A glaring trend with these older unsolved cases -- and even newer cases -- is that there was little if any media involvement. That reversal alone would surge countless cases to the forefront, enabling sleuthers to find the old articles and videos, identify the name, and make the connection. Instead the family members somehow have more trust in their local sheriff than the local paper or news anchor, so they trudge into the police station and share their story, where it becomes filed away...never to be seen again.
There was plenty available to solve this case. Heck, we had not 2 but all three initials...JPF. Imagine if Freund's family had gone to the Pennsylvania media and publicized his absence including the full name and detail that he had a ring with those initials. Apparently nothing like that happened. They waited for the required number of years to pass and then fulfilled the legal requirements to declare him dead. Pamela's family had someone who was within a specialized field. Heck, that one promotional photo would have generated interest. We may not be hearing quickly from family members and friends 45 years later but just think of media in the late '70s and early '80s saying the Buckley family is looking for a missing member of Sunlending. One fan after another from those performances would recognize who it was and spread the word. Not impossible that Pam is identified long before that Unsolved Mysteries episode in 1995.
Admittedly this baffles the heck out of me because I have a journalism degree. That profession is loaded with terrific people. It is disgraceful how conventional wisdom has so incompetently veered the other way, toward distrust and ridicule. Be ignorant somewhere else. I understand some people are not comfortable on camera or even providing interview for print. But the media is aware of that. It is the reason they often do the interview in the person's own home, with everyone there. Comfort in numbers and familiarity. The benefits are potentially enormous and overwhelm the brief awkward tension.
Think of that Cleveland case. Two of the three missing girls had become media cases. Therefore the responding officers were well aware of the names in real time as everything unfolded that afternoon. The other girl became, "Who is that?" solely because Michele Knight's family took the paperwork route and not the high profile media path. Granted, Michele was an adult while the others were not.
Eventually even with an adult you know darn well something's wrong if there's no word from them. The families of a missing person who merely speak to law enforcement will continue to lessen expectancy level compared to families who push one media outlet after another. There should be a kit of recommendations. DNA Doe Project and similar firms cannot be one dimensional. They need to take steps to advise as well as solve. Family members should contact law enforcement and media, along with forging their own presence online. The missing persons databases need to be combined and refined. Every time I look at Namus I think that's great but this should be the junior varsity version. It looks like 1996 caliber. Pamela unquestionably would have been proposed as Sumter Jane Doe if suitable photos filled that page on debut in 2019.
