WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (WAVY) – It has been 35 years and still, there are no answers.
Two Christopher Newport University students vanished in 1988 after a party in Newport News.
Police have very little evidence, and they became known as the third of four couples to be killed in what is known as the Colonial Parkway Murders.
The anniversary is Monday, April 10, but Friday, a cemetery organization showed up where the parents of Keith Call are buried.
He was killed in 1988, but soon a monument will be placed between the parents’ graves to remember him.
Thirty-five years ago Monday, Cassandra Hailey and Keith Call were last seen at the University Square Apartments near CNU.
“He was seen leaving the party, but we don’t know what happened to him after that,” said Keith Call’s sister, Joyce Call-Canada.
Sadly, after 35 years not much more is known.
Can you imagine?
Well, the Calls can, and they’re living it.
What we do know?
Keith Call’s 1982 Toyota Celica was found on Colonial Parkway.
National Park Rangers have been blamed by other law enforcement agencies for contaminating the crime scene by moving the car, then removing personal belongings, putting them in boxes at the Ranger station by assuming the car was abandoned instead of possibly intercepted and dumped on the parkway by a suspect.
After realizing the mistake, the Park Rangers then put the personal belongings back in the car, which re-contaminated the crime scene, which was the car.
“Sometimes my mom would just go into Keith’s room sit and be with his belongings,” Joyce said.
Joyce and her brother Doug Call are convinced their parents died of broken hearts: Richard at 60 on Sept. 9, 1996, and then Barbara June 25, 2001.
“They passed away much younger than they would have through the anxiety and the stress,” Doug Call said. “My dad died of a heart attack. I think that was directly caused by this.”
Call-Canada said too many dead ends in the investigation has been disheartening,
“We get leads and tips and turn them over to the FBI, but it’s just been ongoing for 35 years and we don’t have any results,” Call-Canada said.
The Calls also want the FBI to turn over at least some of their collected evidence from the case to the OTHRAM Lab in Woodlands Texas.
“The DNA forensic testing that are solving some of these cold cases, some 30, 40, 50 years ago, and they have actually offered their services to us for free,” Call-Canada said. “We would like for the FBI to work with them.”
We reached out to Norfolk FBI, who sent this statement:
“The Norfolk FBI continues to tirelessly investigate this tragic incident in cooperation with our local law enforcement partners. This effort includes leveraging all appropriate forensic resources in the examination of evidence from the various crime scenes. However, beyond this, the FBI still cannot otherwise provide further updates on this or other specific investigations. Out of respect for the ongoing investigation, we will continue to refrain from commenting further.”
On this day, where the parents are buried, a Maryland cemetery organization has designed a ceramic tile picture of Keith Call that will be placed on a monument and attached to the Call family head stone in Rosewell Memorial Gardens in Gloucester County.
“All these murders are unsolved all these decades later, and the FBI is sitting on DNA evidence,” said Ed Taylor with the Cumberland Historic Cemetery Organization. “Through a prayer and a half, Keith’s remains will be found and someday buried at this site with his parents.”
Taylor hopes to provide a similar type of monument to Cassandra Hailey’s family next year.
Anyone with information about this case should call the FBI.
