The Murder of Aimee Willard
Aimee Ellen Willard was a 22-year-old college lacrosse player and student at George Mason University. She was a talented athlete who enjoyed playing soccer.
On 20th June 1996, Aimee was on her way home from a night out at a tavern with friends, she left between 1.30 and 1.40 am but never made it home. At 2.03 am her car was found, still running, with the lights on, radio still playing and door open on the Exit 5 off-ramp on Interstate 476. There was no sign of Aimee but blood was found along with a bloody palm print and tire tracks. Her shoes and underwear were found nearby.
Aimee's body was found the next day 17 miles away in a vacant lot. An autopsy showed she had been brutally beaten to death with a tyre iron.
The case went cold with no new information for nearly two years until a related incident occurred. In Pennsylvania another woman's car was hit from behind while driving alone at night, the driver of the other vehicle attempted to get the woman to stop, but she refused and memorised his license plate. When police were made aware of the incident they looked into the car. The plate was registered to Arthur Bomar but the car actually belonged to another missing woman, Maria Cabueonos. Bomar's actual car was later found at a scrapyard, with Aimee Willard's blood and hair inside. Bomar's DNA also matched semen on Aimee's body.
With new DNA evidence, Bomar was charged as Aimee's killer. It was revealed that he had been paroled for second-degree murder in 1979. Bomar was convicted of first-degree murder, rape, assault, kidnapping and abuse of a corpse and was sentenced to death, he remains on death row currently. Bomar was never charged with the murder of Maria Cabueonos, whose skeletal remains were found after he was convicted.
