A man whose DNA was linked to three of the notorious “Colonial Parkway Murders” in the 1980s has now been tied to a fourth killing, Virginia police say.
Virginia State Police announced Friday that Alan Wilmer Sr. was responsible for the 1988 murder of 19-year-old Laurie Ann Powell. Wilmer died in 2017 at the age of 63.
Powell was last seen walking down a Gloucester County road after having an argument with her boyfriend.
Her body was discovered more than three weeks later floating in the Elizabeth River.
“We are profoundly grateful to the dedicated law enforcement professionals, investigators, forensic teams and community members who never gave up on finding justice for Laurie Ann,” Powell’s sister Cindy Kirchner said at a news conference Friday.
“She didn’t wait for her life to happen she made it happen. She was bold, brave, spontaneous, full of life, witty, smart and beautifully herself,” she said.
State Police said DNA evidence connected Wilmer to Powell’s killing.
Forensic evidence has also tied Wilmer to three other killings, including the 1987 murders of David Knobling, 20, and 14-year-old Robin Edwards, and the 1989 slaying of 29-year-old Teresa Howell.
“But this can’t take years every single time. We’re baffled as to why this is taking so long,” said Bill Thomas, the brother of Cathy Thomas, who was found slain in 1986.
Cathy Thomas was killed on the Colonial Parkway along with her girlfriend Rebecca Ann Dowski.
The couple is believed to be the first in the series of killings dubbed the “Colonial Parkway Murders.”
Bill Thomas said he’s frustrated that Virginia law prevents authorities from putting Wilmer’s DNA into CODIS, the FBI’s national DNA databank, because he was never convicted of a crime.
He believes if Wilmer’s DNA were entered into the database, it would link him to other crimes.
“We’re going to be asking the legislature, the governor and the new attorney general to change this law because I can’t believe we’re protecting the civil rights of a dead serial killer over the rights of my family and all of these families who are waiting for answers,” he said.
Because Wilmer’s DNA isn’t in CODIS, investigators have to go case-by-case to make direct comparisons with his DNA to see if they can make a match.
“The delays are just unconscionable at this point,” Thomas said.
He said when his sister’s body was found, she was clutching some hair that could have been from her killer. But there hasn’t yet been a DNA match.
