Theories Result in One Man
(‘Crime Seen,’ Forensic Information)
Earlier than launching into Half 2 of the Ed Honaker story, I need to ask subscribers whether or not they’ve preferred receiving hyperlinks to new posts by way of MailChimp — or whether or not they most popular the outdated manner, straight from me. Please depart a remark beneath or e-mail forensicfilesnow@gmail.com. Now, on to Half 2 of ‘Crime Seen’:
When Ed Honaker walked out of jail in 1994 after serving a decade for a sexual assault he didn’t commit, he obtained favorable media protection and sympathy from most of the people round Nelson County, Virginia. He finally acquired a settlement of half 1,000,000 {dollars}, too.
However what about the true rapist? On June 3, 1984, the unidentified attacker had ordered a 19-year-old girl and her fiancé out of their car close to the Blue Ridge Parkway. He sexually assaulted her repeatedly for 2 hours.
Nonetheless open. Sadly, after Honaker’s exoneration, the authorities lacked the assets to depart no stone unturned within the case. “The large outfits can put anyone on chilly instances,” stated commonwealth legal professional Phil Payne. “We are able to barely deal with our scorching instances.”
However they by no means formally closed the Blue Ridge rape case and, together with a crusading non-public eye, they finally arrived at an intriguing idea. Right here’s the story on the investigation after Ed Honaker’s launch:
As of 2005, Nelson County authorities had adopted up on a number of leads on the Blue Ridge case, however they by no means amounted to something.
Knifing terror. Two years later, nevertheless, Nelson County authorities started trying into Michael Nicholaou. Personal investigator Lynn-Marie Carty believed that Nicholaou was liable for the abductions of six girls in New England within the Eighties in addition to the Blue Ridge rape.
Within the New England assaults, a killer stabbed the ladies to loss of life, apart from one, Jane Boroski, who survived. She had been consuming a soda whereas sitting in her automobile in a parking zone in Keene, New Hampshire in 1988. The attacker compelled Jane, who was six months pregnant, out of the car, stabbed her 27 occasions, and left her for lifeless.
She sustained a severed jugular vein and a collapsed lung, however medical consideration saved her life. Her child was born with cerebral palsy.
Checkered previous. Jane later advised a native Fox TV information station that the attacker resembled images of Michael Nicholaou.
So who was this man?
Michael Andrew Nicholaou was born circa 1949 and, in line with info obtainable on Murderpedia, his father was a intercourse offender.
Nicholaou served in Vietnam as a helicopter pilot with the 335th Aviation Firm throughout his stint within the military from 1968 to 1971. He received 15 medals, together with two Purple Hearts, for his bravery, in line with the Richmond Occasions-Dispatch.
Fellow troopers later recalled that Nicholaou would go off on his personal, armed with a knife, to hunt out hand-to-hand fight with the enemy. There have been allegations that he tried to kill Vietnamese civilians by strafing, however he by no means confronted expenses.
Grownup leisure. After the military, Nicholaou labored restaurant and building jobs. He would later say that he had post-traumatic stress dysfunction.
In 1983, he opened a pornography retailer referred to as the Pleasure Chest in a shopping mall in Charlottesville, Virginia. It had its share of police raids. On the identical time, Nicholaou reportedly did some undercover work for the police.
Nicholaou’s spouse Michelle Ashley, with whom he shared a son and daughter, went lacking in 1988. Carty acquired concerned within the case when Michelle’s household employed her to seek for Michelle. Nicholaou claimed that Michelle abused medication and ran off with a Cuban drug vendor.
Round 1998, Michael Nicholaou married a lady named Aileen after assembly her by way of a private advert.
Florida Homicide-Suicide. At their house in Georgia, Nicholaou attacked Aileen, breaking her shoulder. She fled to her sister’s home in West Tampa, Florida, however he adopted her there and shot Aileen and himself on December 31, 2005.
Aileen and Michael, 56, died on the scene. One of many bullets had hit Aileen’s 22-year-old daughter, Taryn Bowman. (Sources differ on the spelling of her first title — at the very least one newspaper referred to as her “Terrin”). She lived lengthy sufficient to be taken to Tampa Normal Hospital, however succumbed to her wounds the following day.
Many facets of Nicholaou’s historical past prompt he was not solely liable for the Florida murder-suicide and the New England serial killing spree but additionally the Blue Ridge rape.
Sufferer sees a resemblance. First off, the Blue Ridge attacker initially impersonated a regulation officer. Nicholaou at one time needed to grow to be a police officer however failed the background verify.
And the Blue Ridge sufferer stated that the rapist intermittently ranted in regards to the Vietnam Struggle. As famous, Nicholaou served as a fight soldier in Vietnam; Honaker was by no means there.
What’s extra, Nicholaou reportedly appeared like Ed Honaker and was dwelling in Virginia on the time of the Blue Ridge rape — and he generally would go tenting within the woods close to the place the sufferer and her fiancé have been sleeping of their automobile.
Nicholaou smoked marijuana as did the Blue Ridge attacker.
‘Phil’ us in. Aileen’s brother-in-law advised the Richmond-Occasions Dispatch that Nicholaou admitted to him that he had killed earlier than. Nicholaou additionally claimed to be within the Mafia.
However by the point investigators weighed Nicholaou as a suspect, he had already been lifeless for practically two years.
Sooner or later, Dr. Phil acquired into act, orchestrating a gathering between Michael Nicholaou’s son and New England sufferer Jane Boroski for an episode titled “Sins of the Father.” They embraced and he or she assured him that he took after his mom and never his father.
So 20 years after Michael Nicholaou’s loss of life and 40 years after the Blue Ridge rape, is there any likelihood of proving in court docket that he dedicated it?
Shared ache. In keeping with Carty, DNA is the final hope. When ForensicFilesNow.com contacted her by way of social media, Carty stated that she had recognized a dwelling Nicholaou relative who was prepared to contribute a specimen of DNA for comparability. Carty fought for a DNA take a look at, however it by no means occurred and he or she needed to transfer on to different instances.
After his exoneration, Ed Honaker advised the Richmond Occasions-Dispatch that the sexual-assault sufferer remained satisfied that he was the Blue Ridge rapist. He would later specific compassion for her, saying that they each in the end endured a horrible ordeal. Honaker died in 2015.
Let’s hope that his and Nicholaou’s deaths introduced the sufferer the comfort of understanding that her rapist would by no means prey on her or every other girl once more.
That’s all for this submit. Till subsequent time, cheers. — RR
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