Identified! Mystery couple murdered in South Carolina, 1976 - Pamela Buckley & James Freund #9

[killarney rose]

Agree, a lady mentioned in one of these threads that she bought this kind of jewelry at a Sears counter. That’s when I wrapped concern over the jewelry.

that was me. Sears at Altamonte Mall . In 1976. It’s crazy, I can remember details like this from the past but today I can’t remember what I walked into the room for.

 

[Vern]

The jewelry is probably hard without I’d numbers and such. The bummer in this case is those watch company records getting destroyed and making that, even with serial/model, untraceable.

What bothers me is just the absolute lack of witnesses that would have came in contact with this young couple.

Bulova Accutron yellow gold watch, serial number H918803. Bulova made the piece in 1968. But the company destroyed its records when downsizing.
Identified! - Mystery couple murdered in South Carolina, 1976 - Pamela Buckley & James Freund #9

He married CA in 1965:
https://www.websleuths.com/forums/threads/mystery-couple-murdered-in-south-carolina-1976-pamela-buckley-james-p-freund-8.556756/page-11#post-16579800

The obituary of CA's father detailed that he worked as the Bulova Company's watch repairman for 40+ years upon retirement.
Newspapers.com search

I think we can be fairly confident that James came by the watch either as a gift from his father-in-law or wife or purchased it himself perhaps with a family discount due to the family connection of long-term employment with the Bulova Company.

 

[branmuffin]

In Florida I didn't know anyone who owned that jewelry. If I lived in New Mexico I guarantee I would have been so familiar with it I wouldn't have needed to look it up online in January 2021. It may have been available elsewhere but significantly less likely to be prioritized and purchased than in areas where it's readily available and popular.

Authorities and researchers did a great job in identifying that jewelry as sourcing from the southwest. There always seemed to be a western United States connection to this case, from the jewelry and matchbox and mechanic's account. Not all of those may have been accurate but it would require 0-3 to dismiss totally. Meanwhile, were there 3 variables indicating Canada? Hardly. Only one...the KOA story. Somehow 1 was prioritized above 3. I guessed Pacific Northwest because I put more stock in 3 than 1. Jock didn't even look Canadian but due to the bias of the KOA story everyone was looking at those morgue photos and interpreting as French Canadian.

Being Canadian, I don't agree that Jock didn't look French Canadian. There are definitely some physical characteristics of French Canadian people, being dark haired and dark eyed and being slight in stature. Almost 50% of French Canadians from Quebec have an admixture of Amerindian in their genetic markings.

So when I saw those PM images, coupled with the KOA story, I did think he possessed the darker complexion and physical characteristics of many French Canadian men. When I say French Canadian, I don't mean someone just born in Quebec ( prior Prime Minister Brian Mulroney was born in Quebec but he has no FC heritage other than his place of birth) I mean someone who can trace their lineage back several generations to ancestors in the 1700s. A link is at the bottom of this post.

As for the turquoise jewelry, it's possible it was bought somewhere in the southwest since that was where it originated but even in the 70s it had already made the trek to Canada because it epitomized the embrace of native culture, and a free spirit and open philosophy. Now, it would be extremely difficult to identify any jewelry origins unless you bought it at source. I've been to Central America, Mexico and the SW and I've seen exactly the same stuff. Now you can't tell where the stuff was made just by looking at it. Most likely, it's China now so we can't use it to identify where someone had been or came from.

The genomic heritage of French Canadians

 

[Andreee]

Being Canadian, I don't agree that Jock didn't look French Canadian. There are definitely some physical characteristics of French Canadian people, being dark haired and dark eyed and being slight in stature. Almost 50% of French Canadians from Quebec have an admixture of Amerindian in their genetic markings.

So when I saw those PM images, coupled with the KOA story, I did think he possessed the darker complexion and physical characteristics of many French Canadian men. When I say French Canadian, I don't mean someone just born in Quebec ( prior Prime Minister Brian Mulroney was born in Quebec but he has no FC heritage other than his place of birth) I mean someone who can trace their lineage back several generations to ancestors in the 1700s. A link is at the bottom of this post.

As for the turquoise jewelry, it's possible it was bought somewhere in the southwest since that was where it originated but even in the 70s it had already made the trek to Canada because it epitomized the embrace of native culture, and a free spirit and open philosophy. Now, it would be extremely difficult to identify any jewelry origins unless you bought it at source. I've been to Central America, Mexico and the SW and I've seen exactly the same stuff. Now you can't tell where the stuff was made just by looking at it. Most likely, it's China now so we can't use it to identify where someone had been or came from.

The genomic heritage of French Canadians

I agree. As a Canadian also, I've known French Canadians to have a darker complexion too. I'm thinking in this case, the olive complexion as cited could be just due to all of the travelling around this couple did, from standing in the sun hitchhiking to just being outdoors alot, like many young people at that time.

 

[Vern]

Just came across this full-page article on Pamela and Jim.
04 Apr 2008, 3 - National Post at Newspapers.com

The person being interviewed was Vera Moore who was Assistant to the Coroner at the time of the murders.

In paragraph 1 it is stated that:

It was after midnight on Aug. 9, 1976, when a young man and woman - she "slender, attractive" and he "well-developed, well-nourished" - stepped from the back of a van on a secluded, dirt road in South Carolina.

She must have had a reason to use the word "van". She was directly involved with the case at the coroner's office and would be privvy to more info than we were/are. Perhaps the "Hearing Witness" heard a van door closing - it is a more distinct sound than hearing a car door shut. Perhaps a small leak of a detail unknown to the general public. Maybe it is a van that is the vehicle in question.

@Awsi Dooger , I know you were looking to better nail down the actual location of the incident for proximity to the highway. At para 3 it states they were found 400 metres from the highway. I think you were correct when you believed they came off the highway, turned onto the first sideroad and that it happened just into that road.

 

[southerngospel]

is the media ever going to find somebody who knows at least one of them? I know its only been a week but seems like someone would jump on this. Pam was in a college folk trio in 1970...somebody out there knows her.

 

[southerngospel]

Just came across this full-page article on Pamela and Jim.
04 Apr 2008, 3 - National Post at Newspapers.com

The person being interviewed was Vera Moore who was Assistant to the Coroner at the time of the murders.

In paragraph 1 it is stated that:


She must have had a reason to use the word "van". She was directly involved with the case at the coroner's office and would be privvy to more info than we were/are. Perhaps the "Hearing Witness" heard a van door closing - it is a more distinct sound than hearing a car door shut. Perhaps a small leak of a detail unknown to the general public. Maybe it is a van that is the vehicle in question.

@Awsi Dooger , I know you were looking to better nail down the actual location of the incident for proximity to the highway. At para 3 it states they were found 400 metres from the highway. I think you were correct when you believed they came off the highway, turned onto the first sideroad and that it happened just into that road.

Woah!...hadnt seen that picture before!

 

[wary]

Just came across this full-page article on Pamela and Jim.
04 Apr 2008, 3 - National Post at Newspapers.com

The person being interviewed was Vera Moore who was Assistant to the Coroner at the time of the murders.

In paragraph 1 it is stated that:


She must have had a reason to use the word "van". She was directly involved with the case at the coroner's office and would be privvy to more info than we were/are. Perhaps the "Hearing Witness" heard a van door closing - it is a more distinct sound than hearing a car door shut. Perhaps a small leak of a detail unknown to the general public. Maybe it is a van that is the vehicle in question.

@Awsi Dooger , I know you were looking to better nail down the actual location of the incident for proximity to the highway. At para 3 it states they were found 400 metres from the highway. I think you were correct when you believed they came off the highway, turned onto the first sideroad and that it happened just into that road.

We know they found tire tracks. Perhaps they could deduce that a van had made them?

 

[Vern]

Being Canadian, I don't agree that Jock didn't look French Canadian. There are definitely some physical characteristics of French Canadian people, being dark haired and dark eyed and being slight in stature. Almost 50% of French Canadians from Quebec have an admixture of Amerindian in their genetic markings.

He has very similar characteristics to my husband (but decades younger! LOL). Olive-toned skin, dark bushy eyebrows etc, jawline. My hubby is a Franco-Ontarian from very northern Ontario. He is Metis. If I threw apic up of him in his mid-20s, they could seem to be related.

Alas, James in not French-Canadian and they are not related..

 

[killarney rose]

The side, sliding door of a van makes a distinctly different noise from a car door closing.
Perhaps they were traveling in a van and staying in campgrounds. That would explain how well kept they appeared. Perhaps they picked up a hitch hiker that killed them and took off in their van with their belongings.

 

[Drew5571]

I received a Facebook message from the person I know who lived near where the shootings took place. His friend found the bodies. The new information is that a black girl living nearest to the scene heard the gunshots . This has not been mentioned in any previous reports.

 

[worm]

is the media ever going to find somebody who knows at least one of them? I know its only been a week but seems like someone would jump on this. Pam was in a college folk trio in 1970...somebody out there knows her.

This is what frustrates me. I was a kid at that time but still remember people who were around me. It does seem that someone would still be around from Pamela’s music circle or who was in the military with James. Or possibly someone who was younger at the time but their parent may have known them. It’s a reach I know but dang, talk about head scratching, jeez.

 

[Feme98]

Just wondering, isn’t a mention as to whether James’s left arm was more tanned than his right arm?

Is it possible that Pamela and James wore sunscreen? I wear it everyday and I have a few tan marks on my arms.

 

[southerngospel]

This is what frustrates me. I was a kid at that time but still remember people who were around me. It does seem that someone would still be around from Pamela’s music circle or who was in the military with James. Or possibly someone who was younger at the time but their parent may have known them. It’s a reach I know but dang, talk about head scratching, jeez.

I was looking for a facebook group for where she was from. It only says "redwood county"..nothing coming up for that. Doesnt really get any more specific. There are a lot of those "when you grew up in" pages on facebook. I thought that might be a good place to start. That show listing fo Sunleding is edson auditorium on the campus of the university of minnesota at morris. Thats something too.

 

[Drew5571]

What should I do with this information?

 

[MrsWatson]

Just wondering, isn’t a mention as to whether James’s left arm was more tanned than his right arm?

Is it possible that Pamela and James wore sunscreen? I wear it everyday and I have a few tan marks on my arms.

It was 1976. Sunscreen was not a big thing unless you burned super easy. My mom was a very pale freckled redhead who burned terribly, but I remember her going more for head to toe clothing, a mummu and a big hat, vs suncreen.

I've been quietly following along. I think this is one of the first cases I ever read about on the internet. Always such a mystery and wonderful they now have names. I am very curious about the backstrory; how they got together, how they ended up in SC, how they ended up dying so horribly.

 

[Drew5571]

Another detail, was this mentioned in the original report. “ Polaroid negatives of the couple, still lying face down in the shallow ditch that was scraped out each time the road plowed down the road .I took them home with me.” Were the Polaroid negatives taken by the coroner?

 

[killarney rose]

I agree about the sunscreen. It just wasn’t that common then.

I’m not sure what you are asking about the Polaroids. They didn’t have negatives.

 

[Drew5571]

He mentions another detail that has not been mentioned before. , that a black girl living nearest to the scene heard the shots. He lived near the scene. Someone his dates are off but it has been forty years. Were they found with their faves lying down? He wrote a book about his life, this would have been a big moment but there is no mention of it.

 

[Drew5571]

I was looking for a facebook group for where she was from. It only says "redwood county"..nothing coming up for that. Doesnt really get any more specific. There are a lot of those "when you grew up in" pages on facebook. I thought that might be a good place to start. That show listing fo Sunleding is edson auditorium on the campus of the university of minnesota at morris. Thats something too.

What about people who served in the Army and lived in Germany in the late 1960’s?