Did James Worley strike more than twice? His first known victim thinks so and she's speaking out
Authorities also theorize the convicted kidnapper and killer didn't stay dormant from when he first struck in 1990 to when he abducted and killed Sierah Joughin.
It's been five years since one of our area's most attention-grabbing murders when 20-year-old Sierah Joughin was plucked from a country road and murdered.
And it's not the first time her killer struck.
James Worley kidnapped Sierah Joughin while she rode her bike on July 19, 2016, 26 years after his first victim escaped his grasp.
"I just know his strength and anger," said Robin Gardner.
Gardner is the only known person familiar with the terror Sierah endured that summer night on County Road 6 in Fulton County.
The First Known Victim Robin Gardner
"I know what it's like to be in his arms and hear his yelling and hear his expletives and hear his hatred toward women," Gardner said.
Gardner was abducted by Worley on Obee Road in Whitehouse in 1990. She got away, and he served three years, but she's adamant there had to be others.
"I don't think anybody like him can go 26 years without doing what he did because you don't just do it and then suppress it and then do it again. For a logical, normal, sane person, that just doesn't make sense," Gardner said.
Serial Offender Theory FBI keeps digging
"We will always have that theory also," said FBI Special Agent Vickie Anderson.
"It is highly unusual that someone that would have offended in a similar manner some 20 years before, you know, has now done this and hasn't done anything in between," she said.
Investigators have said Worley fits the profile of a serial offender, but searches of his so-called "barn of horrors" property including one last year turned up no other bodies or evidence of other victims.
"We haven't found anything, obviously, to charge him with in regards to that time period in between. But, it's something that has been looked into. It continues to be looked into," Anderson said.
And not just in our area.
According to court documents, Worley told a court-mandated therapist that he "learned from each abduction he had done, and the next one he was going to bury."
"We've received calls from various parts of the country. Mr. Worley was known to drive a truck. There are individuals that have been missing from the region that it's been looked at," Anderson said.
Family Remains Motivated Sharing Sierah's Story
The question of whether there are more victims is a motivation for her family to continue sharing Sierah's story.
"I feel that he was a master of his craft. He had gloves everywhere. He was not gonna leave behind DNA. He was very sloppy with Sierah and we're lucky for that," said Sierah's mother, Sheila Vaculik.
Their hope? That keeping the case visible will bring more justice.
"I believe that there were more people in between Robin and Sierah and the more the story is shared, the more chance there is that another family, another victim, could have justice," said Sierah's aunt, Tara Ice.
