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

[Vern]

He was sent to Germany during his military service.

Here's a link to the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center that we used when I was a Canadian Army brat in Lahr, Germany in the 1970s and for our war casualties from Afghanistan during my deployment there that I mentioned earlier.

It's wiki confirms it opened in 1953, so I've really no doubt now that this is where he received his world-class dental care from. They dealt with thousands of people in the 70s as they looked after all Allied military and all their family members too so it may explain why no-one who treated him recognized his photo/dental x-rays, if they even saw it, when it was circulated post-death a decade or so after his military service.

Landstuhl Regional Medical Center - Wikipedia

Landstuhl Regional Medical Center | Health.mil

 

[Betty P]

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

The man who found them was not connected to the man who was found with the gun. He just happened to be the first to drive by and see the bodies.

 

[Betty P]

I also wonder how much of the anecdotal evidence is sound. Was it James who shot pool with that guy and told him the silly disowned story and tried to sell him his ring? Did a hermit hear the gunshots and a car speed away? A hermit? Really?
And regarding evidence, was it ever established that they were murdered on the road? Or is it possible that they were dumped there? (Apologies if this has been established and I missed it)

In my summary, I left out the story about the pool game and the French guy. None of that information ended up being accurate and witness accounts, however well intended can often be wrong.

There was no hermit, that was just rumor that morphed from bad wording in a reporter's news story. The sound of the car and gunshots, per news media linked above, came from someone who lived in an actual home nearby.

There's so much myth, rumors and inaccurate information associated with this case, its best to just start over from scratch with the identities and information about the victims and the few facts about their death, the crime scene, autopsy and the finding of the murder weapon in the truck of a local suspect.

JMO, but the info about the victim's dental work, etc are no longer relevant because we now know their identity.

 

[southerngospel]

im enjoying getting the background info on their lives. Ive been bummed out for the last couple of days learning that the guy from Sunlending died from a gliding accident.

 

[Satchie]

Agreed. Since none of us (or almost none of us) are crazy or out of our minds on hard drugs, it is problematic to apply the logic that we might use to what the prep might use. Starting from the proposition of "Now if it were me, and I shot 2 drifters in the neck and chest 3x on a country road at 3 o'clock in the morning, I would..." is taking a few leaps, I'd say.
For me, the mere idea of owning a gun, especially one with the serial numbers filed off, is hard to fathom.

Welcome to WS. I have been a member for probably 10 years and have followed/read about hundreds of cases in my long life of interest in crime. Many start out with a scenario such as this, and then slowly information is released as the crime is solved or as a trial progresses. Similar to police officers, one develops an understanding of the criminal mind and the typical behaviours of criminals, and I, and other serious WS'ers, are very often correct in our hive mind detection. That is what WS is for, I don't know why someone would join, otherwise.

 

[branmuffin]

I believe there was another post mentioning the truck driver who found the bodies worked for a heating oil or propane delivery company.
In this case, he might be "resting" because he's on the road to his first delivery but ahead of the time he's supposed to make the first delivery of the morning.

I mentioned that Mr. Durant may have worked for an oil company since he was mentioned in an obituary of the owner of said oil company as a loyal assistant. I was speculating. It's not been verified that my speculation is fact. We're here spitballing about scenarios that may be true, but please don't take speculation as fact.

We've run into that many times over the years because information is so old it's woven together with supposition and speculation and presented as fact. eg. I read in a newspaper that the 'hermit' actually saw the vehicle when in fact he only heard it.

 

[Satchie]

In my summary, I left out the story about the pool game and the French guy. None of that information ended up being accurate and witness accounts, however well intended can often be wrong.

There was no hermit, that was just rumor that morphed from bad wording in a reporter's news story. The sound of the car and gunshots, per news media linked above, came from someone who lived in an actual home nearby.

There's so much myth, rumors and inaccurate information associated with this case, its best to just start over from scratch with the identities and information about the victims and the few facts about their death, the crime scene, autopsy and the finding of the murder weapon in the truck of a local suspect.

JMO, but the info about the victim's dental work, etc are no longer relevant because we now know their identity.

Well, whoever heard the car and shots didn't seem interested in investigating or calling police, so that is maybe where the notion of 'hermit' ie antisocial person, comes from.

I agree the stories of witnesses, who emerge long after the deaths, can be problematic, and IMO are best taken as 'unconfirmed'. Many people assume they are absolutely true, and get lead astray, but neither are they disproven, either.

For myself, I welcome any factual resesearch or information people can contribute to the thread.

 

[branmuffin]

Well, whoever heard the car and shots didn't seem interested in investigating or calling police, so that is maybe where the notion of 'hermit' ie antisocial person, comes from.

I agree the stories of witnesses, who emerge long after the deaths, can be problematic, and IMO are best taken as 'unconfirmed'. Many people assume they are absolutely true, and get lead astray, but neither are they disproven, either.

For myself, I welcome any factual resesearch or information people can contribute to the thread.

It's possible that people in 2021 living in an urban area equate hearing gunshots as something foreign and scary and end up calling the police. People who live in rural areas are a lot more used to it. I lived in a small town north of Toronto for a while and it took some getting used to to hear gunshots during deer season, moose season, duck season....

And in that area of the US they have problems with feral hogs and people shoot them at night so maybe hearing gunshots at night in a rural area is no biggie. You'd probably think, huh, somebody must be out hunting.

 

[Betty P]

im enjoying getting the background info on their lives. Ive been bummed out for the last couple of days learning that the guy from Sunlending died from a gliding accident.

Yeah, that was really sad. He seemed like a really cool guy, very nice and certainly talented. Hang gliding was new, I think, and very popular. Today, the equipment is probably much better.

 

[wary]

Well, whoever heard the car and shots didn't seem interested in investigating or calling police, so that is maybe where the notion of 'hermit' ie antisocial person, comes from.

I agree the stories of witnesses, who emerge long after the deaths, can be problematic, and IMO are best taken as 'unconfirmed'. Many people assume they are absolutely true, and get lead astray, but neither are they disproven, either.

For myself, I welcome any factual resesearch or information people can contribute to the thread.

As I’ve said before, I grew up in a low-crime rural neighborhood where gunshots at midnight and tires squealing would not at all have prompted my family to call 911.

And I never took the ‘hermit’ label seriously, because it just appeared out of nowhere, after earlier reports that sounded like it was simply people living nearby who said they heard it.

 

[worm]

I also wonder how much of the anecdotal evidence is sound. Was it James who shot pool with that guy and told him the silly disowned story and tried to sell him his ring? Did a hermit hear the gunshots and a car speed away? A hermit? Really?
And regarding evidence, was it ever established that they were murdered on the road? Or is it possible that they were dumped there? (Apologies if this has been established and I missed it)

I’ve a lot of questions about some of these witnesses too but I have read LE statements that indicate that they were murdered in the location where they were found.

 

[southerngospel]

Yeah, that was really sad. He seemed like a really cool guy, very nice and certainly talented. Hang gliding was new, I think, and very popular. Today, the equipment is probably much better.

Being a musician myself...John Daly must have been really weirded out and grief stricken with both of his bandmates being either dead or missing within a one year time frame...and all being in their 20's.

 

[Satchie]

I’ve a lot of questions about some of these witnesses too but I have read LE statements that indicate that they were murdered in the location where they were found.

I think that can be determined by forensic evidence, ie blood and fluids on the ground beneath them, bullets or casings, footprints, etc.

 

[Satchie]

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.

You maybe know the infamous case two years ago in Canada, that started with two normal, non-drug using, law-abiding teens shooting a couple who were sleeping in their van on the side of a highway, for no reason whatever. It appears they just wanted the excitement of killing people, and the couple were an easy target.

ETA however, this couple wouldn't likely have been sleeping, given how they were fully dressed and had shoes on.

 

[Vern]

Geez, I was just going back through old newspaper articles to see if I could find any with scene photos in them. I didn't, but I did find this one from a couple of days after they were found. It totally creeped me out.

1) It states in this article that they were found "Monday morning by a man on his way to work". We now know that it was a truck driver, so perhaps he was indeed just a local delivery truck driver ... on his way to work.

13 Aug 1976, Page 3 - The High Point Enterprise at Newspapers.com

2) The part that totally creeped me out though is the other headline on this page:

"If he runs, Buckley Claims Candidacy Will Be Serious". It has a photo of James Buckley to go with it."

Deja vu. All this time and totally unrelated, but both of their names appearing, in part, in an unrelated article on the same page as their story seeking to identify them. I wonder if there was any relation of Pamela to this gentleman and ergo a possible reason for them to be in that area?

 

[Packersfan96]

Geez, I was just going back through old newspaper articles to see if I could find any with scene photos in them. I didn't, but I did find this one from a couple of days after they were found. It totally creeped me out.

1) It states in this article that they were found "Monday morning by a man on his way to work". We now know that it was a truck driver, so perhaps he was indeed just a local delivery truck driver ... on his way to work.

13 Aug 1976, Page 3 - The High Point Enterprise at Newspapers.com

2) The part that totally creeped me out though is the other headline on this page:

"If he runs, Buckley Claims Candidacy Will Be Serious". It has a photo of James Buckley to go with it."

Deja vu. All this time and totally unrelated, but both of their names appearing, in part, in an unrelated article on the same page as their story seeking to identify them. I wonder if there was any relation of Pamela to this gentleman and ergo a possible reason for them to be in that area?

James Buckley was running for the Senate in New York at that time so it probably was just an AP story that a local newspaper picked up. There’s no connection between him and Pam.

 

[Triss]

Deja vu. All this time and totally unrelated, but both of their names appearing, in part, in an unrelated article on the same page as their story seeking to identify them. I wonder if there was any relation of Pamela to this gentleman and ergo a possible reason for them to be in that area?

That's eerie. I'm sure it's just a coincidence, as far as we know, James and Pam didn't have any ties to SC. But I agree it's weird to see both their names in an unrelated article.

 

[Vern]

James Buckley was running for the Senate in New York at that time so it probably was just an AP story that a local newspaper picked up. There’s no connection between him and Pam.

I'm not inferring there was any connection between them and the GOP candidate. I just thought it was eerie with the names.

I don't actually know if he's some lost lost uncle or not as I haven't ever researched it being their names just came out.

I just thought it was creepy.

 

[Magnum P.E.]

I think that can be determined by forensic evidence, ie blood and fluids on the ground beneath them, bullets or casings, footprints, etc.

They would know by the lividity pattern on the bodies.

 

[worm]

I'm not inferring there was any connection between them and the GOP candidate. I just thought it was eerie with the names.

I don't actually know if he's some lost lost uncle or not as I haven't ever researched it being their names just came out.

I just thought it was creepy.

I thought it strange too. I’m sure just coincidence, but a weird one.