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

[Tighthead]

In Ancestry.com, the indigenous populations are classified according to certain parts of the US, Mexico, South American, etc. The largest databases for US indigenous groups on Ancestry are among southwestern and plains tribes. If they were from South America, their ethnicity estimates would probably have a greater percentage of American Indian percentage, with much less European DNA. The proportions would be opposite, if they had a strong database of South American indigenous DNA.


I don't recall what it was about this couple that made them appear to be from Europe. It's still possible they could be from Canada, though.

From some low-level research, it looks like Argentines have largely European DNA, so that may still be a possibility.

Wasn’t his dental work unusual, but well done, reflective of having received quality care in another part of the world?

 

[Suglo]

From some low-level research, it looks like Argentines have largely European DNA, so that may still be a possibility.

Wasn’t his dental work unusual, but well done, reflective of having received quality care in another part of the world?

Argentines are mostly Italian and Spanish with some German mixed in. They also are known in the Latin American world for having top notch dentists. JMO of course but have spent some time there and was married to an Argentine for a hot minute back in 2001.

 

[Tighthead]

Argentines are mostly Italian and Spanish with some German mixed in. They also are known in the Latin American world for having top notch dentists. JMO of course but have spent some time there and was married to an Argentine for a hot minute back in 2001.

I know that as a nation they prioritize beef and rugby, so I’m a fan.

 

[MarziPanda]

Wow, Jock's admixture is pretty much identical to mine. Exactly the same categories, no more, no less. Only very slight percentage differences. It's like looking at the same pie chart.

I am English, with English parents, and only English and Irish ancestors as far back as I can go. 23andme and Ancestry both suggest I'm slightly North African and a bit Scandinavian. MyHeritage on the other hand thinks I'm half Scandinavian, half English, and a bit Greek! Just goes to show that a lot of these algorithms are educated guesswork. Still, Jock having the same admixture to me does suggest British/Irish ancestry.

 

[Canaille]

Switching away from DNA briefly, I'm still interested in exactly where the crime took place on Locklair Road. Last night I watched a YouTube video that had some information I'd never heard before. This guy referenced several articles from the Greenville News during the immediate aftermath. He said that the murders were actually several hundred yards away from the Locklair intersection, and not nearby.

The summary from law enforcement is that the killer drove several hundred yards down Locklair and apparently intended to commit the murders in a densely tree covered area further toward the center of Locklair, but was prevented from doing so by tall fences that blocked the road. So he forced the couple out and committed the murders right there at the side of the road. Then he used the pathway of a nearby tobacco hut to pull in and then back out, before speeding away.

I appreciate how much research this guy did. It makes sense because it seemed obvious to me when I visited Locklair last year that the topography had changed significantly since 1976. It didn't make sense for so many tall healthy pine trees to be in the center of Locklair on both sides, and nowhere else. The newspaper photo from 1976 clearly shows pine trees on both sides of Locklair.

Based on that video info I now believe the murders occurred in the area of this photo that is now wide open farmland, maybe just prior to where the dirt looks much darker. That would fit with the 400m estimate to I-95 from another recent video.

Imgur: The magic of the Internet

Then over time the pine trees, tobacco stand and fencing were removed toward a farmland attempt that has not been overly successful, from the look of things.

This is the video with the info on the site of the murders, specifically from the 8 minute mark to the 9 minute mark. There is other good material as well, including a photo of the caskets being exhumed for DNA testing:

Wait... this says he was found not wearing shoes. I could swear I read somewhere that he was wearing some kind of sandals. If he had not been wearing shoes, then I am less likely to believe they were picked up hitchhiking. And I never really believed they were hitchhiking.

 

[AliceInPain]

Wait... this says he was found not wearing shoes. I could swear I read somewhere that he was wearing some kind of sandals. If he had not been wearing shoes, then I am less likely to believe they were picked up hitchhiking. And I never really believed they were hitchhiking.

Yeah, bad quality photo, but zooming in it looks like strappy (leather?) sandals on his feet.

 

[Canaille]

Has anyone seen any photos of the actual engraving on Jock's ring? If not, I wonder why that was never published.

 

[CarrieMe]

"Jock's" admix looks very similar to mine.

 

[ntt1]

Regarding the DNA Doe Project file, I noted that once in a while the top cM drops from one update to the next. Not often but there are several examples.

What would cause that? Is that a user who opts out?

Also, the one aspect I miss from a year or so ago is the percentage of matches that DNA Doe Project cannot see. They used to include that every update on every case. It's a depressing number after the policy change, but at least the percentage was slowly going down. I remember watching from 83% to 82% and so forth. I wish they still had it, if not for every case maybe an estimate of the entire user base.

Opting out or people deleting their kits, I think.

Edit: I wonder if there were higher matches in FTDNA. Larger database, I think.

 

[Betty P]

"Jock's" admix looks very similar to mine.

Hi CarrieMe! I have my ethnicity profile through Ancestry.com, so I'm not familiar with the one produced for Jock's and yours. How does that ethnicity profile system define "Baltic"? Just curious and TIA!

 

[Canaille]

LOL, I just went back to my breakdown. 75% French. It cracks me up because I had gotten the kit for Christmas and sent it in not long after. The results were so goofy. I figured they were extremely busy with the Christmas gifts of DNA and didn't get it right or mixed it up with someone else, so I submitted it again.

 

[ntt1]

LOL, I just went back to my breakdown. 75% French. It cracks me up because I had gotten the kit for Christmas and sent it in not long after. The results were so goofy. I figured they were extremely busy with the Christmas gifts of DNA and didn't get it right or mixed it up with someone else, so I submitted it again.

Hmmm, that same ethnicity estimate could possibly be a typical one in Quebec as well, going off of the historical knowledge I have of the province.

 

[Canaille]

Hmmm, that same ethnicity estimate could possibly be a typical one in Quebec as well, going off of the historical knowledge I have of the province.

Cajun. They migrated from Nova Scotia to Louisiana.

 

[Vi0l3tt3]

My admixture is nearly identical to Jock's. However, I am mostly descended from Scots-Irish and the Welsh.

 

[Canaille]

It figures that my sleep meds aren’t working well tonight.

I was just thinking about where the matches were found. I’ve seen that they were found in his pants pocket and that they had been found next to him. I wonder if the match box had been tested for prints. The video about two pages back said that coroner really didn’t see any indication that either Doe smoked. So why have matches? Could they have belonged to the killer and fell out of a pocket? Or the killer lit a cigarette and tossed the matches next to them? Maybe Jock picked them up from the campground. There might have been a bar near the pool table where matches could’ve been left by other guests. My dang busy brain.

 

[CarrieMe]

Hi CarrieMe! I have my ethnicity profile through Ancestry.com, so I'm not familiar with the one produced for Jock's and yours. How does that ethnicity profile system define "Baltic"? Just curious and TIA!

Gedmatch doesn't have a description of "Baltic " but the region is my first picture. However, I think he may be like my ancestory, my Baltic and Asian may be due to my maternal grandfather, he was 100% Hungarian; second picture shows my olive skin tones through different seasons.

 

[CarrieMe]

The regions of my ancestors that match Jock are in blue. My husband's profile matches Jane's closely and their regions are in pink. Oddly, when my husband and I got married, my relatives said we look like we are relatives (we are not).

 

[Ozoner]

Cajun. They migrated from Nova Scotia to Louisiana.

If you're Cajun, then you are mostly French. What was about the results that you considered goofy? It sounds like they were exactly what would be expected.

 

[AliceInPain]

Sorry, but 40 or 60 % is not close.35 and 55 are. Maybe.
Look at the other Does at the DDP spreadsheet or your own matches on Gedmatch before making comparisons.
You're spreading fake indormation!

 

[Canaille]

If you're Cajun, then you are mostly French. What was about the results that you considered goofy? It sounds like they were exactly what would be expected.

Because on the first sample I sent in, it came back with much less french than I expected. I waited after the holiday rush and submitted another one, which came back with something higher, like 67%. I logged on to the site for the first time in a few months and now it shows 75%. So, I went from being much less French than I thought, to almost a little more than I expected.