45 years later, a murder in California was solved thanks to DNA evidence

The 45-year-old cold case of a 17-year-old girl who was brutally raped and murdered has been solved, bringing closure to the family. On February 9, 1979, Esther Gonzalez walked from her parents’ house to her sister’s house in Banning, California, about 80 miles east of Los Angeles. It never arrived. The next day, her body was discovered in the snow near a highway in Riverside County, California. Authorities determined that she had been raped and bludgeoned to death, leading to an investigation that lasted decades.

The lab was able to match DNA to a man named Lewis Randolph “Randy” Williamson, who died in 2014. Williamson, a U.S. Marine veteran, called authorities on the fateful day to report that Ms. Gonzalez’s body had been found. He claimed at the time that he was unable to determine whether the body belonged to a man or a woman. Described by MPs as “argumentative”, Williamson was asked to take a polygraph test, which he passed, clearing him of pre-DNA suspicions. According to the Los Angeles Times, he has been charged with assault in the past but has never been convicted of any violent crimes.

Despite limited leads, the Riverside County Homicide Team did not give up. A semen sample taken from Ms. Gonzalez’s body in 1979 was preserved but remained unmatched in the country’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) for decades.

In 2023, forensic technology has finally caught up. The homicide team worked with a genetics lab in Texas that specializes in forensic genealogy. Williamson’s blood sample taken from his autopsy in 2014 provided the DNA match needed to confirm he was the 17-year-old’s rapist and killer.

There were mixed emotions in the Gonzalez family – relief that they finally had answers and sadness that Williamson did not face justice because he died in Florida a decade ago. Mrs. Gonzalez, remembered by her family as a shy but funny and gentle young woman, was the fourth of seven children. Her oldest brother, Eddie Gonzalez, wrote on Facebook: “The Gonzalez family would like to thank the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department for a job well done. After 40 years, the Gonzalez family has closure.”

“We are very happy that we finally have some closure,” said Ms. Gonzalez’s 64-year-old sister, Elizabeth CNN. “We’re happy about it, but since the guy is dead, we’re kind of sad that he won’t take the time to murder her.”