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

[otto]

Again from my reading the previous threads far too fast, either the report came in or the police were at the scene at 6 am the same day. 6:20, or 6:40, maybe. It was a Monday morning.

On a side note, Hurricane Belle was racing up the coast at this time. There had been warnings for people to evacuate coastal areas. It might be interesting to check the exact timing of the hurricane and evacuations. People who’d planned to get a motel at the beach might have had those plans disrupted.

6 AM seems likely for a truck driver who prefers night driving and is close to home in Lynchburg.

That is an interesting thought about the hurricane! I was in Savannah a few years ago when a hurricane blew in. I was evacuated inland to another hotel, then evacuated again. I went to the airport after the second evacuation and paid at the counter to get the last seat on the last plane out of town.

Maybe they evacuated from Myrtle Beach due to the hurricane. Hitching, or catching a lift inland with someone who lived in the Latta, SC area, a 2.5 hour ride, would seem like a lucky break.

Perhaps the person that gave them a lift thought they had money, or something valuable. Maybe they all met at the ice cream shop on the afternoon of August 9. Necessity can breed strange bedfellows.

A tropical wave moved off the African coast on July 28th. The disturbed area moved across the central tropical Atlantic and moved to the north of the Lesser Antilles, approaching the Bahamas by August 5th. Early on the 6th, the thunderstorm cluster became organized into a tropical depression. Steadily developing over the next few days, Belle became a major hurricane early on the 9th while moving northward towards the coast of Long Island. It struck western Long Island before moving northeast and losing tropical character over New England. The graphic below shows the storm total rainfall for Belle, using data provided from the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, North Carolina.
​

Hurricane Belle - August 7-11, 1976

 

[Satchie]

But then, why does Lonnie Henry end up saying that his brother gave it to him for a Christmas present? It was actually traced to his brother, I believe, via that not-obscured-enough serial number.

I agree that the gun is the most important piece of evidence, and a theory needs to connect with the gun. IMO, the brother is very suspicious: "I gave it to my brother for Christmas years ago, he can't explain how the serial number came to be removed" translates to "Since I used it for murder and may want it again, I hid it in my alcoholic brother's truck, he knows what I'll do to him if he squeals"

 

[otto]

I haven’t seen anything that made it clear what the driver was driving, and what sort of a route he had. Once again, could that hurricane have disrupted routes?

Now Lonnie Henry seems to have been a local truck driver, not a long distance big rig driver.

Total speculation, but ... Wouldn't it be something if his brother was in Myrtle Beach on August 9, gave them a lift away from the hurricane and shot them. Then his brother phoned him, he went to the murder scene, found them, reported them, then his brother gave him the gun and he filed down the serial number to 'hide the evidence'?

 

[wary]

Total speculation, but ... Wouldn't it be something if his brother was in Myrtle Beach on August 9, gave them a lift away from the hurricane and shot them. Then his brother phoned him, he went to the murder scene, found them, reported them, then his brother gave him the gun and he filed down the serial number to 'hide the evidence'?

Being a spoilsport here—I’ve seen the name of the person who reported them, and it’s not Henry. (Unless I misread it, and it was the name of the person the truck driver asked to report it.)

I know that criminals do some pretty strange things, but I don’t get the logic of filing the numbers off a murder weapon instead of getting rid of it.

 

[Drew5571]

The fruit and ice cream could have been sherbert. though no drugs were found in their system, could someone have put something in the Herbert that could not be detected?

 

[Drew5571]

Someone should look into unsolved Myrtle Beach murders around the same time.

 

[wary]

6 AM seems likely for a truck driver who prefers night driving and is close to home in Lynchburg.

That is an interesting thought about the hurricane! I was in Savannah a few years ago when a hurricane blew in. I was evacuated inland to another hotel, then evacuated again. I went to the airport after the second evacuation and paid at the counter to get the last seat on the last plane out of town.

Maybe they evacuated from Myrtle Beach due to the hurricane. Hitching, or catching a lift inland with someone who lived in the Latta, SC area, a 2.5 hour ride, would seem like a lucky break.

Perhaps the person that gave them a lift thought they had money, or something valuable. Maybe they all met at the ice cream shop on the afternoon of August 9. Necessity can breed strange bedfellows.

A tropical wave moved off the African coast on July 28th. The disturbed area moved across the central tropical Atlantic and moved to the north of the Lesser Antilles, approaching the Bahamas by August 5th. Early on the 6th, the thunderstorm cluster became organized into a tropical depression. Steadily developing over the next few days, Belle became a major hurricane early on the 9th while moving northward towards the coast of Long Island. It struck western Long Island before moving northeast and losing tropical character over New England. The graphic below shows the storm total rainfall for Belle, using data provided from the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, North Carolina.
​

Hurricane Belle - August 7-11, 1976

Right, we’re definitely looking at possibly disrupted travel plans. And, if James and Pamela had a vehicle, I think they’d have been more likely than usual to offer someone a ride if he told some sort of a sob story that related to hurricane evacuations.

 

[worm]

Being a spoilsport here—I’ve seen the name of the person who reported them, and it’s not Henry. (Unless I misread it, and it was the name of the person the truck driver asked to report it.)

I know that criminals do some pretty strange things, but I don’t get the logic of filing the numbers off a murder weapon instead of getting rid of it.

The driver is reported as Martin Durant, it’s in that Item article linked a few posts back.

 

[otto]

The Sumter Daily Item - Google News Archive Search

I need a screen shot of that - it gives the exact location of the bodies.

It states they were found at 6:20 AM. Who is Martin Durant? It looks like they were found by Durant. He must be the trucker who pulled off to rest.

How is Durant connected to the owner of the weapon, or is there no connection?

The Sumter Daily Item - Google News Archive Search

 

[wary]

The driver is reported as Martin Durant, it’s in that Item article linked a few posts back.

Thank you!!!

 

[wary]

I need a screen shot of that - it gives the exact location of the bodies.

It states they were found at 6:20 AM. Who is Martin Durant? It looks like they were found by Durant. He must be the trucker who pulled off to rest.

How is Durant connected to the owner of the weapon, or is there no connection?

View attachment 281188

The Sumter Daily Item - Google News Archive Search

No known connection.

 

[Beachlife926]

I think a hitchhiker/carjacking makes more sense but what if they took a break from driving to sleep in their car. A local (or landowner) then noticed the car shouldn’t be there and approached with bad intentions.

 

[Satchie]

I know that criminals do some pretty strange things, but I don’t get the logic of filing the numbers off a murder weapon instead of getting rid of it.

IMO a serial number would be filed off before any crimes were committed, in case the gun was dropped at the scene of the crime or something.

Re: not getting rid of it, IMO means future plans for using it again.

 

[MadMcGoo]

I did so much research on the Camel GT series awhile back. That and the Coors shirt. I couldn’t find an exact match to JPF’s anywhere. The closest I came was one that looks identical in design, different in color, on a man who was at the 1974 World Expo in Spokane, WA. That just led me months down the L. Lovell/S. Packard rabbit hole. But it also meant that shirt might have been available prior to 1975/6 (I can’t recall now which was on the shirt). That, or they made me identical in more than one year. I guess it’s irrelevant at this point, knowing 1976 is really our main year of focus.

You can find that photo in a post on this page. Please ignore my manic theory associated with it.

Here’s a few links I managed to find in my notes for those exploring this avenue. There are a lot of photos. Some dated, some unrelated, mostly cars, but who knows. Knowing now exactly who we’re looking for, someone might spot something relevant!

International Motor Sport Association - Championships - Racing Sports Cars

Historic Sports Car Racing - Gary Donaldson (this may be unrelated entirely, I can’t recall now)

https://wikivisually.com/wiki/1976_IMSA_GT_Championship

 

[Vern]

I think the dentist work was done in Germany , where he was stationed at that time, I remember quite vague, that it was unique for USA standards. So Germany used other methods then in the USA for root canal.

Kaiserslauten. Although I'm now serving in the Canadian Army, My dad was stationed in Lahr, West Germany in the 70s. I was a competitive swimmer during our years there and frequently attended sports meets throughout Europe. A friend of mine, a Canadian soccer player, suffered a horrific leg injury during one of our sports meets in Freiburg and was evacuated by helicopter to the American Military Hospital at Landstuhl for surgery. I just saw him a few years ago at a reunion and we were actually discussing that day and he showed me his scar. Amazingly it looked just like a thin white line had been drawn onto his skin rather than the big, butchery scar I was expecting to see having seen the original injury - especially in the 70s. They did/do amazing work there. All Allied military and their families were handled by Landstuhl for major medical and dental procedures back then.

When I was serving as a Company Sergeant-Major in Afghanistan, all our grievously wounded were evacuated from hospital in Khandahar to Landstuhl where they underwent further surgeries and until they were stable enough to be returned to Canada. We flew their families from Canada to Landstuhl to be with them. They are simply amazing and are now called the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center I believe.

Amazing technology then and now. Given their cutting-edge high tech back in the 70s, I'm quite certain that they were well-established even back then and also most-likely existed in the 60s. I would put my money on this being the location where his procedure occurred during his military service in Germany.

 

[Satchie]

Someone should look into unsolved Myrtle Beach murders around the same time.

I expect police would have done that, I've read they're certain it wasn't a serial killer, I expect the FBI or some such, would have looked for similar deaths..

IMO such murders can be one offs, the perp doesn't do it again, maybe feels too much guilt, as the Sheriff suggests.

 

[branmuffin]

Thanks for helping sort through the route. There's a convergence of so many interstate highways down there. Plausible scenario with the rider from Talledega. How did the gun end up in the hands of the locals though?

Maybe the hitcher was local which is why they went the longer route. All speculation of course.

The gun is the enigma.

 

[worm]

I think the perp was a local or one more lucky traveling murderer to go to that location.

 

[branmuffin]

That would mean that the truck driver drove through the night. Do we know when the truck driver found the bodies, or when police were notified?

The truck driver was local, he lived in Lynchburg. Cobbling the information that's been compiled over the years I get the impression the hermit heard the shots some time in the early morning, which could be anywhere from 1 am to 6 am. I also get the impression that the trucker Martin Durant found them in the morning. Based on the autopsy photos there was little to no decomp so they weren't there long at all, maybe less than 10 hours. The trucker called someone called Graham in Lynchburg who called Sumter country sheriff. I don't see why the truck driver was resting on a road when he lived less than five miles away from the murder scene.

 

[Vern]

I expect police would have done that, I've read they're certain it wasn't a serial killer, I expect the FBI or some such, would have looked for similar deaths..

IMO such murders can be one offs, the perp doesn't do it again, maybe feels too much guilt, as the Sheriff suggests.

I agree; on-offs often happen when there is a specific motive too. To gain possession of a vehicle for example. IMO, the motive wasn't flat-out robbery in this case else that very expensive watch he was wearing would have disappeared too. Perhaps it was to gain possession of a vehicle.

They have always stated they believed it was possible this couple to have been somewhat well-off. That watch. Now that we know his identity, we also know that the watch most-likely was a gift from his ex father-in-law at some point (wedding present perhaps?) as his ex-f-i-l's obituary details that he had worked a 40+ years career with the Bulova Company as it's watch repair-man.

I think we can rule out Pee Wee Gaskin as he is deceased. The cops did state that they had always had some POIs and that, now with them being identified, were looking forward to possible arrest(s).