Many thanks to NetGalley and Algonquin Press for gifting me both a digital and physical ARC of this true crime book and allowing me to participate in the blog tour - 4.5 stars!
In 1996, Julie Williams and Lollie Winans were brutally murdered while backpacking in the Shenandoah National Park, adjacent to the Appalachian Trail. The two were experienced outdoor backcountry leaders and were happily in love. But no one was ever found to be their killer and the case went cold. In 2002, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft used the case as the country's first federal hate crime death penalty case, charing Darrell Rice, already in prison for another crime. Two years later, charges against him were suspended.
Kathryn Miles is herself an experienced outdoors person and was a professor at Unity College, where Lollie attended. On the 20th anniversary, she started looking into the case and it soon became an obsession.
She discovered so many police and ranger investigative errors and apparent coverups, as well as suspect biases that never looked at other suspects. This is an exhaustive look into the case, the fear it invoked for women to be in the national parks where they should feel safe, the women involved, their families and the science behind DNA and evidence. Unfortunately, it remains a cold case but this book should be held up as a reason for more eyes on this case.
Highly recommended reading for true crime and forensic science fans.
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