A body is recovered from the Elizabeth River in Portsmouth In the late winter of 1988, the life of 18-year-old Laurie Ann Powell was tragically cut short, leaving a mystery that would haunt her family and investigators for decades. A female, she was last seen alive around midnight on March 9, 1988, in Gloucester County, Virginia. Following an argument with her boyfriend, she exited his vehicle and began walking along Route 614 towards Route 17. This would be the last time she was seen alive.
For weeks, her whereabouts remained unknown, a period of agonizing uncertainty for her loved ones.
The grim answer to her disappearance came on April 2, 1988, when her body was discovered in the waters of the Elizabeth River, near Craney Island. An autopsy would later reveal the violent nature of her death; she had been stabbed multiple times, with the fatal wound being a stab to the back of her neck. The initial investigation included her boyfriend, but he was never charged and passed away in 2016. The case grew cold, one of many unsolved homicides that leave a lasting scar on a community, with investigators hopeful but unable to bring charges for over three decades.
A significant breakthrough in the long-dormant case finally arrived in November 2025, thanks to advancements in DNA technology. Investigators announced they had identified Alan W. Wilmer, Sr. as the individual responsible for Laurie Ann Powell's death. This identification was made possible by linking DNA evidence from the Powell case to Wilmer. By the time he was named, Wilmer was already deceased, having died in 2017 at the age of 63. Authorities stated that were he still alive, he would have faced charges for her murder. Wilmer was also linked through DNA to three other homicides from that era, including two of the slayings famously known as the 'Colonial Parkway Murders.' While there will be no trial or conviction, the identification of a suspect brought a measure of resolution to a case that had remained a painful open wound for a family and a community for 37 years.
