America's Most Wanted

Airdate: July 20, 1996


This is the transcript of the "America's Most Wanted" segment about the trail murders.


[Host, John Walsh] The Shenandoah National Park, nestled in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains is a place where people come to get away from it all, to take in the scenic beauty of the Skyline Drive, to hike the Appalachian Trail. This peaceful setting is the last place Rangers expected to discover not one murder, but two.

[Ranger Clayton Jordan] This is the location where the Rangers found a campsite and found the bodies of Julianne Williams and Lollie Winans on June the 1st.

[FBI, Bill Falls] Their throats slashed and they were bound. It certainly was a brutal crime.

[Host, John Walsh] FBI and The National Park Service formed a task force, but a national forest is a hard place to locate a killer.

[Ranger Clayton Jordan] It certainly is very difficult to track a killer in this situation because we have hundred of miles of backcountry trails and we're only less than a half of a mile from a road.

[Host, John Walsh] Finding witnesses in a park 105 miles long is proving even more difficult.

[FBI, Bill Falls] It makes for a tough investigation, for we have no witnesses at the crime scene itself, we really have no witnesses that can put people in the park with them.

[Host, John Walsh] With little else to go on, the task force is focusing on the victims to see if the killer was perhaps someone they knew. Twenty-four year-old Julie Williams was from Minnesota. Already an accomplished geologist, Julie worked for a time as a Park Ranger in Big Bend, Texas.

[Julie's Father] What she liked to do and who she was, I think she probably gained some spirituality also in the woods and being outside. It was very important to her.

[Host, John Walsh] Twenty-six year-old Lollie Winans was from Michigan and finishing up college in Maine. Her dream was to work for Outward Bound, leading wilderness trips.

[Lollie's Father] Lollie was a caring beautiful young lady at the prime of her life and she was just in the midst of achieving a lot of the goals she had set out many years ago.

[Host, John Walsh] Julie lived in Vermont and often spent weekends with Lollie. They formed a special relationship and wanted to share their lives together.

[Julie's Roommate, Derek] When they were together it really seemed like they had a fantastic time together. They both really loved to spend time together outside, whether it was canoeing or hiking.

[Host, John Walsh] In June, Lollie was moving to Vermont, and both women were starting new jobs.

[Lollie's Friend, Ken] When I was talking to Lollie, she knew that she had a month between school and work, was looking forward to, you know, having some adventures, having some fun.

[Host, John Walsh] On May 18, the experienced backpackers decided to go exploring. They set off from Vermont and headed south to central Virginia to the Shenandoah National Park. Julie and Lollie arrived at the northern park entrance on May 19th, and got a camping permit for two nights. They stopped at Pinnacles' Overlook on Skyline Drive. Lollie's dog, Taj, went along on the trip. The FBI and Park Rangers retraced Julie and Lollie's trip and put together a timeline, using snapshots the women took themselves. May 20th, Julie and Lollie hiked down White Oak Canyon Trail to experience the spectacular waterfalls. Despite two days of rain, they got an extension on their camping permit at Thornton Gap on May 22nd.

[Ranger Barbara Stewart] They had registered to go backcountry camping from, I believe, the 22nd to the 27th of May. When I got a chance to talk to them about, you know, about other things, just in the few minutes, I liked them, and, I didn't know their names then, but they were nice folks.

[Host, John Walsh] On May 23rd, Julie and Lollie hiked to Pollocks Knob on the Appalachian Trail. They took this photo below Crescent Rock Overlook.

[FBI, Bill Falls] Friday, on the 24th, is the last day that we actually have pictures of them.

[Host, John Walsh] Julie and Lollie hiked up Hawksbill Mountain, the highest point in the park, and took a break with Taj at Bird's Nest Two. Tired from the trek, the women hitched a ride from Hawksbill, stopping near Skyland to find a campsite for the night.

[Ranger Clayton Jordan] One of our Park Rangers drove them to a parking lot located at the top of this trail and that is the last confirmed siting of Julianne Williams and Lollie Winans alive.

[Host, John Walsh] The women set up camp off this hiking trail a half mile from Skyland Lodge. Some time between may 24 and June 1st, the wilderness that Julie and Lollie loved would become a witness to their murder.

[FBI, Bill Falls] Whoever did this, certainly went down there with the intention to murder these people. It was so cold-blooded, it was a methodical killing, he knew what he was doing, and I would almost say he did it without any conscience or remorse and went about his way.

[Host, John Walsh] On June 1st, Lollie's dog was found wandering near Skyland Lodge. Rangers who were already looking for the overdue campers zeroed in on the area and quickly made the gruesome discovery.

[Julie's Father] It was Sunday morning at 3:00, that we got the call, and that they had been identified, and that they were both dead.

[Lollie's Father] One just isn't able to believe that this would happen, and that it, in effect, was reality, and I was devastated, my heart was heavy.

[Host, John Walsh] For now, Julie and Lollie's deaths will remain a mystery. The killer's identity a secret held close by the wilderness.

[FBI, Bill Falls] We know that they were in the park, we know the last day that they were seen. Other than that, we don't know what really actually happened.

[Host, John Walsh] Now, there's not much to go on, but we can solve this case. The crucial time period is when the women were in the park between May 19 and June 1st. If you were in the park during that time, and saw these two women, agents need to know. Also if you took pictures or video tape in the park during those two weeks, you could be holding the clues that could solve this case. Two young women who were killed deserve justice. You could be the one to bring it to them. So please, if you know anything, anything at all, call 1-800-CRIMETV, and remember, you can remain anonymous.




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