[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.91″ custom_padding=”0px|0px|0px|0px” next_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row custom_padding=”2px|0px|8px|0px” _builder_version=”3.19.7″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_video _builder_version=”3.19.7″ src=”https:\/\/youtu.be\/dNh09rPYh7k” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.92″ custom_padding=”2px|0px|37.9062px|0px” prev_background_color=”#000000″ next_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row custom_padding=”0px|0px|18.9531px|0px” custom_margin=”10px|||” _builder_version=”3.0.92″][et_pb_column type=”2_3″][et_pb_text admin_label=”News Story” _builder_version=”3.19.7″ custom_margin=”0px||0px|”]<\/p>\n
On a spring day in 1964, \u00a013-year-old Virginia Williams walked to a house that she had recently cleaned, hoping she could get paid her small wage.\u00a0Her family waited for her to venture back along the railroad tracks towards home. She didn\u2019t come back that day.<\/p>\n
Four days later, on April 20, 1964,\u00a0the young teen \u00a0who was known as a loyal friend was found partially nude, stabbed, sexually assaulted, and strangled with a piece of her own clothing still embedded in her neck.<\/p>\n
The slaying \u00a0of Virginia Williams is the oldest cold case in Richland County, one of\u00a060 cold cases that Richland County continues to investigate. Richland County Sheriff’s Lt. Kevin Isenhoward was one of the investigators to reopen the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re very different, very difficult investigations to do. And back then police officers were not well-trained,\u201d he said. \u201cBack in the 60s, the ability to write and organize themselves, that could be a battle. Things weren\u2019t documented well and weren\u2019t organized. So moving back, we have to piece cases together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although police did interview possible suspects, there were few scientific tools, such as DNA identification, that could aid the investigation.<\/p>\n
Isenhoward calls it a \u201cdivine intervention\u201d that the department received an email from Virginia\u2019s childhood friend, Freddie Johnson, expressing her concerns about the original investigation. The two had gone to school together and shared a desk in the 7th grade.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe didn\u2019t have closure. That was her friend,\u201d Isenhoward said. \u201cThe one beautiful thing that we were able to do is bring in the family, existing family members and explain to them in transparency, this is the difficulties that we\u2019ve had.\u201d<\/p>\n
Freddie Johnson and Virginia\u2019s family met for the first time when the case was reopened. They recalled that when Virginia was murdered, their community didn\u2019t talk about it. But in an interview with The State, Johnson says while Virginia looks like \u201ca forgotten little girl,\u201d she\u2019s not forgotten by them. Friends and family gathered with the community near her Booker Washington Heights home for a a vigil in her memory in January, when she would have been 68 years old.<\/p>\n
The RCSD has been more actively investigating the case in recent years. After over 20 years in law enforcement, Isenhoward knows when you\u2019re able to close a case, it\u2019s very rewarding. But bringing closure to the families of victims is what he hopes for.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt may be just telling people this is who did it. There may not even be an arrest involved,\u201d he said. \u201cIt can be frustrating, but at the same time, people can get a lot of closure out of knowing what happened. That\u2019s what we really work for.\u201d<\/p>\n
To Isenhoward\u2019s knowledge, Virginia did not have a proper funeral in 1964. However, records show she was buried in Lincoln Cemetery in Columbia, South Carolina.<\/p>\n
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The oldest cold case in Richland County turns 55 years old and the victim still has an impact in the county.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":153,"featured_media":17009,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[67,39],"tags":[119,253,99],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17010"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/153"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17010"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17111,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17010\/revisions\/17111"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}