Edward Honaker served nearly ten years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Mr. Honaker was convicted of rape and sodomy and sentenced to three life sentences as well as 34 years.  More than eight years after the crime took place, DNA testing excluded him as the perpetrator. 

On June 22, 1984, a young woman and her boyfriend pulled over on the side of the road near the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia. They were lost and decided they would sleep in their car for the night. After they had fallen asleep, a man knocked on their car window and woke them.  He said he was a police officer and told both the young woman and her boyfriend to get out of the car and give him the car keys.  The two of them complied but the alleged police officer pulled a gun from his side and pointed it at the boyfriend.  He then threatened the boyfriend that he would shoot him if he did not run away.  The boyfriend obeyed and fled.  The “police officer” instructed the young woman to get in his car.  He then drove the young woman to a campsite, which she described as being on top of a mountain in the woods, where he raped and sodomized her for approximately two hours. 

At times during the attack, the rapist smoked cigarettes and talked about his experiences as a soldier in Vietnam. He repeatedly mentioned a lieutenant he blamed for making his life horrible during his time in Vietnam.  Finally, the rapist told the victim how to get back to her car from the campsite and drove away. When the victim finally returned to her car, her boyfriend was there with law enforcement.

Four months after the attack took place, the victim and her boyfriend identified Edward Honaker as the man who raped her from a police lineup. Honaker swore that he was innocent. At trial, the victim, her boyfriend and other witnesses testified that they believed Honaker to be the rapist. The physical evidence against Honaker included hairs found on the victim after the attack. An expert witness for the prosecution testified that the hairs left by the perpetrator definitively matched Honaker’s hair type and that it was “unlikely that the hair would match anyone other than the defendant.” Hair analysis is no longer considered to be a credible science and for many decades was a leading cause of wrongful convictions.

Honaker maintained that he had been at his brother’s house at the time of the crime and presented several witnesses who supported his alibi. Honaker himself testified and again swore to his innocence. In his testimony, Honaker informed the jury that he had previously undergone a vasectomy and was thus unable to produce sperm, despite the fact that sperm had been found on the victim. Honaker also testified that he had never served in Vietnam.  Despite this testimony, Honaker was found guilty of two counts of rape, one count of forcible sodomy, one count of aggravated battery, one count of abduction, and two counts of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.  Mr. Honaker was sentenced on April 10, 1985. 

In 1993, DNA testing was finally conducted on the evidence. This initial testing excluded both Honaker and the victim’s boyfriend as the source of the semen. While it was initially believed that the source of the semen must have been the rapist, the victim came forward and admitted that she had been intimate with another man at the time of the crime.  That man’s DNA was tested against the evidence, and he was also excluded as a possible source.  With this man, the victim’s boyfriend, and Honaker excluded, the only possible source was a fourth man responsible for the rape. 

Along with the DNA evidence, Honaker’s legal team found additional confirmation of his innocence. The victim and her boyfriend were only able to identify Honaker from the photo lineup after they had been hypnotized. The defense had not been told about the hypnosis or more importantly, that the victim had previously been unable to recall her attacker’s face. A forensic scientist from Virginia testified that the most conclusive statement that can be made in hair analysis is that they are consistent with one another, not identical.  This testimony thus invalidated the “expert witness” who testified that the hair sample from Mr. Honaker matched the one left by the rapist on the victim.  The legal team stressed once again that Honaker had not served in Vietnam, his car did not match the description given by the victim and her boyfriend, and also that Honaker was unable to produce sperm as the result of a vasectomy.
 
On October 22, 1994, Edward Honaker was granted executive clemency by Governor George Allen and released from prison. Ten years had passed since he had been accused of and imprisoned for a crime he did not commit.  For his wrongful conviction and imprisonment, Mr. Honaker received $500,000 in compensation from the Commonwealth of Virginia.

In the time that Mr. Honaker has been free, a new lead has developed in the search for the real perpetrator. Michael Andrew Nicholaou fatally shot himself in 2005 on New Year's Eve after killing his wife and stepdaughter in Tampa, Florida. Nicholaou first came to the attention of authorities after Lynn-Marie Carty, a private detective in Florida, was contacted by a client who had seen a story about Honaker on television. The client told Carty that Honaker bore an incredible resemblance to Nicholaou. After seeing the “absolutely astounding” resemblance herself, Carty contacted authorities in Nelson County, Virginia.

In addition to his physical resemblance to Honaker, there are other details that could tie Nicholaou to the crime.  A major element of the victim’s testimony was that the rapist spoke of his time in Vietnam and that the government had “screwed him over.”  Nicholaou was a chief warrant officer in the Army and flew helicopters in Vietnam.  Once he returned from the war, Nicholaou was charged with murdering innocent Vietnamese civilians.  In an interview with the New York Times and Chicago Tribune, Nicholaou indicated that he intended on suing the government for a large sum of money as well as defamation of character and malicious prosecution.  Nicholaou also matched several of the physical descriptions the victim made, meaning that he bore a strong resemblance to Mr. Hanaker. 

There is more evidence which ties Mr. Nicholaou to this crime.  Nicholaou lived in the vicinity of the Blue Ridge Parkway in the 1980s.  He was also known to go camping in this area, often for months at a time.  Although the evidence tying Nicholaou to the rape is circumstantial, there are definite similarities between the two men.  Mr. Nicholaou was well known in Nelson County because he owned an adult entertainment store which had been subject to some legal trouble.  In regards to the legal problems facing his business, Mr. Nicholaou was quoted by a local newspaper saying that “Evidentially the police don’t have enough serious robberies, rapes, and murders to occupy their time.”  Mr. Nicholaou did not always find himself on the wrong side of the law and had spent time with the Charlottesville Police Department as a Special Police Officer.  However, when he applied to be a police officer he was denied because he did not pass the requisite background check. 

Mr. Nicholaou’s involvement in the Vietnam War as well as his connections with law enforcement certainly elicits a connection with whoever raped the victim.  Ms. Carty’s investigation unearthed more troubling information from Nicholaou’s past.  Not only did he abduct his infant son, but his wife (by common law) went missing after she reportedly told her family she was worried that he would kill her.  This woman has been missing since 1988.  Following his suicide, Nicholaou was also identified as a suspect for crimes which took place in New Hampshire and Vermont. 

Authorities in Nelson County are still in the process of investigating Nicholaou’s possible involvement in the case.  Mr. Honaker lives in Virginia.