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

[worm]

I have an almost identical ring as Pamela’s, vintage 70s and I didn’t get it in New Mexico.

its very hard to see the details but there is a jewelers mark on the back of the setting. It looks like it was stamped. Ive included a picture of the ring too. These coral and turquoise rings were everywhere. I’m not trying to be argumentative, I just want folks to understand that.

The article also mentions Pine trees that they were under. The Pines on the left look much younger than 40 plus years but this could suggest cutting and replanting. The trees on the right look to be hardwoods.

 

[Awsi Dooger]

From my understanding and have read that in one article, is that several witnesses /residents heard the shots.
Can't find it any more.

There is a very narrow dirt road directly across from Locklair, essentially an extension of Locklair. It is possible somebody was living in that direction. This view is exiting Locklair and facing across Old St. John's Road:

Google Maps

Here's another view with the entrance to Locklair at left and the smaller dirt road at right. This angle is heading back toward I-95 on Old St. John's Road:

Google Maps

From the opposite side, you can see there is a trailer there now, or now as of when this Google Maps version was filmed. If something was there in 1976 it's within 150 yards of the apparent area where the murders occurred:

Google Maps

There were no homes on Locklair. I only saw one other home nearby. This view is the Locklair intersection while remaining on Old St. John's Road. If you advance forward you'll eventually see a building at left. It is called a Clubhouse now and looks newer than the home on the opposite side on approach to Locklair:

Google Maps

 

[worm]

i was just speaking to my mother, who incidentally is the same age as Ms Buckley, about this jewelry. She says the jewelry was everywhere, often traded by friends, and not expensive at all. We live not too far from the Cherokee Native area and that, much like Myrtle Beach, were places that everyone came home from back then with pieces of this stuff. She said it was sold locally too at some independent stores.

 

[Betty P]

@Awsi Dooger , I’ve about lost interest in the campground story too. As reported in that Post article, the coroner is one who really had questions about the KOA and with those records being lost to fire, I’m not sure if that one is worth it anymore. LE thinks that the guy who had the gun knew more than he was telling. Again, I can’t get away from him or that weapon.

I have to agree about the KOA story. There's really nothing in it that is useful to the investigation. The victims weren't Canadians and that's about it. Nothing else in the story helps reveal the identity of the killer(s) or the circumstances leading up to the murders.

 

[killarney rose]

Yes, I had forgotten, my friends and I would always swap out our jewelery like this with each other for a few days at a time.

 

[Betty P]

There is a very narrow dirt road directly across from Locklair, essentially an extension of Locklair. It is possible somebody was living in that direction. This view is exiting Locklair and facing across Old St. John's Road:

Google Maps

Here's another view with the entrance to Locklair at left and the smaller dirt road at right. This angle is heading back toward I-95 on Old St. John's Road:

Google Maps

From the opposite side, you can see there is a trailer there now, or now as of when this Google Maps version was filmed. If something was there in 1976 it's within 150 yards of the apparent area where the murders occurred:

Google Maps

There were no homes on Locklair. I only saw one other home nearby. This view is the Locklair intersection while remaining on Old St. John's Road. If you advance forward you'll eventually see a building at left. It is called a Clubhouse now and looks newer than the home on the opposite side on approach to Locklair:

Google Maps

That's possible re the short drive off Locklair. There may have been a trailer or small house there that's been torn down since then.

There's also a home north on Old St John's Rd. Given it was late on a warm summer night, its possible someone heard something there. Less highway noise late at night and sound carries much further. It was August, so people were probably sleeping with their windows open. Not everyone had an air conditioner back then, it was still kind of a luxury item, especially in rural areas.

 

[worldwatcher]

In a local report back on the 2nd thread, page 6, that indicates the shots being heard between midnight and 1 am and it says “local residents” heard them. Oddly, it doesn’t mention a truck driver but rather somebody finding them “while on their way to work”.

Found the article, that you mentioned, yesterday! I do think, by reading it, that several locals heard it.
Sumter Does - Newspapers.com

 

[branmuffin]

I agree. As a Canadian also, I've known French Canadians to have a darker complexion too. I'm thinking in this case, the olive complexion as cited could be just due to all of the travelling around this couple did, from standing in the sun hitchhiking to just being outdoors alot, like many young people at that time.

I agree but there is a difference between being tanned and having an olive complexion. It was a misnomer for LE to describe his complexion as olive. Well tanned would have worked better.

 

[Betty P]

Found the article, that you mentioned, yesterday! I do think, by reading it, that several locals heard it.
Sumter Does - Newspapers.com

Thanks.

I'll check some of the other dates to find more articles. This is real "memory lane" stuff. Carter and Reagan were running for the WH. Jimmy Buffet had just signed onto Carter's campaign to do concerts and GOTV. Fun times.

 

[branmuffin]

Just came across this full-page article on Pamela and Jim.
04 Apr 2008, 3 - National Post at Newspapers.com

The person being interviewed was Vera Moore who was Assistant to the Coroner at the time of the murders.

In paragraph 1 it is stated that:


She must have had a reason to use the word "van". She was directly involved with the case at the coroner's office and would be privvy to more info than we were/are. Perhaps the "Hearing Witness" heard a van door closing - it is a more distinct sound than hearing a car door shut. Perhaps a small leak of a detail unknown to the general public. Maybe it is a van that is the vehicle in question.

@Awsi Dooger , I know you were looking to better nail down the actual location of the incident for proximity to the highway. At para 3 it states they were found 400 metres from the highway. I think you were correct when you believed they came off the highway, turned onto the first sideroad and that it happened just into that road.

Again, this is what drives me crazy about this case. We've got an actual article talking to Verna Moore and the description of the shots include the coup de grace of being shot under the chin. That's NOT a head shot. Sure, the bullet probably exited the top of the head but it wasn't being shot in the head.

And the evidence from the KOA campground owners that the couple, or at least the male, was from Canada wasn't just WS posters running wild with the theory, it was supported by the ring and the fact that the couple weren't just at the campsite ONE night they came back to spend a couple of weeks there so I think LE thought the information was valid.

It's easy to have 20/20 vision as to the origins of the couple after it has been verified by DNA but any of the investigations done to find out the identities of this couple was based on valid information at the time.

It's very tragic that so much of the evidence was lost. It's unfortunate that some of the evidence was lent out and treated shoddily. If the dental records had been disseminated with the correct information instead of upside down I wonder if we would even be talking about this couple nearly fifty years later.

 

[branmuffin]

I received a Facebook message from the person I know who lived near where the shootings took place. His friend found the bodies. The new information is that a black girl living nearest to the scene heard the gunshots . This has not been mentioned in any previous reports.

The man who found them was also black, I believe.

 

[killarney rose]

We don’t know what kind of a person James was. No one has come forward to share that. For all we know he might have been the kind that liked to tell tall tales and he could’ve told the man he was Canadian.

 

[branmuffin]

Just wondering, isn’t a mention as to whether James’s left arm was more tanned than his right arm?

Is it possible that Pamela and James wore sunscreen? I wear it everyday and I have a few tan marks on my arms.

To be perfectly honest, I don't remember anyone wearing the kind of sunscreen like we have today. People were trying to get tanned, the darker the better. I have a friend who was using baby oil to get a tan. Guess what! She got skin cancer. And one of my favourite suntan lotions from that era was called Bain de Soleil. It was greasy and kind of a pinky copper colour and the sunscreen factor was 2! Everyone loved the look of a dark tan with light blue eyes or green eyes.

 

[Triss]

We don’t know what kind of a person James was. No one has come forward to share that. For all we know he might have been the kind that liked to tell tall tales and he could’ve told the man he was Canadian.

True.
It's kinda funny how there were all sorts of clues about him when they were still unidentified and not many clues about the girl and now that they're identified we found quite a lot of stuff about Pam but not much is known about James.

 

[branmuffin]

He mentions another detail that has not been mentioned before. , that a black girl living nearest to the scene heard the shots. He lived near the scene. Someone his dates are off but it has been forty years. Were they found with their faves lying down? He wrote a book about his life, this would have been a big moment but there is no mention of it.

I'm a little confused about this new information. What is the source?

 

[branmuffin]

This is coming from a person I know who lived near the scene.

If it hasn't been verified the information is hearsay. And over the years I think it may have been embellished.

 

[worldwatcher]

Thanks.

I'll check some of the other dates to find more articles. This is real "memory lane" stuff. Carter and Reagan were running for the WH. Jimmy Buffet had just signed onto Carter's campaign to do concerts and GOTV. Fun times.

Here it says too:
"Area residents reported hearing gun shots from the area around that time"
Sumter Does - Newspapers.com
So from my understanding, at least several, heard the 6 gunshots and maybe some saw a van/car?
Also before the shots were fired, there are mentions of hearing a car door slammed..

About Lonnie and the gun, I do hope, LE compared the secured tire tracks from the crime scene to the vehicle(s), he owned?
Also, could be that, it didn't match.

Also during the investigation, 6-8 yrs after the murders, LE was looking into Lucas and searching for an abandoned, disabled car.
Could be that the killer tried to get rid of the car, don't know if burned,abandoned cars were found..maybe dumped in lakes or so?

Hyatt -Lucas connection (2) - Newspapers.com

 

[Betty P]

Again, this is what drives me crazy about this case. We've got an actual article talking to Verna Moore and the description of the shots include the coup de grace of being shot under the chin. That's NOT a head shot. Sure, the bullet probably exited the top of the head but it wasn't being shot in the head.

And the evidence from the KOA campground owners that the couple, or at least the male, was from Canada wasn't just WS posters running wild with the theory, it was supported by the ring and the fact that the couple weren't just at the campsite ONE night they came back to spend a couple of weeks there so I think LE thought the information was valid.

It's easy to have 20/20 vision as to the origins of the couple after it has been verified by DNA but any of the investigations done to find out the identities of this couple was based on valid information at the time.

It's very tragic that so much of the evidence was lost. It's unfortunate that some of the evidence was lent out and treated shoddily. If the dental records had been disseminated with the correct information instead of upside down I wonder if we would even be talking about this couple nearly fifty years later.

Its understandable that LE focused on the witness testimony about the couple being from Canada. It's a shame it didn't pan out, but they did the best they could with what they had. Now that the victims have been identified, the information from that witness isn't useful anymore.

As for evidence lost, yeah, that's a shame but it happens so often in cold cases. On the positive side, JMO, the current sheriff sounded cautiously optimistic about being able to discover who killed the couple. I think they know and we know one of the most likely suspects. There may even still be people alive who know what happened, even if they didn't participate.

 

[Fukiyama]

We don’t know what kind of a person James was. No one has come forward to share that. For all we know he might have been the kind that liked to tell tall tales and he could’ve told the man he was Canadian.

When my dad hitchhiked in Europe in the mid-seventies, he told people he was Canadian to avoid any stigma associated with the US involvement in Vietnam and other places. That kind of deception probably wasn't necessary in the US itself, but something to keep in mind if James wanted to dissociate himself from the military.

 

[worm]

When my dad hitchhiked in Europe in the mid-seventies, he told people he was Canadian to avoid any stigma associated with the US involvement in Vietnam and other places. That kind of deception probably wasn't necessary in the US itself, but something to keep in mind if James wanted to dissociate himself from the military.

This makes sense given the climate at the time. He may not have known but probably did, that midlands SC is a heavy military area, both active and retired, and it would seem that his service would have been a badge of honor there. As for the name, if that’s a true account, I thought that maybe the guy was a long way from home and in a strange place, and let’s face it, rural SC can be that, he maybe didn’t trust anybody and tossed out a fake name.
The problem there is, the campground owner said they kept good records on campers. The guy that James was supposed to have talked with, his wife worked there so James had to know he could have been caught in a lie. Again, the KOA story seems off.