Suspect Identified in Brutal Minnesota Murders After 28 Years

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA (WJON News) -- Twenty-eight years later the FBI says it has solved who killed a St. Cloud woman.

They announced Thursday a suspect has been identified in the murders of Julianne "Julie" Williams and Laura "Lollie" Winans in the Shenandoah National Park, Virginia, in May 1996.

They were at their campsite near the Skyland Resort on May 24, 1996.  Family members called the National Park Service after they did not return home as planned.  Their bodies were found on June 1, 1996.

In 2021 a new FBI Richmond investigative team was assigned to the case.  Recently, a private lab successfully pulled DNA from several items of evidence and there was a positive match to Walter Leo Jackson Senior.  Jackson was a convicted serial rapist, originally from Cleveland, Ohio.

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United States Attorney Christopher Kavanaugh says,

"After 28 years, we now are able to say who committed the brutal murders of Lollie Winans and Julie Williams.  I want to again extend my condolences to the families and hope today's announcement provides some measure of solace."

Jackson died in prison in 2018 in Ohio.

The Julianne Williams Fund was established to honor the life of Julianne Marie Williams who died in 1996 at the age of 24. Julie, the second daughter of Tom and Patsy’s four children, grew up in St. Cloud and graduated from Cathedral High School in 1990.

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