found August 27th waited down in the river
she the the problem was where they attempted to conceal the body it wasn't very deep so even though they weighed her
down at some point somebody passing by she's kind of visible to somebody floating face down in the
river and that's how they find the body now the an arrest was made that Halloween so roughly two months
later the person that is arrested his name is Emerson Stevens he's a waterman at the time he owned a 32- foot boat
named the Miss Sandra he lived nearby and it was the reward money that kind of LED some tipsters to come forward and
the tips that they were getting was that a pickup truck had been spotted near her
home late on the night that it's believed that she was abducted he owned a pickup truck was it
an old style pickup truck there's some problems with this case okay so um the the problems are going to be the
description of the pickup truck you get multiple persons saying that they saw a pickup truck there that night you're
going to get one person that's going to say not only did I see a pickup truck there that night but here's the
description and oh by the way I know somebody that owns a pickup truck exactly like that and by the way I know
whose truck that was yeah so this guy comes this guy comes forward and says this truck belongs to Emerson Stevens
he's my cousin that's the truck that I saw out there that night I need I want everybody to please
understand this there's other witnesses that gave a slightly different versions of the description of that pickup truck
right I'm pointing that out because Emerson Stevens is arrested as said on Halloween he's later tried for this
murder the first trial gets a hung jury they take it back to trial again he gets
convicted he's going to be sentenced to life he's going to spend the rest of his
life in prison that should be the end of the case correct well it's not he spends several decades in
prison wow he always ad he's always sticks to saying that he's innocent he was married with Children of his own at
the time and in fact he tells his wife hey divorce me move on with your life I'm stuck here forever you need to go
out and live your life I'd say honey you got to wait for me I don't care what you
have to do you got to wait for me some of the other information that helped to convict him was he owned a wild cat
what's called a wild cat Skinner knife which okay might seem damning in some cases but he's he's a fisherman he's a
waterman like most people in that area most of these types will carry knives or or at least have them on their boats
yeah and he owned a boat what what happens is once they hone in on Stevenson given the or sorry Stevens
because of the the cousin coming forward saying that oh that was my my cousin Stevens's truck that I saw out there
that night once they hone in on Emerson Stevens one of the persons close to him that they talk to says yeah he he had
this Wildcat Skinner knife and then all of a sudden he didn't have it anymore he
had this nice knife that he carried in a leather sheath and all of a sudden he didn't have it anymore and that was
roughly around the time that that that woman disappeared so now the detectives are
like okay we know what caused the slashes the cuts to This Woman's back and he knew to wait her down because he
was a he was a fisherman he was a waterman waited her down in the water he gets convicted spends several decades in
prison and then he finds someone to take his case he's he's spending his time writing to the governor writing to
judges writing to lawyers eventually finds somebody to take his case and his case gets he gets released from prison
they find that the evidence is completely bunk some of the evidence they found was hair they found a hair
sample in his truck that an expert had said matched that of the victims not so fast one of the persons yeah one of the
persons that helped to get him released was that same expert who reviewed the hair later with advaned technology and
and requested bringing in other experts to consult with and they came to the determination that the hair did not come
from the victim so now you got to toss out that evidence the truck I saw my cousin's
truck out there that night they figured out that that cousin lied he well I shouldn't say that they
figured out that he lied it's suspected now today that he lied because after the
conviction he keeps calling the police going hey what about that re reward money hey what about that reward money
when can I get that $20,000 that you guys were offering for uh conviction here so not only does
Emerson Stevens get released from prison but listen to this I'm listening he was convicted in
1986 many years later I think it's 2016 or 17 he gets released let's take this step further a
very necessary step further in August of 2021 he receives a full pardon an absolute
pardon meaning this is not a situation where we've reviewed it and gone oh we question all the evidence we got to let
this guy out no this is now a situation we've reviewed all the evidence and we can say that he did not kill this woman
this case is still unsolved well why is this one that we want to point to very strongly for
somebody like Allan Wade Wilmer Senor when you go back and review the other suspects in This Woman's murder
there's one that stands out from the handful that they were looking at a man by the name of Keith
Wilmer a waterman and he's a husband of one of Mary's co-workers so let's do the full reveal here Captain
Keith Wilmer is Allan Wilmer brother who he lived with off and on during the 80s
and 90s so it's possible that he fancied her and knew that the husband was going
to be out of town the husband was going to be working so show up at her house Keith Wilmer was
one of a very few suspects in this murder Keith Wilmer housed his brother who turns out to be
known now in 2024 as a serial killer and Keith's Wife worked at the same bank with Mary Harding what I'm getting at
here is do we live in a world where both of these brothers who live together individually were killing
people without the other knowing or or even more so did they do any of these things together it's a sick world so
Keith Wilmer becomes on the police radar for the Mary Harding case back in 1985 because one he's married to one of her
co-workers it became known to the police that he was calling people he was doing
these obscene phone calls okay and this was with more than one person not with the victim but with more than one woman
who he was calling and he was saying things like he wanted to have sex with them in the woods and very kind of gross
stuff so he ends up on police radar but keep in mind the guy that they convicted it's it's very strange to me
that that Keith Wilmer has the same occupation as the guy they convict he's a waterman his brother's a
waterman the the body is found floating in the river weighed down with things that one might expect to find on a boat
and the and these also seem to be sexually motivated crimes yes she was raped and murdered right so you have a
guy making sick phone calls to to women that's a red flag that's something you shouldn't do
that's something you don't talk about at parties they were able to determine that
the slashes on Mary Harding's back did not come from a knife remember she was found in shallow water they figured out
that those occurred postmortem after she was weighed down that the propellers of
a boat or two had gone over top of her her body was found trying to find the exact description here I believe it was
like her body was found 600 ft from where Keith Wilmer kept his boat where he docked his
boat now to be fair to Keith Wilmer yeah other people dock their boat in the same area this is very close this
is this is really starting to shrink the degrees of separation between a now known IAL killer and a
victim of an unsolved homicide at the time we should point out that Keith Wilmer home was searched uh he did allow
police to search his house his boat and his truck note that he's driving a truck
at the time uh he did submit to a polygraph exam which the results are listed as
inconclusive yeah results May Vary Allan Wade Wilmer we know he was looked at home searched boat searched truck
searched after the third of the four Colonial Parkway murders and they give him a polygraph
exam and he passes and so that's why he was listed as cleared great suspect we cleared him because he passed the
polygraph which we know you don't do that you should not do that and when they search his home they find
everything you would expect to find guns knives handcuffs pornography those are all things that
you would expect to find from somebody that you later learn has killed three people now he's a hunter and a fisherman
so you expect to find guns and knives and of course they found those in Keith Wilmer but what I'm getting at here
Captain is did the two live together at this time did they go and carry this out
together I I have a hard time believing that serial killer brother Allan Wilmer went out and did this and Keith
had was totally oblivious to it I have a hard time believing that and then you have to go a step further when you look
at some of the other homicides right we talked about this back when we did our 2018 coverage of at the time what was
eight unsolved homicides we went through some one k or two the offender profile exactly that
the offender was organized because he brought there there are things that are suggest suggestive of being an organized
killer he bought weapons along with him was able to control victims before killing them never mutilated or molested
their bodies well molested appears after the fact concealed the corpses or at least attempted to waited periods of
time before striking again yeah and there was the self-control of refraining from publicly
taunting police law enforcement with letters to the media or to law enforcement and in a couple of the cases
I would say that it's suggestive that the the modus operandi was changing so like we're kind of dancing around
here and as you just said Captain how could one perpetrator manage to kill two victims and in some cases by hand
without the other victim escaping that's when you have to go well are we looking
at a situation where we have one killer or two killer to be perfectly clear here
the forensic evidence in the three cases that have been solved only suggest one killer a one killer
scenario however we've just discussed multiple unsolved cases where we don't have the answers to and until we have
those answers we just don't know was it one or was it two want to thank everybody for joining us
here in the garage each and every week make sure you call your mother call your father call your best friend text them
right now if you have to and say listen to True Crime garage Keeps the Lights On
people it keeps the lights on Colonel do we have any recommended reading for the
beautiful listeners yes we do Captain I'm very happy to be recommending a special kind of evil the Colonial
Parkway serial killings this was released back in 2018 and we recommended it back then I
love this book this is one of this is the best book regarding the Colonial Parkway serial killings and one of the
best writing Duos for True Crime today so we have father daughter True Crime authors Blaine parau and Victoria Hester
for this book a special kind of evil for their writing and research they blew the dust off of these old cases
before they heat it up again they interviewed family members friends and members of law enforcement and they
provide the first and most complete in-depth look at this string of horrific murders and disappearances the author
investigators peel back the rumors and myths surrounding these crimes and provide new information never before
revealed about the investigations you will want to check out a special kind of evil and you will
also want to check out our other recommendations that we have listed for you on our recommended page on our
website true Crim garage.com and make sure you sign up on the mailing list until next week be good be kind and
don't litter [Music]

Apex Predator /// Part 2 /// 744

Part 2 of 2

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The Virginia State Police and the F.B.I. are calling Alan Wade Wilmer Senior a Serial Killer. After his death Alan Wade Wilmer sr. was linked to three murders. Two of those murders are part of a series known as The Colonial Parkway Murders. Alan Wade Wilmer sr. killed David Knobling and Robin Edwards in Isle of Wight in 1987, and he is also responsible for the murder of Teresa Howell in Hampton, Virginia. This week in the Garage, Nic and the Captain discuss how police linked Alan Wilmer to these murders, where the other Parkway cases stand, and what other murders should be considered when looking at Alan Wade Wilmer Sr. If you have any information regarding Alan Wade Wilmer Senior’s life, vehicles, boat, and/or living situations please tell the authorities with an email to the following - questions@vsp.virginia.gov or visit www.tips.fbi (http://www.tips.fbi/) .gov

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Brief Summary

The episode discusses the Colonial Parkway murders and suspect Allan Wade Wilmer's connections to other unsolved cases.

Key points

Colonial Parkway Murders. Discussion on the connection of the Colonial Parkway murders and the suspect Allan Wade Wilmer.
The Mystery of Teresa Howell. Exploration of the unsolved case of Teresa Howell and its media coverage.
The Mystery of Belinda Ashburn. Belinda Ashburn, 33, was found murdered in North Carolina, raising questions about the investigation.
The Connection to Allan Wade Wilmer. Allan Wade Wilmer is now recognized as a serial killer, with links to multiple unsolved cases.
Amber Lungren's Disappearance. Amber Lungren went missing after leaving a nightclub, with similarities to previous cases.
The Unsolved Murder of Mary Harding. Mary Harding's mysterious disappearance and subsequent murder in 1985 raises chilling questions.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

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4:48WatchMar 13, 2024

Tension

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