1988 killing of Gloucester woman still under investigation, State Police say
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GLOUCESTER, Va. (WAVY) — The killing of a Gloucester woman that’s potentially connected to the “Colonial Parkway Murders” is still under investigation 36 years later.
Virginia State Police announced on Monday investigators “continue to actively pursue information in the disappearance and homicide of Laurie Ann Powell,” whose remains were found on April 2, 1988 in the James River near Ragged Island in Isle of Wight County.
“State Police remain hopeful that this case will come to a successful resolution and continue to encourage the public to come forward with any information related to this investigation,” said State Police spokesperson Matthew Demlein.
Though the release coincides with the anniversary of Powell’s remains being found and not because of newly discovered evidence in the case, Demlein said.
Investigation: Could these two cold cases be part of the Colonial Parkway murders?
Powell, who was 18 at the time, was found dead with multiple stab wounds almost a month after she was last seen alive around midnight on March 9 in Gloucester County. She had left her boyfriend’s car after an argument, and was last seen walking on Route 614 in Gloucester County toward Route 17.
Her boyfriend was investigated (and failed a lie detector test) but never charged. He later died in 2016.
He told WAVY at the time he didn’t kill Powell and failed the lie detector test “because every time I hear her name my blood boils.”
In a follow-up story on Powell’s murder in 2021, State Police said the last DNA submission in the case was in 2007. They also received a tip with information on the case in 2016.
Powell’s case was never officially linked to the well-known Colonial Parkway Murders, four separate double homicides committed between 1986 through 1989 in the region. However, a Suffolk Police investigator told WAVY in 2021 that “anything is possible.”
“That is a tight time frame for homicides in a close particular area, so I’m not going to tell you it’s not connected,”
Earlier this year, law enforcement announced they linked a man, a former Northern Neck resident named Alan Wade Wilmer Sr. to at least one of those Colonial Parkway cases (and a separate cold case in Hampton). He died alone in his home on Dec. 15, 2017 in Lancaster County.
Anyone with information in Powell’s case can contact the Virginia State Police Chesapeake Division at 757-424-6850 or by email at bci-chesapeake@vsp.virginia.gov.
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