Suspect in "Colonial Parkway murders" in Virginia linked to 2 more cold-case killings, FBI says

A man identified as the suspect in a series of murders that shook Virginia in the 1980s has now been linked to two more of the killings, known for decades as the "Colonial Parkway murders," the FBI said Tuesday. The crimes involved the deaths of three couples along Virginia's Colonial Parkway and the suspected death of a fourth couple, although their bodies were never recovered.

Alan Wade Wilmer, of Lancaster County, was determined to be the perpetrator in the deaths of Cathleen Thomas and Rebecca Dowski, who were found dead inside their vehicle along the Colonial Parkway in October 1986, according to the FBI Norfolk Field Office.

The killings of Thomas, 27, and Dowski, 21, were among at least eight murders and disappearances of young people that occurred along or near the parkway and its surrounding areas between 1986 and 1989, the FBI said. Those crimes went unsolved for decades, giving way to "one of the most complex and enduring cold case investigations in Virginia history," according to the agency.

Investigators said modern forensic testing has in recent years allowed them to connect Wilmer to the murders and disappearances of at least six young people in Virginia over the three-year period in which the "Colonial Parkway murders" occurred. In addition to Thomas and Dowski, he was also identified in 2024 as a suspect in two of those killings as well as a third unrelated murder.

At the time, Virginia State Police named Wilmer as the suspected assailant in the 1987 fatal shootings of David Knobling, 20, and Robin Edwards, 14, as well as the unrelated strangulation death of Teresa Lynn Spaw Howell, 29, in 1989.

Wilmer died in 2017 at the age of 63, but authorities have said he would have been prosecuted in the murders of Thomas, Dowski, Knobling, Edwards and Howell if he were alive. 

Dominique Evans, special agent in charge of the FBI's Norfolk field office, said in a video statement that her office would continue to actively investigate other cases linked to the "Colonial Parkway murders" and called the breakthrough in Thomas and Dowski's cold case "a testament to the tenacity of generations of investigators."

"Our message today underscores that we will not stop, we will not forget, and we will seek justice no matter how long it takes," Evans said.

The FBI has asked anyone with information that may be related to cases that remain unsolved to report what they know to law enforcement.