THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

It led to the first federal indictment for a hate crime against gays. Now a surprising revelation of evidence has led to postponement of that trial just days before it was scheduled to begin. Julianne M. Williams, 24, and Laura S. 'Lollie' Winans, 26, had met the previous year in Minneapolis and had established a household in Vermont. They were on a five-day backpacking trip through the Virginia mountains when they disappeared. Their naked bodies were discovered on June 1, 1996, bound and gagged, their throats slashed. The case remained unsolved for nearly five years. p>Then, at a dramatic news conference on April 10, 2001, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced the indictment of Darrell David Rice, now 36, for the murders of the two women. Ashcroft charged that Rice 'intentionally selected his victims because of his hatred of women and homosexuals,' and he invoked a federal sentencing enhancement for victims of hate crimes that could bring the death penalty. It was the first time that a federal indictment had used that clause in the context of crimes against gays or lesbians. Rice, then and now, remains in prison as the result of pleading guilty in 1998 to assault and attempted abduction of another woman in the same park. His family maintains that Rice has many gay friends and could not have murdered the women. p>The trial was set to begin on Oct. 20 but was delayed for two weeks when new evidence came to light. It appears that the DNA of hairs found on the cloth used to bind the two women does not match that of Rice. On Oct. 28 the judge set the new trial date for August of next year. Some have speculated that perhaps the DNA samples will match those of Richard Marc Evonitz, who was linked to the abduction and murders of other women in the region during that same time. He killed himself when surrounded by police in 2002. p>— Bob Roehr