Edward Honaker

The Crime

On the night of June 22, 1984, a 19-year-old woman, identified as A.N., and her boyfriend got lost while driving on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Nelson County, Virginia. They pulled onto an overlook, parked their car, and decided to go to sleep. A few hours later, a man in camouflage pants ordered them to open the door and pulled out a pistol.

The man ordered the boyfriend to run into the woods or he would be shot. The boyfriend obeyed. The man then ordered A.N. into his truck, and drove about two miles down Blue Ridge Parkway to an uninhabited cabin, where he put a sleeping bag on the tailgate of his truck and sexually assaulted her. At times, he paused to smoke cigarettes and talk about his experiences as a soldier in Vietnam.

After about two hours, the man told A.N. to walk back to her car and left. A.N. reached her car another two hours later, around 5:45 a.m. By then, her boyfriend was there with police officers.

A.N. was taken to a hospital where a rape kit was taken. She told the police that she was unable to make out the facial features of her assailant.

The Investigation

The Nelson County Sheriff’s Office created a composite sketch of the attacker based on A.N. and her boyfriend’s descriptions. They described the attacker as a left-handed man of about 34 or 35 years old, around 6 feet 4 inches tall, with a mustache, a double chin, and dark brown hair.

In October 1984, Nelson County officers showed the victim and her boyfriend a photographic lineup which included a photograph of 33-year-old Edward Honaker. Both identified Mr. Honaker as the perpetrator. The police subsequently executed a search warrant on Mr. Honaker’s truck, the house he lived in with his mother, and a storage facility used by his brother. The police impounded Mr. Honaker’s truck and seized a blue sleeping bag, a camouflage suit and jacket, a bullet, and a crucifix.

On Oct. 29, 1984, Mr. Honaker was arrested on charges of rape, abduction, and the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.

A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Nov. 14, 1984, in Nelson County Circuit Court. Before the hearing began, Mr. Honaker was seated in the courtroom along with 24 other men. The police brought A.N. and her boyfriend separately into the courtroom. Both identified Mr. Honaker as the perpetrator.

Based on their identification of Mr. Honaker, the judge found probable cause to hold him on the charges. Soon after, a Nelson County grand jury indicted Mr. Honaker on two counts of rape, one count of forcible sodomy, one count of aggravated sexual battery, one count of abduction, and two counts of using a firearm in the commission of a felony.

The Trial

Mr. Honaker went to trial in Nelson County Circuit Court in February 1985. A.N. and her boyfriend identified him as the perpetrator on the stand.

Nelson County Sheriff’s Deputy Russell Hill testified that he had sent a copy of the composite sketch to numerous police agencies. Afterwards, police in the neighboring city of Roanoke had informed him that the sketch resembled Mr. Honaker, who was under investigation after a woman who was sexually assaulted told police that her attacker resembled Mr. Honaker. However, he was not charged because he was able to show that he was elsewhere at the time of the crime. The defense requested a mistrial based on this testimony, but the motion was denied.

Elmer Gist, a scientist with the Virginia Division of Forensic Science, testified that he had examined the rape kit, the blouse and shorts worn by A.N., as well as several items found at the crime scene: two cigarette butts, a match stem, two pieces of cloth, and a sleeping bag. He had also examined several items belonging to Mr. Honaker, including a pair of pants, a shirt, a jacket, blankets, a pillow case, and vacuum sweepings from his truck. In addition, he had analyzed blood and hair samples from A.N., her boyfriend, and Mr. Honaker.

Mr. Gist testified that sperm had been found on the slides in the rape kit, along with one piece of Caucasian hair and two Caucasian hair fragments. According to Mr. Gist, these hairs, which had been found on the victim’s shorts, matched those taken from Mr. Honaker. He said that it “is unlikely that the hair would match anyone other than the defendant, but it is possible.”

Mr. Honaker’s brother, Bobby, testified that his brother had been at his house from 8:30 p.m. until 12:30 a.m. on the night of the crime. This was confirmed by Bobby’s neighbor, Wanda Dillon. 

William Beverly, Mr. Honaker’s mother’s live-in boyfriend, testified that Mr. Honaker had returned home at 1:00 a.m. and remained there for the rest of the night. 

Mr. Honaker, who was 5 feet 11 inches tall and right-handed, testified and denied committing the crime. He explained that he had had a vasectomy and was unable to produce sperm.

On Feb. 7, 1985, Mr. Honaker was convicted on all charges. He was sentenced to three life sentences and 34 years in prison.

The Exoneration

After his conviction, Mr. Honaker reached out to Centurion Ministries, a New Jersey-based nonprofit organization that worked to free the wrongfully convicted. 

Centurion discovered that A.N. and her boyfriend had been hypnotized prior to their identifications of Mr. Honaker. Centurion then began working with the Innocence Project to secure DNA testing of the biological evidence in the case.

The prosecution agreed to release the evidence, which included sperm on the vaginal swab, though it asserted that the sperm belonged to A.N.’s boyfriend. The evidence was sent to Forensics Science Associates, a DNA laboratory in Richmond, California. 

Initial testing, using DQ Alpha testing, revealed that sperm on the victim’s shorts did not match the sperm on the vaginal swab. Mr. Honaker was excluded from both profiles. The laboratory subsequently requested samples from the victim and her boyfriend. At that time, A.N. disclosed that she had another boyfriend.

After two more rounds of testing, Mr. Honaker and both of A.N.’s boyfriends were excluded.

Based on this DNA exclusion, Mr. Honaker filed for clemency, with support from the prosecution. When confronted with the fact of Mr. Honaker’s vasectomy, the prosecution’s forensic expert explained that had he known that information, he would not have testified to the hair match.

On Oct. 22, 1994, Mr. Honaker was pardoned on the basis of actual innocence and released from prison.

In 1996, Mr. Honaker was awarded $500,000 from the state of Virginia for his wrongful incarceration. He succumbed to cancer in June 2015.