A man who passed a lie detector test and was released from custody after the brutal slaying of a 17-year-old girl in California has been identified as her killer, 45 years later.
In February 1979, an unidentified man called the the sheriff’s office in Riverside County to report a body dumped in a snowpack off Highway 243, near Banning. Deputies described the caller as “argumentative” and said the caller could not identify if the victim was male or female.
Authorities later found the body south of Poppet Flats Road and identified the victim as Esther Gonzalez. On Feb. 7, the teenager was walking from her parents’ house in Beaumont to her sister’s house in Banning when she was raped and bludgeoned to death, the Riverside District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
Five days after receiving the call about the body, authorities identified the man as Lewis Randolph “Randy” Williamson and asked him to come in to take a polygraph test. Williamson agreed, passed the test and was cleared of any wrongdoing. No arrests were ever made in the case.
When Williamson died in Florida in 2014, a DNA sample was taken during his autopsy. Ten years later, through forensic genealogical advancements, Othram labs in Texas was able to positively match Williamson’s DNA to the semen taken from the crime scene.
“Although Williamson was seemingly cleared by the polygraph in 1979, he was never cleared through DNA because the technology had not yet been developed,” the district attorney’s office said.
The California Department of Justice has now confirmed Williamson as Gonzalez’s rapist and killer.
“We are very happy that we finally have closure,” Esther’s sister, Elizabeth Gonzalez, told CNN. “We are happy about it but, since the guy has died, a little sad that he won’t spend any time for her murder.”
Riverside County cold case detectives are now seeking anyone who knew Williamson for any potential links to other victims. They can be reached at 951-955-2777.