NORFOLK, Va. - — Alan Wilmer Sr. passed away in 2017, but now investigators have linked him to killing three people in the 1980s.
There was the double homicide of David Knobling and Robin Edwards in 1987, a case that's grouped with the Colonial Parkway murders.
Then in 1989, police say he was responsible for killing Teresa Howell in Hampton, but could he be connected to other cases?
News
Two cold cases solved more than 30 years later
During Monday's news conference, investigators said Wilmer drove a distinct pickup truck with the license plate "EM RAW."
"When I saw the license plate, I was like crap!" said author Blaine Pardoe, who wrote a book with his daughter about the Colonial Parkway Murders.
In the book, he describes a conversation he had with Irvin Wells, who has since passed away, but at one time was the Special Agent in Charge of the Norfolk FBI Field Office.
In 1988, Christopher Newport University students Keith Call and Cassandra Hailey disappeared and were never found in what's considered to be the third Colonial Parkway Murders case.
Watch previous coverage: 2 active Hampton, Isle of Wight cold cases solved after more than 30 years
Pardoe says Wells told him a man who drove a pickup truck with the license plate "EM RAW" was looked at in their disappearance, but later cleared after passing a polygraph test.
Wells didn't tell him the man's name, Pardoe said. In his book he changed the license plate to "EAT THEM" because the man had been cleared.
"When I saw that picture come up [on Monday] it was bone chilling to see because I realized the FBI had this guy on their radar," said Pardoe in an interview with News 3 on Tuesday.
News 3 asked the FBI about this potential link.
A spokesperson said they can't comment on that specifically, but said there were "a wide range of individuals being looked into regarding the Colonial Parkway homicides. I can confirm Wilmer was among them."
News
35 years later, family without answers for Colonial Parkway Murders case
During the news conference, Virginia State Police said there was no physical or forensic evidence linking Wilmer to the other Colonial Parkway murders.
"The fact that three families received answers that they've been looking for for over 30 years is just fantastic news," said Bill Thomas, whose sister Cathy was killed in the first case in 1986.
He says the developments give him hope his sister's case may one day be solved.
"It does add to our positive outlook that we hope that we'll see some answers coming forward," said Thomas.
