AR AR - James Griffin, 18, & Dallas Bittner, 17, Saline County, 27 Aug 1974

[Shooketh]

bubba,

Sardis Rd. is a long one, runs through Bauxite, Ar and Mabelvale, AR. The sharpest curve I see is right outside of Mabelvale going WSW.

From what you've said about the boys lying in the road when they were struck by a pick-up truck, it sounds to me like they were likely already deceased when placed in the road. That of course would mean they had been murdered, and with the hope their being struck by a vehicle would hide that fact. As someone else said earlier, it is very reminiscent of the two boys found on the tracks in 1987 IIRC.

Who in your family identified the body of your uncle? Your grandfather? How did he determine the body was your uncle's? Was the identifying person only allowed to look at your uncle's face or did he view the entire body? The reason I ask is if there may have been other injuries your grandfather or whoever identified your uncle saw, and that perhaps didn't fit with your uncle being run over.

Where did you hear about the boys being in burlap bags? Was that from a newspaper article or from family sources?

I'm having trouble with the 3 hour interlude between when the boys were run off, and when they showed back up at that house. That's a significant time lag.

If they had been run-off as claimed, they would have had two thoughts on their minds, one seeing if they could get someone close by to help them, either by loaning them some gas or by calling their parents to bring gas for the car. How much time would they have spent trying that angle? They also might have been thinking about catching a ride into the nearest town in hopes of getting gas, that is if the car was truly on empty. It seems more likely to me that they would have returned to the car much sooner than 3 hours. They were teens, and teens do things in a hurry. If they were able to get no gas, then why would they even come back to the car? Most likely they would have just tried to hitchhike back home, and deal with angry parents, and then go get the car.

If the car still had gas in it when it was picked up from the wrecker service or whatever lot it was towed to, then one possibility may be that the boys were acting as mules, trafficking drugs for someone, and were shot once they'd completed the task they were assigned or that they'd witnessed a drug drop, and were shot to keep them silent. Then the whole story of them running out of gas was entirely made up. Of course there could be plenty of other explanations, and at this point, it's pointless to speculate. However, I see nothing to suggest this was a simple accident. The burlap bags alone, negate that altogether.

You can order a copy of the death certificate from the state of Arkansas on line since you're a relative.

I guess it all boils down to how serious your relatives are about getting answers or if you are the one pushing them to ascertain the answers. If, the latter, at some point they're likely to clam up, not wanting to dredge up their feelings, and possible feelings of powerlessnesss to do anything about it at the time.

If OTOH, they are totally serious about getting to the bottom of it, at some point, but not just yet, they may need to think about exhuming your uncle's body. If as you say, no autopsy was performed then someone had a hand in preventing it from being done, and it was prevented for a reason. Maybe an autopsy would have revealed stab wounds or gunshot wounds in addition to injuries sustained by being run over.

I live here in that area. Sardis road is very long and does connect from Bauxite to Mabelvale. There are multiple Sardis roads though that run through then entire Bauxite/Sardis area. I get them all confused by the are N Sardis, S Sardis, W Sardis. There is another stretch of one of them that runs from Bauxite and will run into Grant Co. That particular stretch is the most rural and most out in the middle of nowhere. I would assume though it happened in the Bauxite area though as that is Saline Co and Mabelvale is Pulaski.

 

[Highclassbum]

Hello! My name is Jess, and I am coming here to see if anyone can help me with a very cold case. This case happened in 1974 (two years before I was born!), but my family has done nothing about it because my grandmother couldn't handle dredeging things, up, but she died recently and now my mother and grandfather want closure. What happened was that my 18 year old uncle and his best friend were killed in what was officially ruled an accident, but that we are pretty sure was murder.

On August 26th, 1974, my uncle and his friend were out on the town near Little Rock, Arkansas when they ran out of gas on a rural stretch of road. Around 10:30pm, a man called the police to tell them that they caught two boys (my uncle and his friend) trying to siphon gas out of his car - he claimed that he chased them but that they got away, leaving their out of gas car. The problem with that scenario: my uncle had broken both legs twice and his right leg a third time not long before this happened. His legs were held together with pins, rods, and plates - he absolutely could not run, in fact he often used a cane around this time, so if that man started to chase them he surely would have caught them.

Anyway, the same man called the police around 1:30am on the 27th to tell them that they two boys had come back looking for their car, but by then the man had gotten the car towed. He said he told them they would have to walk home. A half hour later, a different man called to tell the police that he was driving down the road (near the home they had been caught siphoning gas) and saw what he thought was burlap sacks lying in the road. He said they were in the middle of the road and that he unsuccessfully tried to straddle them and that after he hit them he stopped, looked back, and saw what he then realized was a human arm. Does that make sense to any of you? He couldn't tell they were human in the headlights, but they way he said he could see a human arm when the bodies were only lit by his tail lights (it's a rural area with no street lights)? :waitasec:

The medical examiner ruled that the boys were alive when they were hit by the truck but that both died instantly. Strangely, neither showed any evidence of trying to sit up or move out of the way of the truck. They ruled it an accident, and their comments in the newpaper clippings about the case are infuriating: they said that there had been 14 similar cases in the area over the previous few years (always two boys, always found after being run over while lying in the street). They said that drugs and alcohol had not been involved in any of the cases. Their theory? That the boys had gotten tired and decided to lay down and rest on the road because it was warm and dry :banghead: Seriously?
Possibly the most infuriating thing is that the policeman who came to tell my grandmother that her only son had died did so with a big smile on his face.
Family members and I have been trying to get complete police records from the Saline County PD, but they claim to not have any records that are more than 20 years old except for homicide cases. We have limited records that they gave us at the time and newpaper clippings, and I am happy to share them with anyone who wants to see them (since they have names and other info I don't want to post them on here).
What I am looking for is any type of suggestion on where to go next, info on any of the other cases mentioned in the newspaper clippings, etc. Any input is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Hello Jess,
I am wondering is this the Dallas Bittner that attended hot springs rehab center around 1973 or,1974? Located in hot Springs Arkansas.