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ShenandoahNational ParkHikers Found Slain at CampRangers Discover Bodies Of Minnesota, Maine Women_ . ■ mil! ■ —^—By RAJiV CHANDRASEKARAN and TOD ROBBERSON© 1996, The Washington Post______WASHINGTON — Two young women were slain at a secluded campsite near the Appalachian Trail in Shenandoah National Park, authorities said Monday after finding the hikers7 bodies during the weekend.The women were discovered by park rangers on Saturday night within three miles of the popular Skyland lodge along Skyline Drive, about 10 miles east of Luray.They had planned a five-day hike through the park that was to have ended on Memorial Day, park officials said.The victims were Julianne Williams, 24, of St. Cloud, Minn., and Lollie Winans, 26, of Unity, Maine, a law enforcement official close to the investigation said Monday night.Rangers and administrators at the park, about 80 miles southwest of Washington, revealed few details about the slayings, saying that doing so might compromise the criminal investigation. They said they would not discuss a cause of death until a coroner had finished examining the bodies.“It’s clear this is a homicide,” said Robert Marriott, a National Park Service law enforcement official in Washington.The women were not shot or stabbed, Marriott said. He declined to say whether they were sexually assaulted.The bodies were found at 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Marriott said. He said the women appeared to have been dead for 12 to 15 hours, but other officials said they may have been killed several days earlier.Greg Stiles, the park’s chief ranger, said officials did not notify the news media as soon as the bodies were discovered because they wanted to determine first whether the deaths were a homicide.“Usually it’s an accident or a suicide” when someone is found dead in the park, he said.,Both victims were affiliated with Woodswomen Inc., a Minneapolis-based group that provides outdoor adventure and education programs for women,Sec Hikers Page AG
Newspaper Details
Winchester Star
Winchester, Virginia, US
Tue, Jun 04, 1996
Page 13
Full Page
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Anonymous
WV, USA 16 Oct 2021
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