The FBI has now connected deceased Mollusk resident Alan W. Wilmer Sr. to the 1986 deaths of 27 year old Cathleen Thomas and 21 year old Rebecca Dowsk, bringing his known total to six murders in eastern Virginia. The two women were found in their vehicles along the Colonial Parkway, part of a series of killings that terrorized the region in the late 1980s. Wilmer, who died in 2017, often stayed on his workboat, sometimes docked in Middlesex County. Investigators say the new evidence would have supported federal prosecution if he were alive today.
ed@edhisted.com
Ed launched his radio career in 1975 and has spent more than five decades in the broadcasting industry. During that time, he has served in a wide range of roles including Air Personality, News Director, Sales Manager, Operations Manager, and General Manager at numerous radio stations in various markets across the country. Beyond on-air and management responsibilities, Ed has also worked extensively on the technical side of broadcasting. His background includes RF engineering and information technology, with particular experience configuring digital automation systems and remote voice-tracking platforms used by stations across the country. Ed was also among a select group of industry professionals invited by Google to its California headquarters following the company’s acquisition of Scott Studios. He was one of just 12 broadcasters nationwide chosen to participate in discussions and provide input during the design and rollout of Google’s digital broadcast automation platform. Although the majority of Ed’s career—spanning roughly four decades—was rooted in music radio, he transitioned into news and information programming in 2012. He says the move into spoken-word broadcasting was a natural evolution after decades of experience in multiple areas of the industry.