The Colonial Parkway is a well-known road for many Virginia natives to the area, known especially for the shortcuts it provides to local commuters as well as providing a scenic route along the river that visitors can drive. However, 30 years ago, the parkway was also famous for something else: murders.
The Colonial Parkway murders occurred in the late 1980’s all along the parkway in many attacks that seemed to target couples. On Mon. Jan. 9th, the city of Hampton Division of Police held a press conference to announce an update on the cases that ran cold years ago.
According to The New York Times, the suspect has been identified as Alan W. Wilmer Sr., who has been connected to three of the Parkway murders so far. Wilmer was a local fisherman who would have been in his late 20s at the time and has been found guilty for the 1987 double murder of David L. Knobling, 20, and Robin M. Edwards, 14, in Isle of Wight County, as well as the 1989 murder of Teresa Howell, 29, in Hampton. Wilmer died in December of 2017 at age 63. Authorities were able to match Wilmer’s DNA with DNA found on the bodies of all three victims.
“Although the similarities in these series of double homicides that spanned a three-year period cannot be ignored, at this time there is no forensic nor physical evidence to link the Isle of Wight County homicides to those other double murders,” the Virginia State Police spokesperson, Corinne Geller, said.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch stated that the victims’ families “have a sense of relief and justice knowing (Wilmer) can no longer victimize another.”
