Virginia State Police say evidence links the suspect to three other homicides from the late 1980s.
SUFFOLK, Va. — Virginia State Police on Friday identified the late Alan W. Wilmer Sr. as the suspect in the 1988 slaying of Laurie Ann Powell, an 18-year-old from Gloucester County whose body was found weeks later in the Elizabeth River near Craney Island. Investigators said new testing on preserved evidence produced a DNA match to Wilmer, who died in 2017.
Authorities said the finding matters now because Powell’s case had remained unsolved for 37 years and because Wilmer had already been tied to three other killings from the same period. State police officials said the new identification builds on a broader review of unsolved homicides across Hampton Roads and the Middle Peninsula, an effort that has accelerated as laboratories apply updated DNA methods. With Wilmer deceased, no charges will be filed, but investigators said they are examining whether additional cases could be connected and what, if any, further answers can be provided to families.
Powell was last seen March 8, 1988, walking along Hickory Fork Road toward Route 17 after a dispute with her boyfriend, according to state police. On April 2, a boater spotted her body in the Elizabeth River near Craney Island, just off Norfolk. Investigators said she had been stabbed multiple times. “It’s not justice, but it is resolution,” Capt. Timothy Reibel of the Virginia State Police said at Friday’s briefing, adding that if Wilmer were alive he would face a murder charge in Powell’s death. Powell’s sister, Cindy Kirchner, described her as “bold, brave, spontaneous, full of life, witty, smart and beautifully herself,” and thanked detectives who stayed with the case. The announcement was made at Division 5 headquarters in Suffolk before family members and local officers who worked the original investigation.
Officials said Wilmer, a commercial waterman known by the nickname “Pokey,” had been linked last year to three other homicides: the 1987 shootings of David Knobling, 20, and Robin Edwards, 14, in Isle of Wight County, and the 1989 strangulation of Teresa Lynn Howell, 29, in Hampton. The deaths of Knobling and Edwards were among a series of late-1980s killings and disappearances often grouped under the “Colonial Parkway murders,” though not all occurred on the parkway itself. Investigators said Powell had been sexually assaulted; they declined to detail specific laboratory techniques used in the new testing but said the match involved DNA retained from the original evidence collection. How Powell traveled from rural Gloucester to the waterway where she was found remains unknown. Detectives said they are still mapping Wilmer’s movements and contacts in the weeks after she was last seen.
Wilmer died at 63 at his home in Lancaster County in December 2017. State police said he spent much of the 1980s and 1990s on the water and around marinas in Gloucester, Middlesex, the Northern Neck and Hampton Roads, often aboard a custom-built wooden boat named the Denni Wade. He drove a blue 1966 Dodge Fargo pickup with a distinctive personalized Virginia plate, details that witnesses placed near several scenes, investigators said. Relatives of other victims repeated their concerns that Wilmer’s DNA is not in the national CODIS database because he was never convicted of a qualifying offense, which means each case requires a direct comparison. Authorities said that restriction has slowed some work but that laboratories continue to test evidence submitted from unsolved files across the region. Police emphasized that the Powell finding came through a multi-agency review, including contributions from federal and local partners and a state initiative focused on processing older evidence.
Investigators said they are reviewing additional homicides from 1986 to 1989 involving young people found in remote areas or near waterways. They declined to name specific cases pending laboratory work. Friday’s update followed a series of announcements since early 2024 that connected Wilmer by DNA to the Knobling-Edwards double homicide and to Howell’s killing. In each, officials cited preserved biological material that could be retested using modern methods not available decades ago. Detectives said they are also taking a fresh look at witness accounts that mentioned a blue pickup, sightings at boat ramps and hunting clubs, and tips about a waterman who moved frequently between docks. Family members of Powell and the previously linked victims attended the briefing; some expressed gratitude, while others said answers have come too slowly and urged continued work on unsolved cases in the corridor from Gloucester to Hampton.
Police outlined next steps in procedural terms: complete documentation of the Powell case file with the new forensic findings; circulate Wilmer’s known locations, vehicles and associates to agencies statewide; and submit additional evidence from similar unsolved homicides for testing. Officials said there is no criminal court timeline because the suspect is deceased, but they plan periodic public updates as lab results return. Detectives requested that anyone who knew Wilmer in the late 1980s contact state police with information about his routines on the water, at marinas, or at hunt clubs. They noted that the Powell case will be classified as cleared by exception, a designation used when investigators have identified a suspect but cannot pursue prosecution for a reason such as death.
The briefing also offered a glimpse of the people at the center of the case. Kirchner, Powell’s sister, said the family had “waited 37 years to learn who killed her,” and spoke through tears as she recalled weekend outings and her sister’s habit of making friends quickly. Reibel thanked Gloucester County deputies and boaters who responded to the river in 1988 and preserved the evidence that ultimately proved decisive. A Hampton Roads resident who followed the investigations in the 1980s said the killings had “haunted” the area, especially for teenagers who once parked along isolated waterfronts. A statement from Wilmer’s family said the new link was “devastating” and offered sympathy to Powell’s relatives, while praising investigators’ work. Officers at the event described the room as silent when the DNA finding was displayed on a screen and the timeline of Wilmer’s movements was shown across a map of creeks, marinas and wildlife areas.
As of Saturday, state police said the Powell case is cleared with Wilmer identified as the suspect and that investigators are continuing to review related unsolved homicides from the late 1980s. Officials said they expect to complete additional lab comparisons and interviews in the coming weeks and will announce any confirmed links in future briefings.
Author note: Last updated November 16, 2025.