Mystery couple murdered in South Carolina, 1976 - #6

dotr · Sep 18, 2017

Fwiw
Noting in case the male did in fact come from Quebec, particularly Montreal, that in the 70's many people moved elsewhere, including dentists and people whose first language is not necessarily English. imo, speculation.
http://montrealgazette.com/opinion/celine-cooper-is-it-time-for-quebec-anglos-in-exile-to-come-home
rbbm
Sept. 18 2017

Is Quebec ready for the return of anglophones to this province?

Over the weekend, La Presse published a feature about Quebec’s so-called anglophones-in-exile, and whether the time is finally right for them to consider coming home. The article acknowledges that more than 500,000 English-mother-tongue Quebecers left the province between 1971 and 2011. Given shorter shrift is how this migration flow was tied to the social, cultural and political upheaval of the 1960s and ’70s and the rise of francophone nationalism in the province, as well as the destabilizing impact of two Quebec independence referendums in 1980 and 1995.

Sweetluv · Sep 18, 2017

Could someone pass along the Dental history for John Doe please. My BF is a dentist and I want to get his opinion.

dotr · Sep 18, 2017

Sweetluv said:
Could someone pass along the Dental history for John Doe please. My BF is a dentist and I want to get his opinion.

These belong to the female
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/189ufsc.html

There are speculations that this female is an exchange student from the Middle East.

These belong to the male.
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/198umsc.html

Sweetluv · Sep 18, 2017

Thank you Dotr for dental history!

superunknown · Sep 19, 2017

Hello All,

I've been inactive here for some time, but thought you might all be interested to know that Verna Moore, former Sumter Coroner, has passed away. She was 91.

http://sumterfunerals.com/tribute/details/405/Verna-Moore/obituary.html#tribute-start

[h=1]Obituary of Verna Moore[/h] Verna Blomenkamp Moore, 91, widow of Jay H. Moore, died Sunday, September 17, 2017, at Providence Hospital in Columbia.

Born in Smithton, Illinois, she was a daughter of the late Walter Blomenkamp and Stella Steinmeyer Blomenkamp.

Mrs. Moore was a retired Coroner of Sumter County and a member of the South Carolina Coroner’s Association.

Surviving are one daughter, Dr. Gail Elmore of Columbia; three grandchildren, Robert Ferriol (Vanessa) of Fayetteville, NC, Kendy Elmore of Charleston and Dr. Hayes Elmore of New York City, NY; three great-grandchildren; three nephews, Tom Blomenkamp, Gregg Blomenkamp, Scott Blomenkamp; three nieces, Anne Ecker, Karen Blomenkamp and Joan Blomenkamp.

Funeral services will be held at 3 P.M. Sunday in the Chapel of the Elmore Hill McCreight Funeral Home with Rev. Keith Getz officiating.

Burial will be in the Sumter Cemetery.

Members of the Sumter County Sheriff’s Department and Honor Guard will serve as Pallbearers.

The family will receive friends from 2 P.M. to 3 P.M. Sunday at the Elmore Hill McCreight Funeral Home.

Memorials may be made to the American Red Cross www.helpmedonate.org

On-line condolences may be sent to www.sumterfunerals.com

Triss · Sep 19, 2017

Thanks for letting us know, rmf.
Rest in peace, Verna. :rose:

brett1968 · Sep 24, 2017

A few years after the discovery of these bodies there was a record one ton marijuana bust connected to the Coors-Sebring race team. (It turned out that they were using the cars to smuggle drugs, too).

This is conspicuous given that the male victim was wearing a Coors-Sebring race team t-shirt.

Also, in regard to the woman working at the fruit stand who claims to have witnessed the couple on a motorcycle?

Michael McMinn was a known motorcycle rider who had scars on his back from a motorcycle accident. Jock Doe also had scars of a similar type on his back.

The biggest marijuana bust in Sumter County history just occurred in July, 2017.

I haven't been on this thread for quite a while. Does anyone yet know if Michael and Cordelia McMinn have ever been ruled out through dNA comparison?

carbuff · Sep 24, 2017

dotr said:
Fwiw
Noting in case the male did in fact come from Quebec, particularly Montreal, that in the 70's many people moved elsewhere, including dentists and people whose first language is not necessarily English. imo, speculation.
http://montrealgazette.com/opinion/celine-cooper-is-it-time-for-quebec-anglos-in-exile-to-come-home
rbbm
Sept. 18 2017

In addition, 1976 was the year of the Montreal Olympics, and thousands of Montreal area residents left for a month or more to get away from the chaos and confusion. Many of them came to the US.

Also, many tens of thousands of overseas athletes and guests at the Olympics stayed after to tour the US and Canada. Most tourist destinations were packed and all the major routes were busy. I made friends with a family from Quebec who lived in the KOA campground near us for the entire month of July. We were going to take them through Yellowstone Park but the highways were so crowded we went to a less busy national forest area instead.

I presume I-95 was also much busier than usual, with many more Canadians passing through to reach Florida and Disney World. That part of South Carolina might be rather isolated culturally, but I-95 was nearly complete at that point and they were found only a short distance from an exit.

Most of these travelers were ordinary middle-class people of one sort or another, with enough money to stop at motels and pay for meals. If they were traveling with a nice motorcycle or car, they might well have been killed just for their vehicle and money.

refresher pointers: Wikipedia article with lots of basic information https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumter_County_Does

approximate location of bodies: https://goo.gl/maps/BYGnFj5tLNM2

Jane's Namus: https://identifyus.org/cases/13773
John/Jacques' Namus: https://identifyus.org/cases/13772

carbuff · Sep 24, 2017

brett1968 said:
A few years after the discovery of these bodies there was a record one ton marijuana bust connected to the Coors-Sebring race team. (It turned out that they were using the cars to smuggle drugs, too).

This is conspicuous given that the male victim was wearing a Coors-Sebring race team t-shirt.

Also, in regard to the woman working at the fruit stand who claims to have witnessed the couple on a motorcycle?

Michael McMinn was a known motorcycle rider who had scars on his back from a motorcycle accident. Jock Doe also had scars of a similar type on his back.

The biggest marijuana bust in Sumter County history just occurred in July, 2017.

I haven't been on this thread for quite a while. Does anyone yet know if Michael and Cordelia McMinn have ever been ruled out through dNA comparison?

I don't think we've ever heard anything official either way, but they're all in Namus now, with DNA listed as complete, so it's almost certainly a ruleout.

Roselvr · Sep 25, 2017

brett1968 said:
A few years after the discovery of these bodies there was a record one ton marijuana bust connected to the Coors-Sebring race team. (It turned out that they were using the cars to smuggle drugs, too).

This is conspicuous given that the male victim was wearing a Coors-Sebring race team t-shirt.

Also, in regard to the woman working at the fruit stand who claims to have witnessed the couple on a motorcycle?

Michael McMinn was a known motorcycle rider who had scars on his back from a motorcycle accident. Jock Doe also had scars of a similar type on his back.

The biggest marijuana bust in Sumter County history just occurred in July, 2017.

I haven't been on this thread for quite a while. Does anyone yet know if Michael and Cordelia McMinn have ever been ruled out through dNA comparison?

I asked the McMinn's NamUs rep for a rule out and had not gotten an answer. I just emailed Jessica Hager

Roselvr · Sep 25, 2017

Roselvr said:
I asked the McMinn's NamUs rep for a rule out and had not gotten an answer. I just emailed Jessica Hager

She replied

Thank you for your email, we appreciate your time and support.

NamUs staff will review the submitted information and notify the investigating agencies for their consideration.

Identification and exclusions are only made and/or confirmed by investigating agencies. The results of comparisons may or may not be made available to the public for investigatory reasons.

MelmothTheLost · Sep 25, 2017

dotr said:
There are speculations that this female is an exchange student from the Middle East.

Click to expand...

That's an interesting idea, though the DN entry doesn't mention the source of the suggestion.

During the 1970s Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan were all much more progressive than they are today.

It's possible that if she was Iranian, she could have entered the US as a student planning to study for a few years but the Iranian revolution of 1979 meant that her family subsequently had no way to contact her. When she didn't contact her family again they assumed she had decided to remain in the US and her family kept quiet about it so she was never reported missing.

MelmothTheLost · Sep 25, 2017

It's unfortunate that when they exhumed the couple for DNA testing they didn't carry out a DNA test for ethnic markers or isotope tests. A wasted opportunity.

Triss · Sep 25, 2017

Is there any chance that isotope tests will be done on the couple? Can those tests be crowdfunded?

Sweetluv · Oct 1, 2017

I don't think they were reported missing. Maybe because of their lifestyle.. Drug trafficking? They could have traveled a lot but you would think in time, someone would find it odd no one heard from them and call the police. The way she was dressed..in a (cute) outfit with pink wedged sandles, doesn't seem like hitchhiking attire. If they had a vehicle, wheres the car and their ID? If not from SC, they must have had a suitcase.
Whoever shot them, shot each three times..that's a lot. Interesting choice of neck back and throat..doesn't seem amateur.

Triss · Oct 1, 2017

Sweetluv said:
I don't think they were reported missing. Maybe because of their lifestyle.. Drug trafficking? They could have traveled a lot but you would think in time, someone would find it odd no one heard from them and call the police. The way she was dressed..in a (cute) outfit with pink wedged sandles, doesn't seem like hitchhiking attire. If they had a vehicle, wheres the car and their ID? If not from SC, they must have had a suitcase.
Whoever shot them, shot each three times..that's a lot. Interesting choice of neck back and throat..doesn't seem amateur.

I'm not so sure about drug trafficking, but I agree with everything else you wrote. Where are their suitcases? It doesn't sound like they stopped at any hotel or motel nearby, I didn't find any information about any unclaimed luggage from that area and time period.

carbuff · Oct 1, 2017

Possibly they were killed for their possessions, in which case the vehicle would likely have been taken and disposed of and anything that wasn't valuable would have just been thrown away. It certainly wouldn't have been reported to anyone.

Sent from my SM-T560NU using Tapatalk

Brainy · Oct 1, 2017

carbuff said:
Possibly they were killed for their possessions, in which case the vehicle would likely have been taken and disposed of and anything that wasn't valuable would have just been thrown away. It certainly wouldn't have been reported to anyone.

Sent from my SM-T560NU using Tapatalk

It's possible but the way that they were murdered makes me think that they were not killed for their valuables. What kind of robber would waste six bullets while missing their heads/faced or care about removing their identification?

Sweetluv · Oct 1, 2017

This case seems so solvable, yet its not. You have not one but two people, no bullet damage to the head or face making them recognizable, and distinctive jewelry. Did ANY witnesses come forward over the years..if they were traveling through several states, you would think people would come forward besides the fruit stand and campground witnesses...which I'm doubtful of.

Roselvr · Oct 2, 2017

Sweetluv said:
This case seems so solvable, yet its not. You have not one but two people, no bullet damage to the head or face making them recognizable, and distinctive jewelry. Did ANY witnesses come forward over the years..if they were traveling through several states, you would think people would come forward besides the fruit stand and campground witnesses...which I'm doubtful of.

Their jewelry was pretty common. Her rings could be bought from flea markets; swap meets, bike rallies. I had one ring she wore. My dad had his ring that was bought from a catalog store.

Mystery couple murdered in South Carolina, 1976 - #6

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