Darrell Rice References in Charlottesville

Charlottesville, Virginia's "The Hook" of 14 January 2008 has an article by Hawes Spencer titled "Rice might have to keep the GPS". It describes life for recently-released Darrell David Rice on probation.

And it brings up a sad memory for some Appalachian Trail friends. To wit,

"If some Kent Islanders find Rice abhorrent, his new website portrays a family man who goes on outings smiling with friends and family, including children. It’s a far different portrayal from the one offered in 2002 by then-attorney general John Ashcroft when the nation’s top crime-buster accused Rice of capital murder, the “hate crime” killing of two gay women at their campsite near the Appalachian Trail in Shenandoah National Park six years earlier.

"The government’s case against Rice collapsed, however, as no physical evidence could be produced tying him to the crime. And the supposed anti-gay statements recorded by a jailhouse snitch? They turned out, on further analysis, not to be anti-gay statements at all.

"In recent days, pressure has begun mounting to reopen the case of the slain hikers for further DNA testing against known serial killers such as Richard Marc Evonitz, who, in 1996 and 1997, killed three girls in Spotsylvania County. And in just the past few days, a 61-year-old man named Gary M. Hilton has been suggested as the perpetrator of multiple Appalachian Trail and other murders in Georgia, Florida, and North Carolina."

See a related article for more background.