Relatives of a woman killed nearly three decades ago in an unsolved case are urging police to investigate her death in connection with Gilgo Beach murder suspect Rex Heuermann.
There appears to be a similarity between Heuermann, 60, and a police sketch of the suspected killer of Alicia Showalter Reynolds, who was killed in March 1996.
Alicia was a promising student at Johns Hopkins University and was working on a vaccine against a parasitic infection at the time of her disappearance.
She was 25 years old when she was killed by the unidentified Route 29 Stalker while driving from Baltimore to Charlottesville.
Alicia’s family recently noticed similarities between Heuermann and the Route 29 Stalker sketch and has now asked investigators to investigate this possible connection.
The 1996 murder of 25-year-old Alicia Showalter Reynolds remains unsolved nearly three decades later, but her family is urging police to re-investigate her case
Alicia’s family recently noticed similarities between Gilgo Beach murder suspect Rex Heuermann and the sketch of the Route 29 Stalker, pictured above
The circumstances surrounding Reynolds’ disappearance are deeply disturbing.
She was on a 150-mile trip to go shopping with her mother, Sadie Showalter, and planned to meet her around 10:30 am.
When Alicia didn’t arrive, Sadie waited at the mall, assuming bad weather or unforeseen circumstances had delayed her daughter.
Later that same day, at 6 p.m., Alicia’s car was found abandoned on the shoulder of Route 29 near Culpeper, Virginia, with a white paper napkin placed under the windshield wiper – a signal often used to indicate a problem with the vehicle to give.
It later turned out that there was nothing wrong with the car. Three witnesses also came forward to tell police that Alicia was seen talking to a clean-cut white man driving a dark-colored pickup truck.
Alicia’s body was not found until two months later. Her body had been dumped in a forest 15 miles east of Culpeper.
The Virginia State Police investigation into Alicia’s death remains active and ongoing, with the family still waiting for answers about her disappearance and murder some 27 years later.
After noticing the similarity between Heuermann and a police sketch of the Route 29 Stalker, Alicia’s family has urged investigators to dig deeper into the possible connection.
Virginia State Police investigators are seen searching the area near where Alicia Showalter Reynolds’ body was found outside Culpeper, Virginia in May 1996.
Barbara Josenhans, Alicia’s younger sister, noted how years ago she had given up hope of finding her sister’s killer.
But when Barbara noticed the similarity between Heuermann and a police sketch of the Route 29 Stalker, she urged investigators to delve deeper into the possible connection.
Barbara emphasized the similarities in Heuermann’s facial features, particularly the cheeks, and pointed out that he would have been approximately 32 or 33 years old at the time of Alicia’s murder.
“It’s the cheeks, there’s something about the cheeks,” said Barbara Josenhans, Alicia’s younger sister The sun.
‘It is quite striking (…) he would have been about 32 or 33 years old at the time. I wonder if he was ever questioned about it. If he hasn’t, he should.’
There are other possible coincidences, too: Property records show that Heuermann’s mother has lived in Palmyra, Virginia, since at least 1994 — about 50 miles from where Alicia was last seen alive.
Additionally, Heuermann admitted in a deposition for an unrelated lawsuit that he traveled to Virginia several times in 2018.
“She was a good sister,” Barbara recalled. ‘She was 25 when she died and I was 20. We were very different people (…) but we were just on the cusp of our adult relationship.
“It was incredibly unfair for this to happen to Alicia. It was completely random and unpredictable.
“It’s strange to think that if she had died in a car accident, it would have been easier in some ways to deal with it than her being murdered. It doesn’t make sense, but psychologically it does.’
Alicia was a promising student at Johns Hopkins University and was working on a vaccine against parasitic infections at the time of her disappearance.
She was last seen alive on March 2, 1996, driving on a rural stretch of Route 29 outside Culpeper. She had driven to Charlottesville to meet her mother, but never made it
Other disturbing facts have also subsequently come to light, including how between February and March 1996 on or near Route 29, 23 female drivers flashed lights or honked their horns in an attempt to get them to stop.
Some people were also told that something was wrong with their car.
Three women who did stop were taken to a payphone without incident, but the week before Alicia’s disappearance, another woman was stopped on the highway by a man who used the same trick that something was wrong with her car.
He managed to get her into his own pick-up truck after offering to give her a lift, before attacking her with a screwdriver.
The woman was able to escape after jumping out of the passenger door.
Investigators believe the man was likely the same person seen with Alicia the day she disappeared.
Virginia State Police believe the man performed “test runs” before finally working up the courage to kill.
Law enforcement officials have not commented on whether Heuermann is considered a suspect in Alicia’s case.
“State Police do not comment on potential suspects, confirmed or unconfirmed,” police said in a statement.
“Despite the passage of more than two decades and the investigation of more than 10,000 leads, the Virginia State Police continues to actively pursue the disappearance and murder of Alicia Showalter Reynolds.
“State Police remain hopeful that this case will reach a successful resolution and continue to encourage the public to come forward with information regarding the investigation.”
Reynolds’ family hopes for some kind of closure while also wary of the emotional toll a trial can take.
“To be honest, I want to believe the man is dead,” Barbara told The Sun.
‘That would make everything easier (…) One of the hardest parts of all this has been watching my parents deal with their grief, while also dealing with my own grief.
“While I would now like to see the case resolved, at this point, 27 years later, I would hate to see a trial.
‘Going through the process, seeing this person in real life and reliving it all again would be more disturbing than helpful for me, at least.
“I don’t know if the rest of my family feels the same way, but that’s certainly what I stand for.”
Rex Heuermann’s Long Island home was pictured in September of this year
As the investigation into Heuermann’s alleged crimes expands, authorities are now faced with the challenging task of revisiting cold cases and investigating possible links to other unsolved murders across the country.
Other police departments across the country are looking back to cold cases to investigate Heuermann for possible connections to other unsolved murders.
Heuermann is currently in custody in New York facing charges to which he has pleaded not guilty relating to the murders of several sex workers along Gilgo Beach on Long Island, New York.
In July, Heuermann was charged with the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello.
The three sex workers were found tied up and wrapped in burlap along a desolate beachside parkway in 2010.