num_pages: 320
description: A riveting deep dive into the unsolved murder of two free-spirited young women in the wilderness a journalist's obsession and a new theory of who might have done itIn May 1996 Julie Williams and Lollie Winans were brutally murdered while backpacking in Virginias Shenandoah National Park adjacent to the world-famous Appalachian Trail. The young women were skilled backcountry leaders who had metand fallen in lovethe previous summer while working at a world-renowned outdoor program for women. But despite an extensive joint investigation by the FBI the Virginia police and National Park Service experts the case remained unsolved for years.In early 2002 and in response to mounting political pressure then-Attorney General John Ashcroft announced that he would be seeking the death penalty for Darrell David Ricealready in prison for assaulting another womanin the first capital case tried under new post-9/11 federal hate crime legislation. But two years later the Department of Justice quietly suspended its case against Rice and the investigation has since grown cold. Did prosecutors have the right person?Journalist Kathryn Miles was a professor at Lollie Winans's wilderness college in Maine when the 2002 indictment was announced. On the 20th anniversary of the murder she began looking into the lives of these adventurous womenwhose loss continued to haunt all who had encountered themalong with the murder investigation and subsequent case against Rice. As she dives deeper into the case winning the trust of the victims loved ones as well as investigators and gaining access to key documents Miles becomes increasingly obsessed with the loss of the generous and free-spirited Lollie and Julie who were just on the brink of adulthood and at the same time she discovers evidence of cover-ups incompetence and crime-scene sloppiness that seemed part of a larger problem in Americas pursuit of justice in national parks. She also becomes convinced of Rices innocence and zeroes in on a different likely suspect.Trailed: One Womans Quest to Solve the Shenandoah Murders is a riveting eye-opening and heartbreaking work offering a braided narrative about two remarkable women who were murdered doing what they most loved the forensics of this cold case and the surprising pervasiveness and long shadows cast by violence against women in the backcountry. 
language: English
title: Trailed: One Woman's Quest to Solve the Shenandoah Murders
publisher: Algonquin Books