Identified! Mystery couple murdered in South Carolina, 1976 - Pamela Buckley & James Freund #10

[worm]

I don’t think LE has put this aside, it’s just they don’t have much else to go on. It would be great if a national crime type show would cover this and dig in deep to see what is there and what isn’t. It takes big budgets to properly research something this expansive.

 

[fred&edna]

I don’t think LE has put this aside, it’s just they don’t have much else to go on. It would be great if a national crime type show would cover this and dig in deep to see what is there and what isn’t. It takes big budgets to properly research something this expansive.

ITA

 

[Betty P]

But why would they be standing side by side outside their vehicle on a deserted side road off the interstate in the dark, waiting calmly, with no apprehension whatever, for someone to finish whatever he was doing in the road in front of them?

Sorry, not convinced this would come as such a shock that neither would instinctly move to protect their heart area.

We need to pull forward some of the news media links for this case. There is a Media link that contains many of them. They include some articles with photos of the crime scene, road, etc.

Police determined from tracks, foot prints, etc. that a van was driven to the crime scene and the victims stepped out of the rear doors of the van where they were marched to the side of the road and shot. Its assumed by LE they were being held in the back of the van and were driven to the death scene by the killers. The van was backed up to the ditch on the dirt road. The victims were taken from the back of the van a few feet away to the ditch/embankment where they were shot and left for dead. The van was then driven away. LE was able to tell from the tires and tracks that it was a van. The van had snow tires on the back.

They were found on a dirt road that was a mile or so off I 95.

One of my theories is that someone had a flashlight that they shone in the eyes of the victims to disorient them. It was dark that night. The killer needed some kind of light to be able to aim and shoot the victims.

ETA: Adding that there may have been more than one killer. If Jim and Pam were driven to that spot, someone needed to drive, another needed to keep the victims under control.

 

[killarney rose]

I have always leaned toward the vehicle belonging to the victims, then being stolen after they were killed. Reading that it had snow tires on the back makes me more certain. While it’s not impossible someone from SC had some random snow tires on their vehicle, it’s improbable.

 

[worm]

I have always leaned toward the vehicle belonging to the victims, then being stolen after they were killed. Reading that it had snow tires on the back makes me more certain. While it’s not impossible someone from SC had some random snow tires on their vehicle, it’s improbable.

When this came up before, I mentioned that while snow tires aren’t in big demand around SC, a lot of people have “mud grips” on trucks and such. I remember relatives having these being in a rural area.

 

[killarney rose]

@worm - mud grips are so common now. But were they in the 70s? I can see someone coming across some used snow tires and using them as mud grips on a truck. But how likely would it be on a van. And yes it’s likely, just not as probable so I’m leaning toward the van belonging to James for now.

 

[Valiant]

@worm - mud grips are so common now. But were they in the 70s? I can see someone coming across some used snow tires and using them as mud grips on a truck. But how likely would it be on a van. And yes it’s likely, just not as probable so I’m leaning toward the van belonging to James for now.

Back then, snow tires and mud grips were often interchangeable. In fact, they were often advertised as "mud and snow" tires. Today you have tires designed specifically for mud or snow use.

 

[TedMac]

I have always leaned toward the vehicle belonging to the victims, then being stolen after they were killed. Reading that it had snow tires on the back makes me more certain. While it’s not impossible someone from SC had some random snow tires on their vehicle, it’s improbable.

Exactly. That area gets very little, if any snow. I think it is a good chance they (James & Pamela) had a vehicle and it was stolen. It has been suggested by some that they may have been hitchhiking. While this may be correct, the Coroner noted (sorry, but I cannot find the link) that Pamela had very smooth feet and it was unlikely that she had done much walking-thus probably not a hitchhiker.

I have always believed that robbery was the motive and that is why neither victim had any ID on them. Their wallets were probably taken-along with their vehicle. Either the killer or killers befriended them and gained their trust or offered something else such as drugs to lure them to where they were killed. MOO

 

[worm]

@worm - mud grips are so common now. But were they in the 70s? I can see someone coming across some used snow tires and using them as mud grips on a truck. But how likely would it be on a van. And yes it’s likely, just not as probable so I’m leaning toward the van belonging to James for now.

My Grandfather found it necessary to show everybody in town our new mudgrips on his new 1977 Chev truck. It was a thing.

 

[killarney rose]

DBM

 

[worm]

DBM

Just about anybody who did outdoor activities or had farms/rural homes had them. Even on 2 wheel drive vehicles.

I just thought that the dirt at the scene would have made for good foot impressions as well as the tires.

 

[killarney rose]

I’m curious about human footprints as well. Has it ever been stated that in addition to the victims, how many sets there were?

 

[worm]

I’m curious about human footprints as well. Has it ever been stated that in addition to the victims, how many sets there were?

I have never seen any reports on footprints. It just seems like they would have been some on that dirt road.

I tend to fall off of this case since I’ve seen and read so much and nothing seems to happen, then I’ll find myself thinking about it again and digging back thru the same info.

 

[T rex]

I just wanted to post a few things that had got my attention several years ago and I don't know why I didn't do it then but I'm going to clip it before my subscription expires because I feel like it should be posted in these threads at least once just for the record.
It was a certain individual that I had become interested in and it was for a couple of reasons. It all stems from David Batson' s campground account that most of us have dismissed but to be honest I don't know what this man was up to. Perhaps he wasnt up to anything but the reasons I became interested in this other person is first of all this man was a doctor (he's still living) and I was never able to confirm it but I think it's likely he or his family is from Canada. He has an uncommon surname and most of them can be traced back to there. Whats more is it was this doctor that owned the KOA in Santee at the time of these murders and it was his duplex that burned in 1981 and I can only assume that this is the same house fire that destroyed the records that Verna Moore went looking for years later.
Then I became interested in this man's wife (now deceased) who I believe he married sometime in 1977 and is from the area.
When I took a look at her family I was able to come up with two, maybe three (I can't remember) distant connections to George Henry but I know there's more, I was barely scratching the surface.
I know more about some of these families than I do my own (a lot more) and I was seeing hoards of names and places that they had in common but it was just too much for my brain. Here's where I needed a genealogist. I felt like I needed ten or twelve of 'em.
Anyway, it may not mean much but I wasn't going to pass up my last opportunity to post it here.
I'm not going to post the doctors name but it is in the links.

The Sumter Item
Oct 9 1981
Page 12

Clipping from The Item - Newspapers.com


The Sumter Item
Oct 5 1981
Page 9

Clipping from The Item - Newspapers.com

 

[worm]

@T rex , that is interesting but I’m not connecting it. I’ve tried to work the campground account back into my ideas but it is still thin. From what I recall, detectives dug in on the campground guy pretty well too. Could he have drafted the story due to the Dr being involved in the campground?

 

[T rex]

@T rex , that is interesting but I’m not connecting it. I’ve tried to work the campground account back into my ideas but it is still thin. From what I recall, detectives dug in on the campground guy pretty well too. Could he have drafted the story due to the Dr being involved in the campground?

Like I said I don't know what he was up to. It's definitely possible he could have just been making stuff up. Some kind of riddle master or something just injecting himself into the case. There's also others possibilities. Maybe he really did talk to someone he thought was them or something else. I don't know.
As far as LE checking into it at the time, I don't think so. It was one SLED agent that took the report, tucked it away in a box and never made the other investigating agencies (or his own) aware of it. It was years. That's why Verna Moore didn't get to the records in time.

 

[worm]

Like I said I don't know what he was up to. It's definitely possible he could have just been making stuff up. Some kind of riddle master or something just injecting himself into the case. There's also others possibilities. Maybe he really did talk to someone he thought was them or something else. I don't know.
As far as LE checking into it at the time, I don't think so. It was one SLED agent that took the report, tucked it away in a box and never made the other investigating agencies (or his own) aware of it. It was years. That's why Verna Moore didn't get to the records in time.

That was a question I had too, this happened in 76 and that place burned in 81, at some point in between, the key from KOA made the statements. How it could tie back to Henry is interesting too. I’ve often here lately wondered if somebody in Henry’s circle could be involved and he was staying silent. It sounds like they turned screws on Lonnie pretty tight from what little accounts we have.

 

[MadMcGoo]

It would be easy to shoot two people in the back first, especially if they did not suspect they were going to be killed. A shot in the back would have made them fall forward into the ditch then all the killer had to do was turn them over and shoot them in the chest. Either one of those two shots could have been fatal or seriously affected their ability to move. The shot under the chin that probably went into the brain stem was the coup de grace.

I can't say whether the killer(s) were psychopathic or not since many murderers are completely sane and the level of violence inflicted on their victims is beyond the pale.

My theories, which are many, are usually tempered by Lonny Henry's looming presence in the murders. He seemed like a hapless soul, yet his connection to the killings is undeniable.

Yea!! Hapless, yet undeniable.

I think there are still local people who know who killed them and how. That's all they have to do is start asking question, examining alibis, and turning up the heat on those they most likely know were involved. They have a lot of evidence, including the murder weapon and other ballistics evidence matching it.

They have a lot more evidence than is available for most cold cases. They can close this case if they want to put in some time and work. JMO

I think they do have the evidence. It’s just a matter of want to.

Unfortunately I cannot say how I gathered this information, because my post about that was deleted for all the right reasons, there’s quite some connection between Lonnie Henry and drag racing. Considering James was found with a drag racing event t-shirt (and also had penalty for driving fast in the past), this might connect the couple to the killers.

This intrigues me.

Keep trying. Contact the local media in the Sumter area. That would put some pressure on law enforcement to respond, if they face negative scrutiny from the same newspapers and television stations that praised them for pursuing the case for 45 years to identification.

I never got my hopes up toward an arrest. But it is outrageous that law enforcement is not displaying basic courtesy to family members.

You might try contacting the daughter of the former sheriff, the guy who was in charge of this case from the outset. She was interviewed when the names were revealed, emphasizing how much the case meant to her father. Somebody like that could jolt the current sheriff into some sense and decency.

Use a tag team approach. They might ignore one family member. But if multiple brothers/sisters -- or whomever -- continue to contact them, they'll get the hint that this isn't going away and they need to respond.

I'm not sure if the Buckley and Freund families have made contact. That would be even better, if law enforcement is being approached by family members of each victim.

This case needs to be covered by one of the major networks. Tonight I was watching the Cali-Doe case examined by the Paula Zahn program on Investigation Discovery. Those programs rely on cooperation from law enforcement. Many investigators love national spotlight like that even if they typically are not media friendly.

Members here have pushed various programs to take a look at this case. Family members should not shy away from that. Don't allow anyone in the family to embrace the fearful aspect of an examination like that, compared to immense potential benefit.

I couldn’t agree more. Embrace the fear and attention. The benefit far outweighs the risk.

Respectfully I must correct you there, he was found wearing an IMSA T-shirt, which is Circuit Racing, not Drag Racing, they are two totally different forms of Motorsport.

Yea... totally different. I only know because I spent hours researching this . LOL.

I’m curious about human footprints as well. Has it ever been stated that in addition to the victims, how many sets there were?

I agree with this. How many prints were there? There had to be more than just the victims.

 

[SolVic]

For now, with no other suspects, I have to say that Henry is guilty. I really hope GEDmatch can finally close this case.

 

[worm]

For now, with no other suspects, I have to say that Henry is guilty. I really hope GEDmatch can finally close this case.

Which Henry? I think he may have been covering for somebody close.