APOPHENIA

Apophenia is the tendency to perceive meaningful patterns or connections between unrelated things. A prime example of apophenia are the events on the morning of March 2nd, 1996.

On this day, Alicia Showalter Reynolds and another young woman, Jody LeCornu began the last day of their lives. Both lived in historic neighborhoods in Baltimore, Maryland; both were twins in their 20s; each drove a small white sedan; both were students in Baltimore, and both were last seen alive on that day in or near their parked cars.

As of 2025, Jody LeCornu’s cold case file remains the largest on record for the Baltimore County Police Department. Alicia Showalter Reynolds’ Virginia State Police file is as large if not larger (as of 2004, her case required 18 file drawers to store and contained more than 10,000 leads). Their unsolved homicides at the hands of strangers are unrelated, yet between the date, geography, and surface-level details, it’s easy to see commonalities and perhaps make the leap that the cases could be connected.

The following are examples of apophenia...or not

Watch video: Baltimore County

Coincidences? Anne Carolyn McDaniel

Anne Carolyn McDaniel, who lived on Caroline Street in Orange, was kidnapped on the same day a woman reported being followed by the Route 29 stalker less than 15 miles away. Her abduction occurred less than a week after the filming of the Unsolved Mysteries episode, a portion of which was filmed on Caroline Street in Fredericksburg.
In June 1995, five months prior to moving to Orange, Anne Carolyn McDaniel lived in Lake of the Woods, a community just a few miles from where Larry Breeden's June 1995 stops occurred on Route 3.
Richard Marc Evonitz had relatives who owned property just a few miles from Anne's home and the 7-Eleven on Route 3, quite close to where Breeden's 1995 encounters occurred. Evonitz also had relatives who lived in Manassas, Virginia near the Manassas mall where Carmelita Shomo was working the night she was attacked.

Coincidences? Thelma Scroggins

Per an FBI bulletin Evonitz was a known drug dealer. In 1996, residents of Lignum suspected the payphone in the crossroads was being used to support drug deals and requested in be removed for this reason.
Knowing that Evonitz had ties to the Lignum area, and was a known drug dealer, is it possible he used this payphone?
Regardless of whether Evonitz used the payphone in Lignum, after Thelma's murder, one possible motive identified by a witness was that a local drug dealer worried she was watching him and would report him. Knowing this, is it possible Thelma saw someone suspicious using that payphone, and that he in turn saw her?

Coincidences? Richard Marc Evonitz

Richard Marc Evonitz's final victim in South Carolina survived the attack and reported that one of the first things he did was to ask her numerous person questions. Similarly, Breeden asked numerous personal of a woman who accepted a ride in his truck.
Per his first wife, Evonitz enjoyed word play (example, stabbing his cereal bowl with a spoon while calling himself a serial killer). He seemed to use symbolism as well, leaving Sophia Silva, an aspiring cosmetologist, on the grounds of a flower nursery and the remains of the two sisters he murdered near Kings Dominion, an amusement park where an upcoming trip was planned. Alicia's coat was left in Pratts, a word that refers to a trickster and her remains were left on Dragoon Road, a word that means to coerece violently.

Coincidences? Sheryl Warner

Sheryl Warner's murder occurred 9 years after the events of 1996, and about three years after Richard Marc Evonitz committed suicide. It's unlikely to be related to the events of 1996 but the coincidences are eerie.
On March 2nd, 1996, seven seconds before Robert saw Alicia and Breeden on the southbound side of Route 29, he passed her small home on the southbound side of Route 29, marked by a pine tree perfectly situated in front of the semi-circular gravel driveway. It’s a stranded home, separated from the other houses along that side of the highway.
Sheryl (“Sherri”) Warner and her husband bought the home in 1993, eventually expanding the home to include their growing family. She was described as the perfect mom, a good Samaritan who would help anyone in need, and, like Thelma, someone who just loved people. In 2005, amicably separated from her husband, she was living in the home with her young children, although thankfully they were away on the night of December 18, 2005.
On that evening, while talking on the phone with her father, there was a knock at the door. She did exactly what Sheriff Mitchell and Investigator Carter had recommended back in 1996 during a community meeting with Lignum women. “Unfortunately, Thelma - who had been on the phone when the person came to her house – hung up and went to answer the door. Don’t hang up – take your phone with you.” Sherri did just that, and kept talking to her father, letting him know of the situation and that a man at the door needed to use her phone. The advice didn’t make any difference.
Before she hung up, Sherri’s father let her know he would call her back momentarily, and did do, persistently checking on her. When unable to reach her, he quickly called family who notified the authorities right away. They responded immediately.
Despite that, she was already deceased in her basement, found bound, hanging, with a shot in the head at close range. The basement was on fire. He or they must have known firefighters would come quickly; the station was only 4 minutes away, just two miles south on Route 29.
Coincidences:
- Sherri’s lived 3 houses away from the location on Route 29 where Alicia Showalter Reynolds was abducted (up the hill and around a bend).
- Like Thelma, Sherri was attacked at night by a knock at the door while talking on the phone.
- Like Thelma, Sherri was killed by a shot to the head.
- Like Anne, Sherri was found bound, and a fire was started nearby postmortem.

The murder of Sheryl Warner remains unsolved.

Sheryl Warner Murder References:

Humphreys, Rob. "Fire Victim's Death Deemed a Homicide." Culpeper Star Exponent. 21 Dec. 2005.
Dutton, Nick. "Video Offers New Clue in Culpeper Cold Case Murder Mystery." 6 News Richmond, 18 Dec 2014. https://www.wtvr.com/2014/12/18/culpeper-cold-case-murder-clue-sheryl-warner
Humphreys, Rob. "Fire Victim's Death Deemed a Homicide." Culpeper Star Exponent. 21 Dec. 2005.