SUFFOLK, Va. (AP) – Police in Virginia have identified a deceased hunter and fisherman as a suspect in three unsolved murders dating back to the 1980s. Using DNA evidence, investigators linked Alan W. Wilmer Sr. to the 1987 murders of David Knobling and Robin Edwards in Isle Of Wight, and the 1989 murder of Teresa Lynn Spaw Howell in Hampton.
Wilmer Sr. died in December 2017 in Lancaster County, Virginia, at the age of 63. Officials with the Isle of Wight County and City of Hampton Commonwealth’s Attorneys stated that if Wilmer were still alive, charges would be filed against him.
The identification of the killer brings some sense of closure and peace for the families of the victims, according to Lt. Col. Tim Lyon, Director of the Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation. Wilmer’s first known murders occurred in September 1987 when David Knobling and Robin Edwards were found shot to death along the shoreline of the Ragged Island Wildlife Management and Refuge Area on the south bank of the James River. Both victims were just 20 and 14 years old at the time of the murders.
The third murder police attributed to Wilmer happened in the city of Hampton on July 1, 1989. Teresa Lynn Spaw Howell, 29, was seen outside of the Zodiac Club in the city. Later that day, her body was found and she had also been sexually assaulted.
The Virginia State Police have issued a ‘Certificate of Analysis’ confirming a genetic match to Wilmer based on evidence collected from the crimes. The FBI is urging the public to come forward and share any information about encounters they may have had with Wilmer.
Authorities also provided a physical description of Wilmer, urging anyone who may have worked with him or hunted with him to come forward. He was 5’5″ tall, weighed around 165 pounds with sandy-brown hair and blue eyes. Wilmer drove a distinctive, blue 1966 Dodge Fargo pickup truck with the Virginia license plate EM-RAW. He worked as a fisherman in the 1980s and also ran a business called Better Tree Service.
Anyone with information can contact the FBI by calling 1-800-CALL-FBI or submitting a tip online at www.tips.fbi.gov, or reach out to the Virginia State Police by email at questions@vsp.virginia.gov or the Peninsula Crime Line.