A Murder on Campus

The fascinating story of how two brothers—one an English professor, the other a cop, and as different as night and day—tag team as authors to solve North Carolina’s most notorious cold case ...

A MURDER ON CAMPUS: The Professor, The Cop, And North Carolina’s Most Notorious Cold Case by Brian and Cameron Santana is a true crime investigation that unveils the shocking story behind the brutal 1973 murder on campus of 19-year-old Virginia Marie Olson.

On April 15, 1973, two high school students discovered Olson’s body near the campus of the University of North Carolina-Asheville. The cold case that followed would span over 50 years, involving three generations of detectives and the Asheville Police Department and North Carolina SBI as they worked tirelessly to uncover the truth. Olson’s murder was horrifically violent—she had been bound, raped, and stabbed to death, leaving the Asheville community in shock.

The true crime book takes readers through law enforcement’s dramatic efforts to find Olson’s killer, facing numerous obstacles along the way, from the abduction of another UNCA student in 1974 to a rape and murder victim's body discovered near Olson’s crime scene in 1978. Whispers about the killer's identity have circulated for decades, with theories ranging from an escaped mental health patient to one of North Carolina’s most notorious serial killers—until now.

A MURDER ON CAMPUS is the first to tell the gripping story of this unsolved crime and the surprising twists that led to the authors' revelation of the killer’s identity in North Carolina's most notorious cold cases. Written by two brothers, one a cop and the other an English professor, this book offers a unique and fascinating perspective on a case that has haunted Buncombe County for generations.