Cold case rape, murder of 17-year-old Beaumont girl solved 45 years later

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (CNS) -- More than four decades after it happened, the identity of the man who sexually assaulted and killed a 17-year-old Beaumont girl was confirmed through DNA evidence, authorities said Monday.

Lewis Randolph "Randy'' Williamson, now deceased, is believed to be the person responsible for the rape and murder of Esther Gonzalez in the winter of 1979, according to the Riverside County District Attorney's Office.

Williamson died in Florida a decade ago.

Prosecutors said the county's Regional Cold Case Homicide Team, composed of D.A.'s office investigators, sheriff's detectives and personnel from several other agencies, were working the case when they got a break earlier this year after a blood sample collected from Williamson during his 2014 autopsy in Broward County was processed by the California Department of Justice's forensics lab.

The DNA extracted from the sample was compared to that contained in a semen stain collected from Esther's body and preserved, ultimately analyzed by Othram, a private laboratory based in Woodlands, Texas, that specializes in genetic genealogy research.

"DOJ confirmed that Williamson's DNA matched the DNA recovered from Esther's body,'' according to the D.A.'s office.

Prosecutors said Williamson was unofficially cleared of Esther's abduction, rape and murder in 1979, but he nonetheless remained the lead suspect.

The victim was last seen alive leaving her parents' Beaumont residence on Feb. 9, 1979, to walk to her sister's home. She never made it.

According to the D.A.'s office, the following day, an anonymous man telephoned the sheriff's Banning station to report finding the body of a girl near Highway 243, just south of Poppet Flats Road, laying in snow.

The victim was quickly identified as Esther, and it was evident she'd been the victim of a sexual assault. Detectives turned their attention to tracking down the caller, who'd been disagreeable during his phone tip, unwilling to share details of how he'd made the discovery or why he was out there, according to prosecutors.

The party was identified less than a week later as Williamson. He was questioned and agreed to take a polygraph examination, which he passed, the D.A.'s office said.

"He was never cleared through DNA because the technology had not yet been developed,'' the agency stated.

Background information on Williamson was unavailable.

Anyone with information about the case, or any other cold cases, was encouraged to contact investigators at ColdCaseUnit@RivcoDA.org.

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