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

[snooptroop88]

I’m not sure how much stock is put into the Hermit account, much like the campground story. Sarratt is surely worth looking into but we go back to the murder weapon being found locally. The place where they were found seems like an easy side trip from the interstate but also a place that locals would know.

Just an update on Surratt, I found a source saying he was actually released for crtimes in Virginia Beach in 1976, and he racked up quite a few traffic tickets. But when in 1976?? I don't know. He's one of these less-known figures like John Arthur Ackroyd where the timeframes for certain ranges are very spotty. But he certainly had the military background, he was a Green Beret at one time.

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Totally agreed on the hermit, I didn't even see this info about the hermit until relatively recently. And I've never known what to believe when it came to the campground Canada story. Maybe, but maybe not, agreed.

That Canada story especially weird in light of the fact that so many young men went to Canada roughly around that time to avoid the draft.

 

[snooptroop88]

So "streetviewing" around the area where the couple was found, Locklair and Old St. John Church Road. Here's what I came across not all that far away on SC-341 as I tried to maneuver myself into some kind of business or what have you:

There's a Money Saver/Discount Cigarettes & gas station there on the left/red. Across, there's a club of some kind (seeing it in 2012 streetview, in 2008 view it went by another name, no idea what it was then/don't see a record). And then tucked in back there on the right (yellow sign), there's a Relax Inn, which looks like the kind of place a trucker might stop for a few hours or the night, and I'm guessing that was there back in the 70s.

I can't get the exact distance to the point where Pam and James were found, but it looks pretty close on this map (red dot's the motel):

A trucker is the one who found the bodies. A trucker (or someone with a background in trucking) may have been the one who placed the bodies there, too, jmo. What were Pam and James doing in the Sumter SC area? I'm wondering if they might have been at some of the many peach festivals held in the state in July. We know they'd recently had the fruit and ice cream. Also wondering if they might not have been there to attend the Little Mountain Reunion, which I see is one of the oldest folk festivals in SC. (Apologies if this is already in the chat somewhere.) It started in the late 1800s as a reunion for a local college and grew from there. Live music, parade, etc. The bicentennial event in 1976 was considered especially successful. This event is generally held the first Friday and Saturday of August, and in 1976, I'm seeing that would have been August 6th and 7th. Little Mountain's about an hour and a half from Sumter.

 

[worm]

So "streetviewing" around the area where the couple was found, Locklair and Old St. John Church Road. Here's what I came across not all that far away on SC-341 as I tried to maneuver myself into some kind of business or what have you:

View attachment 593732
There's a Money Saver/Discount Cigarettes & gas station there on the left/red. Across, there's a club of some kind (seeing it in 2012 streetview, in 2008 view it went by another name, no idea what it was then/don't see a record). And then tucked in back there on the right (yellow sign), there's a Relax Inn, which looks like the kind of place a trucker might stop for a few hours or the night, and I'm guessing that was there back in the 70s.

I can't get the exact distance to the point where Pam and James were found, but it looks pretty close on this map (red dot's the motel):
View attachment 593735
A trucker is the one who found the bodies. A trucker (or someone with a background in trucking) may have been the one who placed the bodies there, too, jmo. What were Pam and James doing in the Sumter SC area? I'm wondering if they might have been at some of the many peach festivals held in the state in July. We know they'd recently had the fruit and ice cream. Also wondering if they might not have been there to attend the Little Mountain Reunion, which I see is one of the oldest folk festivals in SC. (Apologies if this is already in the chat somewhere.) It started in the late 1800s as a reunion for a local college and grew from there. Live music, parade, etc. The bicentennial event in 1976 was considered especially successful. This event is generally held the first Friday and Saturday of August, and in 1976, I'm seeing that would have been August 6th and 7th. Little Mountain's about an hour and a half from Sumter.

I think there are mixed accounts on the resting truck driver vs a man just on his way to work, seeing the victims, and going to a local store to call for help.
Just my opinion is that they were somewhere local with them being clean and freshly groomed rather than hitch hiking thru the heat and humidity that blankets this state in August.

 

[Vern]

NOT saying this is the James being discussed, but I think it may be the James we're discussing:

View attachment 592936
From Mount Joy PA newspaper, Mt Joy has apartments called the Harvestview. Mount Joy is in Lancaster County, and Elizabethtown College would be about 10 miles away. But I looked at what I believe are the college yearbooks and didn't spot anyone by this name in there. (Probably nothing surprising about that at all since college yearbooks generally aren't the "big thing" that hs yearbooks are.)

I'm seeing a lot of discussion about tobacco on the threads. Interestingly, Mount Joy had what was called the Tobacco Barn, which I guess had been a fully operational tobacco farm right up through the 1970s, when it was being transitioned for commercial use.

Also something to think about is that earlier reference in here to Sunlending in Taos. Was Pam still a member by the time the band went to Taos? Because the tension had reached a boiling point in Taos by the 70s, many locals really, really resented all the hippies flooding into the area and it developed into the so-called "Hippie-Chicano War," which did (according to multiple sources) erupt into acts of vandalism and violence. For a variety of reasons, most of the communes were gone by 1980.

This post caused me to go digging at the Elizabethtown College Yearbooks (they are online).

The "James P. Freund" in the newspaper clip you've attached is shown to be:
- A Junior (in 73/74); and
- Majoring in Business Admin.

Research Guides: College Yearbooks: College Yearbooks

Conestogan and Etonian Yearbooks

libraryguides.etown.edu

Even should the James in the clip be 'our' James, he is not included in any of the Elizabethown yearbooks from 1971 -1975. If you open a 'year', scroll to the very end of book where they index the students and note the page numbers within that they appear on. Odd given the archives clip.


This obituary for a James P. Freund (1933-2025) also popped up in my feed. Interesting to note that he would have been 40/41 years old in 73/74. He was predeceased by a son "James P. Freund Jr." in 2009. This son would have been 20ish in 1973/74 (so "Junior" age for college). The obituary shows that this family was in PA during these years:

From 1970 to 1996 James was Director of Instrumental Music and Band Director at Palisades High School in Kintnersville, PA. He was also Principal Horn with the Musical Arts Chorus, the Easton Municipal Band and he played with the Liberty High School Alumni Band, Bethlehem.

If the yearbook actually had a pic of "James P. Freund", we could probably compare them to tell for sure, but I'm thinking that this recently deceased man's son was the James P. Freund who was a Junior in college at the time.

Just IMO.

 

[snooptroop88]

This post caused me to go digging at the Elizabethtown College Yearbooks (they are online).

The "James P. Freund" in the newspaper clip you've attached is shown to be:
- A Junior (in 73/74); and
- Majoring in Business Admin.

Research Guides: College Yearbooks: College Yearbooks

Conestogan and Etonian Yearbooks

libraryguides.etown.edu

Even should the James in the clip be 'our' James, he is not included in any of the Elizabethown yearbooks from 1971 -1975. If you open a 'year', scroll to the very end of book where they index the students and note the page numbers within that they appear on. Odd given the archives clip.


This obituary for a James P. Freund (1933-2025) also popped up in my feed. Interesting to note that he would have been 40/41 years old in 73/74. He was predeceased by a son "James P. Freund Jr." in 2009. This son would have been 20ish in 1973/74 (so "Junior" age for college). The obituary shows that this family was in PA during these years:



If the yearbook actually had a pic of "James P. Freund", we could probably compare them to tell for sure, but I'm thinking that this recently deceased man's son was the James P. Freund who was a Junior in college at the time.

Just IMO.

Agreed it's all kinda strange. Just looked up what appears to be the grave information for this other James, the son of the deceased gentleman (man b1933) with the musical background. I don't think there's any way the James in the listing in the news clip could be that man's son because that James P. Freund Jr (buried next to the recently deceased man's wife) was born in 1962 (and he also evidently used the "Jr.")

I think there are mixed accounts on the resting truck driver vs a man just on his way to work, seeing the victims, and going to a local store to call for help.
Just my opinion is that they were somewhere local with them being clean and freshly groomed rather than hitch hiking thru the heat and humidity that blankets this state in August.

Agreed that's not them hitching, and I think the killer probably took the victims' vehicle and that it was (as others on here have already speculated) the victims' vehicle which was taken from the scene. I weirdly still think, though, the killer may be a trucker or someone with a trucking background. If that were the case, how'd that scenario fall into place? I'm thinking there is some kind of tie-in with drugs/cigarettes on this, and possibly some fairly large festival/musical event/carnival. It's pure speculation, though, there are (unfortunately) a lot of factors that could be involved because there are so many unknowns. But when I say "some kind of tie-in," there are a lot of possibilities, including the killer being a user and maybe even high at the time, and possibly "hooked in" with some kind of illicit trade (a ring). It's difficult to even speculate because there's so, so much unknown, even in terms of whether the hermit can be believed, and whether this Canada story's in any way legit.

 

[worm]

Agreed it's all kinda strange. Just looked up what appears to be the grave information for this other James, the son of the deceased gentleman (man b1933) with the musical background. I don't think there's any way the James in the listing in the news clip could be that man's son because that James P. Freund Jr (buried next to the recently deceased man's wife) was born in 1962 (and he also evidently used the "Jr.")

Agreed that's not them hitching, and I think the killer probably took the victims' vehicle and that it was (as others on here have already speculated) the victims' vehicle which was taken from the scene. I weirdly still think, though, the killer may be a trucker or someone with a trucking background. If that were the case, how'd that scenario fall into place? I'm thinking there is some kind of tie-in with drugs/cigarettes on this, and possibly some fairly large festival/musical event/carnival. It's pure speculation, though, there are (unfortunately) a lot of factors that could be involved because there are so many unknowns. But when I say "some kind of tie-in," there are a lot of possibilities, including the killer being a user and maybe even high at the time, and possibly "hooked in" with some kind of illicit trade (a ring). It's difficult to even speculate because there's so, so much unknown, even in terms of whether the hermit can be believed, and whether this Canada story's in any way legit.

I’ve always thought that the answers were with that gun but for whatever reason it hasn’t been figured out.

 

[Betty P]

I’ve always thought that the answers were with that gun but for whatever reason it hasn’t been figured out.

Yes, it’s hard to consider outsider killers when the murder weapon was owned by a local citizen and found in their possession several months after the murders.

The suggestion of a link to the folk festival is very interesting. That might be a very plausible reason for Pam and Jim being in town.

 

[snooptroop88]

What about Allen LeRoy Anderson? Precious little about him out there, but he traveled across multiple states and killed with guns. In 1976, he was staying at a Seattle halfway house, and he evidently stole car and credit cards of the director there. Anderson was originally from Minnesota (seeing Austin Minnesota). Convicted of murders in Minnesota and CA, acknowledged as the killer in other murders. Convicted of murdering the owner of a Brevard County (Titusville?/Scottsmoor) FL fruit stand (citrus) owner. Death penalty later vacated for new trial (which I don't think ever happened), it was voided because an attorney should have been present when ALA made self-incriminating statements. He was indicted/suspected in association with multiple other murders. He often (not always) used a .22 in the commission of his crimes. There's no single site that really gets into any detail for him, everything has to be kind of put together piecemeal, so did the best I could and tried to avoid any errors.

Tracking his potential movements, based on convictions, indictments, implication: July 1976 stole wallet & car/Seattle; murder in Blueberry Wisconsin, victim found deceased in her shop Aug 6 1976; murder in Northfield MN Aug 10 1976; August 24, murder and robbery from store clerk in Virginia near Stony Point; Aug 27 (date disputed, one source claims this FL murder was the day after the VA Stony Point murder) was the murder of the citrus fruit stand owner in Scottsmoor (in some sources, Titusville) FL, DP since vacated/voided; murder in CA Oct 1976; arrested CA Oct 1976; and at some point he was being held in Tennessee.

If this source I have up now is to be believed, they suggest perp went from Stony Point Virginia to another murder the next day in Scottsmoor FL (this is the fruit stand case where it was vacated by the court/ALA should have had attorney for self-incriminating statements). But just noting, that's 12 hours of driving.

https://www.virginiachronicle.com/?a=d&d=SNH19780404.1.10&srpos=53&e=------197-en-20--41--txt-txIN-stuart+drake+davis--------

Allen Leroy Anderson

Clipping found in Florida Today published in Cocoa, Florida on 6/29/1977. Allen Leroy Anderson

www.newspapers.com

Anderson v. State

Anderson v. State - 420 So. 2d 574

law.justia.com

He had two years training as an auto mechanic (and one of the cases I'd seen associated with him mentioned the murder of a semiretired auto mechanic). The only gun I've seen mentioned with him thus far, though, is a .22, but still, I wonder, because the bodies of Pam and James clearly weren't concealed all that well, they were found quite quickly. This sounds like a killer who knew he wouldn't be around to be caught. I can't find anything on this perp's military background, if any. VERY little out there for him. I would wonder if the .22 were his only firearm (I'd tend to doubt it? But maybe so.) What if it were this perp or someone like him, and he himself filed off the identification information? And then discarded the weapon somewhere (maybe a strategically chosen location), perhaps even hoping some other individual would make use of it. I'm not a gun person, so I've got no idea, but just wondering if that's possible. And has anyone heard of Allen LeRoy Anderson? I've never even heard of him before.

JMO. And just an additional note: Anderson was originally in the Seattle halfway house because of forgery, burglary, and car theft.

 

[snooptroop88]

Reasons Pam & James might have been in the area:
-Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band opening at the Coliseum in Columbia (hour away) the following weekend (Poco & the Stills-Young Band had just finished up on July 20)
-They held on after the July peach fesivals throughout the state
-Grand Strand Music Festival/Myrtle Beach (also first year of High Steppin Country at Myrtle Beach)
-Little Mountain Reunion event
-1976 Atalaya Arts and Crafts Festival was held at Huntington Beach State Park in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina (2 hrs to Sumter)
-To get married (no residency requirement in SC in '76; no blood tests, short waiting period between application & wedding) Dillon SC known as "Wedding Capital of the East," I guess like an Eastern US Vegas. Sumter's about an hour away from Dillon. I know James filed in '71, I'm wondering if that was ever finalized, and when did Pam file for divorce? Just checked on source, says it's unclear whether James' divorce was ever finalized. Am wondering how close Pam's divorce would have been to being finalized. I just checked and I'm seeing the info I'd seen earlier which was that her divorce was finalized shortly after she died (and I mean really shortly). If that's the case, that's something to think about. And some of these states (SC included) have these bigamy exceptions for absence of a spouse, I'm seeing SC was (I believe?) five years.

Hmm. (Apologies if any of this is already mentioned in this thread.) I don't know if anything can make what happened to these people any more horrible than it already is, but the idea that they may have been down there to get married...?

 

[Betty P]

Reasons Pam & James might have been in the area:
-Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band opening at the Coliseum in Columbia (hour away) the following weekend (Poco & the Stills-Young Band had just finished up on July 20)
-They held on after the July peach fesivals throughout the state
-Grand Strand Music Festival/Myrtle Beach (also first year of High Steppin Country at Myrtle Beach)
-Little Mountain Reunion event
-1976 Atalaya Arts and Crafts Festival was held at Huntington Beach State Park in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina (2 hrs to Sumter)
-To get married (no residency requirement in SC in '76; no blood tests, short waiting period between application & wedding) Dillon SC known as "Wedding Capital of the East," I guess like an Eastern US Vegas. Sumter's about an hour away from Dillon. I know James filed in '71, I'm wondering if that was ever finalized, and when did Pam file for divorce? Just checked on source, says it's unclear whether James' divorce was ever finalized. Am wondering how close Pam's divorce would have been to being finalized. I just checked and I'm seeing the info I'd seen earlier which was that her divorce was finalized shortly after she died (and I mean really shortly). If that's the case, that's something to think about. And some of these states (SC included) have these bigamy exceptions for absence of a spouse, I'm seeing SC was (I believe?) five years.

Hmm. (Apologies if any of this is already mentioned in this thread.) I don't know if anything can make what happened to these people any more horrible than it already is, but the idea that they may have been down there to get married...?

Great research! Marriage might have been possible. Not sure about James divorce, but IIRC his wife later filed a complaint for non-payment of child support. He was deceased by then, but they didn't know. I recall putting together a timeline that showed he was last heard from by people in PA at Christmas holidays. He was murdered the following summer, several months later.

 

[worm]

50 years and sadly no answers. I was hopeful that LE would do something to shake the bushes this week but I haven’t heard anything.

 

[Triss]

Pam and James were murdered on this day 49 years ago. Their killer was never caught.

 

[Triss]

Happy heavenly birthday to James! He would've been 79 years old today.

 

[snooptroop88]

Have just been reading about Ronald Eugene Lanphear and Diana Geisinger, a pair of road-trippers involved in serial murder. A killing spree to fund their road trip to Vegas after he escaped a SD prison and befriended Geisinger in Iowa. One of the victims was a very young woman they picked up hitchhiking in OK, she was found shot twice in the head with a .22 in Guadalupe County NM. She was wearing blue denim cutoffs, Native American jewelry. So they left some items with her, but they stole what they viewed I guess as the most profitable item, her guitar. They also evidently destroyed documents, some of which may have been helpful in identifying this young woman. When they finally got to Vegas, their car broke down, so they hitched and then murdered the man that had the misfortune of giving them the ride. Then, took his car and used that to move on.

This is exactly the type of setup I'd fear with Pam and James.

Here's something else also very interesting, a Tennessee cold case involving an extremely successful DJ, coast-to-coast celebrity DJ evidently a lot of success in NYC, and his home state was Pennsylvania, Gus Gossert. He truly was a celebrity in the music industry, and he was apparently also heavily into dealing drugs and was murdered, found August 10 1976 in what was then a very rural area in Knox County TN:

Appalachian Unsolved: Who killed the Doo-wop DJ?

Robert "Gus" Gossert rose quickly in the world of radio broadcasting. But the 33-year-old UT alum had a dark side that authorities suspect ultimately caught up with him.

www.wbir.com

Gus born Chambersburg Pennsylvania, that's an hour and a half away from Lancaster PA, which is noted with James, and just over an hour from Elizabethtown, also noted with James. Gus championed doo-wop, which has a huge history in South Carolina

LE found 32yo Gossert (dob 1944), found dead slumped over the wheel of his vehicle, he was parked near his Knox County home off Watt Road, extremely rural area at the time. He'd moved back there after being released for drug charges, I think time served in NY, and then back to TN. Knox County about four hours to Sumter SC. Shot three times at close range with a .38 pistol, windows down, he was clearly there meeting with someone he trusted. Someone mentions a story that "maybe" he'd been dating a woman who had a boyfriend or relative that disapproved. He'd been there dead at least a day or two. James is only a couple of years younger than Gossert. These murders were committed within the very same timeframe, Pam & James found the 9th, Gossert the 10th. Pam in a band known to reach out to big figures in the music industry as they're trying to make it. And Gossert had family near where James came from. Looking further, Gossert had jobs in radio in Honolulu and San Francisco before he headed to New York in 1969. The band "We Five" that toured (I think?) with Pam's Sunlending was based in San Francisco & was enjoying great, great success in this period.

THAT is jmo very weird, these bizarre murders in the exact same timeframe, and really do think there may be some connection there.

As an additional note, if James were into racing with that Sebring shirt, he might have been in Colorado Springs for the Pike's Peak hill climb race, which has quite the reputation, and I believe that was held in July of '76

They probably stole their vehicle. It was either the van driven to the scene or a motorcycle. We know James was a mechanic and may have been driving something nice. Possibly James and Pam caught them in the act and they were killed because the robbers didn't want witnesses.

If you read the article linked a few posts above, you'll see that was the kind of criminal activity some people engaged in. Not all of them were members of motorcycle clubs, though. Some were just hard core criminals who worked together.

I also wondered if LE didn't follow up on the men who had the murder weapon because they were CI's or informants who provided information to cops when they were trying to solve crimes.

Judging by their appearances, grooming, lack of presence of alcohol or drugs, James and Pam weren't likely affiliated with any motorcycle gangs or other criminal groups. From research we've done in news archives, neither is mentioned having a criminal record. James had some speeding tickets in his younger years, one that sounded like he was drag racing, but that's about it.

Agreed, I bet he had a nice vehicle, and that's what the killer may have wanted, far more than the ring or watch left with James. The trace on the plates alone made it worth it to the killer to get that vehicle out of the picture. (Apologies if any of the notes in here are already somewhere in the thread.)

 

[worldwatcher]

Have just been reading about Ronald Eugene Lanphear and Diana Geisinger, a pair of road-trippers involved in serial murder. A killing spree to fund their road trip to Vegas after he escaped a SD prison and befriended Geisinger in Iowa. One of the victims was a very young woman they picked up hitchhiking in OK, she was found shot twice in the head with a .22 in Guadalupe County NM. She was wearing blue denim cutoffs, Native American jewelry. So they left some items with her, but they stole what they viewed I guess as the most profitable item, her guitar. They also evidently destroyed documents, some of which may have been helpful in identifying this young woman. When they finally got to Vegas, their car broke down, so they hitched and then murdered the man that had the misfortune of giving them the ride. Then, took his car and used that to move on.

This is exactly the type of setup I'd fear with Pam and James.

Here's something else also very interesting, a Tennessee cold case involving an extremely successful DJ, coast-to-coast celebrity DJ evidently a lot of success in NYC, and his home state was Pennsylvania, Gus Gossert. He truly was a celebrity in the music industry, and he was apparently also heavily into dealing drugs and was murdered, found August 10 1976 in what was then a very rural area in Knox County TN:

Appalachian Unsolved: Who killed the Doo-wop DJ?

Robert "Gus" Gossert rose quickly in the world of radio broadcasting. But the 33-year-old UT alum had a dark side that authorities suspect ultimately caught up with him.

www.wbir.com

Gus born Chambersburg Pennsylvania, that's an hour and a half away from Lancaster PA, which is noted with James, and just over an hour from Elizabethtown, also noted with James. Gus championed doo-wop, which has a huge history in South Carolina

LE found 32yo Gossert (dob 1944), found dead slumped over the wheel of his vehicle, he was parked near his Knox County home off Watt Road, extremely rural area at the time. He'd moved back there after being released for drug charges, I think time served in NY, and then back to TN. Knox County about four hours to Sumter SC. Shot three times at close range with a .38 pistol, windows down, he was clearly there meeting with someone he trusted. Someone mentions a story that "maybe" he'd been dating a woman who had a boyfriend or relative that disapproved. He'd been there dead at least a day or two. James is only a couple of years younger than Gossert. These murders were committed within the very same timeframe, Pam & James found the 9th, Gossert the 10th. Pam in a band known to reach out to big figures in the music industry as they're trying to make it. And Gossert had family near where James came from. Looking further, Gossert had jobs in radio in Honolulu and San Francisco before he headed to New York in 1969. The band "We Five" that toured (I think?) with Pam's Sunlending was based in San Francisco & was enjoying great, great success in this period.

THAT is jmo very weird, these bizarre murders in the exact same timeframe, and really do think there may be some connection there.

As an additional note, if James were into racing with that Sebring shirt, he might have been in Colorado Springs for the Pike's Peak hill climb race, which has quite the reputation, and I believe that was held in July of '76

Agreed, I bet he had a nice vehicle, and that's what the killer may have wanted, far more than the ring or watch left with James. The trace on the plates alone made it worth it to the killer to get that vehicle out of the picture. (Apologies if any of the notes in here are already somewhere in the thread.)

Its interesting, I admit, but there's not much info to be found, about those two.

Here is a link about their time periode where they committed the murder of
Robert Unger in San Bernardino County on July 4, 1978.

https://law.justia.com/cases/california/supreme-court/3d/26/814.html

And this is from 1974
https://law.justia.com/cases/iowa/supreme-court/1974/55589-0.html

But if test ballistics of the murder weapon was right, it still unclear how the gun ended up with Lonnie, and was stolen in the area of Durham.