Victims’ families hope unsolved cases will be added to new statewide database
“Just because the murders haven’t [been] solved doesn’t mean they’re not still relevant,” Del. Roem said.
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Victims’ families hope unsolved cases will be added to new statewide database
By Darlene Johnson, Capital News Service
RICHMOND, Va. – William H. “Bozo” Winston Jr. was athletic and family oriented up until the day of his murder in 1986. He was 23 years old.
“We played football, basketball — whatever — together,” said Taras Winston Sr., William’s brother and youngest of four siblings. “When he had a chance, he would always pick me, put me on his team.”
William played football at Armstrong High School and basketball at the Powhatan Community Center in Richmond, his brother said. He also played baseball and was a lifeguard.
Taras Winston had a good relationship with his brother until William started selling drugs, he said.
“He just got involved with the wrong gang and it cost him his life,” said brother Darryl Winston.
On the morning of March 12, 1986, Taras Winston told William he loved him and would see him after school. William was not there when he returned home.
Taras Winston was home alone that night when Henrico County police rang the doorbell. Police held William’s ID. Taras Winston thought William was in trouble with the law, but police eventually told him William was found dead near a creek.
William was shot in the head and multiple times all over his body. He was the first murder victim in the county that year, according to a video about the case made by Henrico County. His case remains unsolved almost four decades later.
Virginia State Police partnered this year with enforcement agencies across the state to create a database of unsolved, or “cold” cases. The database, launched in June, includes unsolved homicides and unidentified and missing people cases. The Winston family hopes the database could surface more leads to find William’s killer.
Tragedy struck the Winston family again almost a year later when they lost their cousin Judson Calvin to gun violence. The Winston brothers think Calvin’s murder was connected to William’s murder. They believe Calvin, whose case also remains unsolved, may have been murdered for what he knew about William’s murder.
Del. Danica Roem, D-Manassas, had unanimous support from both chambers for her 2020 measure to create the statewide database. She introduced the bill in 2018, but it was killed in appropriations. Lawmakers appropriated over $100,000 to create the database and fund a full-time employee to maintain the website. When the COVID-19 pandemic began, budget spending was put on pause because of economic uncertainty, Roem said. Virginia State Police began designing the website based on unsolved case databases in other states, such as Connecticut and Florida.
“We put this [the bill] in because other states have existing precedence or other cases being solved because other states have cold case databases,” Roem said.
The database could bring closure, accountability and justice to unsolved crimes, Roem said. It was also important that the public knows about unsolved cases, she said, to make this information accessible while maintaining “government transparency and government accountability.”
The database has expanded to over 100 cases and more will be added over time. There have been over 100 clicks to the website since its launch in July, stated Corinne Geller, Virginia State Police public relations director, in an October email reply.
News coverage, along with promotion from law enforcement, state prosecutors and courts will help garner attention to the database and cases, Roem believes.
Darryl and Taras Winston said news, media and digital billboards should be utilized to raise awareness for unsolved cases.
The state police’s goal is to “keep increasing awareness of the cold case website and its reach among the public,” Geller stated.
“Just because the murders haven’t [been] solved doesn’t mean they’re not still relevant,” Roem said.
Darryl and Taras Winston hope to see Williams’s case put into the database. Henrico County, where William was murdered, is not one of the 15 law enforcement offices listed on the site as database contributors.
The discussion of Henrico County police joining the state database is ongoing, Lt. Matthew Pecka stated in an email. Spreading information about these cases is important to generate leads and new discussions, he stated.
“We’re looking for something to be done about it,” Taras Winston said. “Any help that we can get at solving my brother’s case, we’ll greatly appreciate that … the smallest thing might be the thing that breaks the case open.”
Key witnesses sometimes wait “years later” until they feel safe to speak to law enforcement, or sometimes suspects make a “deathbed confession,” Geller stated.
“Sometimes a person’s conscience gets the better of them and prompts them to turn themselves in,” Geller stated.
Darryl Winston believes witnesses may have been worried about their own encounters with law enforcement. He hopes people will be more comfortable coming forward now since 36 years have passed.
People can contribute tips — even anonymous tips — through the website, or contact the lead law enforcement agency investigating a case.
An unsolved homicide case dating back to 2003 received new leads thanks to the database, according to a report from The Roanoke Times.
“It’s effective and it works,” Roem said, “but it will only be effective and it will only work if the public knows about it and if the public engages with it.”
Other cold cases out of Henrico County currently not in the database are the violent murders of Mike Margaret and Donna Hall in August 1984. Margaret, 21, and Hall, 18, were found stabbed to death with their throats cut in a wooded area that is now a suburban landscape. The narcotic sedative Demerol was found in their blood, police said. There has long been speculation they knew their attackers and that the couple were dabbling in drug use with possible interest to purchase a larger quantity.
Police have never unearthed any clear motive for the gruesome murder. Investigators had limited access to DNA from the crime scene, due to heavy rains between when the murders likely took place and when the bodies were found by a dog walker.
Scott Margaret, Mike’s brother, is satisfied with police work on the case “in a lot of ways,” but he thinks “too much red tape” gets in the way of solving the crime. Some agencies might not want to work together because they want to solve the cases on their own, he said.
“The quicker you get outside help in some of these cases, the quicker you will be able to solve a lot of them,” Margaret said.
To raise more awareness for unsolved cases and the database, Margaret suggested ads on local news stations, pop-up ads online and information on interstate billboards.
Margaret will request his brother and Hall’s case be added to the unsolved case database.
Roem recommends citizens visit the website at least once, to see if they recognize a case or have a tip to contribute.
“Don’t just see this as a nice gesture from the state,” Roem said. “There is potential for positive outcomes as awareness of the database grows.”
Cases are displayed on the homepage at random to ensure all victims are highlighted equally, according to state police. Cases are also spotlit on associated anniversary days.
“Enhancing the website to include additional features is a goal of ours we hope to achieve over time,” Geller stated in an email.
Citizens can search cases by name, date, location, reporting agency and type of case — and case pages can be shared. People can request a case to be included in the database by contacting the lead agency of the case. People can leave questions or comments on the website, and choose to remain anonymous. There is also an option to be emailed back.
“The stories are screaming out silently right now and they’re waiting to be retold,” Roem said.
Attorney General Miyares Announces $391.5 Million Settlement with Google
Attorney General Jason Miyares announced Tuesday that he and 39 other attorneys general reached a $391.5 million multistate settlement with Google over allegedly misleading consumers about their location tracking practices relating to Google Account settings. This is the largest multistate attorney general privacy settlement in the history of the U.S, and Virginia will receive $10,711,139.26 from the settlement.
“It is imperative that companies take customers’ personal data protection seriously and are transparent and direct about the data collected,” Miyares said. “As Attorney General, I am committed to protecting Virginians' personal information and holding accountable companies who mislead Virginians and disregard their privacy.”
The attorneys general opened the Google investigation following a 2018 Associated Press article that revealed Google “records your movements even when you explicitly tell it not to.” The article focused on two Google account settings: Location History and Web & App Activity. Location History is “off” unless a user turns on the setting, but Web & App Activity, a separate account setting, is automatically “on” when users set up a Google account, including all Android phone users.
The attorneys general found that Google violated state consumer protection laws by misleading consumers about its location-tracking practices since at least 2014. Specifically, Google caused users to be confused about the scope of the Location History setting, the fact that the Web & App Activity setting existed and also collected location information, and the extent to which consumers who use Google products and services could limit Google’s location tracking by adjusting their account and device settings.
The settlement requires Google to be more transparent with consumers about its practices. Google must:
Show additional information to users whenever they turn a location-related account setting “on” or “off”;
Make key information about location tracking unavoidable for users (i.e., not hidden); and
Give users detailed information about the types of location data Google collects and how it’s used at an enhanced “Location Technologies” webpage.
Accused U-Va. gunman was scrutinized by threat assessment team for weapon - Washington Post
By Nick Anderson, William Wan, Laura Vozzella, and John Woodrow Cox
The 22-year-old University of Virginia student accused of killing three football players on campus was being investigated by the school for claiming he owned a gun and had been convicted of a concealed weapons violation in a separate incident last year, university officials said Monday night.
Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. was arrested at 11 a.m. Monday nearly 80 miles from campus in Henrico County, ending a massive manhunt that had begun 12 hours earlier and led the Charlottesville university to shut down throughout the night.
Virginia Republicans grapple with what to do about Trump - Cardinal News
By MARKUS SCHMIDT
As Donald Trump amps up his attacks on Gov. Glenn Youngin and Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears while preparing for his own announcement of a third presidential campaign Tuesday, Virginia Republicans are treading a fine line between cautious criticism and continued open support of the former president. Some insiders worry that this complicates their efforts to reclaim the full majority of the state legislature next year, where Democrats still control the Senate.
“Absolutely will Trump be a problem, that’s not an academic question, it’s been proven empirically,” said Tucker Martin, a former Republican strategist who served as communications director for former Gov. Bob McDonnell.
Virginia's state revenues remain strong as economic storm approaches - RTD
State revenues remain strong, but Virginia lawmakers are bracing for the effects of a recession they expect to be mild and hope will be over by the middle of next year. As Gov. Glenn Youngkin prepares to revise the economic forecast for the two-year budget he will propose next month, his administration is taking a more “pessimistic” view of the pain ahead because of the Federal Reserve Board’s determination to lower inflation by raising interest rates to cool the economy.
“We do believe this is a pretty strong downturn we need to prepare for,” Secretary of Finance Steve Cummings told the House Appropriations Committee during its annual budget retreat on Monday at the Science Museum of Virginia.
