#513: Shenandoah Murders Update

Real Crime Profile

Former FBI agent Kathy Canning Mello and Lisa Zambetti (co host emeritus!) are joined by Bill Thomas and Kristin Dilley of the Mind over Murder podcast to talk about the breaking news in the Shenandoah Murders case in which law enforcement believe they have finally identified a brutal killer’s identity in the killing of two young women.

In May 1996, Lollie Winans and Julie Williams were murdered at their campsite in the popular Shenandoah National Park in the middle of rural Virginia, not far from a busy tourist resort called Skyland. Many people, including park and resort staff, had seen the happy, friendly couple in the area and were alarmed when they were reported missing. As experienced outdoorswomen, Lollie and Julie knew how to take care of themselves and each other. When their bodies were discovered, despite the evidence that the women had been brutally tortured and killed, law enforcement decided to not alert the public that a murderer could be in the park, and in fact diverted attention away from the crime. Ridiculous theories were floated as to the cause of their deaths such as it was the result of a bear attack or perhaps a murder-suicide. One man was eventually wrongfully accused of their murders (never successfully prosecuted) while other suspects remained at large.

Kathy, Lisa, Bill and Kristin discuss the identity of the newly discovered killer, and any possible connection this killer has to the murder of Bill’s sister Cathy Thomas and her partner Becki Dowski.

To hear even more about this case, you go back and listen to Jim, Laura and Lisa deep dive the Shenandoah murders in Nov 2022, ep 401 when they interviewed Kathryn Miles, the extraordinary journalist who covered Lollie and Julie’s lives and horrific deaths in her book “Trailed: One woman’s quest to solve the Shenandoah murders”.