branmuffin
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- Nov 9, 2015
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We've done this subject to death, I think. We're getting into semantics now so for me the whole issue of tires is a dead one. Lets agree to disagree and move on to the subject of the vehicle and whether it belonged to either James or Pam or whether they were hitchhiking and met their worst nightmare.Radial tires have been around for far longer than 60 years, but were still not as common in 1976.
Winter tires back then (called mud and snow tires), even radials, had a blocky open tread design, especially back in 1976. if you bought a 4 wheel drive truck new back then, it came with "mud and snow" tires, like the image of a 1976 Ford Bronco below. Eventually "mud and snow" tires evolved into all season tires (Ok for light snow, but a more closed tread design), winter tires (with a softer tread compound), and all terrain tires (for 4x4s that went off road).
But in 1976, the same snow tire that might be used in Pennsylvania or Colorado would also be the mud tire used on back roads of South Carolina. That's why I don't think the presence of these tires proved the van belonged to Jim or Pam though it could have,
My personal opinion, is that the vehicle belonged to them. I don't really care what the vehicle was and they either picked up a hitchhiker or got involved with some people from the area and ultimately were forced out of the vehicle and murdered. The way they were killed always get my brain whirring. They didn't just get shot, they were executed. The sequence of shots were deliberate, imo, and for some reason the killer chose not to obliterate their faces. I doubt that had anything to do with some altruistic notion to allow them to be identified by family members but rather had something to do with either sending a message to some unknown quantity or a message of mission accomplished.
I know that seems like I'm getting into conspiracy thinking but it just doesn't make sense to me. And to further the mystery if they were executed, then why? I know here on WS the majority of members always view the deceased as unfortunate victims of crime but sometimes we know that deaths occur because of criminal activity they were involved in. I'm not saying that's what occurred here but there's a reason that the weapon was found in the possession of a local and it had a storied history, none of which LE really seemed to follow.