Couple 1: Cathy Thomas and Rebecca Dowski
On October 12, 1986, a pedestrian found a car at this location. Bodies of two women were found inside it, they were later identified as Cathleen “Cathy” Thomas, a 27-year-old graduate of the Naval Academy, and Rebecca Ann Dowski, a 21-year-old student at the College of William and Mary. The two bodies were bound with rope and strangled, and the killer had slit their throats so deeply that they were nearly decapitated. Dowski s body was found in the backseat of the car, while Thomas s was found stuffed into the hatchback.
There was no evidence of sexual assault. At that time the police believed that the murders happened elsewhere, and the bodies had been dumped in the car since there was not much blood in the car itself.