Episode 4: The Case Unravels

Seven years after Julie Williams and Lollie Winans were murdered in Shenandoah’s backcountry, the case that once promised answers finally seemed headed to trial. On April 11, 2002, Attorney General John Ashcroft stepped to a podium in Washington, D.C., and announced federal capital murder charges against Darrell David Rice, including counts enhanced under the federal hate-crime statute.

“We will pursue, prosecute, and punish those who attack law-abiding Americans out of hatred for who they are.”

It was historic: one of the first times the federal government used a 1994 hate-crime law to charge a murder based on sexual orientation. To many, it felt like the beginning of closure.

The Story Prosecutors Told

Rice had already been convicted for a 1997 attack on cyclist Yvonne Malbasha along Skyline Drive. In filings, prosecutors described him as volatile and openly hateful—someone who “enjoyed intimidating women.” They retraced his park entries and exits in May 1996 and told a narrative of proximity, pattern, and intent.

Yvonne’s own memory of that day was chilling: a red pickup swerving, gravel spitting, a man who “kept coming back—swearing and laughing.” She escaped. The attack became the catalyst that brought Rice into the Shenandoah case.

Inside the Courthouse

By spring 2003, prosecutors were refining charges. Two hate-crime enhancement counts were dropped after the death penalty was authorized—no longer needed for sentencing, they said. Portions of the hearings were closed to protect sensitive records. Reporters pushed for transparency.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Bondurant argued Julie had been the primary target—her watch, ring, and small camera were still missing. The government’s through-line remained clear: a man “motivated by hatred of women.” The defense countered that the case relied on ideology and behavior, rather than proof.

Then the science arrived.

The DNA That Changed Everything

In 2003, the FBI retested trace evidence using Y-STR analysis, male-specific DNA profiling on hairs and fibers collected from duct tape and clothing at the scene.

The result: the DNA did not match Rice.

Years of momentum faltered. Hearing dates slid. Prosecutors suggested storms, wildlife, and time had erased much of the scene. The defense pressed the simplest question: If not Rice, then who?

Another Name in the Files

Analysts widened their review to other regional crimes and noted parallels with Richard Marc Evonitz, who was a traveling salesman linked to the abductions and murders of Sophia Silva and sisters Kristen and Katie Lisk in 1996–1997. Investigators described bindings, isolation, and water—details that echoed across cases. Hair was said to be “microscopically similar,” but no DNA match was made. Evonitz died by suicide in 2002 as police closed in. For families, “coincidence” wasn’t enough. They wanted science.

“Dismissed”

Under harsh fluorescent lights, there was no podium this time, just a one-page statement:

The Department of Justice… will move to dismiss the indictment in U.S. v. Darrell David Rice. Additional investigation has yielded evidence that makes prosecution as a capital case inappropriate at this time.

Two months later, the charges were gone.

For families who had sat through years of delays and headlines, the word “dismissed” landed like a void. No jury. No verdict. Only questions.

Rice finished his prior sentence for the Malbasha attack and was released in 2007. Accused once. Charged once. Never tried for Julie and Lollie. The FBI continued to scope the case as a hate crime and to ask for tips. Publicly, some family members continued to believe Rice was responsible. Officially, no one was exonerated. The aperture stayed wide.

The Final Turn

In July 2024, news broke: Darrell David Rice, 56, died after being struck while cycling on a rural highway. The report came two weeks after federal investigators privately confirmed that new DNA testing had cleared him in Julie and Lollie’s murders. His longtime legal advocates argued the government held to its original theory even as the science shifted away.

It’s a haunting symmetry: a man who once used a truck to terrorize a cyclist, later killed while on a bike himself, this time by chance, not rage.

With Rice’s death, one chapter ended. But the truth, finally confirmed by DNA, was only beginning to surface.

Reflection

What stays with me is the sound a case makes when it comes apart. It isn’t loud. It’s paper sliding into a manila folder. It’s a judge’s calendar clearing. It’s the quiet of families walking back to their cars with nothing new to carry home.

For years, the story felt settled enough to say out loud. Then, DNA, small, stubborn, and undeniable, asked us to start again.

Julie and Lollie deserve the version of this story that’s true, even if it takes nearly thirty years to tell it. Especially then.

— Sara Reid, Host of SEQUESTERED

Credits: SEQUESTERED is created by Sara Reid and Andrea Kleid. Hosted and produced by Sara Reid. Written and researched by Sara Reid and Andrea Kleid. Theme music by Night Owl. Original music by Andrew Golden — listen to his full song “Shenandoah” wherever you stream music.