() –– After 45 years, California authorities were finally able to tell the Gonzalez family who they believe killed their loved one. The Riverside County Sheriff’s Office used DNA and forensic genealogy to identify the alleged killer, who turned out to be the same man who informed authorities about the discovery of Esther González’s body.
On February 9, 1979, 17-year-old Gonzalez was walking to his sister’s house in Banning, California, about 80 miles east of Los Angeles. He never came home.
The next day, her body was found in a blanket of snow next to a road near Banning, the Riverside County Prosecutor’s Office reported in a statement. press release. She was attacked while walking, raped and beaten to death, authorities said.
Officers described the unidentified man who found the body as “contentious,” according to the news release. The man, later identified as Lewis Randolph “Randy” Williamson, called the county sheriff to report the body and said he did not know if it was a man or a woman. Sheriff’s investigators later asked Williamson to submit to a polygraph test.
The district attorney’s office said he agreed to take the test and passed it, which “at the time, cleared him of any wrongdoing,” according to the statement.
Nearly five decades later, the district attorney’s office said a cold case homicide team used forensic genealogy to confirm Williamson is Gonzalez’s alleged killer.
Forensic genealogy is booming across the country so investigators analyze DNA in addition to traditional genealogical research to generate leads for unsolved cases.
Jason Corey, the lead investigator for the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office, said the technique is a great addition to an investigator’s toolbox.
“I think it will be a great research tool in the future,” Corey said. “It will help do good things and not only identify the victims, but it will help guide investigators with their investigative leads to bring those suspects to justice.”
Even as Gonzalez’s case went cold, Riverside County detectives continued searching.
The homicide team continued to investigate the case for decades after Gonzalez’s death. The team uploaded a semen sample from the crime scene into the Combined DNA Index System, but found no clues.
In 2023, detectives sent several tests to a genetic laboratory in Texas that specializes in forensic genealogy and identifying victims of unsolved murders.
Earlier this year, a criminal analyst laid out all the facts of the case.
Then the light bulb went on.
“Although Williamson was apparently cleared by polygraph in 1979, he was never cleared by DNA because the technology had not yet been developed,” the district attorney’s office said.
Taking another polygraph was not an option because Williamson died in Florida in 2014.
However, a blood sample was collected during the autopsy.
Florida authorities sent the sample to the California Department of Justice, which confirmed that Williamson’s DNA matched the semen DNA sample recovered from Gonzalez’s body.
Corey said this case has been in Riverside County’s cold case unit since it was launched about five years ago. Over the years, several investigators worked on the case. All that came to an end this Wednesday.
“I can’t imagine what it must be like for them,” Corey said. “That whole family has been devastated over the years. This is something that is experienced day after day. “I don’t think this has been something that has gotten easier for them as time has gone on.”
“I don’t know if you can say you’re happy it’s over, because it’s still a terrible tragedy, but I hope it can give them closure,” Corey said.
The latest development in the unsolved case brings peace and tranquility to the Gonzalez family, said Elizabeth, Esther’s older sister. She was happy to learn that the suspect in her sister’s homicide was finally identified.
“We are very happy that we can finally close the chapter,” Elizabeth González, 64, wrote in an email to . “We’re happy about it, but since the man is dead, we’re a little sad that he’s not going to spend any time (in prison) for his murder.”
Esther and Elizabeth González grew up very close, since they were only a year apart. Now, her family remembers Esther for her shy, fun and affable personality. She is the fourth of seven children.
Esther’s older brother, Eddie, wrote in Facebook: “The González family would like to thank the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department for a job well done after 40 years of the González family closing the case.”
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