The murder of a California teen who was "raped and bludgeoned to death" on the way to her sister's house may have been solved 45 years earlier, had her suspected killer not passed a polygraph test.
On Feb. 9, 1979, Esther Gonzalez, 17, was walking from her parents' house in Beaumont, California to her sister's home six miles away in Banning, California, when she was sexually assaulted and murdered, according to the Riverside County District Attorney's Office.
Her body was found the next day, dumped off the side of a highway.
Deputies were led to her remains after an unidentified "argumentative" man called the Riverside County Sheriff's Office to report a dead body. The caller told dispatch "he didn't know if it was a male or female," according to the DA's office.
Five days later detectives were able to identify the mystery caller as Lewis Randolph "Randy" Williamson, and they asked him to take a polygraph. He passed and, at the time, it cleared him of the crime.
Detectives collected a semen sample at the crime scene which was uploaded into national DNA database, CODIS.
In 2023, cold case investigators sent several pieces of evidence to a genetic genealogy lab in hopes advancements in technology would spark new leads.
Williamson died in Florida in 2014. Authorities were able to obtain a blood sample during his autopsy and it was sent to the California Department of Justice. It was recently confirmed Williamson's DNA matched the DNA found on Esther, verifying him as her rapist and suspected murderer.
The investigation continues and detectives are asking anyone who knew Williamson or has information on Esther's case call (951) 955-2777.
