The Colonial Parkway murders were the serial murders of at least eight people in the U.S. state of Virginia between 1986 and 1989. The killings were associated with the Colonial Parkway, a twenty-three-mile-long thoroughfare that cuts through the Colonial National Historical Park and connects Jamestown, Williamsburg and Yorktown. The first two victims were discovered dead inside a vehicle found on the Parkway, as was an abandoned vehicle belonging to another couple who are missing and presumed dead.
Long stretches of the Colonial Parkway are devoid of any streetlights and are extremely isolated, making it a popular lovers' lane frequented by young adults. In each incident, a young couple sitting in a vehicle was targeted, with both partners killed. Three pairs of victims were recovered, and another couple remains missing and presumed dead. Several additional homicides have also been tentatively linked to the eight confirmed cases. The causes of death included strangulation, gunshot and stabbing. The killer drove victims’ vehicles away from the murder sites.
On January 8, 2024, authorities announced that at least three of the murders, namely those of David Knobling, Robin Edwards, and Teresa Howell, had been conclusively linked to an official suspect, Alan Wade Wilmer Sr., a local fisherman who had died in 2017. On November 14, 2025, Wilmer was linked to a fourth murder, namely that of Laurie Ann Powell. On January 20, 2026, Wilmer was linked to two more murders, of Cathleen Thomas and Rebecca Dowski. On September 18th, 2026, the FBI announced that they had substantial evidence to link Wilmer to the killings of Richard "Keith" Call and Cassandra Lee Hailey, officially closing the case. Wilmer had been described as "suspect number one" in two of the canonical murders but was freed after passing an FBI polygraph test.
Despite his status as a serial killer suspected of other crimes, Wilmer's DNA was not entered into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), the United States' national DNA database. Victims' advocates have called for confirmed serial killers, like Wilmer, to have their DNA entered into CODIS.
Confirmed and suspected victims
Rebecca Dowski and Cathy Thomas
The first known victims in the Colonial Parkway killings were Cathleen Marian "Cathy" Thomas (27), a United States Naval Academy graduate, and College of William & Mary senior Rebecca Ann “Becky” Dowski (21), a business management major working as a stockbroker. The lesbian couple disappeared after leaving a computer lab on the William & Mary campus at around 6:30 p.m. on October 9, 1986.A Special Kind of Evil, Ch 3 Thomas had ventured onto the Colonial Parkway in the past to be alone with romantic partners.SKE Ch 4
On October 12, between 5:30 and 5:45 a.m., a jogger discovered a white 1980 Honda Civic at the bottom of an embankment at the Cheatham Annex Overlook, seven miles east of Williamsburg. The Civic had veered off the road and into thick, dense shrubbery only a few feet from a fifteen-foot drop into the York River. A Virginia State Police patrolman called to the scene discovered Thomas and Dowski's bodies inside the vehicle. Dowski's body was found in the backseat, while Thomas was found stuffed into the hatchback.
An autopsy found rope burns on both women's necks and wrists, as well as signs of strangulation. Their throats had been slashed so deeply that they were nearly decapitated. Thomas apparently struggled with her attacker, as a clump of hair was later found between her fingers. Both women were fully clothed and there was no evidence of sexual assault. Authorities ruled out robbery as a motive, since both women's purses were in the vehicle, and no money or jewelry had been taken. The killer had covered the bodies and vehicle with diesel fuel but had not lit them on fire. Over 100 latent and full fingerprints were found on the interior and exterior of the Civic, but they matched no one in police records.
At that time police believed that the murders happened elsewhere, as little blood was found in the car itself. In November 1986, just weeks after the murder, news outlets reported that FBI profilers were constructing a profile of the person or persons responsible for the murders. In 2024, Bill Thomas recalled that four days after his sister Cathy's death, the FBI suggested to him that the perpetrator may have been a member of law enforcement.Mind Over Murder, May 13, 2024 @10min
On January 20, 2026, authorities announced that DNA evidence had conclusively linked Alan Wilmer to the murders of Dowski and Thomas.
David Knobling and Robin Edwards
In 1987, salesman David Lee Knobling (20) and eighth-grade student Robin Margaret Edwards (14) were murdered. Edwards and Knobling disappeared on September 19, after Knobling agreed to drive his younger cousin and Edwards on a date to a screening of the film Dragnet (1987). Knobling left his home around midnight, while Edwards left hers a half-hour later.
Knobling's truck, a black Ford Ranger, was discovered on September 21 by a patrolman at the Ragged Island Wildlife Refuge's parking area, with the wipers and radio on and the engine running. Both doors were open, and the driver's side window was partially rolled down, causing police to speculate that the perpetrator either was or had been posing as a uniformed officer. Knobling's wallet was found inside the truck, which ruled robbery out as motive. Articles of clothing were also found in the vehicle. A group of teenagers partying on Ragged Island until 2:00 a.m. on September 19 had reported no sighting of the pickup.
On September 23, the bodies of Knobling and Edwards were found after being washed ashore with the tide about 100 feet apart on the bank of the James River. Both victims had been shot: Edwards in the back of the head execution-style; and Knobling twice, once in the head and once in the shoulder. Both were partially clothed; Edwards was found with her jeans unfastened and her bra around her neck. Investigators were unsure if a sexual assault had taken place since, despite Edwards being underage, it was presumed that she and Knobling had a sexual relationship. The state police later said she was assaulted.
Authorities suspected a connection between the double-murder of Knobling and Edwards to that of Dowski and Thomas. Although the former deaths did not occur on the Colonial Parkway, both sets of victims were couples who had been killed at or around lovers' lane areas, and the two locations were only about a thirty-minute drive apart.
On January 8, 2024, authorities announced that DNA evidence had conclusively linked Alan Wilmer to the murders of Knobling and Edwards. Via DNA evidence, Wilmer was also linked to the otherwise unrelated 1989 murder of Teresa Lynn Howell.
Brian Pettinger
Brian Craig Pettinger (25), a heavy equipment operator employed as maintenance man for a local apartment complex, was last seen at a Hampton ballroom dance studio4908-B W. Mercury Blvd. in Hampton on December 4, 1987, at 11:30 p.m. Pettinger was training to become a ballroom dance instructor. Two days after reporting him missing, Pettinger's wife discovered his vehicle in the parking lot of the Newmarket North Mall.
Two months later, on February 3, 1988, fishermen found Pettinger's body floating in a marshy area of the James River in Suffolk, near the mouth of Chuckatuck Creek. His wrists and ankles were tied, and a rope was bound around his neck. The lead investigator in the case believed that Pettinger had likely been hog-tied. The autopsy showed that Pettinger had suffered blunt force trauma to the back of his head. He was found to have been thrown alive into the river, and drowned, unable to swim. The murder remains unsolved.
Pettinger worked as a security guard and loss prevention officer for the same security services company as Edwards' mother at the time of her murder.Could these two cold-case murders be part of the Colonial Parkway Murders?, WAVY News 10, retrieved 23 March 2016. Suspect Wayne Elliot Mack, a fellow dance instructor, later acknowledged having left the studio with Pettinger; Mack died by suicide a few months later.
Laurie Ann Powell
Laurie Ann Powell Compton (18), a graduate of Gloucester High School in Gloucester County, disappeared on March 8, 1988, after an argument with her boyfriend, Chris Cutler (1967–2016). According to Cutler, Powell exited his vehicle during the argument and was last seen at approximately 11:30 p.m. walking along State Route 614 toward the U.S. Route 17 interchange in White Marsh. Cutler was originally considered a suspect in Powell's death.
On April 2, 1988, Powell's body was recovered from the James River near Ragged Island. She was found nude and had sustained multiple stab wounds to her back. Powell had previously worked as a receptionist at the same security company that employed both Pettinger and the mother of Edwards.
On November 14, 2025, authorities publicly confirmed that Alan Wilmer was responsible for Powell's murder.https://myfox8.com/news/virginia/forensic-evidence-links-man-to-fourth-murder-in-1980s-cold-cases/
Cassandra Hailey and Keith Call
On April 10, 1988, Christopher Newport College students Cassandra Lee Hailey (18) and Richard Keith Call (20) were reported missing. Call, who was on a two-week break from his regular girlfriend, asked out Hailey, a classmate, to see a movie on Saturday night and then attend a party. Call picked up Hailey at her family's residence in Grafton in his red 1982 Toyota Celica. The pair attended a party in the University Square area, where they were seen socializing separately. They were last seen leaving the party sometime between 11:30 p.m. and 2:25 a.m.
Call's unoccupied vehicle was found at the York River Overlook in Yorktown on the day of their disappearance. The keys were on the driver's seat, and a watch and eyeglasses were left on the dashboard. Nearly all of Call's clothing, including his underwear, was found in the backseat, as were some of Hailey's clothes along with several empty beer cans. Hailey's purse and Call's wallet, however, were missing. Police dogs tracked the two students’ scent along the Parkway, past the site of the DowskiThomas vehicle recovery, to the Indian Field Creek shoreline. Park authorities initially suggested the couple had gone swimming and drowned, a claim that was met with some skepticism given the forty-degree water temperature in early April and the steep twenty-foot embankment, but the river and surrounding area was thoroughly searched. To this day their bodies have never been found.
In the days after the CallHailey disappearance, the FBI became aware of a local fisherman driving a blue 1966 Dodge Fargo pickup who had approached at least one other couple on the Parkway at around the same time. The suspect, later identified as Wilmer, was placed under surveillance, and police observed him cleaning and spraypainting his pickup. The FBI executed a search warrant of Wilmer's home, finding handcuffs and a gun. However, an FBI polygraph examiner cleared Wilmer, who was subsequently freed.
In May 1988, the FBI offered a $10,000 reward in the CallHailey disappearance. By June, the moniker "Colonial Parkway Murders" was being applied to the killings.
On September 18, 2026, the FBI announced that they had enough evidence to link Wilmer to the case, officially closing it.
Teresa Howell
On July 1, 1989, Teresa Lynn Howell (29) was seen leaving the Zodiac Club, a popular Hampton nightspot, at around 2:30 a.m.207-B E. Mercury Blvd. in Hampton Seven hours later, her body was found by a construction worker in a nearby wooded area. Howell had been sexually assaulted and strangled. The murder was not connected to the Colonial Parkway killings until 2022, when DNA from the case was linked to the KnoblingEdwards killing. The DNA was identified as belonging to Wilmer on January 8, 2024. Annamaria Phelps and Daniel Lauer