Crime, Conspiracy, Cults and Murder

Ep. 99 | The Colonial Parkway Serial Killer

March 9, 2026·59 min·6-min readnarrativetrue crime
Podzilla Summary (6 min)
TLDR
The Colonial Parkway murders, a 40-year-old cold case involving eight victims along a secluded Virginia road, were finally solved through DNA evidence linking the crimes to Alan Wade Wilmer Sr., a waterman who had been investigated and cleared in 1988 after passing a polygraph test—only t

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Mentions

Books, people, and resources mentioned in this episode.

People

Alan Wade Wilmer Sr.Kathleen Marianne ThomasBill ThomasRebecca Ann DowskiIrvin WellsBlaine PardoSteve SpingolaBarry

Books

A Special Kind of Evil: The Colonial Parkway Serial Killingsby Blaine PardoPredators on the Parkwayby Steve Spingola

Companies

Virginia Department of Forensic ScienceDNA Labs International

Topics

Cold CasesCriminal JusticeCriminal Justice ReformForensicsInvestigative JournalismLong Form JournalismTrue Crime

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