SEQUESTERED Podcast

Episode 5: The DNA Speaks
Date: November 10, 2025
Host: Road Trip Studios (Sarah Reed)
Subject: The Shenandoah Park Murders – Julie Williams and Lollie Winans

Overview

In this pivotal episode, SEQUESTERED unpacks the electrifying breakthrough in the 29-year-old Shenandoah Park murders of Julie Williams and Lollie Winans. Titled “The DNA Speaks,” Episode 5 chronicles how advances in forensic science, generational pain, and persistent investigative work finally delivered answers to families haunted by loss and false accusations. Through stirring narration, archive material, and official statements, the podcast reconstructs the revealing of the true perpetrator and explores the far-reaching aftermath of truth—both redemptive and tragic.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Reopening of the Case and the DNA Breakthrough

• Decades of Uncertainty: The 1996 double homicide remained unsolved for nearly three decades despite repeated investigative efforts and an early suspect, Daryl David Rice, whose eventual exoneration left the case cold again.
• New Hope in 2021: In 2021, the FBI Richmond Field Office, utilizing new funding and technological partnerships, reopened the case under a federal cold case initiative.
  • Quote: “They pulled the original samples. Fibers, hairs, biological traces so small they'd once been impossible to read. This time, the science had changed. The tools were sharper.” (Sarah Reed, 00:45)
• Technological ADVANCE:
  • The Sexual Assault Kit Initiative enabled new DNA extraction techniques transforming previously unusable evidence—hairs without roots, minute fibers, trace skin cells—into viable DNA profiles.
  • A crucial male DNA profile linking to the crime scene was isolated and uploaded to CODIS, the national DNA database.
• Irrefutable Match:
  • The sample matched Walter Leo Jackson, Sr., a convicted serial rapist from Ohio.
  • Confirmation came from a direct buccal swab comparison, producing a statistical certainty—odds of a random match: 1 in 2.6 trillion.
  • Quote: “Every marker aligned statistically. The odds of that match belonging to anyone else were less than 1 in 2.6 trillion. … The science wasn't suggesting a theory. It was confirming a truth.” (Sarah Reed, 05:34)

2. Introducing the True Suspect: Walter Leo Jackson, Sr.

• Background: Born 1947 in Cincinnati, worked as a house painter, had hiking and camping experience, and a lengthy, violent criminal record.
  • Quote: “What investigators found was shocking. He had been in the park. He had hiking experience. He knew how to use the backcountry. … Yet despite all of that, his name had never been linked to the Shenandoah murders. Until now.” (Sarah Reed, 06:29)
• Pattern of Violence:
  • Assaults across Ohio dating back to the 1980s, involving abductions and sexual assaults, often in public, targeting women alone and overpowering them swiftly.
  • Critical timeline: Days after the 1996 Shenandoah murders, Jackson raped a woman in Ohio; another attack followed weeks later. DNA linked him to all three crimes only years afterward.
  • Quote: “These gaps in his incarceration mattered because every time Jackson was freed, violence followed. Just days after Julie and Lally were last seen alive, Jackson had abducted and raped a woman in Cuyahoga County, Ohio.” (Sarah Reed, 14:04)
• Elusive Movements:
  • Jackson moved frequently, changed cars, and blended into new communities, facilitating his crimes and complicating law enforcement efforts.

3. Personal and Investigative Fallout

• Impact on the Wrongly Accused:
  • Daryl David Rice, once prosecuted, lived two decades under suspicion, only to die in an accident 15 days after being officially cleared.
  • Quote: “For years, he'd lived off the grid, unable to find work and haunted by the headlines that never let him go. … That is the great tragedy of the false accusation.” (Sarah Reed, 15:33)
• Relief, But No Justice:
  • Walter Leo Jackson, Sr. died in 2018 while serving a prison sentence, never questioned or charged in the Shenandoah case.
  • Families received closure, but no opportunity for legal justice or confrontation.
  • Quote: “A level of certainty that, at least in forensic terms, is as close to absolute as it gets. … But this final chapter had arrived long after justice could. Because Walter Leo Jackson Sr. had died in 2018, never being questioned, never being charged.” (Sarah Reed, 20:51)

4. Public Statements and Press Conference Highlights

• Federal & Family Statements:
  • Chris Kavanaugh (U.S. Attorney):
    • “After decades of investigations and advancements in DNA analysis, the FBI has identified Walter Leo Jackson Sr. as the murder suspect.” (Chris Kavanaugh, 17:53)
    • “If he was alive today, I feel confident a jury would unanimously find him guilty.” (Chris Kavanaugh, 20:29)
  • Family Representative:
    • “We are proud to stand here and tell you we now know who is responsible for this heinous crime.” (Family Representative, 18:29)
    • “Lollie and Julia were genuine, authentic and caring people. ... Their murders were a deep loss for their families and friends.” (Family Representative, 20:05)
• On the Deep Impact:
  • “Finding their killer can also help to return the woods to some semblance of safety and tranquility for everyone.” (Narrator/Reporter, 19:27)
  • “Finding the killer doesn't bring Lollie and Julie back.” (Chris Kavanaugh, 19:45)

5. Legacy, Lessons, and Lingering Questions

• Justice Delayed & Systemic Change:
  • The case transformed how National Park authorities handle violence and evidence collection, particularly where marginalized groups are concerned.
  • Prompted new training, protocols, and programs like the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative.
  • Quote: “Shenandoah became both a sanctuary and a symbol, a place where beauty and brutality collided, forcing the park to look inward.” (Sarah Reed, 21:26)
• Ongoing Fear and the Question of Safety:
  • The story probes the illusion of safety, especially for women and the LGBTQ community in wilderness spaces, and how violence fundamentally changed perceptions of refuge in national parks.
  • Quote: “Would you rather run into a bear or a man in the woods? ... For many of us, the wild isn't what's dangerous. People are.” (Sarah Reed, 22:49)
• The Painful Cost of Wrongful Suspicion:
  • Explores the emotional and reputational devastation wrought by years of focus on the wrong suspect.
  • Ends reflecting on the families’ loss and the unanswerable: Could Jackson have acted alone?

Memorable Quotes & Timestamps

• “If not him, then who?”
  — Sarah Reed, reflecting on the driving question behind reopening the case. (00:34)
• “The science wasn't suggesting a theory. It was confirming a truth.”
  — Sarah Reed, on the power of the DNA match. (05:52)
• “We are now able to say who committed the brutal murders of Lollie Winans and Julie Williams in Shenandoah National Park.”
  — Chris Kavanaugh, press conference statement. (07:40)
• “That is the great tragedy of the false accusation.”
  — Sarah Reed, regarding Daryl David Rice. (15:33)
• “A 1 in 2.6 trillion match. And for the first time in nearly 30 years, investigators and families could finally say it out loud. They knew who had killed Julie and Lollie.”
  — Sarah Reed, on closure. (20:51)
• “It's not just about one man's violence. It's about what it means to feel safe and how easily that illusion can... fracture.”
  — Sarah Reed, on the story’s broader meaning. (22:43)

Notable Segments and Timestamps

| Segment Description | Timestamp | |-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------| | Cold opening – the new forensic breakthrough | 00:06–01:37| | Case background and early evidence limitations | 01:40–05:32| | The DNA match and identification of Walter Leo Jackson Sr. | 05:32–08:17| | History of the Jackson family and profile of Jackson Sr. | 08:17–14:04| | Details of Jackson’s criminal record and timeline alignment with the 1996 murders | 14:04–17:53| | Press conference and official statements | 17:53–20:29| | Aftermath and legacy of the case | 20:51–22:49| | Broader reflections on justice, safety, and the cost of being wrong | 22:49–end |

Episode Tone and Style

The narration is atmospheric, compassionate, and investigative, mixing methodical analysis with emotional reflection. The delivery respects both the grief and the resolution felt by the families, and the tone remains close to the survivors' and the broader community’s ongoing need for justice and healing.

Conclusion

Episode 5, “The DNA Speaks,” delivers long-awaited answers but no simple closure. It charts the progression from frustration and fear through forensic triumph to the bittersweet recognition of justice found too late. SEQUESTERED thoughtfully articulates the demands of truth and the wounds of false accusation—while honoring the memory of Julie Williams and Lollie Winans and challenging listeners to reconsider what safety means, even in nature’s sanctuary.

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