Episode 1: The Beginning of Us

Andrea
Oct 15
3 min read

In May 1996, before smartphones, before GPS, when road trips started with a paper map and a full tank of gas, two young women loaded their gear, their dog, and their dreams into a red Toyota Tercel in Burlington, Vermont. Twelve hours of highway lay between them and Shenandoah National Park.

Their names were Julie Williams and Lollie Winans. They were strong. Kind. Brave. And they were in love.

For five days, they hiked beneath the canopy of the Blue Ridge Mountains, following ridge lines, waterfalls, and the rhythm of their own laughter. They came here for freedom. But they never made it home.

Their murders terrified hikers across the country, shook the LGBTQ+ community, and haunted investigators for nearly three decades.

Julie & Lollie: Who They Were

Before we talk about Shenandoah, we have to talk about them — who Julie and Lollie were, where they came from, and how their story began.

Julianne Marie Williams was born in 1968 in St. Cloud, Minnesota. The youngest of five, she grew up surrounded by snow-covered winters, small-town rhythms, and the steady flow of the Mississippi River. From a young age, Julie was endlessly curious and kind. She excelled as both a scholar and an athlete, winning the Minnesota state doubles tennis championship her senior year before graduating magna cum laude in geology from Carleton College. Julie believed the outdoors was more than recreation — it was healing, transformative, and sacred.

Laura “Lollie” Elizabeth Winans was born a year later in Michigan. She grew up in a warm, story-filled home but carried early trauma that shaped her understanding of safety. She found her refuge in the wilderness — canoeing northern rivers, sleeping under stars, and learning that nature could hold both her pain and her joy. At Unity College in Maine, she studied outdoor recreation and leadership, becoming a magnetic, fearless, and deeply empathetic guide.

For both women, the wilderness was not something to conquer — it was where they felt most alive.

Where Their Paths Crossed

Julie and Lollie met in 1995 in Minneapolis through Woodswomen, one of the first outdoor adventure organizations created by women for women. Founded in 1977, Woods Women empowered thousands to claim their strength in wild spaces — no sidelines, no “let me do that for you.”

In that space, surrounded by women learning to trust themselves and each other, Julie and Lollie found something more: a shared vision for a life rooted in wild places, and a love that felt free. Outdoors, away from judgment and whispers, they could be fully themselves.

The Road to Shenandoah

On May 18, 1996, they packed up Julie’s red Toyota Tercel, cracked the windows, and drove south with their golden retriever Taj’s nose pressed to the wind. Their destination: Shenandoah National Park, nearly 200,000 acres of wilderness in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains.

When they checked in at Skyland Lodge to register for their backcountry permit, rangers remembered them: Julie calm and organized, Lollie warm and easygoing, Taj thumping his tail. They parked near the lodge, tightened their bootlaces, hoisted their packs, and stepped onto the Bridle Trail, disappearing into a quiet hollow beside a stream — close enough to hear water, far enough to feel completely alone.

For five days, their world slowed to the rhythm of dawn light through the tent, birds overhead, and long trail days filled with ferns, waterfalls, and mountain air.

They wrote in notebooks, cooked over camp stoves, laughed by the stream, and built a little world of their own.

The Stillness Before Everything Changed

Hikers who passed them that week saw nothing unusual: two young women and a golden retriever, smiling, confident, and at ease in their environment.

But in the stillness of those woods, something unseen was moving closer.

When Taj returned to camp alone, the wilderness they loved had turned into the scene of a tragedy that would reverberate for decades.

“As a setting sun colored the sky over Shenandoah National Park, investigators still searched for a killer. Whoever murdered 24-year-old Julie Williams and 26-year-old Lollie Winans had vanished into the mountains.”

What Comes Next

On the next episode of SEQUESTERED: The Shenandoah Murders, the discovery of Julie and Lollie’s bodies sends shockwaves far beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains, from national headlines to Capitol Hill. The park is filled with fear, theories swirl, and the investigation begins.

Listen to Episode 1: The Beginning of Us on Apple Podcasts and subscribe for early access, ad-free episodes, and exclusive bonus content.