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[[File:Rachel_raver,_warren_fulton,_tina_jefferson.jpg|thumb|122px|(from top to bottom) Rachel Raver, Warren Fulton, and Tina Jefferson]]
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[[File:Rachel_raver,_warren_fulton,_tina_jefferson.jpg|thumb|122px|(from top to bottom) Rachel, Warren, and Tina]]
   
'''Real Names:''' Warren H. Fulton III and Rachael A. Raver<br />
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'''Real Names:''' Warren Hudson Fulton III and Rachael Angelica Raver<br />
'''Nicknames:''' No Known Nicknames<br />
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'''Nicknames:''' No known nicknames<br />
 
'''Location:''' Reston, Virginia<br />
 
'''Location:''' Reston, Virginia<br />
 
'''Date:''' December 3, 1988
 
'''Date:''' December 3, 1988
   
 
==Case==
 
==Case==
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'''Details:''' Twenty-two-year-old Warren Fulton was the captain of the George Washington University baseball team and hoped to play in the majors. His girlfriend, twenty-two-year-old Rachael Raver, had recently graduated from there and planned to go to law school. On December 3, 1988, they met with friends at a bar in Washington D.C.. At 12:30am, they left in Rachael's car and vanished. On December 6, they were found dead in an out-of-the-way wooded property. Rachael had been raped and both were shot to death by an unknown assailant near Hunter Mill Road in Reston, Virginia.<br />
'''Details:''' On December 3, 1988, twenty-two-year-old college sweethearts Warren Fulton and Rachael Raver were with friends in Washington DC when they left in Rachael's car and vanished. On December 6, the couple was found dead in an out-of-the-way wooded property. Rachael had been raped and both of them shot to death by an unknown assailant near Hunter Mill Road in Reston, Fairfax County, Virginia. Police believe that the unknown killer met the couple the night they vanished and then abducted them at gunpoint. When they arrived in the area where they were killed, Warren was murdered first and Rachael tried to escape, but the killer soon caught up with her, raped her, and then killed her, finally fleeing in her car. A single hair found on Rachael's body determined that the killer was African American. Rachael's family believed that the key to solving the case would be to find her car, so her mother Veronica spent her free time driving around the streets of Washington D.C. looking for the car. Six weeks later, Veronica received a parking ticket for Rachael's missing Toyota sedan, which had been ticketing for illegal parking on a street in Queens, New York. The date of the ticket was the day after the couple had vanished, but when the car was recovered there was not much left of it; although some fingerprints were found on it, no suspects were identified. However, the Raver family refused to give up, and one year after the murders, Veronica Raver saw an ''Unsolved Mysteries'' broadcast that caught her attention.
 
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Police believe that the killer met Warren and Rachael the night they vanished and then abducted them at gunpoint. It is believed that he forced them to drive from Washington D.C. to the suburbs. When they arrived in the area where they were killed, Warren was murdered first and Rachael tried to escape. However, the killer caught up with her, raped her, and then killed her, finally fleeing in her car.<br />
[[File:Jeffersonraversuspects.jpg|thumb|270px|Tony (left) and a composite of the suspect (right)]]
 
  +
A single hair found on Rachael's body determined that the killer was African-American. Investigators believed that he was familiar with the area. The murders took place near Dulles Toll Road, which runs from Interstate Highway to Dulles Airport. However, the specific area where their bodies were found was very secluded.<br />
It was about 24 year old [[Tina Jefferson]], who had been found raped and shot to death in a schoolyard on May 11, 1988 in Arlington, Virginia, and the cases seemed to be similar. However, the police did not believe the cases were connected because Warren and Rachael were white and Tina was African-American, and Tina was alone while Rachael and Warren were together. Finally, police believed that Tina knew her killer while Warren and Rachael's murders were random. It would not be until the spring of 2000 when a technician at Virginia's state DNA lab would link the three murders to the same killer through DNA found on Rachael and Tina's bodies. The killer was still at large a year later.<br />
 
  +
Rachael's family became obsessed with solving this case. They believed that the key to doing so would be locating her missing car. Her mother, Veronica, spent her free time driving around Washington D.C. looking for it. Six weeks later, she received a parking ticket for Rachael's missing car, which had been ticketed for illegal parking on a street in Queens, New York. The date was the day after she and Warren had vanished. However, when it was recovered there was not much left of it. Although some fingerprints were found on it, no suspects were identified. However, Rachael's family refused to give up.<br />
'''Suspects:''' The killer was described as an African-American male in his twenties , about 6'3", 170 pounds, and apparently knew Tina. When authorities re-interviewed Tina's sister Crystal, she remembered meeting a man named "Tony" at Tina's apartment complex in Virginia the summer before her murder, and that he may have been her boyfriend and may have been from Queens, New York. While he is not a suspect in the case, police would like to question him.<br />
 
 
One year after the murders, Veronica saw the broadcast that caught her attention. It was about twenty-four-year-old [[Tina Jefferson]], who had been found raped and shot to death in a schoolyard on May 11, 1988 in Arlington, Virginia. Both cases seemed to be similar. Interestingly, the date of the murder was also Rachael's birthday. However, the police did not believe both cases were connected for several reasons. First, Warren and Rachael were white while Tina was African-American. Next, Tina was alone while Rachael and Warren were together. Finally, police believed that Tina knew her killer while Warren and Rachael's murders appeared to be random.<br />
[[File:Alfredo_prieto.jpg|thumb|130px|Alfredo Prieto]] 
 
  +
It would not be until spring 2000 when a technician at Biotech II, Virginia's state DNA lab, would link both cases to the same killer. DNA from the semen found on Rachael matched DNA found at Tina's crime scene. It was now confirmed that a serial killer was on the loose. Investigators noticed other similarities between both cases. One major similarity was that Rachael and Tina were both wearing red shoes. However, the killer remained unidentified.<br />
'''Extra Notes:''' This segment ran for the first time on August 29, 2001.<br />
 
  +
<gallery type="slideshow" widths="260">
'''Results:''' Solved. In September of 2005, DNA found at both crime scenes was matched to a serial killer named Alfredo Prieto who was already on death row in California for murdering a 15 year old girl named Yvette Woodruff in 1990. He was found guilty of the Fulton/Raver murders in 2008 and granted the death penalty. He is currently a suspect in other murders, including a 1989 murder and two double murders in 1990 in California, but has not yet been charged.<br />
 
 
Jeffersonraversuspects.jpg|Tony (left) and a composite of the suspect
'''Links:''' None
 
  +
Alfredo prieto.jpg|Alfredo Prieto
 
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</gallery>
 
'''Suspects:''' The killer was described as an African-American male in his twenties, about 6'3" and 170 pounds, and he apparently knew Tina. When authorities reinterviewed her sister, Crystal, she remembered meeting a man named "Tony" at Tina's apartment complex in Virginia the summer before her murder, and that he may have been her boyfriend and may have been from Queens, New York. While he is not a suspect in this case, police would like to question him.<br />
  +
'''Extra Notes:''' This case first aired on the August 29, 2001 episode. It were also featured on ''[[On the Case with Paula Zahn]]''.<br />
 
'''Results:''' Solved. In September 2005, DNA found at both crime scenes was matched to a serial killer named Alfredo Prieto who was already on death row in California for murdering a 15-year-old girl named Yvette Woodruff in 1990. He was found guilty of the Fulton/Raver murders in 2008 and given the death penalty.<br />
  +
Prieto was connected to several other murders, including the September 1989 murder of Manuel F. Sermeno in Prince William Virginia; the May 1990 murders of Stacey Siegrist and Anthony Gianuzz; and the June 1990 murders of Herbert Lula Farley. However, he was never charged in those cases. He was executed by lethal injection on October 1, 2015 in Virginia.<br />
 
'''Links:'''
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* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040718110816/http://www.unsolved.com:80/0138-Raver.html Rachael and Warren on Unsolved Archive]
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* [https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2000/05/12/unsolved-1988-slayings-linked-by-dna/243e059f-7d20-4c4b-887d-97ac41858f10/ Unsolved 1988 Slayings Linked by DNA]
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* [https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/magazine/2001/06/17/trail-of-evidence/69e67617-70cd-4006-9b37-7cab8ff2ad2b/ Trail of Evidence]
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* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/27/AR2005092701730.html DNA Leads to Suspect in 1988 North Virginia Killings]
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* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/23/AR2008052301457.html Two Death Sentences in '88 Faifax Killings]
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* [https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/3-murder-victims-families-prepare-for-alfredo-prietos-execution/2015/09/29/34ff9812-661f-11e5-8325-a42b5a459b1e_story.html 3 murder victims' families prepare for Alfredo Preito's execution]
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* [https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/oct/02/virginia-executes-serial-killer-alfredo-prieto-after-appeals-fail Virginia executes serial killer Alfredo Prieto after appeals fail]
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* [http://murderpedia.org/male.P/p/prieto-alfredo.htm Alfredo Prieto on Murderpedia]
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* [https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/44954597 Warren Fulton on Find a Grave]
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* [https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7636918 Rachael Raver on Find a Grave]
 
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[[Category:Virginia]]
 
[[Category:Virginia]]

Revision as of 04:27, 27 February 2021

Rachel raver, warren fulton, tina jefferson

(from top to bottom) Rachel, Warren, and Tina

Real Names: Warren Hudson Fulton III and Rachael Angelica Raver
Nicknames: No known nicknames
Location: Reston, Virginia
Date: December 3, 1988

Case

Details: Twenty-two-year-old Warren Fulton was the captain of the George Washington University baseball team and hoped to play in the majors. His girlfriend, twenty-two-year-old Rachael Raver, had recently graduated from there and planned to go to law school. On December 3, 1988, they met with friends at a bar in Washington D.C.. At 12:30am, they left in Rachael's car and vanished. On December 6, they were found dead in an out-of-the-way wooded property. Rachael had been raped and both were shot to death by an unknown assailant near Hunter Mill Road in Reston, Virginia.
Police believe that the killer met Warren and Rachael the night they vanished and then abducted them at gunpoint. It is believed that he forced them to drive from Washington D.C. to the suburbs. When they arrived in the area where they were killed, Warren was murdered first and Rachael tried to escape. However, the killer caught up with her, raped her, and then killed her, finally fleeing in her car.
A single hair found on Rachael's body determined that the killer was African-American. Investigators believed that he was familiar with the area. The murders took place near Dulles Toll Road, which runs from Interstate Highway to Dulles Airport. However, the specific area where their bodies were found was very secluded.
Rachael's family became obsessed with solving this case. They believed that the key to doing so would be locating her missing car. Her mother, Veronica, spent her free time driving around Washington D.C. looking for it. Six weeks later, she received a parking ticket for Rachael's missing car, which had been ticketed for illegal parking on a street in Queens, New York. The date was the day after she and Warren had vanished. However, when it was recovered there was not much left of it. Although some fingerprints were found on it, no suspects were identified. However, Rachael's family refused to give up.
One year after the murders, Veronica saw the broadcast that caught her attention. It was about twenty-four-year-old Tina Jefferson, who had been found raped and shot to death in a schoolyard on May 11, 1988 in Arlington, Virginia. Both cases seemed to be similar. Interestingly, the date of the murder was also Rachael's birthday. However, the police did not believe both cases were connected for several reasons. First, Warren and Rachael were white while Tina was African-American. Next, Tina was alone while Rachael and Warren were together. Finally, police believed that Tina knew her killer while Warren and Rachael's murders appeared to be random.
It would not be until spring 2000 when a technician at Biotech II, Virginia's state DNA lab, would link both cases to the same killer. DNA from the semen found on Rachael matched DNA found at Tina's crime scene. It was now confirmed that a serial killer was on the loose. Investigators noticed other similarities between both cases. One major similarity was that Rachael and Tina were both wearing red shoes. However, the killer remained unidentified.

Suspects: The killer was described as an African-American male in his twenties, about 6'3" and 170 pounds, and he apparently knew Tina. When authorities reinterviewed her sister, Crystal, she remembered meeting a man named "Tony" at Tina's apartment complex in Virginia the summer before her murder, and that he may have been her boyfriend and may have been from Queens, New York. While he is not a suspect in this case, police would like to question him.
Extra Notes: This case first aired on the August 29, 2001 episode. It were also featured on On the Case with Paula Zahn.
Results: Solved. In September 2005, DNA found at both crime scenes was matched to a serial killer named Alfredo Prieto who was already on death row in California for murdering a 15-year-old girl named Yvette Woodruff in 1990. He was found guilty of the Fulton/Raver murders in 2008 and given the death penalty.
Prieto was connected to several other murders, including the September 1989 murder of Manuel F. Sermeno in Prince William Virginia; the May 1990 murders of Stacey Siegrist and Anthony Gianuzz; and the June 1990 murders of Herbert Lula Farley. However, he was never charged in those cases. He was executed by lethal injection on October 1, 2015 in Virginia.
Links: