After nearly four decades, a cold case murder investigation has reached its conclusion, though some may view it as an incomplete triumph.

Virginia State Police have identified Alan Wilmer Sr. as the suspect in the 1988 murder of Laurie Ann Powell, as announced during a press conference on November 14.

Though DNA evidence has led investigators to believe Wilmer was responsible for Powell’s tragic stabbing, justice may go no further since Wilmer passed away in 2017 at the age of 63. Nonetheless, Powell’s family finds solace in this pivotal development.

“After 37 years of heartbreak and unanswered questions,” said Cindy Kirchner, Powell’s sister, during Friday’s press conference, “our family has finally received the long-awaited news that the murder of our beloved daughter and sister, Laurie, has been solved.”

Powell, who was 18 at the time, was last seen alive on March 8, 1988, in Gloucester County. Her body was tragically discovered weeks later, on April 2, in the Elizabeth River.

“To the victim’s family, Mr. and Mrs. Compton and the Kirchner family,” public relations director for Virginia State Police, Robin Lawson, said at the press conference, “we express our sincere condolences for your loss and the pain you have experienced these past 37 years.”

This comes a year after law enforcement shared that Wilmer was also the central suspect in the state’s notorious “Colonial Parkway Murders.” A trio of victims—David Knobling, Robin Edwards and Teresa Lynn Spaw Howell—are now linked to Wilmer, whom investigators believe may have committed additional murders, leading to their pleas for anyone with relevant information to contact authorities. 

“We are asking for the public’s help. Any tip could be useful in solving other cold cases,” Virginia State Police Capt. Timothy Reibel advised. “We will go where the evidence takes us.”