Editor’s Note: This story is part of Beneath the Blue Ridge: The Virginia Olson Case, a special series from 828newsNOW revisiting the unsolved killing of Virginia Olson in Asheville. Through records, reporting and interviews, the series examines what happened and why the case remains unresolved. Read the full series here.
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — In the years after 19-year-old Virginia Olson was murdered near the botanical gardens in April 1973, investigators pursued several suspects, reopened leads and at one point believed they were close to solving Olson’s killing.
No charge ever came.
More than five decades later, Olson’s killing remains one of Asheville’s most haunting cold cases.
A suspect close to the scene
By the late 1970s, the case had drawn enough concern that the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation assigned a task force to review Olson’s killing alongside other unsolved cases. In December 1977, that review highlighted a 45-year-old man who lived blocks from the botanical gardens. The man had been questioned several times after Olson’s death.
According to case records, a friend told investigators the man had been in the area the day Olson was killed. Witnesses said he appeared agitated that afternoon, returned home just before 3 p.m., asked a neighbor to pray with him and said something was “a bloody mess.”
On April 29, 1973, police searched his apartment and seized several items, including clothing, boots, gloves, a knife and a handkerchief, according to a search warrant cited in A Murder on Campus by Brian and Cameron Santana. The items were tested by the SBI Crime Lab, but no conclusive evidence was found.
The Santana brothers later identified that man as John Reavis Jr. Public records reviewed by 828newsNOW show no charges were ever filed against him in Olson’s killing.
Detectives thought they were close
Investigators continued revisiting the case through the late 1970s and into the 1980s.
By then, Asheville Police Detective Will Annarino and other investigators were still focused on the man they described as their primary suspect. Records described the man as a former Army officer with a history of psychiatric treatment and a prior voyeurism charge in San Francisco.
In 1984, Annarino and another detective traveled to Santa Fe, New Mexico, to interview the suspect, intending to bring him back to North Carolina to face charges, according to the Asheville Citizen-Times.
But no arrest followed.
By December of that year, police said an arrest was no longer imminent and confirmed no confession had been obtained. Authorities did not say whether the case had stalled again or whether evidence had cleared the man.
Other suspects and early leads
Investigators also pursued other leads in the days and months after Olson’s death.
Just two days after Olson’s murder, police had their first public suspect, a man initially described as being in his early 20s. Small blood stains found on his shoes were sent to the SBI Crime Lab for testing. That man, a 19-year-old who had escaped from a mental health facility in Richmond, Virginia, was released by that weekend.
A UNCA employee was also questioned and later cleared after passing a polygraph examination. Other rumors circulated as well, including unsubstantiated claims involving a patient from Highland Hospital.
In February 1974, the SBI assigned two agents to the Olson case. Later that year, investigators traveled to Florida to follow up on a lead involving a former UNCA student who had been charged with several rapes. Police later confirmed his alibi. No arrest was made.
What investigators could test in 1973
Medical personnel responded the afternoon Olson’s body was found, and an autopsy was conducted that evening by the N.C. Medical Examiner’s Office.
The examinations helped investigators piece together the attack, but the science available in 1973 was limited. Police could determine blood type and secretor status, but DNA profiling was still decades away.
That limitation shadowed the investigation for decades and remains central to questions surrounding the case today.
Case still open
The case remains open, according to Asheville police. Retired Detective Kevin Taylor, who continues to assist the cold case unit part time, said physical evidence still exists.
“We still have physical evidence, and we’re hopeful someone will come forward,” Taylor said
Students who attended UNC Asheville in 1973 may recall the spring concert that weekend featuring Grass Roots, Sugarcreek and Morrison & Swan Plus. Investigators have said even small memories from that time could make a difference and help close the case.
“Somebody knows something,” Taylor said. “We just need that missing piece.”
This story is part of Beneath the Blue Ridge, an ongoing series revisiting the Virginia Olson case. Six parts, released over three weeks. Follow along as the story unfolds with new installments each Monday and Wednesday.
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Tips on the 1973 killing of Virginia Olson can be submitted to the Asheville Police Department at 828-252-1110, by texting “TIP2APD” to 847411, or through Asheville-Buncombe Crime Stoppers at 828-255-5050. The N.C. State Bureau of Investigation Cold Case Team can be reached at 919-662-4500 or contactus@ncsbi.gov.
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