The Colonial Parkway Murders /// Part 2 /// 227 | Forensic Files

Welcome to True Crime Garage. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, thanks for listening. I'm your host Nick and
with me as always is a man that often wonders why the word abbreviated is so long. He is the Captain.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. It's good to be seen and it's good to see you. Thanks for listening. Thanks for
telling a friend. Today we are drinking Good Life by Billsburg Brewery Garage Grade four out
of five bottle caps. This is an IPA and it's got everything you would want and expect from a good IPA. And for you
travelers, Billsburg is in the heart of Williamsburg surrounded in history and all that Jamestown stuff located just
off of the Colonial Parkway. And this week's beer was brought to us by First up a big thank you to Seal from where?
Parts Unknown. Seal recommended some beers, Zombie Dust and 100 Million Angels Singing, which I'm positive we
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And a big shout out to baby Jesus. And last but not least a shout to Martha in parts unknown. Crazy how these things
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Let's talk some true crime. 18-year-old Anna Marie Phelps had recently moved in with her boyfriend
Clinton Lower in Virginia Beach. Anna Marie had frosted blonde hair and a penchant for blue eyeliner. She loved
the band Poison. Now, don't get it twisted, sister, but that's not the only crime
of this episode. Well, she had returned home to Amelia. This is located southwest of Richmond to visit her
family for the Labor Day holiday weekend. She was accompanied by Daniel Lower. Uh this is Clinton's brother.
They were driving back to Virginia Beach together. Daniel was planning to move in
with his brother and Anna Maria to help them with their rent and to live near the beach. Apparently, they both had
jobs, this couple, but they I believe they made minimum wage at the time. So, paying the rent was a struggle and the
brother wanted to live near the beach. It's kind of a win-win for all involved. So,
Daniel had packed up his car with all of his things. They said goodbye to Anna Maria's family who had warned them, just
before the two pulled off, to lock their car doors and to drive safely. Now, they left about 11:15 p.m.
on Labor Day, Monday, September 4th, 1989. This is a 2-hour drive east to Virginia Beach.
Anna Maria and Daniel never showed up at their apartment in Virginia Beach. Kent,
the brother, called his mom to tell her that they hadn't showed up as expected and she filed the missing person's
report. Around 5:30 p.m. the next day, a state trooper spotted Daniel's gold 1972
Chevy Nova in the westbound rest stop along I-64 in New Kent. Which is odd because they're heading east. Yes. I-64
is a 1,000-mi major highway running between Missouri and Virginia. This rest stop between
Richmond and Williamsburg is in the wrong direction. The couple should have been driving east. The rest stop is 30
mi northwest of the Colonial Parkway. This rest stop had a reputation at the time as a meeting spot for drug deals
and hookups. The abandoned car was on the lane leading onto the highway from the rest
stop. So, picture this. The car is basically half on, half off of the road. It's almost blocking traffic.
The trooper was about to have it towed from the rest stop when a radio check linked the car to a couple that was
reported missing earlier that day. This being the two that we've already discussed. Now, Anna Maria's purse and
clothing were found inside the vehicle, as was all of Daniel's stuff. But, Anna Anna Maria's wallet was
missing, as was a blanket of Daniels. A feathered marijuana roach clip was hanging on the partially open driver's
side window. Yeah, it was like clipped onto the window. Yeah, it was later identified as belonging to Anna Maria.
The key was still in the ignition. One door was locked, the other wasn't. The car had plenty of gas. I believe it was
reported that it had 3/4 of a tank of gas, full tank of gas. And seemed to be working just fine. So,
there was no reason for them to abandon the vehicle. Some reports say that the glove
compartment was open. There was no evidence of a struggle. The car just seemed to have been left there for
whatever reason. There were sightings of the pair. And this took place both east and west
bound of where the two where the vehicle was found. Mhm. But these sightings led nowhere.
Now, I heard an investigator interviewed and he stated, "Look, we had we did have a
lot of people say that they saw them after we found the vehicle. The problem with this was he said,
"Look, this area at the time, there was a lot of partying going on. There would have been a lot of kids their age
in this area traveling to or from Virginia Beach." Right. So, these eyewitnesses could have
saw a different set of people. And And according to this investigator, he says, "Look, they To me, they look
like just any other a lot." Well, he says, "Look, they look to me just like any other kids of that age at that
time." He's He goes, "I understand that they You could easily mistake anybody for being these two."
Now, they set up a a search. Okay, police dogs were unable to pick up a scent of either of the missing
individuals. And they searched the surrounding areas. This turned up nothing. Almost immediately investigators began
drawing comparisons to the disappearance of Keith and Sandy 18 months earlier and
35 miles to the south. About a month after Lauer and Phelps went missing, Larry McCann, a profiler
and special agent with the State Police Bureau of Investigation, told reporters there was, quote, a very
good chance that the recent cases were related. A story in the Daily Press in October of 1989 mentioned each of the
four cases that are now known collectively as the Colonial Parkway murders. But now their their bodies are
going to be found. Unlike the last couple. Well, the issue here, Captain, is it's not until October
19th. This is when the bodies are found by hunters walking along an old secluded
logging road found the two sets of human skeletal remains in a wooded area. This
is about a quarter mile off of Courthouse Road, barely a mile north of the exit off of I-64.
The bodies lay side by side and they were covered by a blanket later identified as the one that was missing
from the car. Anna Maria's locket, uh, necklace was lying on the trail. Whether she had left it there as some
kind of signal, some kind of, you know, bread crumb, or the killer had dumped it there, we
don't know. The interesting thing here though is, Captain, while the locket was found on the trail,
the necklace itself was was never found. And because there was so much time that passed, their
bodies are going to be pretty badly decomposed. Yeah, we're looking at a period of,
what, 45 days? So, these remains were found about a mile from the rest area where the car was
found. State Police sent four crime scene techs and two medical examiners to this scene.
It was pouring rain all day long, so the the local fire department pitched in and
helped out. They put up a canopy above the bones, and they brought in a generator to power electric lights used
in the search. It was very muddy that day. One trooper slipped in a hole and and sank up to his knees, and the crime
scene specialist painstakingly dug and sifted through it until they found everything that they believed was left
there, including the victim's finger nails. They used several kinds of metal detectors that day and chemicals to
detect blood stains on the bushes. Signs were found to suggest that the murder site might have been at the
intersection of the logging road and the dirt lane. Meaning that where they found the car is
not where they were killed. More likely where the bodies were found is very close to where it's believed that they
had been killed. The victim's car had weeds up underneath of it that matched those
at the believed murder scene. Investigators concluded that the killer must have driven it to the dump. I'm
sorry, driven it to dump the bodies. Right. And then had parked it in the rest area going the wrong direction from
where the two victims were heading. Strangely, Anna Maria was found wearing Dennis Daniel's socks and shoes.
And so, this is very weird, right? They're They're partially They're partially stripped, but she's wearing his socks
and shoes. Somebody is One investigator had always wondered that several of the victims being found without their shoes
on, if that was some kind of form of control. You know, that that one of the not only
having them partially undressed or all the way undressed, but have them remove their
shoes and maybe their shoes first. That way if they take off running, it can be very uncomfortable to run out in these
areas with no shoes on. You might be You might be slowed in your attempt to escape.
Mhm. The killer then used Daniel's blanket to cover the bodies. From my understanding, the bodies were
covered up to the neck area. Uh the bodies were left outside for like 6 weeks, badly decomposed as you had
said. They were identified through dental records. It took about 2 days for this process. And in the course of those
2 days, law enforcement, they were kind enough to reach out to both families. And they
said, "Look, we think that this is who we found. We've already found the vehicle.
And we think that we found your two loved ones. We wanted you to hear it from us first, but we cannot confirm
that until the dental records come back." They didn't want the family to hear this on the news and not from them.
Yeah. The bodies were sent to the Smithsonian Institution National Museum for Natural
History in Washington, D.C. So, forensic anthropologist could look for hints at the cause of death.
The best they could do was to identify a nick in one of Anna Marie's finger bones, potentially a defensive wound
from from a knife attack. Mhm. Once the bodies were recovered, it was undeniable
in the minds of many people that Virginia had a serial killer on the loose. The FBI and the state police held
a joint press conference in July of 1990 declaring that there was a possibility that the cases were all
connected, all related, and asking the public for help. Now, the cases, Captain,
were all different, obviously. But, there are they are similar enough that there are some patterns and connections
between them. So, let's talk about the similarities and differences in these murders.
So, first we have all four were couples or at least appeared to be couples. We know that Becky and Kathy were dating.
We don't know whether they were targeted because they were a same-sex couple or not, but it is possible that the killer
didn't realize that until he had already begun his attack. It was very dark along
the parkway at night. Kathy and Becky were inside a dark car presumably. The killer looking to prey on couples may
have assumed that they were in fact man and woman. Becky's hair at the time was on the
shorter side. So, perhaps the extreme viciousness of this attack was because the killer was angry that
they were two women when when he had been looking for a guy and a girl. Several people close to the victims
strongly suspect that David and Robin were hooking up that night. This is the second couple. Yeah. And we
know that according to some reports out there that Robin had had sex recently before she was found.
And then we have Keith and Sandy who were on a first date if you want to call it that. And finally, we have Daniel and
Anna Maria who were driving together to Virginia Beach. They weren't a couple, but you know, there's much speculation
that perhaps they had stopped along the parkway or stopped at some point maybe having something to do with the roach
clip that was later found. And so, we have a situation here where all four situations would appear to be couples.
Yes. Now, the first couple we're going to find them inside the car. Second couple we find outside the car. Third
couple we do not find at all. Fourth couple we find roughly about 6 weeks later and
a distance away from uh the car that we find. Another similarity, all of these cases
involved cars. Um many of the cars were left with open doors and or open windows and some
reported to have had the glove boxes opened. Right, which again, I I I think this is a
I'm going to play both sides of the fence here. Possibly because the first murder being
so sloppy and that that they probably had reports saying that this possibly could be law
enforcement, it possibly could be a park ranger, this possibly could be somebody
pretending to be. Mhm. That could be something that the killer uses to set them up the second couple, the third
couple, and the fourth couple because that individual is moving the car. Mhm. And so if that individual's moving the
car, he's the one that's leaving the door open, he's possibly the one that is rolling down the window, he's the one
that's possibly uh opening up the glove box, he's the one that's possibly taking
uh a wallet or something and putting it on the dash to make it look like this this person that's stalking
these individuals is law enforcement. Right, if we want to go as so far to believe that he's sophisticated enough
to move the vehicle and stage the vehicle, then we should think that he's sophisticated enough to stage these
other things at the crime scene at the vehicle. Well, and the reason why I have a gut
feeling that those are staged because if you are posing as a law enforcement, if
you are posing as a park ranger or something, that is your way to get these people to
uh your victims to drop their guard. Right. So, if you're set You know what I mean? Like so if you're using that to
get people to drop their guard, then don't you think when you move the car, you'd roll up the window, shut the
glove box, put their wallet somewhere else. Well, yeah, because you don't want law enforcement warning future potential
victims Mhm. of this approach. That hey, look out for somebody pretending to be law enforcement pulling people over or
approaching vehicles. The third similarity that we should note here is none of the cases involved any
signs of a struggle and the cars were largely undisturbed with the exception of the first attack.
The exception to this is the other situation in the first attack of Kathy having hair in her hand,
which Mhm. I think we should assume to be the perpetrators as the FBI has not said that it was Becky's or her own
hair. So, this means that the killer somehow controlled the victims enough to get
them out of their cars without actually attacking them inside of the vehicles. Mhm.
In three of the crimes, the victims clothing items were found inside the cars. Kathy and Becky were found to be
fully clothed. First couple. But the rest were either only partially clothed or in the case of Keith and Sandy, we
don't we don't know. We don't, right. But but we do have pieces of their clothing found in the
car, quite a bit of pieces of clothing. So, we could assume that they're only partially clothed wherever they went.
And I wonder because with the fourth couple and not being able to find them for 6
weeks, I wonder if I wonder if the third couple, the killer buried maybe in a shallow grave
and with the search, we've never found them and so therefore, that's why he didn't possibly bury the fourth
couple and just left them out covered in with a blanket. My other question would be how far from
the water are they? Because we saw with the second attack, it it looks to me, my speculation is
with the second attack, that the attempt was to throw the bodies in the water and
for whatever reason they washed ashore. And in the third attack, we have no bodies. I wonder if the killer was
successful in placing them in the water and the tides took them away. Mhm. So, another similarity, all of the
crimes happened within 60 miles of one another. Ragged Island and the I-64 rest stop are each about 30 miles away in
different directions from the central murders on the Colonial Parkway. Mhm. The crimes all took place on a weekend
and two of them took place on a holiday weekend. Three of the crimes were in September or October and one of them was
in April. So, all of them took place in either fall or spring, none at winter or
summer and all took place at night time. Yeah, and you then it makes you wonder is this um killer
does he have some kind of job that they get holiday time? Well, and all of the victims were young.
We should consider that as well. Kathy being the oldest at 27 years of age. Now,
when I was listing out the similarities in the differences between the crimes. Okay, so that has us listed at seven
obvious similarities in these crimes in my opinion. There was one that that is tricky.
There is one that doesn't really end up on either list as being a similarity or a difference. And that is the one that
is that reported so often in this crime that I think we should take a look at take a new look at it for a second.
Because one that most people would consider to be a similarity amongst all four of
these crimes is that the general conception is that there's no MO. There's no uh motive. I'm sorry, not
MO. There's no motive in these crimes. Mhm. Being that there's no signs of sexual assault and there's no signs of
robbery. Well, let's go back on that real quick because the first couple we know were lesbians. But there was no
sexual assault there. The second couple we do know that Robin Edwards had sex with somebody
before her murder. Mhm. The third couple Cassandra's never found. So, we don't know if there was sexual
assault attempted or not. And then the fourth couple we got such bad decomposition that we
can't even tell if if there was a sexual assault or not. So, we can't rule that out as a possible
motive. No, we absolutely can't. And that's why I don't think you can put that as a
similarity saying that there's no obvious motive in either one of these situations. When you do a little further
digging here let's talk about the um the case of Robin and David. Okay. The reports are
that we know what the reports usually says, we know that Robin had sex shortly before she was killed. And when they say
shortly, who knows exactly what that means. Okay, as far as timeline goes. Let's just say that means within a few
hours. Well, I'm I don't even need to speculate because one thing that I found was we have an investigator. Now, he's
going off of memory, but he worked that case. And going off of memory, when asked
about the situation of Robin having had sex beforehand and wondering if that was
with David or could it be possibly that she was raped, he said in this interview
you know, and and take him keep this in mind. This is hearsay. This is him recalling this
maybe 25 years after the case, after he investigated it. But, he says due to his
regulation recollection, they were working under the assumption that Robin was raped and potentially
sodomized as well. Mhm. So, that makes that creates one big giant motive in that particular case.
Then, we have another situation with Anna Maria and Daniel. This is the fourth couple. Correct. And
one thing that is often not reported in this situation is Daniel had gotten paid about $800 over the
course of that weekend. It's believed that when they took off for that trip back to that apartment, that he had the
$800 cash on him. This was never recovered from the vehicle or from his belongings. Mhm. So, we have a potential
that there might have been motive for robbery in this particular case. Yeah, or it's just such an amount that the
killer just "I'm here, might as well take it." Now, for the differences, the most obvious is
the MO being different in each case. We have a strangulation, a throat cutting. This is the Becky and Kathy case.
First couple. A shooting with the David and Robin. Second couple. A suspected stabbing in Anna Maria and
Daniel. That's the fourth couple. And an unknown disappearance of Keith and Sandy. Mhm.
Another Go ahead. Well, and I kind of wondered this because in the second couple, Robin, she's only
14. So, I wonder if the motive, if it was sexual base sexually based at the first
couple, he he goes "Okay, here's this lesbian couple. Maybe there was Now, this possibly could be the first
attack. So, we have a situation where somebody gets a handful of hair. And was that enough, you know, of a
deterrent Mhm. to stop the sexual assault. Therefore, then we're saying that that's
not the motive, well, because they weren't sexually assaulted. But then we have the situation with the
second couple with Robin and her being 14 and being young and you know, I'm just going to put that put
it out there. I know it sounds a little sick, but maybe that's not what Maybe this killer sees David and goes,
20-year-old ban. And then when he gets to the car, he sees Robin and she's young. And that's not
the type of individual, not the type of sexual assault that he want he doesn't want to
sexually assault a 14-year-old. He does, but that's not his type, right? Mhm. And then you have the situation with the
third couple. You you keep on calling her Sandy, right? Right. Her full name is Cassandra. And her name was Cassandra.
Um with Sandy, you have she was a model. Mhm. And she was a gymnast, I believe. Uh she
taught gymnastics, yes. Is it possible that after the second couple, he finds this very attractive woman and
he wants to spend more time with her and he brings her somewhere else. Right. why we never found um
her or Richard. Another difference, another possible difference, is the actual locations. And now, Captain, you
might say this is weird, you kind of included a similar thing on both of your list, both sides of your list, but I
think one could argue it either way. While all the crimes happened within a 60-miles within 60-miles of one another,
you could argue that it's similar location. However, you could make the argument that look, two of them two of
the cars were found on the Parkway, one is found on I-64 and the other on Ragged
Island. Where they're all within 60-miles of one another, but could be considered much different locations.
But 60-miles is not a huge radius for a killer to stalk the prey. All right, we're back. Cheers,
everybody. I'm just excited that I'm not a Captain Soup Nose. Well, the Colonial Parkway murders fell
under different law enforcement jurisdictions. To this day, the families of these victims cite the lack of
communication and cooperation among the various departments investigating. So, this has been seen as a major stumbling
block. It's It's tough when it's separate entities investigating, this being federal, state, and local. Mhm.
The families were so dissatisfied with the handling of the cases that in in 1989,
a few of them banded together along with families of victims in other unsolved murders in the area to obtain 12,000
signatures to require law enforcement to to renew the investigations into the murders on the Parkway and in the
Tidewater, Virginia region. They formed a group called FACT, Family and Friends Against Crime Today.
This was to push law enforcement to work together to find out what had happened to their loved ones.
The members went to the media and wrote to congressmen and senators complaining that the police weren't taking seriously
the possibility that all of the crimes were linked. The FBI said in 1990 that its agents had spent thousands of hours
trying to solve the two federal cases that they were working and had met frequently with local law enforcement
agencies to discuss the cases. Yeah. These cases are difficult though too because they they seem like very random
acts, four random acts of murder. That's why I wanted to take the time and go through the similarities and the
differences between the cases because I think it's it's a weird set of circumstances
that in my opinion you have enough things pointing that they are connected, that there are enough similarities, that
there is a pattern, that they are connected, but equally you have enough things pointing out that they could be
completely unrelated to one another. Yeah, and you kind of see this with Long Island serial killer. A lot of
people think that some are connected and some are not and that possibly there's two killers. So, is
is that a situation that we might have here? Well, and I don't think we should come down too hard on law enforcement
regarding these cases that we've discussed because one thing that I found throughout this was the the lack of
consensus about whether the four crimes were related at all and this coming from
both investigators and the families of these victims as well. Where do you stand on the possibility of
these being connected? Ooh, that that's a complicated answer, my friend. I I think
I I'd like to this is what I found and usually when I have a hard time coming up with answers on my own, I like to
just defer to people closer to the case and what I found in this situation is that you have depending on who you talk
to whether it be law enforcement or family members of the victims you have some people that think that
just one case is different than the other or that you know some of the cases are connected and others are not like
for example the David and Robin case local authorities are One couple two Yes Okay Local authorities are convinced
that the pair was executed by someone they know Mhm So and then other people think that the three cases in which
involved the heterosexual couples that they are all linked but Cathy and Becky's the first couple the lesbian
couple that their violent killing seemed more personable so it's not you know that they possibly were targeted and are
not linked to the other cases Right because they their claim is that normally when
somebody tries to burn the body that's normally a sign that they knew the individual
Here's the other thing and this is really interesting and this thought seems to be shared by families and law
enforcement they note that several of the victims should have been nowhere near the place where they were found
Okay I think that's important with the exception of the first couple it's believed that the other three cases
that those people would have been nowhere near where they were eventually found so some law enforcement officials
believe that maybe the parkway and rest stops are just dumping grounds for different killers and that there's
actually no connection at all The FBI in charge an FBI agent in charge of the case in
the late 80s and early 90s his name's Robert Meadows said the problem was that none of them
knew what to look for he stated quote if you think about it which is worse a serial killer or four separate killers.
Sorry, I said serial. She thought I said Like my whole story went away. Damn, I love that quote, too. Robert
Meadows said the problem was that none of them were sure what to look for, stating quote, "If you think about it,
which is worse? A serial killer or four separate killers running around out there and we don't know who any of them
are." Right. And so, this is very similar to um the Texas killing fields, possibly,
where it's just a dumping ground. Exactly. The the tough thing here, though, is that you're now dumping
not only couples, but you're dumping their vehicle, as well. And that becomes a a different problem. And so, in three
of the cases, you're dumping a you're possibly dumping a vehicle. Correct. Which which makes it very similar.
Again, look, if you're just if there's three random sets of bodies dumped somewhere along this area, that
makes a little more sense. Once you throw in the car scenario, that's a lot more time and effort. Somebody's going
to have to get somebody to pick them up, or we would at least seen some eyewitnesses that said, "Hey, the night
that these people went missing, we saw this guy walking on the side of the road," or whatever it was.
Here's the thought, though, too. Is it such a big deal that they're not working together? That the law
enforcement agencies aren't working together? Here's my thought. Meaning, whether
they're related or not, as long as they're being worked, if in fact it turns out that it is the work of one
serial killer, then if you solve one, likely you should solve some of the others or all of them, right? As long as
they're being worked and worked good. Yeah, and it well, if we have this hair from the first couple,
and we think that these cases are connected, this is something that's going to have to be answered pretty
quickly because if we do have this DNA as we know with all these other cases a lot of people are taking these cold
case files, taking DNA, and they're having them tested with ancestry. So, we're going to get within a spectrum,
you know, within cousins, within aunts and uncles of possibly the murder of this first couple because
we have that DNA evidence. Now you're going to have to figure out does this individual have alibis for
those other couples? Are you going to be able to get him to confess to those if they are connected?
Well, and here's the thing. I think the biggest factor that has contributed to the failure to solve any or all of these
crimes is that the crime scenes were compromised. Evidence has been lost, damaged, or destroyed. You know, and we
know in the first case that the park ranger smashed out the back window of Kathy's car.
We have some other examples, too. There are stories coming from family members that say and and and keep in mind we'll
keep we'll take this with a grain of salt because these are hurt loved ones of victims.
But there are stories that have come from family members that say that at least one of the vehicles
was towed back to the family and given back to the family and it was never processed. And in fact, that later when
they came to take fingerprints from inside of the truck, inside of David's truck, this is
days and days later that they took the fingerprints and then later the father finds the fingerprint
cards out in the front lawn. Right. That they didn't they didn't for whatever reason bring them back to the
lab or wherever they were intended to take these things. Right, and these cases have been cold for a while and I
don't think their frustration was from the beginning, but I think because the FBI was doing a lecture and
somebody made these these crime scene photos public during this lecture. I believe it was 2008. So,
everything's kind of resurfaced since then. Well, that was because the FBI had egg
on its face, and it needed to to reassure the families that they are going to make good on this and that they
are going to work these their two federal cases until they're solved. Yeah, and I think they like announced to
the public, "We're reopening them and assigning new people to them." But, they also throw they threw a local
um park ranger kind of under the bus. He's the one that I think exposed them cuz he
was at the lecture. Well, Okay, so the way this goes down is in October of 2008. This is at a law enforcement
training school in Hampton. Uh the school had an old FBI slideshow of crime scenes from the Colonial
Parkway murders. So, the school's owner The school's not run by the FBI. The school's owner asked this guy named Fred
Atwell, who was a former deputy sheriff, to speak at a few classes regarding the
murders. Atwell was very familiar with the cases. So, while he's there to speak to the classes, Atwell saw that crime
scene photos were being used in this training program. So, Right. for how long we don't know.
But, there were 78 images that featured detailed color shots of the cars, glove box open, wallets out, clothes in the
back seats. There were also pictures of the victims shot, strangled, slashed. So, Atwell called the FBI to report that
the active case photos were being used in a public forum. Mhm. The FBI didn't really respond in the
manner that Atwell wanted him to, so he contacted a local TV station, which then
later publicized the leak. Mhm. Okay, so an investigation revealed that the FBI um this was an FBI photographer
had taken a duplicate set of slides before retiring in 2001. And he became an instructor at this
Hampton Law Enforcement School, and he was using them for training purposes. Which yeah, you have to use stuff like
this, but you would assume that they'd be using cases that are one not of the area, but
two cases that are solved. Well, and before we even get to that, we have the situation of the Rangers finding the
vehicle, and then then the father finding the vehicle later. We already discussed that one.
Mhm. Law, egg on the Rangers' face. But we also we have compromised crime scenes to the point of remember they
find the lost vehicle, and a jogger later later finds the bodies. Mhm. Or finds the body. So, what does that mean?
They didn't rope off the crime scene enough. They allowed a jogger to go jogging through the crime scene Mhm. to
find the body. And then we have a situation that took place in 1994. Now, I do know that we have said that
there were no signs of sexual assault regarding Kathy and Becky's case, the first set of murders.
Mhm. But there were rape kits that were conducted in that investigation. For whatever reason, instead of them ending
up back at the FBI's office, they ended up at the York County Sheriff's Department. To which once they are it's
made known to them, "Hey, your rape kits ended up here." The FBI sent a fax to York County ordering them to destroy the
rape kits. So, even if they're you know, even though there's no signs of sexual assault, let's say that there
was. We don't know for certain that there was or was not. Mhm. All these years later, maybe that
could have led to something. Maybe we could have gained some evidence from those old rape kits. So, the first
couple is murdered in '86, second couple in '87, third couple in '88. Then the last couple or the fourth
couple in '89. So, everybody thought that's when it stopped, but there's another case that
happened in 1996 that is very similar to the first murders in in '86. Well, and this connection is made from a man by
the name of Steve Spingola. Okay, so Steve Spingola is a retired detective and he is an investigative journalist.
At some point, some of the victims' families got together and started asking him for help. And he came to some
interesting conclusions. He wrote a magazine article titled Predators on the Parkway summarizing his findings in his
investigation. Among these things, he revealed that cigarette butts were found at the first murder scene and that the
rope used in the first murders the rope that was found on the victim's neck tested positive for brine or for
seawater. He also revealed that they had found a note in Anna Maria Phelps' handwriting indicating that she had
planned to meet someone in a blue van at the rest stop. And this is the fourth fourth couple. Correct. Now, probably
the most surprising of Spingola's conclusions was that he believed that the cases were likely not all related.
He did, however, link Kathy and Becky's, the first murder, case to a 1996 murder
of a lesbian couple elsewhere in Virginia. So, as if things weren't complicated enough,
this was the double murder of Julian Williams and Laura Winans which took place in Virginia's Shenandoah National
Park in June of '96. Do you know how far away this was? It's a 3 to 4-hour drive
from the Colonial Parkway area. Laura was a college student and Julianne had just graduated with a degree in uh
geology. They were in a same-sex relationship. They were on a camping trip. Both were
considered to be experienced hikers. They were found at their campsite just off of a scenic trail on Skyline Drive,
bound and gagged with their own clothing, naked and their throats were cut. The killer had used duct tape and
it is believed that he brought the duct tape with them with him. Laura's golden retriever, Taj, was found
unharmed and nearby. This case remains unsolved and the The FBI has said publicly that they believe
there are substantial similarities between this case and that of the first murders back in 1986. And you wonder if
it's some kind of anniversary killing. So, you asked earlier if I thought that they are related, if they were
connected. I think we approach it in this manner here, Captain, that we do have a lot of investigators that buy
into the serial killer theory. And the ones that have, they haven't established a profile of their likely
killer. And they state that he would be a Caucasian male. He was likely in his 20s or early 30s in the mid to late 80s.
He is of average or above-average intelligence. He has good social skills, lived with a partner, owned a vehicle,
and possibly had begun undergoing some kind of stress that inspired the crimes. He probably committed the crimes in his
uh probably committed other crimes in his youth such as setting fires, killing animals, and so on. And the pattern
escalated as he got old. He be- he's becoming more violent as he gets older. They also state that he is very
organized, that he brought his weapons along with him. He controlled his victims before killing them, never
mutilated or molested the bodies, concealed the corpses, or at least attempted to, and waited for long
periods of time before striking again. Finally, this killer exhibited great self-control, refraining from taunting
law enforcement with letters or clues like the Son of Sam or the Zodiac Killer. He his killings showed that he has or
was refining his craft and evolving. He got more efficient and less messy with each of these murders. It was even
possible that he was deliberately changing up his MO to keep investigators guessing. Several of the investigators
believe that there is a strong possibility that the killer was actually two people operating as a team. Now for
the fun part, Captain. We get to throw some individuals under the bus. People that have been considered suspects
throughout the course of these investigations. Now, I do want to keep in mind, everybody keep in mind, there's
been like 130 to 150 suspects, depending on which report you read. Obviously, we're not going to go through all of
them, but we will go through some of the more noteworthy ones, right? So, first we have and this is in no particular
order, all right? This is kind of random order. First, we have Fred Atwell, okay?
As you might recall, Fred Atwell was the deputy who discovered that the FBI's crime scene photos had been released.
He has a checkered history. He had two burglary convictions and had bounced around from one local law enforcement
role to another. Apparently, background checks weren't a thing when they were hiring these officers. In any
event, Atwell was a deputy at the Gloucester County Sheriff's Department, which was apparently known to have
employed some questionable characters at the time of the murders. After the crime scene photo photo
debacle, Atwell inserted himself into the Parkway cases, befriending the families and
trying to act as a go-between with his supposed law enforcement connections. Eventually, Atwell's true
character emerged, and he was arrested in 2011 for fraud, for stealing money that he had raised in a phony car raffle
on the pretense of contributing the money to the Colonial Parkway Victims Fund. Later that year, he was arrested again
for robbing a woman at gunpoint. Atwell admitted that he had been looked at as a
suspect, possible suspect, in the crimes, but he has vehemently denied any involvement. He claims that the FBI
labeled him a suspect as retaliation for his public disclosure of the leaked crime scene photos. Yeah, or the fact
that you're a piece of [ __ ] for trying to raise money for dead people, and then
you steal the money. That's pretty shady. I'm going to kind of look into you after that. Fred Atwell, well, you
can feel safe and feel good somewhat to know that Fred Atwell remains He remains
in prison for the fraud charges and the robbery convictions. He is scheduled to be released in 2020.
Then we have Ronald Little. The whole The The problem with Fred is the fact that he would have They would have had
They would have collected his DNA. And I think if the FBI really thought Fred was a a suspect, they would be
testing the DNA they found on the hair in the first murders. Ronald Little was a 32-year-old
convicted felon from New Zealand who somehow managed to hide his criminal record and gain entry into the United
States. He ended up in the Newport News area and worked as a private investigator.
He had owned and operated a security company that provided security for local businesses.
He had permits to carry guns. Liberty Security employed law enforcement officers as security guards.
So, Liberty Security is his company, all right? And they're employing law enforcement officers as some of their
security guards. This is not an uncommon practice. This included a Fred Atwell for one.
Furthermore, Liberty has some strange connections to the Parkway cases. And that being Rob- Robin Edwards' mother,
Bonnie. She was part of the second murder case. Right. She worked at Liberty Security at one
point. And I believe she worked there at the time of the murders. Terry Haley, this is Sandy's sister, dated a man
named Steve Blackman who worked at Liberty Security. We will talk more about Steve in a
little bit. But in 1988, Ron Little sent out letters to congressmen and local politicians and the media
saying that he had been he was being railroaded by the FBI for the Parkway cases. Specifically, he stated that he
was being targeted as a suspect in the killings of Robin Edwards and David Nobling.
He also said that the FBI had looked at him for the Keith and Sandy disappearance. Now, the weird thing
about this is he's sending out all these letters. According to law enforcement and
according to the FBI, they never had looked at this guy. Huh. They didn't know what he was talking about.
Maybe he wanted to be looked at. Take a peek. Well, Take a peek behind the curtain.
He The officials denied that he was a suspect in any of the crimes, but Little was taken into custody in May of 1989.
Um so, he Or you you also wonder Wait, okay. Hold on before you get to the next one.
You also wonder Was somebody just messing with him? Like calling him? Oh, yeah. Yeah.
like, "This is the FBI. Where were you, you son of a bitch?" Well, that's interesting that you bring that up. I
never thought about that, but knowing what I know about this individual, it's likely that he had enemies.
Mhm. You know, somebody might want to wanted to have messed with him. We do have to keep in mind though, he was
eventually arrested and this was in May of 1989. So, he could not be responsible
for Anna Maria and and Daniel's killing, okay? He was not out walking around by the time the fourth case went down.
Again, I assume that if the FBI thinks that you're a suspect in this case, they're testing your DNA.
Yeah, it Well, this thing came about I don't know if his DNA ever would have been tested.
Mhm. Because he wasn't arrested in the traditional sense. Remember, he was from New Zealand and he checked in and got
into the United States by lying that he did not have a criminal background. Cheers, mates. Right. So, they figure
out that he's actually a criminal who got into our country, so they deported him.
Mhm. So, they shipped him back, so to speak. And then the killing stopped. Okay, I said that we would talk about
Steve Blackman. Steve Blackman is a disgraced ex-police officer Okay. who kept getting into trouble and
moved around from branch to branch of various local law enforcement entities in this area of Virginia, including the
Newport News PD, where he was held a position for nine years. so many dis disgraced bankers that have been
uh transferred from one branch to another branch. Well, he was also later employed by the Gloucester County
Sheriff's Department. Mhm. And according to sources who have knowledge of the situation, uh I I I
found this quote very interesting, okay? Mhm. They say Blackman was a bad guy involved in drugs, underage girls, and
general thuggery. Thuggery? Yeah. Mhm. Blackman moonlighted as a security guard for
Liberty Security. Remember they have some ties to a couple of these murders. Right, right.
And his buddy was Ron Little. He also dated Terry Haley. This was one of the victim's sisters. Mhm. Okay? Reports are
also out there that his his family owned property along the James River near the Parkway, meaning he
was familiar with the area and had access to a home base near two of the killings.
Yeah, maybe we should search his property. Blackman moved away from the area in 1989 and the Parkway killings had
stopped. Mhm. He ended up getting hired as a sheriff's deputy in Florence County, South Carolina in 1990. This is
where he he shot two men and killed them who broke into uh some reports say his home, some
reports say his father's home. What year was that? 1990. Um he shot them 11 times. Now, he was fired
after the incident because they figured out that cocaine was found in his system
during the course of the shootings. Hell of a drug. He was indicted for double murder and underwent a psychiatric uh
evaluation. He did serve some time. I don't have that right in front of me. I believe it he only served a few years
because it's possible they were able to prove that these individuals actually broke into the home. Mhm. Um from what I
could find, I was trying Think about this, so you're you're at home, right? Mhm. You're high as a kite.
Right. Minding your own damn business. Mhm. Two son sons of [ __ ] break into your
house. You shoot them. They test you for drugs and then they send you to jail. Like, "Hey, I'm protecting myself and
I'm protecting my home. It doesn't matter if I'm drunk or not, officer." I think this is one of those guys that had
a always had a suspicion of him that he was using his badge and using his power to help get him drugs and girls and some
of them might have been underage and he was involved in trading guns, stealing guns, dealing with briberies, all kinds
of stuff. Mhm. And I think when this goes down, this is something legit that they could
probably nail him on and let's Okay, let's get him let's fire him and let's get him behind
bars even if it is for a short period of time. I tried to locate where this guy was. Now, I'm sure somebody better than
me could do it. Like I said, I think he only served a few years and I believe that he would be out of prison now.
Well, and he would have been out of prison in time to if the 1996 murder is connected to
these, he would have been out in time to commit those as well. Well, here's Yes, and here's the
thought, too, I think surrounding Steve Blackman and also possibly Ronald Little. They were very close.
And I think the thought is that there is suspicion surrounding both of them. I think the thought here is that these
two may have committed these crimes together. And that even though Ronald Little was
locked up was deported in 1989 before the '89 killings, that potentially the two of them could
could have committed the earlier ones together and then maybe Steve Blackman committed the last one without
the help of Ronald Little. Clyde Yee is an interesting character. He was a ranger patrolling the Colonial
Parkway during the time of the murders. Parkway victims family sources have learned that Yee had violent
tendencies and had sexually harassed women by pulling them over on the Parkway. A number of women had filed
complaints against him for harassment involving inappropriate comments. What makes Yee interesting is that he was
transferred out of the Parkway area to the Shenandoah National Park where he was stationed in 1996. This is
Mhm. for the '96 killings. So, after that, he was transferred out again uh and he was involved in a very
controversial case where he manufactured evidence and acted inappropriately in an
investigation of Indian trade trading post maintained by the National Park Service.
Yee Yee reportedly passed a polygraph about whether he had any involvement in the Parkway murders, but he has never
been ruled out as a possible suspect. He's weird because I've seen reports that say he's been ruled out because of
this polygraph. Mhm. The thing I want to point out here is there are a lot of stories that include
Clyde Yee as being one of the first responders to the first murder scene. And remember where we said it it's
unclear which ranger broke the window on the hatchback to gain access to the vehicle. Mhm. There are some people that
think that Clyde Yee was that individual. Right. And that maybe it is on the surface it
looks like, "Hey, I'm trying to help the situation." But boom, I'm also contaminating the crime scene at the
same time for something that I may have been involved in. Right. So, he's weird because you can place him in
the area of the Parkway at the time of the two Parkway murders and And you could place him as working
in the area of the Shenandoah murders that took place in '96. So, And he's a Caucasian. He Yes, and he is um
furthermore, a ranger. Right. You know, he would have that ability to ability to
pull people over, to approach cars. He would have a He would have a gun on him. So,
Right, but again, if you're moving these vehicles, why not just take the time to
shut the glove box. Uh-huh. Why not roll up the window? Why not take the time to do that?
Right. Right, I see what you're saying. He would only technically be connected to three
of these potentially five double homicides, in my opinion. Then we have another interesting guy.
This is Darrell David Rice. Darrell Strawberry. He's a former computer programmer who pled guilty in 1998 to an
abduction charge, in which he was accused of verbally and physically assaulting a female bicyclist in the
Shenandoah National Park. Mhm. She avoided being forced into his truck. She states, "He was going to try to kill
me." Uh when she flees him, he tries to run her over with his truck. Investigators later
discovered hand and leg restraints inside Rice's vehicle. He was sentenced to 136 months in prison on that
conviction. While in prison, he made comments that could be seen as implicating himself in the 1996 double
murder of Julianne and Laura in the National Park. He was known to frequent the park as a biker and hiker. And in
fact, this is interesting about David uh Darrell David Rice. Mhm. Okay? He may be guilty of one of these crimes.
And here's why. Because there was videotape There was videotape evidence of him having entered
the park on the days that the murders were committed in 1996. Mhm. A grand jury indicted him for those
murders, but he was eventually freed because unknown male DNA on hairs found on the
duct tape binding the victims did not match Rice's DNA. Well, so now if we have this hair, can we please
test it against the the first crime scene from 10 years prior? Well, and here's the thing that I want to be clear on on
this 1996 double homicide. In my opinion, this this evidence, this hair found on the duct tape does not
exclude him. It just It just causes It causes problems with getting him convicted. So,
he does remain remain a strong suspect in that case. Rice was cleared for the Colonial
Parkway murders, although investigators would not disclose why or how he was ruled out, but
they may have his DNA, like you said. And if they have DNA from one or more of the crime scenes, maybe this is how they
were able to rule him out. All right, one more suspect. Michael Nicholaou. So, he's a strong suspect. He lived in
Charlottesville, Virginia around the time of the crimes, where he was an undercover
officer. Mhm. This is for the Charlottesville PD for for a period of time. Nicholaou is the main suspect in the
Connecticut River Valley killings, as well, and suspected in the disappearance of his first wife. He killed himself in
Florida after having murdered his second wife and his stepdaughter. There's not a lot of information tying
this guy to these actual cases, other than the fact that he's a known murderer that lived in the area at the time, and
he's also suspected in another string of murders that took place not too far away.
So, how many suspects do we have in this thing? Different reports that the reports vary, but I've seen as little as
130 to as many as 150. So, just meaning that there's freaks everywhere. So, lock your doors. Be
safe. Don't get murdered. Couple of theories though here, Captain. We've talked about, you know, kind of been all
over the shop with the theories throughout the coverage of these cases, but one that I want to mention is
there is one so-called theory that I find extremely interesting. And this is the waterman theory.
This theory developed largely because of one, the locations of the murders were all near waterways, and two, the diesel
fuel that was found at the first murder scene. Diesel fuel not being super common. So, some experts
have been led to believe that the diesel fuel, which is used primarily to used in
a lot of cases to power boats, was something that the killer had happened to have with him when he committed that
first set of murders. And traveling by boat would also explain how the killer would manage to escape without being
seen on walking on the on the parkway or risk leaving his car somewhere else while he killed his victims and then
return to it. This too could mean that it were it was two men working together traveling by boat to and from these
different crime scenes. And one thing to back that up is in the first set of murders, they were
strongly looking at this waterman theory. And we know that law enforcement and FBI, they surveyed watermen in the
area. They were looking for what they said were two men fitting what they thought they were looking for. Okay? One
thing that they found at the first crime scene was they state that nautical line
was found in the hair of one of the victims. Right, one of the victims was in the Navy, right?
Well, she didn't She had been discharged from the Navy at that point. She was a stockbroker.
So, there's a couple of other theories and this kind of revolves around the the time frame of these murders, okay? And
when these the times of when these crimes took place. And the thought being that it could be a federal employee
because we have murders that took place two on the weekend and two right before or just after a long holiday weekend.
Somebody that would have been working in the area and would not have had to have
had their time accounted for during the course of those four murders. For you to
believe this theory, then you have to believe that the '96 double homicide in the park was not related or linked to
the first four double homicide cases. And why do you have to believe that? Well, I guess that you don't have to
believe it. Um I'm just going off of the theory here is that it was a federal employee based off of the the dates
the likely dates of when these first four homicides double homicides were committed.
Right. And that person could be on The one in '96 Mhm. we don't know exactly what day they were killed on. The this
camping trip was quite extensive one uh and and two like I said, I guess you don't have to
say that they weren't involved in the '96. Where this theory originates based off
of the first four double homicides. Still basing the idea of this theory around the murders having taken place on
a weekend or just before or just after a weekend. Mhm. There's some thought and a theory
out there that this the perpetrator may have been a William and Mary college student
because all of these dates line up with the college calendar. The William and Mary college calendar. Meaning the
person wouldn't have been in class or wouldn't have had class the following day.
The other thing too that's interesting about that is the first four murders take place within a four-year time span,
which would be you know, considered by many to be the average the average stay of an out of town
college student. Mhm. So, the thought here being that a college student moves into the area for whatever reason kills
during the course of their time at William and Mary and then after the final killing graduates and moves away
and either starts killing in another city at some point or it was a pair of college students that once their time
away from you know, was done with one another that they stopped killing altogether. So, what's your final
thoughts on the Colonial Parkway murders? Super fascinating case. This is one that has always intrigued me and I
I've I look at it a little different each time uh as to whether they're connected or not. I
think the problem here is that they're not connected. Mhm. I actually think that that might be more
of the issue and I think that they're I don't want to say they're they're all separate cases. I think there's a chance
that one or two or three of them might be somehow linked. Mhm. But I think that there are cases in
here that are different. And the ones that that look different to me, the second double homicide
where we have the possible motive of rape of the female victim. Mhm. I think that that presents a whole
new variable that we don't Different weapon as well. Yeah, that we didn't see in the other crimes. I think
that the local police theory there might be somewhat correct. And their thought is that somebody they knew got them out
of the the vehicle and shot them. Meaning they might have been there to meet somebody. And we have David's
father who has said time and time again, look, this Ragged Island, this was a place known for
teenagers to hang out and do drugs, to purchase drugs. There is some thought that maybe the two of them, hey, I pick
up this girl that I barely know. Let's go out to this island, let's party, let's have a really good time, right?
And the thought here is that maybe they made a phone call to somebody to purchase some drugs. Hey, meet me out
on Ragged Island. And for whatever reason that thing turned wrong. The And there's one individual in particular
and the police haven't really released a lot of information on this individual because this is speculation. But there
is a guy that they refer to as drug dealer and rapist Washington. Okay, they think that he is a possible
very strong suspect in that second double homicide. He somehow knew the female victim.
And there was rumor that he had told somebody that he wanted to that he wanted to rape her.
And he might wanted to rape and kill her. There was a witness that led law enforcement to this guy that we only
know as {quote} drug dealer and rapist Washington. But the local police theory is that this
Washington guy shows up on Ragged Island to sell them drugs. And when he's there,
he decides he's going to rape the victim and it turns into a situation where he has to shoot the female victim and the
male victim execution style. Okay, so it's interesting that there is a strong suspect there. Now, the witness
that led local police to this guy conveniently for this Washington guy, this eyewitness is no longer around.
He's dead. And then we have a situation where with the fourth homicide, the fourth double
homicide, there was a suspect in this case and his name is Joseph Gadsy. Joseph Gadsy knew the male victim and
may have known the female victim, but it's believed that Gadsy knew that the male victim would have $800 cash on him
at that time and that Gadsy had somehow either intercepted these two individuals
that were traveling or had met up with them at the rest stop, took them out into the woods and killed them there and
then dumped the car near the rest stop. So, I think we have a situation here where a
couple of these cases might not in fact be linked and I think that the the the argument and the squabble of them having
been linked or not being linked back and forth, back and forth, I think that that
has been a major stumbling block in in in these cases. Yeah, and the I think the interesting thing in all these cases
that that the reason why people link them so much and it's hard to not want to link them is cuz it
always seemed like it's like a traffic stop. Their cars are always left in some disarray of a traffic stop.
Yeah, and I think with this one maybe if one of these are solved soon, I wouldn't be surprised. Don't don't
jump to the conclusion that if one case out of this series is solved soon, that the rest are going to follow right
behind. Can't thank you guys enough for sharing on social media and telling friends and
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and use promo code garage. Until next time, be good, be kind, and don't litter.

The Colonial Parkway Murders /// Part 2 /// 227

Part 2 of 2

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The Colonial National Historic Parkway, Virginia - From 1986 to 1989, four young couples died at the hands of what the FBI long ago concluded was most likely a serial killer or killers. For years investigators actively and exhaustively worked the case, compiling a list of 150 possible suspects. But no one was ever arrested. This week we discuss the details of these unsolved cases and examine if the cases are in fact linked. Beer of the Week - Good Life by Billsburg BreweryGarage Grade - 4 bottle caps

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Brief Summary

The episode discusses the Colonial Parkway murders, focusing on Anna Marie Phelps and Daniel Lower's disappearance and the investigation's challenges.

Key points

Disappearance of Anna Marie Phelps. Anna Marie and Daniel Lower go missing after a holiday visit. Their car is found abandoned, raising alarms.
Investigation Links to Other Cases. Investigators draw parallels between the disappearances and previous cases, suggesting a possible serial killer.
Discovery of Bodies. The bodies of Anna Marie and Daniel are found weeks later, raising suspicions of a serial killer.
Families Fight for Justice. Victims' families band together to push law enforcement for renewed investigations into the murders.
The Colonial Parkway Murders. A deep dive into the unsolved murders of four couples along Virginia's Colonial Parkway, exploring potential connections and motives.
The Compromised Crime Scenes. Investigations reveal that evidence was lost or destroyed, complicating the pursuit of justice.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

The killer must have driven it to dump the bodies.

Investigation details

10:39WatchNov 25, 2022

Tension

65/ 100Some tension

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