After Decades of Silence, a Cold Case Crack: Indictment in 1989 Double Disappearance

It’s a story that has haunted a community, a grim riddle whispered through generations: the vanishing of Cassandra Hailey and Richard Call Jr. way back in the summer of ’89. For thirty-four agonizing years, their families, and honestly, an entire region, have grappled with an unbearable emptiness, a gnawing question mark. Their car was found, abandoned after a party, but Cassandra and Richard? Gone. Just like that. A cold, hard double homicide case that seemed destined to remain unsolved, a chilling testament to the past.

But then, you see, sometimes the wheels of justice, though agonizingly slow, do turn. And for once, there’s a seismic shift in this decades-old mystery. A grand jury in Goochland County, Virginia, has finally, emphatically, brought forth an indictment. The man now accused, Alan Wilmer Sr., at 63 years old, stands charged with two counts of first-degree murder and, crucially, two counts of abduction with the intent to defile. He was picked up, quietly enough, in Henrico County, but the news? Well, it’s anything but quiet.

John R. Singleton, the Commonwealth's Attorney for Goochland County, confirmed it all, a formal statement that must have felt like a punch to the gut for some, and a wave of profound relief for others. The families, the Calls and the Haileys, have been informed. Imagine that phone call, the mix of emotions after so, so long. It’s a moment they’ve surely longed for, even perhaps despaired of ever receiving.

Now, this case, as you might recall, has always been entangled, at least in the public’s mind, with other chilling disappearances from that same era—Sofia Silva in '89, Alicia Showalter Reynolds in '90. Authorities, for their part, haven't publicly drawn those lines with Wilmer, maintaining a tight focus on Cassandra and Richard. And yes, their bodies, heartbreakingly, have yet to be found. But an indictment, that’s a significant, monumental step.

This breakthrough, and let's be clear, it is a breakthrough, hasn’t come easy. It’s the result of relentless, grinding work from multiple agencies: the Goochland County Sheriff's Office, the Virginia State Police, and the FBI, all collaborating, pushing, refusing to let this case fade into the archival dust. Wilmer, for now, is being held without bond in Henrico, awaiting transfer to Goochland. His initial court appearance? Slated for Monday. And just think, this entire saga was even the subject of a podcast, “What Happened To Us?” A story now, perhaps, on the cusp of a conclusion, or at least a new, critical chapter.