2025 SESSION

ENROLLED

HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 748

Commending David K. Wood.

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 18, 2025

WHEREAS, David K. Wood, a detective with the Stafford County Sheriff's Office, used innovative technology to develop new leads and make an arrest in a cold case dating back to 1989; and

WHEREAS, on November 14, 1986, Stafford County resident Jaqueline Lard was assaulted in her office at Mount Vernon Realty in Stafford and subsequently found dead near Railroad Avenue in Woodbridge; and

WHEREAS, members of the Stafford County Sheriff's Office, the Prince William County Sheriff's Office, the Virginia State Police, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation meticulously processed both crime scenes, gathering extensive evidence; and

WHEREAS, a regional task force, which also included members of the Drug Enforcement Administration, investigated the case for several years, but ultimately eliminated numerous suspects and exhausted every lead; and

WHEREAS, the diligent collection of evidence by the task force allowed David Wood of the Stafford County Sheriff's Office to resume the investigation decades later; and

WHEREAS, David Wood used the emerging practice of forensic investigative genetic genealogy to cultivate new leads by working with Parabon NanoLabs, a company that provides DNA phenotyping, to create a profile of Jaqueline Lard's killer; and

WHEREAS, David Wood's investigation not only led to the identification of a suspect, but linked him to an additional cold case related to the murder of Stafford County resident Amy Baker in 1989; and

WHEREAS, thanks to David Wood's diligence and incredible dedication to justice, the suspect in both cases was arrested in early 2024; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, That David K. Wood hereby be commended for solving a 38-year-old cold case in Stafford County; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to David K. Wood as an expression of his outstanding achievements as a law-enforcement officer and commitment to serving the Stafford County community.