Laura Susan Ramsay, 27, a social worker from Maine, was murdered in May 1981 while hiking the Appalachian Trail near Pearisburg, Virginia. She and fellow social worker Robert Mountford Jr., also 27, were raising funds for a school for children with developmental challenges when they were attacked at Wapiti Shelter. Mountford was shot three times; Ramsay was stabbed more than a dozen times. Their bodies were found in shallow, leaf-covered graves near the shelter almost two weeks after they disappeared.

Investigators tied the killings to Pearisburg local Randall Lee Smith after blood-stained clothing was recovered at his home and a note was found in his abandoned pickup. In 1982 Smith pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder and received two concurrent 15-year sentences; he was released on mandatory parole after serving 15 years. Years later, in May 2008, Smith shot two fishermen near the same area; both survived and Smith was arrested after crashing one victim’s pickup. Four days later he died from the crash injuries.