Identified! Mystery couple murdered in South Carolina, 1976 - Pamela Buckley & James P Freund #8

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I hope so, the murders were brutal, tossing them over to their backs and the final shot under the chin, who ever did this, had to look them in the eye, during the final shot.
It's chilling.

It must be very hard for the family's to read this.

Also as for the PB and JF, it could be that they stayed on campgrounds, instead of motels, during their travels, I think most campgrounds did had facilities as showers, washing machines, etc.
Yeah, I agree. When I was younger, me and my brothers and parents would go camping in June or July every summer. Most campsites had a shower and some sort of bathroom or bathhouse.
IMO
 
You are so right about this. In my experience, used clothing stores were found in more urban areas like NYC or Los Angeles, where hippie chic was a thing and many of the clothes sold were antique. Truly used clothing really came into it's heydey during the punk era of the late 70s and early 80s when more and more used clothing stores began popping up everywhere. And you are also so right about the cost of clothing! I remember saving for months to buy one pair of Dittos jeans which cost almost $60 in like 1977. That was a lot of money for a teenager in household chores to accumulate. Now you can buy three pairs of jeans (or more) for that amount at Walmart. Interestingly, my young female relatives all covet 1970s era American made vintage clothing, especially Gunne Sax dresses, Dittos and Jordache and Calvin Klein Jeans. I had three pairs of 1970s Bare Traps sandals that they already absconded with. :D {back to topic}

I agree, there were no thrift stores back then, except church sales that would sell clothes of seniors who had died (I was there at the time!)

Not to make this a history lesson, but back then clothes weren't made in mass quantities in China, they were expensive, well made in America, and in comparison to now, hard to find. People didn't fake their identity, either. If your sweatshirt said Yale, it meant you went to Yale. And most people dressed nicely wherever they went, unless they were literally alcoholics living in the street, and those were very rare, or self-declared hippies, deliberately defying social norms with their messy, dirty clothing.
 
Unfortunately, a lot of us had tunnel vision. We thought they were a couple who would be reported as missing together.

I don't think I ever heard anyone suggest they might have been from two different disappearances who happened to meet up along the way.

I wonder if anyone put his initials (that we had on his ring) to James but decided it couldn't be him because he disappeared alone.

Since Pamela was from Colorado, she probably went through Nebraska on her way east and was most likely the one who picked up the matchbook. She was most likely with a completely different person at the time hitching east to where she met up with James somewhere.

We really don't know how long the two of them were traveling together, they could have met up just before their first interactions at the campgrounds. Pamela may have thought she would be safer traveling with a guy.

I don't know where people got the idea there were no thrift stores in the 70's. They were all over Nebraska. Good Will, Salvation Army, Army Navy Store - where you could get great jackets.

Neither one appeared to have left with a lot of money and I don't see where either left with a car, so I would guess they were just hitching around the country, and as someone previously said, Campgrounds back in those days did have showers, and washing machines set up for campers. They probably had sleeping bags that could have been picked up really cheap and simply slept outside.

RIP - Pamela and James - Your long journey home is finally complete.
 
In the seventies (the olden days) photographs were not so simple to make. A camera, flash bulbs or flash cubes and film were required, and exposed film was taken to chemist or drug store for developing. Sometimes exposed film was mailed to a processor for developing. Developing would take at least week.

After vacations and holidays people would have rolls of film to develop.

Ah, but we also had Polaroid cameras. Almost instant photos - it was fun watching them develop right before your eyes. (I still have one. Stashed away with other old memorabilia)
 
A Reddit poster today came up with a good explanation for how James came up with the expensive Bulova watch. His father-in-law was a longtime employee of Bulova:

Clipping from Lancaster New Era - Newspapers.com
That makes sense. Another thing that should be noted is that James's ex-wife was a probable descendant of the religion's founder that they were married in, actually.
 
Unfortunately, a lot of us had tunnel vision. We thought they were a couple who would be reported as missing together.

I don't think I ever heard anyone suggest they might have been from two different disappearances who happened to meet up along the way.

I wonder if anyone put his initials (that we had on his ring) to James but decided it couldn't be him because he disappeared alone.

Since Pamela was from Colorado, she probably went through Nebraska on her way east and was most likely the one who picked up the matchbook. She was most likely with a completely different person at the time hitching east to where she met up with James somewhere.

We really don't know how long the two of them were traveling together, they could have met up just before their first interactions at the campgrounds. Pamela may have thought she would be safer traveling with a guy.

I don't know where people got the idea there were no thrift stores in the 70's. They were all over Nebraska. Good Will, Salvation Army, Army Navy Store - where you could get great jackets.

Neither one appeared to have left with a lot of money and I don't see where either left with a car, so I would guess they were just hitching around the country, and as someone previously said, Campgrounds back in those days did have showers, and washing machines set up for campers. They probably had sleeping bags that could have been picked up really cheap and simply slept outside.

RIP - Pamela and James - Your long journey home is finally complete.
You mentioned the matchbook, that seems kinda confusing to me..
It is stated, they were both non smokers and the only reasons, I can came up with, is that JF had it in his jeans for making a campfire or for hitchhiking??

" In the pocket of the jeans was a matchbook from a Midwestern truckstop and the shirt was a promotional item given away in Florida, leading the investigators to conclude that the couple had been nomadic in life..."

The Unnamed: Sumter County Does Part I

Anyway.. maybe, I am reading too much into it...
 
As for the matches. Matchbooks were a dime a dozen back then. They were available free at most businesses for advertising on them. Also they could’ve been pot smokers.
Wouldn't there be evidence of pot in their autopsies if they did smoke pot? Also, pot stains teeth from what I've read about it.
IMO
 
Depends on when they last smoked it. Ive always heard that is stays in your system for three days. I don’t know if that’s true.

who knows, maybe they just picked up a free book as they walked out of a restaurant or other business. They were everywhere back then.
 
Depends on when they last smoked it. Ive always heard that is stays in your system for three days. I don’t know if that’s true.

who knows, maybe they just picked up a free book as they walked out of a restaurant or other business. They were everywhere back then.

The compounds are held in fat cells for some time, up to a month or longer.

I’ve got a lot of catching up to do on this, I seen the report on my local new in SC and have just been perplexed.
 
Why did this thread jump to these innocent victims being pot smokers? So what if they were? Can't we just let them rest in peace?

It’s an attempt to explain the matchbook. A totally unnecessary attempt, I think. If you’re traveling, have a matchbook in case you want to start a campfire.

And from what I’ve heard of the autopsies, neither one of them used drugs of any kind.
 
Could their murders be related to the Betty Swank/Tommy Taylor/ Carlotta Hartness murders that happened the next year in Columbia? The killers in those cases have been executed.
 
I don’t think the matchbook or whether they smoked pot is important or a big deal .we all did it back then.

a lot of what has been said or inferred on this thread is not a big deal. This couple,regardless of what they did or didn’t do, they were victims
 
It’s an attempt to explain the matchbook. A totally unnecessary attempt, I think. If you’re traveling, have a matchbook in case you want to start a campfire.

And from what I’ve heard of the autopsies, neither one of them used drugs of any kind.

Yeah there are a lot of reasons to have a matchbook. Burn incense. Light candles. Light a camp stove. Arson. Smoking. Just to have in case you need them. I don't think this is an angle that will produce anything except for maybe where they had traveled but what they needed them for is going to be guesswork that won't be substantiated with anything.
 
I relate. I’m a retired special investigator stroke survivor so WS has allowed me to regain hand/finger dexterity and reignite the spark in my brain. I use these cases as brain puzzles. WS has been my free rehab facility. Thank you Tricia.
And use it, you have! I’ve always enjoyed your insightful posts.
 
Yeah there are a lot of reasons to have a matchbook. Burn incense. Light candles. Light a camp stove. Arson. Smoking. Just to have in case you need them. I don't think this is an angle that will produce anything except for maybe where they had traveled but what they needed them for is going to be guesswork that won't be substantiated with anything.
Matchbooks were also collectible.
 
This is another far-fetched theory, but what if James and Pam were taking a trip across the US? Maybe they traveled from campsite to campsite by James's car and were headed for Myrtle Beach as a next stop or they were leaving Myrtle Beach? I've read in the thread that there are a great deal of peach stands near MB, which might explain the presence of fruit or ice cream in their stomachs.
 
I was a teen back then. I graduated in ‘74. There were thrift stores back then. I was a regular at the Salvation Army and the Goodwill store. There was a huge one of each in Orlando back then, and I bought a lot of cool, funky , vintage clothes from them both.

my sister graduated in 1976 and frequently shopped at thrift stores back then. Granted, they may not have been as plentiful then as they are today, but they did exist.
 
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