Mystery couple murdered in South Carolina, 1976 - #1

The following ran in The Item newspaper on August 12, 2001.

The Mystery: No I.D., No Leads, No Justice
By Sharyn Lucas-Parker, Senior Staff Writer, The Item

In August of 1976, a woman and a man were found slain beside a dirt road in Sumter County. The deaths are unsolved and they still are unidentified. But they are not forgotten

The two people buried in Bethel United Methodist Church cemetery whose bronze plaques read ''Male Unknown, Aug. 9, 1976," and ''Female Unknown, Aug. 9, 1976,'' never attended a service at the Oswego church or paid tithes there. But for the past 24 years, the members of the church have made sure their resting places remain free of weeds and overgrown grass and that fresh bouquets of flowers mark their graves.

There has been no one else to do it.

''If it were some of our children, we would hope someone would do the same thing for us,'' said the Rev. Michael Henderson, who has been the pastor for six years. ''It's part of that 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.'"

Somewhere, perhaps thousands of miles away, or maybe just a state or even only a county over, local authorities believe there are heart-sick relatives who might suspect, but don't know for certain, their loved ones are dead.

Twenty-eight years after the young woman and man were found dead on a dark, secluded Sumter County dirt road between Interstate 95 and S.C. 341, their identities as well as that of their killer or killers remain a mystery.

That thought haunts Sumter County Coroner Verna Moore and drives her to continue trying to find the answers she needs to solve this puzzle that dates back to Aug. 9, 1976.

"I have not given up on this case,'' said Moore, who was deputy coroner back then. ''The reason I am haunted is, I cannot understand how two young people disappeared from somewhere and that their parents would not be looking for them. This does not make sense to me. Somebody somewhere is missing a son or a daughter.''

The case also bothers Sumter County Sheriff Tommy Mims, who was an investigator with the sheriff's office at the time.

''This is one of several cases over the years that we would certainly love to bring to a close so we can identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice on this,'' Mims said.

The story begins around 6:20 a.m. on August 9, when a trucker driving along what was commonly known as Locklair Road, a frontage road just off the interstate, stopped to rest.

Instead, he found a disturbing scene: Two people lying by the road.

Links: http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/classics/mystery_couple/

Links:

http://doenetwork.us/cases/198umsc.html

http://doenetwork.us/cases/189ufsc.html

Unidentified Caucasian Male
Located on August 9, 1976 in Sumter, South Carolina.
An autopsy showed that the victim had been shot at close range in the back, chest and throat.
The couple had been dead for less than 24 hours.

Vital Statistics
Estimated age: 18 - 22 years old but possibly older.
Approximate Height and Weight: 6'1/4"; 150 lbs.
Distinguishing Characteristics: Brown eyes; brown hair. Two 2-inch scars on his right shoulder area. 4" appendectomy scar. Tall and athletic looking. Although both the woman and man were white, investigators described their skin as smooth, with olive undertones.
Dentals: Available. Extensive dental work. Very elaborate dental work with crowns and bridges. Crown on left front tooth, acrylic or porcelain. Fillings in most of upper teeth and has some missing teeth in top and bottom but noticeable in top back left. He is missing his wisdom teeth on the bottom in the back.
Clothing: He was wearing a pair of faded Levi blue jeans, a red t-shirt with Coors America's light beer on the front and Camel Challenger G-T Sebring 75 across the back. It most likely came from the 1975 Coor's sponsored Sebring Races in Florida. Inside his pants pocket were a box of Grants Truck Stop Matches. They had likely come from a truckstop in the Midwest.
Jewelry: He wore a Bulova Accutron yellow gold watch, serial number H918803 on his left hand. Bulova made the piece in 1968. But the company trashed its records when downsizing shortly thereafter, so no one knows where the watches were distributed. A 14 karat gold ring with a gray linde star stone that had the initials JPF engraved on the inside.

Case History
In 1976 this male and his companion were found dead on a secluded Sumter County, South Carolina dirt road between Interstate 95 and SC 341. They were located by a trucker driving along what was commonly known as Locklair Road, a frontage road just off the interstate.
Their identities as well as that of their killer still remains a mystery. Neither had any identification.
They had no money on them, but there were several clues that led investigators to believe that the couple might have been well-to-do or perhaps even from another country.
Investigators wondered if they had been hitchhiking cross country, or if they had been victims of a carjacking.
They were a clean-cut-looking pair. Authorities speculated they might even be brother and sister.

No drugs or alcohol were found on their bodies. They were not smokers. And neither had on underwear.
Investigators had checked out every lead, including trying to identify them through their finger prints and using the serial number on the man's watch in hopes of trying to track down the jewelry store where he might have bought the piece of jewelry. Officials with Interpol as well as U.S. Customs investigators and immigration authorities also had been alerted. Contact were made with agencies in Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, and in the Mediterranean.
A forensic dentist in Spartanburg charted the young man’s mouth and the American Dental Association published his findings, hoping a dentist somewhere would recognize the work. The dead man had undergone extensive dental work, including fillings, root canals and crowns. No dentist ever came forward.

The autopsy revealed the pair had eaten fruit or ice cream with fruit not long before they died so investigators were certain the two must have bought the food from a local eatery or store. Someone remembered seeing a couple matching the dead couple's descriptions at a fruit stand that was located off the Florence Highway, but the person couldn't say whether the man and woman were with someone else or if they were riding in a car.

Months after the homicide, an employee of KOA campgrounds near Santee, S.C., called authorities, believing he had earlier made friends with the dead man, who went by the name “Jock,” according to documents in the case file.
Jock, or more likely, Jacques, stayed a few days at the campgrounds with his young female companion, then left for Florida. He and his girlfriend stopped at the campgrounds again on their way back.
The two men became friends. While shooting pool, Jacque told the KOA worker he was the son of a prominent doctor in Canada who had disowned him for giving up on his own career in medicine. He was taking a vacation of sorts, traveling the country aimlessly.
Before leaving, he tried to pawn an expensive ring to the employee, who later told authorities that the ring had looked a lot like the one found on the mystery man.
Inside his pocket was a book of Grants Truck Stop matches, which could only be found in Idaho, New Mexico and Nebraska. Authorities think Jacques passed through these places on his travels.

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Unidentified Caucasian Female
Located on August 9, 1976 in Sumter, South Carolina.
An autopsy showed that the victim had been shot at close range in the back, chest and throat.
The couple had been dead for less than 24 hours.

Vital Statistics
Estimated age: 18 - 20 years old
Approximate Height and Weight: 5'5"; 100 - 105 lbs.
Distinguishing Characteristics: Medium-length, brown hair; blue/green or blue-gray eyes. She had two small hair moles on her left cheek and another on the right side of her face. Mole behind right leg (calf). Pierced ears, no surgical scars. She was attractive and had very long eyelashes. Although both the woman and man were white, investigators described their skin as smooth, with olive undertones. The girl had unshaven legs.
Dentals: Available. No elaborate dental work. Missing upper and lower wisdom teeth on right. Has upper and lower wisdom teeth on left. Has fillings in all back teeth. If she were to smile, her teeth in the front would give an even appearance.
Clothing: She was wearing cut-off blue jeans, a pink halter top that tied in the front and an unbleached muslin blouse. She was also wearing a pair of Stride Rite, wedge heeled sandals with lavender, pink and purple straps.
Jewelry: Three Silver rings that resembled American Indian or Mexican handmade jewelry. One piece was a faceted band with red, white and blue stones. Another ring had a oblong black stone. The third was a large, intricate feather scroll band with a jade insert into the curves of the scroll.

Case History
In 1976 this female and her companion were found dead on a secluded Sumter County, South Carolina dirt road, Locklair Road, between Interstate 95 and SC 341.
Their identities as well as that of their killer still remains a mystery.
Neither had any identification.
They had no money on them, but there were several clues that led investigators to believe that the couple might have been well-to-do or perhaps even from another country.
Investigators wondered if they had been hitchhiking cross country, or if they had been victims of a carjacking.
They were a clean-cut-looking pair. Authorities speculated they might even be brother and sister.
No drugs or alcohol were found on their bodies. And neither had on underwear.
Investigators had checked out every lead, including trying to identify them through their finger prints and using the serial number on the man's watch in hopes of trying to track down the jewelry store where he might have bought the piece of jewelry. Dental records were published in national dental journals. Officials with Interpol as well as U.S. Customs investigators and immigration authorities also had been alerted.
The autopsy revealed the pair had eaten fruit or ice cream with fruit not long before they died so investigators were certain the two must have bought the food from a local eatery or store. Someone remembered seeing a couple matching the dead couple's descriptions at a fruit stand that was located off the Florence Highway, but the person couldn't say whether the man and woman were with someone else or if they were riding in a car.

Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Sumter County Sheriff's Office
803-436-2790
or
Sumter County Coroner
Verna Moore
803-436-2111

fascinating and sorrowful case Richard...i know you have investigated it, do you have any ideas or "gut" feelings about this case? glad to see you on the board by the way!...oh, were these kids European do you think?

The two really do look like brother and sister. They also do appear to be European or possibly South American which would explain the unshaven legs also. The article doesn't say, but I wonder how much investigating they have done in cases from other countries? Does anyone know? If the bodies were exhumed they could test their DNA to see if they are brother and sister, but I guess they probably wouldn't do that since it probably wouldn't get them any further. This case is very disturbing. It seems like they dropped the guy with the possible murder weapon a little quickly. Heck, someone could have had his car that night or borrowed his gun, or anything.

My theory: The truck driver did it. We've discovered on another cold case thread that the truckers have a very violent and criminal underculture. And he JUST HAPPENED to park in a secluded area right where the bodies were? We have a lot of trucks in my area, they almost never park anywhere but alongside major highways in well-lit areas. Or parking lots. It's a common sight. Oh yeah, let's not forget we have strong evidence of the male victim having been at a truck stop, too. Truck driver picked them up at a truck stop, killed them at some point, drove them for a day or so to the secluded area (The MO of the current truck driver/serial killer, BTW,) dumped the bodies, and called the police to pretend he just found them in hopes of throwing them off. No indication of them investigating the trucker in the articles. Call it a gut feeling, but I think that could be your guy.

I have not done a lot of detailed study of this particular case. I find it a strange and disturbing one, and wish I knew more about it. What is NOT stated is what raises questions in my mind.
What kind of pistol was used? How did police know that it was stolen? How did their suspect get off so easily? Were they killed where found, or killed elsewhere and transported to the site?
Each victim was shot in the identical manner, almost like some sort of ritual or signature. But there is no mention as to whether this matched with any other murders.
I don't think that these two were hitch hikers. My feeling is that they had been traveling by car, perhaps picked up a hitch hiker and were shot by him for their car, camping gear, and money.
If they had been traveling by foot, where were their back packs? Their clothing would have been worn where the straps would have rubbed, and their shoes would have been considerably worn as well. The girl's shoes just do not fit the picture of a cross country hiker. If simple robery of hitch hikers had been the motive, why did the killer leave all their jewlry?
Had they been traveling by car, the shoes might have shown wear consistant with operation of the gas pedal. Also, what fibers were found on their clothing? Anything consistant with car upolstery or carpeting?
I would like to know what other possessions were found on these two young people. All that is mentioned is a book of matches. Any loose change? Receipts? Combs? Keys? Pens? Pocketknife? You know all the stuff that guys carry in their pockets. Why would the killer take any or all of that and leave the gold ring and watch?
It is odd that they have nice jewlry, yet no underwear. And that no one seems to be looking for them.
There must be some evidence beyond skin color and body hair to lead some experts to speculate that they might be from another country. I wonder if some of the dental techniques noted might have been such a clue.
And the big question today would be: Do investigators have DNA samples of these two? If they are indeed brother and sister as some have speculated, that would be a major bit of information to search data bases on.

Its very big in Europe for young people to go "backpacking" (traveling around the world exploring aimlessly with everything in a backpack)
Part of that is hitchhiking(which in their home country is considered fairly safe)

I know in other countries numerous backpackers have been murdered/raped so I think its highly posssible they were foreign backpackers innocently accepting a ride from a trucker and an awful fate befell them.


I know from my relatives in Ireland they seem to have a skewed idea of the states and dont realise what a large and sometimes dangerous place it is and do things that are very risky without realising it.

"While shooting pool, Jacque told the KOA worker he was the son of a prominent doctor in Canada who had disowned him for giving up on his own career in medicine."

Is there any type of Canadian database for missing people?

carolina said:

"While shooting pool, Jacque told the KOA worker he was the son of a prominent doctor in Canada who had disowned him for giving up on his own career in medicine."

Is there any type of Canadian database for missing people?

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Yes, the Doenetwork has a section on Canadians who are missing, as well as one for unidentified bodies found in Canada. You go to their website and then select either Missing, or Unidentified. You will be presented with a listing of all cases, or of the option to search Geographically or Chronologically.

link:
http://www.doenetwork.org

I knew I could count on Richard to have posted this story....

Does anyone else see some similarities between this case and "Cali", the Jane Doe from Caledonia NY? I'll post my list later....

shadowangel said:

I knew I could count on Richard to have posted this story....

Does anyone else see some similarities between this case and "Cali", the Jane Doe from Caledonia NY? I'll post my list later....

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I would be interested in seeing your list. Although the two cases are separated by about three years and several hundred miles, I do see some similaritites. All Victims were shot and died of their gunshot wounds after being transported to remote areas. All were clothed, and all had jewlry on them. It would be interesting to see if any bullet slugs or shell casings were recovered - and if there was any match. Also, were there any footprints in the area which did not belong to the victims? That would be perhaps the best forensic link between these two unsolved cases.

The information I have is all from internet sources, so the veracity may be questioned in some cases, but I only took note of information which came from at least two independent sources. As to Richard's questions, slugs were recoved from all three victims, but only those from "Cali" have been identified in the media-.38 caliber.

The areas the victims were found in is similar, rural but near major highways (just off I-95 in SC, "Cali" a few miles from I-390 along an intersecting road in NY)
All were shot with small caliber weapons
No shell casings were reported in either case
All were shot multiple times in the upper body, either head or throat and in the back
The females were wearing Native-American style jewelry
Jewelry was left with the victims and clothing were left with the victims, but no ID was located (the SC victims were not wearing underwear, but this could have been due to the hot southern summer weather or common practice in a different country)
In both cases, victims were wearing racing-related clothing believed to be limited production items (produced for one-time events or promotions)
The victims had all recently been in southern areas (the SC couple were reported to have been seen in FL, "Cali" had a distinct tan that could not have developed in NY in Nov)
Speculation that all may have been from another country
Speculation that all may have been hitch-hiking
Both females were similar in appearance ("Cali" 5'3" 120 brown hair 13-18 years of age, SC victim 5'5 105 brown hair 18 years of age)
Neither female victim had been sexually assaulted
No evidence of drug usage

Interesting comparisons between the cases.

It would be interesting to know for certain what types of pistol and ammo were used in both cases. And to know if there were ever ballistics comparisons made between these or other cases.

Generally speaking, any pistol or revolver of 38 caliber and smaller could be considered small caliber, while those of .40, .41, .44 and .45 are usually considered large caliber weapons.

A semi-automatic pistol fires each time the trigger is squeezed, and with each shot, a casing is ejected. A revolver, on the other hand, retains its cartridge casings in the cylinder after a shot is fired. Since no casings were located, it is likely that the murder weapons were revolvers of either .38, .32 or .22 caliber - with .38 being the more likely. Revolver bullets are usually soft lead, while bullets fired by Semi-Automatics are more often copper jacketed.

Fired slugs, if recovered at the scene, can be used to determine the type and make of pistol used. They can also be compared to recovered bullets from other crime scenes to determine if there is an exact match.

Am I wrong in thinking the FBI has a database that stores the info about the bullets, and is used for comparision in crimes- to see if they can match the crimes by the bullets? Would these have been submitted?

mysteriew said:

Am I wrong in thinking the FBI has a database that stores the info about the bullets, and is used for comparision in crimes- to see if they can match the crimes by the bullets? Would these have been submitted?

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I believe that the FBI does have such a database, but whether or not they were ever given these bullets, and whether or not they were able to "read" them is another thing. Sometimes a slug is so distorted that it makes classification difficult.

as Richard pointed out in his original posts about this case (the following is from Court TV's CrimeLibrary.com)-
SC law enforcement recovered a weapon with the serial number partially filed off from a drunk driver, approximately four months after the murders. Bullets taken from the weapon matched those recovered from the bodies. The driver was released when his alibi apparently checked out.
If the calibers matched, it would seem easy enough to check the slugs recovered from "Cali" to this weapon. I would also hope the weapon would be checked with today's technology for further evidence.

shadowangel said:

as Richard pointed out in his original posts about this case (the following is from Court TV's CrimeLibrary.com)-
SC law enforcement recovered a weapon with the serial number partially filed off from a drunk driver, approximately four months after the murders. Bullets taken from the weapon matched those recovered from the bodies. The driver was released when his alibi apparently checked out.
If the calibers matched, it would seem easy enough to check the slugs recovered from "Cali" to this weapon. I would also hope the weapon would be checked with today's technology for further evidence.

Click to expand...

I have tried to gather info regarding databases for ballistics in the past too. I'm far from an expert on any of this. What I have found is that there is not a national requirement to enter ballistics into a database. (Unless like you mentioned the FBI becomes involved, or Vidocq, etc.) When I looked, I found that there are several ballistics databases (mostly by state and a couple by regions) and they are growing in amounts of information and popularity. I don't know how/who determines when or if cold case ballistics are entered into any sort of database. If you find this out please let me know. I would find it very helpful to have that info. I'm glad that someone else is interested in this too. Some of the ballistics database info links are here:
Note: Please don't be offended by the political nature of some of these links. I'm not trying to stir up any debate on gun control at all by providing these links. This is just info I came across when I was comparing cases like you are with Cali and the SC couple.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/special/crimelab/1830415
http://www.bradycampaign.org/facts/issues/?page=ballistic
http://www.mitretek.org/publications/ccjt/02-Fingerprints.pdf
http://caag.state.ca.us/newsalerts/2002/02-122.htm
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/july-dec02/ballistics.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19876-2005Apr1.html

Please disregard part of my previous post, for some reason I had it in mind that "Cali's" murder came first. If the LE in SC had the recovered weapon in 1976, it is vey unlikely that it was used in a murder 3 years later! (Sometimes I scare myself...):waitasec:

No biggie, sounds like something I'd do or probably have done in the past. Sometimes the dates all run together at least for me.

...oh, were these kids European do you think?

FRENCH, they were french tourists possibly. This needs to be checked but 99.5% sure of this