Identified! Mystery couple murdered in South Carolina, 1976 - #7 Pam Buckley & James P Freund

[Giuc0]

I was also thinking, could they be a French couple whom both parents flee France during WW2 to go to Americas?

I was thinking about this possibility because the lady reminds me of a French Consulate Counsellor whom parents flee WW2 to Chile.
French Consulate Counsellor is alive and well, her mother is still alive.
Not certain I can give her name per the TOS, as she has nothing to do with the case. Mentioning about her because her parents fled WW2 and settled in Chili, where she was born.

My research about French migrating to South America for fleeing WW2 has been quite fruitless on my side. I may have not typed the right keywords, so it explains my lack of results.

 

[Giuc0]

Ok, I found three lists of enforced disappeared by Wikipedia.
Anexo:Detenidos desaparecidos de Argentina - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre

Anexo:Detenidos desaparecidos de Uruguay - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre

Anexo:Detenidos desaparecidos de Chile - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre

My issue with Wikipedia lists, especially for Argentina & Uruguay, is its lack of precision. No details about citizenships, and they are not up to date about the findings.

For example, in the Argentina list, they mention "Ford Olaso" as a child.
But when you go on FORD - DE OLASO | Nuestros Nietos | Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo you can see that the mother was pregnant but didn't give birth per forensic experts.


The list for Chili refers of a very precise website where you can find detailed informations about the disappeared.

For Uruguay, I went through the rabbit hole without finding any valuable information for our case.

 

[Giuc0]

For the disappeared in Chili, this website is complete and accurate, although the content is old. Desaparecidos

I will try to find possible matches, although the website layout is really difficult to navigate. The lack of engine search doesn't exactly help either

Focusing on Chile also because of Manuel Contreras - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre and "Controversias", where it is said that he had cooperated with the US CIA.

 

[Giuc0]

Ok, I have not found a promising match for either the man nor the lady.
But by reading the Retting Report (in Spanish), I found that Chilian State agents and the Argentinian military dictature were cooperating in the enforced disappearances. INFORME RETTIG - Informe de la Comisión Nacional de Verdad y Reconciliación (CHILE) - Investigación de los crímenes contra la humanidad cometidos surante la Dictadura de Augusto Pinochet - Fundación ACCIÓN PRO DERECHOS HUMANOS (www.derechoshumanos.net) (in Spanish).


What I also found so far is a detained-disappeared because of cooperation with the US from Los Angeles, United States: Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos (in Spanish and yup, I am sure they went missing in Los Angeles).
A group of 5 men, only one of them was found dead and his family could recognise his body.
The problem I find with this group of men is that they were disappeared in 1973, way before our UID couple.
For four of them, they are still considered as disappeared.
When I look at the photo, I can see similarities with our UID male. But based of the circumstances, I strongly doubt it is one of them.

For me, what can fit the profile for our couple is being followed and killed on the spot by the regime. AFAIK, nothing from the crime scene suggests that they were on the crime scene against their will as it happens in these cases.
I mean, roaming freely and being killed on the road if I remember correctly doesn't fit the bill.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but AFAIK, they were walking freely and then, approached by the killer. But I'm not sure I remember these elements correctly.

And AFAIK from the Retting report (two tomes, about 1600 pages in total), the regime was targeting people militing to left-wing groups or people associating with said kind of militancy.

I am leaving with more questions than answers about the couple.

If they fit such profile, it can explain why the connexion wasn't made.

 

[Ozoner]

This whole Argentina angle is one big rabbit hole. There is no evidence whatsoever connecting these does to any South American country.

 

[Giuc0]

This whole Argentina angle is one big rabbit hole. There is no evidence whatsoever connecting these does to any South American country.

I understand what you mean.

My revisiting this angle is out of lack of better ideas and because I found very interesting points about this angle which were not discussed here to the best of my knowledge.
Also, I did enlarge to other South American countries while in dictature during the same periode, the '70s and '80s.

When I look at the post-mortem photos, I clearly think of South America ties.
Apart that, as you say, there is no concrete evidence tying them to South America. That's the crux of the problem with enforced disappearences outside of the home countries: the lack of easily found evidence on the crime scene, especially in those days.

 

[Giuc0]

This person can not be our lady because of the circumstances: she was disappeared from La Plata, in Argentina.
Disappeared persons were usually executed near their place of disappearance.
However, I found an interesting paragraph which was also found in the Retting report, although with less details:

En esas investigaciones, la Comisión pudo comprobar que durante esa época un importante número de chilenos exiliados por razones políticas del régimen militar, desaparecieron después de ser detenidos por agentes de la Policía y de organismos de seguridad argentinos, en operativos dirigidos en su contra; y que la información para realizar esos operativos la obtenían desde la oficina que con ese objetivo mantenía la Dirección Nacional de Inteligencia chilena (DINA) en Buenos Aires.

Source: http://interactivos.museodelamemoria.cl/victimas/?p=1073


From their website, I found 57 potential matches for our couple when I complete an advanced research and choose "Region: Extranjero".
Which, I think, is promising because it narrows down possibilities.

 

[Giuc0]

Found an interesting tidbit. It may or may not be related to our couple.
However, according to Pascal Antonio Aruaya Aruaya's death certificate, he died in Quebec and was an agricultural worker: Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos
His death certificate didn't state any COD, no photo is available and he died before our couple. What's interesting is that he travelled to Canada in exile and died of brain damage brought by torture he suffered while in Chilean jail as a political prisoner according to what is known (in Spanish):
"El 30 de diciembre de 1975 viajó a Canadá en calidad de exiliado político, pero dos meses después falleció en este país por un accidentes vascular encefálico. Varios testigos, entre ellos un médico, exiliados políticos que permanecieron en Canadá, coincidieron en señalar que para los médicos canadienses era muy difícil comprender la muerte de Pascual Araya. En el examen de autopsia se constató que su estado de salud era muy deplorable y que presentaba un deterioro físico que no correspondía a su edad, sino a una persona mayor de 70 años. Desde el punto de vista médico, se produjo un paro cardio respiratorio súbito, posiblemente ocasionado por un infarto erosivo al miocardio. La conclusión médica fue que había estado sujeto en forma sostenida a un fuerte estrés.

El médico que lo trató en Chile antes del período de su detención declaró que Pascual Araya era una persona totalmente sana, sin antecedentes de enfermedades infecciosas u otras patologías."


What I mean here is that because of elements that were not previously discussed to the best of my knowledge, I can not completely dismiss the South American possibility.
Especially with the knowledge of exilees dead because of it.

I have to really dig into it.

 

[Giuc0]

Ok, I haven't found any potential match in the Chilean disappeared abroad from the Museo de la Memoria y de los Derechos Humanos' website.

However, I have a list of US folks disappeared by the regime and no official notification was made.
The list is on Wikipedia, under the "Jamás notificados": Anexo:Detenidos desaparecidos de Chile - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre


There are also folks of New Zealand, US folks, Brazilian...
It is an interesting line of sleuthing IMO.


ETA: at the moment, I haven't found any information about them beyond the list on Wikipedia.
I think that it's a line of inquiry to revisit later, which can help rule-out a potential match.
So far, I have ruled out plenty of potential match as they were blatant rules-out right off the bat. Like they were disappeared in Argentina and there was no way they could had reached the US, as it's not how the Argentinian regime operated back in those days.

 

[Giuc0]

Information from the website "Desclasificados" Desclasificados - La inteligencia de EEUU durante la dictadura

Since the topic has been discussed, the CIA has declassified new archives in 2019, so last year.

I believe that for this reason, there may be fresh material which was not known when the Argentina line of sleuthing was discussed.

 

[carbuff]

I think we should keep in mind that although they were found as a couple, they might not have disappeared as a couple--they could have met anywhere on the road. They might not even have been traveling together for more than a day or two.

I have wondered also if one or both of them were Québec separatists. Some were quite radical and found it advisable to spend time out of the country while various events died down. I knew one such boy when I was a teenager in 1970-ish; his family was camping out at the nearby KOA until it was safe to go back.

 

[Giuc0]

Interesting point Carbuff.

I have zero knowledge about Quebec separatists, I prefer letting more competent sleuthers looking at this angle.

On my hand, I'm going to dive into the site "Desclasificados".
Which will require an inordinate amount of time because of how the site is constructed.

 

[carbuff]

Interesting point Carbuff.

I have zero knowledge about Quebec separatists, I prefer letting more competent sleuthers looking at this angle.

On my hand, I'm going to dive into the site "Desclasificados".
Which will require an inordinate amount of time because of how the site is constructed.

On the one hand it seems unlikely.

On the other hand, we and dozens of other sleuths have looked in all the likely places and found nothing.

So good luck! And fingers crossed you find something.

 

[Giuc0]

Thank you @carbuff

I know that it's not the likeliest, but given the fresh material we didn't have when we discussed this hypothesis and the fact found about exilees being disappeared + the cooperation with the US, I think that it needs a serious reconsideration.

 

[Giuc0]

From the report "Nunca más" by the Argentinian Conadep: Nunca más

Las referencias que se aportan en los testimonios de Andrés Castillo (Legajo N° 7389), Enrique Mario Fukman (Legajo N° 4687), Beatriz Daleo (Legajo N° 4816), Lisandro Raúl Cubas (Legajo N° 6974), Miriam Lewin de García (Legajo N° 2365), permiten acreditar que en la época en que el Almirante Massera era Comandante se creó el denominado «Centro Piloto
de París»,con el objeto de influir en el mejoramiento de la imagen argentina respecto de los derechos humanos en el exterior. Según tales constancias altos oficiales de la Armada tenían conocimiento de la existencia y funcionarniento del Centro Piloto entre cuyas actividades se encontraba la publicación de solicitadas, la falsificación de cartas de supuestas madres de desaparecidos en la Argentina y la infiltración en los grupos de exiliados en esos países. Enrique Mario Fukman durante su cautiverio en ESMA tomó conocimiento de las comunicaciones telefónicas desgrabadas entre el Teniente de Fragata (a) "Marcelo" con el Centro Piloto de París.

Según el testimonio de Amalia Larralde (Legajo N° 3673):

«En febrero/marzo de 1979, el G.T. de la ESMA organiza un "Curso de Lucha Antisubversiva", al que fueron invitados agentes represores de diferentes países de Latinoamérica. Este curso tuvó lugar en la Escuela de Guerra Naval que queda dentro del predio ocupado por la ESMA. A este curso van torturadores del Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Nicaragua y si mal no recuerdo de Brasil y Guatemala. Cada uno de los países hizo una exposición que fue grabada. Esa exposición consistía en una presentación de su país y una explicación de las características y métodos de su accionar represivo. El G.T. de la ESMA preparó varios informes. Uno de ellos sobre la historia de la guerilla en la Argentina. Otro sobre la organización y creación de los G.T. Otro informe sobre los métodos más efectivos de la tortura, con sus diferentes etapas, torturas físicas (diagramando los puntos más vulnerables), tortura psicológica, aislamiento, etc. Prepararon también un dossier con fotos, descripción e historia de las personas buscadas que fue repartido entre los participantes. El curso lo abrió una exposición del Capitán Acosta. Entre los que expusieron se encontraba el Capitán Perren, Teniente Pernía y Teniente González y participaron todos los tenientes y capitanes del G.T. (o sea todos los oficiales)».​

Which means that the Argentinian government and other countries were working on enforced disappearances in other countries.​

 

[Giuc0]

During the Argentinian dictature, the disappeared' documents were falsified aimed at comitting other crimes against human rights: Nunca más

La operatoria del aparato terrorista contó, de acuerdo a testimonios obtenidos, con una estructura administrativa destinada a falsificar documentación que se utilizaría para la consumación de nuevas acciones delictivas.
Tal aseveración resulta acreditada esencialmente en el funcionamiento del centro de detención que se instaló en la Escuela de Mecánica de la Armada.
Los testimonios coincidentes de Miriam Lewin de García (Legajo N° 2365), Lázaro Jaime Gladstein (Legajo N° 4912) y Víctor Melchor Basterna (Legajo N° 5011) indican que en su calidad de detenidos-desaparecidos debieron prestar tareas en el sótano del Casino de Oficiales de la Escuela de Mecánica de la Armada, donde funcionaba una imprenta destinada a producir documentación falsa: «pasaportes, cédulas de identificación, títulos de propiedad, registros de conductor, credenciales de la Policía Federal, títulos universitarios, etc.»
La conducta delictiva descripta constituye un elemento sustancial para facilitar la realización de otros delitos que aparecen detallados en este informe: venta de propiedades, utilización de vehículos robados, ocupación de viviendas que pertenecían a los desaparecidos, entrada y salida del país de los integrantes de los Grupos de Tareas y su infiltración en los diverso sectores y actividades de la sociedad.

RBBM for the part about going in and out of the country

 

[Giuc0]

Ok, the US promised to Argentina not to denounce the enforced disappearances: https://s3.amazonaws.com/dl.getforma.com/.attachments/9c2c96fe6b9335a59bcb71423ba719dd/af193301/MEETINGATHOMEOFCPAOW15515254.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAR7KB7OYSMPA2CKCB&Expires=1591467682&Signature=piJN/xty4ZCc01WQy1qV/xMnJVg=&response-content-disposition=attachment;filename*=UTF-8''MEETING%20AT%20HOME%20OF%20CPAO%20W%5B15515254%5D.pdf&response-content-type=application/pdf

Declassified document from the website "Desclasificados".

We don't have a match, but we can learn about US silence in forced disappearances.


US even knew about the impunity and didn't denounce: https://s3.amazonaws.com/dl.getforma.com/.attachments/649f920075afaeab218f5299b6f26dbb/1b4f48d2/MEETINGBETWEENASENIOR15514308.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAR7KB7OYSMPA2CKCB&Expires=1591467908&Signature=PtTfIP9N7wVW6kVOI/O+KlLLQ9k=&response-content-disposition=attachment;filename*=UTF-8''MEETING%20BETWEEN%20A%20SENIOR%20%5B15514308%5D.pdf&response-content-type=application/pdf

On the top of that, US knew of enforced disappearances but said that they have no information. https://s3.amazonaws.com/dl.getform...%5D.pdf&response-content-type=application/pdf

 

[Giuc0]

Some names in this report. They have to be checked against other data, but we can comfortably eliminate Mrs Goldfab for the UID as she was in Argentina in 1977.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/dl.getform...213.pdf&response-content-type=application/pdf

 

[Giuc0]

So far, the names of disappeared I've found:
- 1 survived in the Campo de Mayo and now works in Canada after she was sent in exile
- 2 others disappeared after our couple was found dead.

So, no breakthought yet.

 

[Giuc0]

The file was found on "Desclasificados" website.
I tried to cross data as much as I could find, but it was not always possible to gather much.



Enrique Erro can not be our JD as he was expelled in Paris, France, where he died in 1984 of leukemia: Enrique Erro - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre

Federico Rojas can't be our JD as he disappeared in October 1976, so he was alive in August 1976: Desaparecidos en Argentina: Federico Eduardo Alvarez Rojas e Hilda Leikis de Alvarez

Dora Goldfarb: as said above, was made disappeared in 1977, she was alive when our couple died: see Mystery couple murdered in South Carolina, 1976 - #7

Antonio Misetich: okay, this case is particularly iffy. Scoring the database "desaparecidos.org", I haven't found him.
His employment history is unknown per the link. However, Argentina confirmed that he was detained in April 1976 to the IAHRC, but in November 1976, Argentina said that he was not registered: Human Rights and the Phenomenon of Disappearances
Found a declassified document in 2019 about him: The National Security Archive
He is a disappeared, but AFAIK, the US was not exactly known to bring disappeared in the US to kill them. They were killed in Argentina.
And yes, the US did kill disappeared: Inside Argentina’s Killing Machine: U.S. Intelligence Documents Record Gruesome Human Rights Crimes of 1976-1983 | National Security Archive
I can not find a photo of him.
His case is very iffy.

Claudio Bermann: died in 2012 in Spain, so he can't be our JD Esquela online de Claudio Santiago Bermann Barrancos fallecido en Barcelona #DEP
He was freed by the Argentina regime: https://foia.state.gov/documents/Argentina/0000A146.pdf

IVO MARIA DOMERQUE: if it's about Yves Domergue, we know that he has been identified in 2010 in Argentina. I know that it has been discussed, but I haven't found where it has been discussed.

Luis Itarruga Casali: released in December 1976 per this cable dated 1977 Cable: 1977BUENOS05592_c (I know, Wikileaks. But I haven't found anything else so far)
He is absent in the list: Presentes en Argentina: Muro de la Memoria
As he was released in December 1976, he was detained when our JD were found.
I haven't found any corroborative data to support his actual release.

Mario Gerardo Yacub: disappeared in November 1976, and nothing concrete to tie him to the US Mario Gerardo Yacub | Los recordatorios de hoy jueves 1º de noviembre

RAYMUNDO GLEYZER: disappeared in May 1976 Raymundo Gleyzer - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre
Found a photo of him, undated here: La vigencia de Raymundo Gleyzer
He could be our JD with longer hair if he doesn't get identified (most bodies have not been recovered, let alone identified).

PAULO ANTONIO PARANAGUA: he is alive and well, retired in 2018 Paulo Antônio de Paranaguá - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre

MARIA REGINA JACOB PILLA: according to Wikipedia, she seems alive. Her Wikipedia page (in Portughese) is iffy, but she is not known to have been in the USA and she was accounted in the '90 as alive Maria Pilla – Wikipédia, a enciclopédia livre

MARIA REGINA MARCONDES PINTO: disappeared since April 10th, 1976 at Buenos Aires Maria Regina Marcondes Pinto – Wikipédia, a enciclopédia livre
Her photo on Wikipedia is grainy, but as far as I can tell, she doesn't look like our JD. Her lips are too large when compared to the postmortem photo. Her nose is completely different of our JD. She could had been, but she is not a match.

RICARDO ALBERTO HINRICHSEN: His name is so common in Latin America that I haven't found any corroborating data.
He is absent of the website "Desaparecidos.org" and I haven't found any element supporting his expulsion.
Per this cable Cable: 1977BUENOS05592_c he has been deported. However, I haven't found independent data to corroborate this information.
I can't trust the declassified documents to corroborate a deportation, as the CONADEP found that the Argentina regime falsified documents to make believe that the disappeared has left the country when it's not true. So, for this person, I can't rule in nor rule out because of no independent corroborating data.

HIPOLITO SOLARI IRIGOYEN: he is currently alive Hipólito Solari Yrigoyen - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre
He was exiled in Paris, France, until democracy returned in Argentina.