DNA links California man to 1979 cold case murder, years after lie detector tripped

Riverside, California, investigators have linked a man’s DNA to the 1979 murder of a girl, years after the same man passed a lie detector test in connection with the crime, according to authorities.

The body of 17-year-old Esther Gonzalez was found dumped in a snowdrift on Highway 243 in Banning, California, in 1979, and after an investigation, investigators found that the boy had been raped and strangled to death.

Last week, the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office said in a press release that the case had been solved using genealogy, 45 years later.

On Nov. 20, the Riverside County Regional Cold Case Homicide team identified Lewis Randolph “Randy” Williamson, who died in 2014, as the killer.

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Gonzalez was attacked and killed on Feb. 9, 1979, while walking to her sister’s house in Banning from her parent’s house in Beaumont.

Her body was found the next day after an unidentified man, whom Riverside County Sheriff’s Office deputies described as “disputable,” called to report that he had found the body. The man, who was finally identified as Williamson, said he did not know whether the deceased was a man or a woman.

Detectives identified Williamson as the person who called five days after reporting the body, and investigators asked if he would submit to a polygraph. Williamson accepted the test and passed, which, at the time, cleared him of any wrongdoing.

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After eliminating many leads in the case for several years, investigators finally submitted a sperm sample from the crime scene to the Combined DNA Index System, also known as CODIS.

The cold case team sent various pieces of evidence to Othram, Inc. in 2023 to begin a genetic investigation, hoping to develop additional leads.

Earlier this year, the team came close to solving the case.

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A lab technician performs a DNA test on human remains. (BORIS HORVAT/AFP via Getty Images)

A crime analyst assigned to the team determined that although Williamson was cleared by a polygraph test in 1979, he was not cleared by DNA because the technology had not yet been developed.

When Williamson died in Florida in 2014, a blood sample was collected during an autopsy. With the help of the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, the sample was sent to the California Department of Justice.

It was eventually confirmed that Williamson’s DNA matched the DNA found on Esther’s body.

While Williamson’s DNA matched, the investigation remains open into the circumstances that led to Gonzalez’s death.

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The Riverside County Cold Case Homicide Unit encourages anyone who knows Williamson or may have information about the case or other potential victims to contact them at 951-955-277 or coldcaseunit@rivcoda.gov.