Historical Hijacking: Virginia
Could this mysterious murderer still be out there?
Narrator: Good evening and welcome to Friday Night Crimes. Today’s story comes out of Virginia, a state with arguably as much historical significance as Pennsylvania or Massachusetts. The crime(s) that we’re going to discuss today, however, are tragic and unfortunately still unsolved.
The Colonial Parkway is a 23-mile stretch of road in Virginia with three historic locations along it: Jamestown, Yorktown, and Williamsburg. This scenic area is also called the Historic Triangle.
The Timeline: 1986–1989
Chronological Events of the Case:
October 12, 1986: A graduate of the United States Naval Academy, 27-year-old Cathleen Thomas, and her partner, 21-year-old College of William and Mary student, Rebecca Dowski, were found dead in Cathleen’s 1980 Honda Civic.
It appears that the perpetrator tried three methods of murder in his attack on the two young women. The bodies were found with rope burn, which is consistent with ligature strangulation; yet, their throats were also slashed. Investigators also found the bodies drenched in diesel fuel but the match apparently failed to ignite.
