I did find a bit more. It does not appear he was driving.
Convicted Md. murderer linked to local case
Is missing person case linked to Maryland murderer?
BY LIZ HOLLAND
GREENBACKVILLE -- Just days after family members of convicted Maryland murderer William Brumley offered a reward for information that would exonerate him, investigators confirmed they have linked Brumley to a missing persons case in Virginia, as well as other criminal cases in Maryland.
The Accomack County Sheriff's Office, which has been investigating the disappearance of Larry Northam since 2003, has linked Brumley to the case, said Sgt. Scott Cook of the Maryland State Police Homicide Unit.
"There is a clear connection between Bill Brumley and Larry Northam," Cook said.
Northam, who was 55 at the time, was reported missing after he failed to show up for his mother's birthday party Aug. 30, 2003. His body has not been found, but Northam is considered "missing under suspicious circumstances," said Lt. Gerald Goga, who is leading the Accomack County investigation.
Cook said he and Virginia investigators have shared information in the Northam case, as well as the Neva Paul homicide in Marion Station in which Brumley was recently convicted.
Northam lived in Greenbackville, just south of the Maryland line, but was born and raised in Crisfield, Md., and had known Brumley most of his life, said his brother, Donald Northam. After Larry Northam disappeared, his brother said everything in the house was in order, and his vehicle was still parked outside.
"Someone must have picked him up," Donald Northam said. "It wasn't like him to walk away."
Donald Northam, who has stayed at his brother's house since he disappeared, discovered Larry Northam had cashed in certificates of deposit and made large withdrawals from other accounts prior to his disappearance.
"It was tens of thousands of dollars, but no record of where it went," he said.
Police believe that Northam gave the money to Brumley as part of an investment scheme, Cook said. Northam's phone bill for August 2003 showed he made several calls to Brumley that month, including one at 10:14 a.m. Aug. 30. It was the last call he made from home. Later that day, he failed to show up for his mother's birthday party.
During Brumley's trial for Paul's murder, Somerset County State's Attorney Kristy Hickman presented evidence to show Paul gave $20,000 to Brumley for a similar scam involving a coin collection. Brumley was found guilty of second-degree murder and use of a handgun in the commission of a felony in Paul's death. The body of Paul, 47, of Shelltown, Md., was found last June in a pond near Brumley's Marion Station home. She died from a gunshot wound to the back of the head.
Two witnesses at the trial also testified that Brumley asked them to invest as far back as 2000. Since the trial ended, Hickman said she has spoken to two other people who lost money to Brumley -- one of whom filed a police report when it happened. Hickman said she does not plan to bring additional charges against Brumley in those cases.
The Northam and Paul cases aren't the only ones in which police have identified Brumley as a main suspect, Hickman said. During the 1990s, Brumley was the focus of "a significant drug investigation" in Somerset County, but the case stalled when a key witness died suddenly. The death was ruled a suicide.
"We're not implying that (Brumley) was responsible," she said. To date, no charges have ever been filed in the case which involved cocaine trafficking.
There also appears to be a link between Brumley and Rhonda Parks of Crisfield, who disappeared in February 2006 -- two months before Neva Paul went missing. At the time of her disappearance, Parks had recently been released from Somerset County Detention Center where Brumley worked. Neither Hickman nor Cook would comment on whether there is any other evidence linking Brumley to Parks.
On the morning of Feb. 3, 2006, Parks called her mother from District Court in Salisbury, Md., and told her she would be in Crisfield that afternoon. She never showed up. Maryland State Police confirmed Parks had gotten as far as Westover by looking at the Dash In convenience store's surveillance tape. Four days later, State Highway Adminis-tration workers found Parks' pocketbook along the side of northbound U.S. Route 13 in Westover. SHA workers also found what police think are the jeans she was wearing on the day she vanished.
Donald Northam said he thinks if Brumley knows anything about his brother or Rhonda Parks, he should tell police where they are so their families can hold proper burials.
"It would be nice if Bill said something," he said. "I just want to know where Larry is."
