The Chilling Murder of 18-Year-Old Faith Hathaway
She was taken to a cave by two men who had promised to give her a ride home.
It was May 28, 1980, when eighteen-year-old Faith Hathaway was out, celebrating her achievement of making it into the Army. Later in the night, around 4.30 AM, Hathaway came into contact with Robert Lee Willie and his friend Joseph Vaccaro.
The pair met Hathaway around the Lake Theatre Disco in Mandeville, Louisiana. Willie and Vaccaro lured Hathaway by offering her a ride home. Hathaway had no idea that the two seemingly-normal men offering her a ride home are, in reality, monsters disguised as men.
On that unfortunate night, Hathaway never made it to her home in St. Tammany Parish. Instead, Hathaway was taken by Willie and Vaccaro to Fricke’s Cave, a secluded area near Franklinton in Washington Parish.
It is in this secluded gorge that Robert Lee Willie and Joe Vaccaro raped and murdered Faith Hathaway. Both men raped the victim, and then they stabbed her to death. One of the two perpetrators held the victim down by her hands while the other stabbed Hathaway in her throat. Hathaway died from the stab wound on her throat in mere moments.
