Families considering options to get serial killer check in unsolved slayings
Date published: 12/23/2007
By PAMELA GOULD
The families of three young women whose slayings remain unsolved after 11 years
can't understand why state and federal law enforcement failed to forensically
evaluate a known serial killer as a suspect and now are assessing their options.
Harley and Sadie Showalter are considering how to press for answers and action on
behalf of their daughter Alicia Showalter Reynolds, who was killed in March 1996.
John Winans is trying to contact federal authorities to see if he can get answers
on behalf of his daughter, Laura "Lollie" Winans, who was killed two months later.
And Tom Williams is in disbelief that the people tasked with finding the killer of
his daughter, Julianne Williams, wouldn't have automatically evaluated a killer who
lived in the region at the time of the slayings.
"I can't believe authorities would be so blind," said Williams, who lives in
Minnesota. "They would have to be so obviously inept not to have checked out
[Richard Marc] Evonitz thoroughly."
Evonitz
In August 2002, the local, state and federal law enforcement task force that had
been hunting for years for the killer of three Spotsylvania County girls announced
Evonitz as their killer based primarily on forensic evidence examined by the FBI
Laboratory.
At the same time, the task force announced it would try to determine every crime
Evonitz committed in his 38-year life.
Specifically, FBI Richmond Division chief Donald W. Thompson Jr. said Evonitz would
be checked forensically for any unsolved crime with evidence.
And then-Lt. Rick Jenkins of the Virginia State Police said evidence from Reynolds'
slaying was being sent to the FBI Lab to be checked against Evonitz.
But those things didn't happen, The Free Lance-Star found in a more-than 18-month
investigation of its own.
Neither the state police agent tasked with solving Reynolds' case nor the FBI agent
in charge of the slayings of Williams and Winans asked for those comparisons to be
conducted.
'Know for sure'
Mark Reynolds, widower of Alicia Showalter Reynolds, can't imagine why he should
need to prompt investigators to conduct forensic comparisons between evidence in
his wife's slaying and evidence from serial killer Evonitz.
He'd like to know why they weren't done.
"I would definitely like to know what the explanation is," Reynolds said. "It just
seems like a no-brainer--such an easy step to take."
Reynolds, like each of the victims' family members, knows state police and the FBI
had been looking at another man, Maryland resident Darrell David Rice, as a suspect
at the time authorities learned of Evonitz.
But Rice was checked against all of the evidence in all three slayings over seven
years and no link was found.
"Even if you suspect you know what [the result] is, you should know for sure in
something like this," said Reynolds, who now lives in North Carolina.
In April 2002, Rice was indicted on federal capital murder charges in the deaths of
Williams and Winans at Shenandoah National Park.
But at the time of his indictment, federal authorities had failed in five years'
worth of forensic tests to link Rice to the case. They also had no eyewitness, no
murder weapon and no confession.
In February 2004, federal prosecutors dropped the charges after an FBI Lab expert
checked hairs from that case against hairs from Evonitz and couldn't rule him out
as the source.
Neither Rice nor anyone else has ever been charged in Reynolds' slaying.
Evonitz killed himself in June 2002 as police were about to arrest him.
Rice, now 40, has consistently denied involvement in all of the deaths. He served
an 11-year sentence in federal prison after pleading guilty to attempted kidnapping
in an assault on a female bicyclist inside Shenandoah National Park on July 9,
1997.
His attorneys say that sentence reflected federal officials' suspicion he committed
the Shenandoah slayings and ignored the fact that he was then suffering from
schizophrenia.
authorities mum
FBI Richmond Division chief Thompson retired in July 2006 believing the forensic
checks had been done. When he learned they had not, he told The Free Lance-Star he
continued to believe forensic comparisons should be conducted between evidence from
Evonitz and the unsolved slayings.
Charles J. Cunningham, Thompson's successor, told The Free Lance-Star earlier this
year that he was making a "new pledge" to the community and the families of the
victims to investigate what was done to evaluate Evonitz as a suspect. He later
said the Justice Department and U.S. Attorney John Brownlee's office told him not
to comment on unsolved cases.
A request this month for a follow-up interview with Cunningham was denied.
"He said he is not interested in meeting and he would just prefer that we not have
any more follow-up interviews regarding this topic," his spokeswoman Dee Rybiski
said.
Cunningham retired Dec. 14.
The Free Lance-Star has interview requests pending with FBI Director Robert S.
Mueller III and FBI Lab Director Joseph A. DiZinno.
Culpeper Commonwealth's Attorney Gary Close would prosecute Reynolds' killer if
someone were charged. He has said Rice is not a suspect in the case and that he
would like the Reynolds evidence checked against Evonitz.
In an interview last week, Close said he planned to question state police officials
about the Reynolds-Evonitz forensic tests and on whether they plan to resubmit DNA
found with Reynolds' body for updated testing.
The same FBI Lab expert who on his own checked hairs found in the Shenandoah
slayings against hairs from Evonitz suggested for years before the Spotsylvania
slayings were solved that evidence from them should be checked against Reynolds'
case for a possible link.
Once he helped link Evonitz to the Spotsylvania slayings, the lab expert suggested
Reynolds' evidence should be checked against the serial killer.
As a result, hairs and fibers evidence from Reynolds' slaying was brought to the
FBI Lab in May 2004, but it was never examined and not compared to samples from
Evonitz.
In fact, the Reynolds evidence was delivered to the FBI Lab twice without getting
examined.
The lab suggested it was the fault of FBI Agent Jane Collins who failed to bring
samples from Evonitz to make the comparison. Collins testified in court that the
lab denied the request.
The Reynolds evidence was returned to state police in August 2005.
Mark Reynolds was astounded to learn the evidence moved in and out of the FBI Lab
over a 14-month period but never got examined.
"It's just amazing the number of people's hands it traveled through and yet nothing
happened," Rey-nolds said.
Close said Reynolds' family's wishes would be taken into account in deciding how to
proceed.
"Obviously, what victims and families want are a part of the decision-making
process," he said.
Tom Bondurant, the assistant U.S. Attorney who led the unsuccessful prosecution of
Rice in the slayings of Williams and Winans, would not comment on whether he will
push to see Evonitz forensically checked in those slayings.
"Since it is an unsolved murder, I can't make any comment about what was done,
wasn't done or will be done," Bondurant said.
When told the families were dumbfounded the tests hadn't already been run, he
declined comment.
Families' frustrations
For years, federal authorities led Tom Williams to believe Rice killed his
daughter. But with charges against Rice dropped and Evonitz not ruled out as the
source of hairs at the crime scene, Williams can't understand not thoroughly
evaluating the serial killer from a science standpoint.
"It seems like detective work 101," he said.
"These issues seem to be so obvious to me."
John Winans, who lives in Florida, believes investigators should check "every
possible individual or individuals that might possibly have done these acts."
"There shouldn't be any hesitation to checking any lead that's maybe remote but
there's a shot. I don't know why that wouldn't be done," he added.
Harley and Sadie Showalter of Harrisonburg are frustrated that state and federal
officials haven't pursued every option in searching for their daughter's killer.
"To me, anything that's not been done that should have been done is a
disappointment," Harley Showalter said.
To read The Free Lance-Star's earlier special report on the unsolved slayings, go
to fredericksburg.com. Pamela Gould: 540/735-1972
Email: pgould@freelancestar.com