Another shot in the dark here... Being that Lonnie knew a whole lot more than he revealed... is it possible either of them was related to him? Possibly a daughter? Did he have any sons? Was she perhaps a girlfriend that was messing around with 'Jock' and a relation of Lonnie's (nephew, son, grandson, etc.), who also knew where the gun was located, decided to teach them both a lesson and then confessed out of guilt to Lonnie? Perhaps the answer to this mystery is much simpler than it appears.
The whole key to this is Lonnie had the gun that killed them... he didn't kill them but obviously knew who did. Would you protect a family member for a certain 'indiscretion' - passion/jealousy killing (perhaps?) Would he protect a family member who killed them simply to rob them (I'd think probably not)? If someone he knew killed them, IMO he'd have to have some sort of internal justification system that allowed him to live with the knowledge of guilt and murder... perhaps he thought the murder was justified if it was a cheating girlfriend, etc. Remember this was 1976... many things have changed since then.
His wife was in the hospital so she'd have been unaware of much that was going on in the home. Are there any relatives of his that are still alive that were close with him back then? What about trucker buddies?
The fact he took this secret to the grave leads me to believe it was a family member or very close friend. Was the brother that gave him the gun (as a gift) living nearby? Is it common to give someone a well-used gun, with a spotty (and unknown) history, as a gift? Wouldn't you want to check it out beforehand so the recipient didn't get in trouble for past illegal activity involving said gun? I sure as heck wouldn't give someone I cared about a used gun whose history was unknown.
Everything points back to Lonnie and another family member or close friend of his.
IMO, it's possible at least one of the victims and the killer were locals and at least one of the victims knew their killer.
I could see this as an episode of Cold Case (which I love!).
Sorry to ramble on... :silenced:
The whole key to this is Lonnie had the gun that killed them... he didn't kill them but obviously knew who did. Would you protect a family member for a certain 'indiscretion' - passion/jealousy killing (perhaps?) Would he protect a family member who killed them simply to rob them (I'd think probably not)? If someone he knew killed them, IMO he'd have to have some sort of internal justification system that allowed him to live with the knowledge of guilt and murder... perhaps he thought the murder was justified if it was a cheating girlfriend, etc. Remember this was 1976... many things have changed since then.
His wife was in the hospital so she'd have been unaware of much that was going on in the home. Are there any relatives of his that are still alive that were close with him back then? What about trucker buddies?
The fact he took this secret to the grave leads me to believe it was a family member or very close friend. Was the brother that gave him the gun (as a gift) living nearby? Is it common to give someone a well-used gun, with a spotty (and unknown) history, as a gift? Wouldn't you want to check it out beforehand so the recipient didn't get in trouble for past illegal activity involving said gun? I sure as heck wouldn't give someone I cared about a used gun whose history was unknown.
Everything points back to Lonnie and another family member or close friend of his.
IMO, it's possible at least one of the victims and the killer were locals and at least one of the victims knew their killer.
I could see this as an episode of Cold Case (which I love!).
Sorry to ramble on... :silenced: