Woman found dead under carpet in Virginia woods in 1986. Accused killer now arrested

When two kids found a woman dead in the Virginia woods under carpet in 1986, it set off a decades-long search for her killer.

Now, DNA evidence from another woman’s death in the ‘80s has led to the arrest of a 65-year-old man.

Elroy Harrison faces an array of charges in the death of Jacqueline Lard more than 37 years ago, the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office announced March 5.

McClatchy News reached out to Harrison’s attorney on March 6 and did not receive an immediate response.

The evening of Nov. 14, 1986, Lard was working late at her realty office, but she never made it home, investigators said.

The next day, employees returned to discover a bloody scene and evidence of a “horrific struggle,” Major Shawn Kimmitz said in a news release.

The 40-year-old woman and her vehicle were gone.

On Nov. 16, two juveniles were playing in the woods when they found Lard’s body under a pile of carpet, according to Kimmitz.

Her car was found about a month later in a nearby county, investigators said.

Detectives at state and federal agencies continued to work the case, but the trail went cold.

Less than three years after Lard was murdered, investigators believe the person responsible killed again.

Amy Baker, 18, was visiting family on March 29, 1989, when she disappeared, the Fairfax County Police Department said in a March 5 news release.

A Virginia state trooper found her car abandoned on the side of a road after she left a relative’s home, according to investigators. Her belongings were inside the car, police said.

Two days later, Baker’s family went to the spot where her car was found and began searching for clues. They later found her body in a wooded area off an Interstate 95 exit ramp, police said.

Detectives said they learned Baker had been strangled to death.

They determined her car had run out of gas and believe she started walking to the nearest gas station when she was killed.

Her case went cold as well.

Investigators in Fairfax County and Stafford County worked with DNA analysis labs to link the two women’s deaths.

In December 2023, they identified Harrison as a suspect and confirmed his DNA matched the DNA at the two crime scenes in the 1980s, authorities said.

On March 4, Harrison was indicted in connection with Lard’s death on charges of first-degree murder, abduction with the intent to defile, aggravated malicious wounding and breaking and entering with the intent to commit murder, officials said.

He was arrested at his home March 5.

Detectives are working to charge him in Baker’s death as well.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with Jacqueline’s and Amy’s family and friends and we hope this arrest can bring them some peace,” Kimmitz said in the release.

Stafford County and Fairfax County are part of the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.

This story was originally published March 6, 2024 at 12:46 PM with the headline "Woman found dead under carpet in Virginia woods in 1986. Accused killer now arrested."