Mystery couple murdered in South Carolina, 1976 - #5

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I don't think they're related either. Two siblings missing would just be too obvious- somebody would be looking for them. I can't wait either to learn about the DNA results, too bad it could take years.
 
I have to disagree. The last article posted had a picture of them in death and I do think they could be related. What about children of mobsters and maybe it was a mob related hit. Maybe they are from Sicily. MOO
 
Rhett said:
I have to disagree. The last article posted had a picture of them in death and I do think they could be related. What about children of mobsters and maybe it was a mob related hit. Maybe they are from Sicily. MOO
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I do not believe that they are of Sicilian decent. I am a Sicilian American and they just don't apear to be italian or sicilian, he difinatly does not have the italian bulbous nose (think Tony Soprano nose :rolleyes: ).

I believe he is French Canadian. His ring has the initials JPF and he told the RV park guy that his name was Jock or Jacques and he was from Canada and the son of a doctor. I think he is telling the truth.

The girl does not match him. I think she is someone he met while hitchhiking around the country. In the 1970's we had just ended Vietnam and there where still hippies wandering around the country. He could have met her anywhere and hooked up with her and they decided to travel. Look at the jewery, tourquois indian jewelry was very common at flea markets in the 70's and 80's. It would be one thing if she had one ring, maybe two. She had 3 rings and no fancy bling like the guy did. This tells me she did not come from money like him. Hippy women did not shave their legs either, this was common knowledge. They believed in living naturally, or something to that nature.

Also, it is difficult to tell what someone's skin tone is and facial features are from morgue photos. You have to remember that rigermortis (hope I spelt that right :waitasec: ) can cause darkening of the skin especially if they where on their stomachs when they deceased. also it may also cause the face to look more bloated. It also depends on how long it was before they found them.

Also, the Coor's light shirt, I don't know any one italian that would be caught dead (no pun intended) in a shirt advertising light beer.

I think they crossed someone. This does not look like a robbery motive and was not a sex crime, possibly over drugs. The are many different forms of organized crime through history, drug cartel, moonshiners, good ole boys that grow pot by back roads. They could have come across any of those. They where making a statement and that is why they did not take the jewelry.

of course this is based on my opinion and :twocents: 2 cents.
 
Sleuthster said:
what about this guy?

Chin and nose are simular in my opinion and his last name is french.
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1259dmmi.html
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I don't think that's him. Perry Corlew's disappearance was being investigated as a possible match with an unidentified suicide victim in Louisana. I don't know whatever happened with that possible matchup. Here a link to the previous discussion on websleuths about the unidentified male and possibly being linked to Corlew.

http://websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32202&highlight=Perry+Corlew


I agree with what you said in your second post. I do think the Mystery Couple male is French Canadian. I also think the JPF is Jacques something and when I do any searches on missing people in Canada, I zero in on Quebec, since it is predominantly French speaking. I just don't know where she comes in though, whether she was someone he knew and they took off together or if he met her in his travels across the USA.

It was very interesting watching the video on the exhumation at the link I posted on the previous page. I hope they can get results soon from the DNA. Poor Sumter County Coroner, Verna Moore, has been working this case since August of 1976, and for her sake too, I wish they could at least identify them.
 
Bumping up case..

Today is the 31st anniversary of their murder.

I haven't found anything new since the bodies were exhumed for DNA 2 months ago. There is nothing about the results of the DNA yet either but that may take quite a while.
 
Good article, bowler, thanks for posting it.

Maybe DNA will Id them eventually!!
 
Sleuthster said:
Also, the Coor's light shirt, I don't know any one italian that would be caught dead (no pun intended) in a shirt advertising light beer.

I think they crossed someone. This does not look like a robbery motive and was not a sex crime, possibly over drugs. The are many different forms of organized crime through history, drug cartel, moonshiners, good ole boys that grow pot by back roads. They could have come across any of those. They where making a statement and that is why they did not take the jewelry.

of course this is based on my opinion and :twocents: 2 cents.
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I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure Coors wasn't being transported to the South in the 70's so I doubt the shirt came from the south. Obviously this couple was traveling and their travels had taken them west to Coors country.

Good ole' southern boys seldom shoot people for 1) finding their pot patch (and it's not like the patches are so easy to find that two wandering travelers would stumble upon one anyway) and 2) I've lived in SC all my life and the only time I'm aware of execution type slayings occurring (as these two were shot) happens when you cross a gang, mafia/mobsters, serious drug runners---good ole boys don't go for that professional hit stuff, it's too upclose and messy. And yes, moonshiners do exist here l and did in the 70s but no legal agency gives a darn about moonshiners and so stumbling upon a still wouldn't get you killed, trust me. I don't think they were killed by locals. I think they were executed by someone driving through SC who thought this would make the perfect dumping ground. Now how they met up with the perp, I have no clue. Maybe they accepted a ride from a serial murderer, maybe they tried to outsmart a drug dealer and lost---weren't they found close to I-95? I-95 is a major drug smuggling corridor, from FL all the way up the east coast.
 
So its possible they weren't even killed in South Carolina, right? That makes things MUCH more difficult.
 
I've been meaning to post this for a while but I cannot find the newspaper articles where I read it.

Regarding where they were shot and also regarding if the trucker who discovered their bodies could have done it:

I read 2 similar news articles from South Carolina papers about 3 years ago. From what I can remember the articles stated that shortly after midnight, someone who lived in the vicinity of Locklair Road where the victims were found, was awakened when he heard a car come down the Locklair Road at a rather high speed and screech to a halt. He heard car doors slamming and almost immediately after that heard gunshots. He then heard car doors being shut and the screech of tires again as the car took off.

I know I read that twice in 2 different SC papers. I bookmarked one of them and when I went back to re-read it again, I couldn't bring the page back up; it said the web page was no longer available.

Locklair Road is a frontage, dirt road located beween Interstate 95 and S.C. 341. The area is apparently secluded and there aren't many houses around but one person who lived nearby gave that information to the police.

I have been looking in NewspaperArchives.com off and on for the last week or so trying to find that article again. I can't find it anywhere but I'm going to keep looking because I know I read that. I'm wondering why that info wasn't in The Item, the Sumter, SC Newspaper (or maybe that was one of the papers I read it in) or in the Crime Library story but I know I read it in 2 different publications so I will keep looking. If that were true, it at least clears up 2 points we have been wondering about, where exactly they were shot and that the trucker who found them did did not have anything to do with it. I never did think the truck driver was involved but if I hadn't read what the witness who lived nearby had said, the truck driver being involved was a possibility.

I also can't figure out why whoever heard these gunshots didn't call authorities. I think the article said he was sleeping and he was awakened by the commotion and wasn't thinking too clearly or else just thought someone was shooting off a gun and didn't realize people had actually been shot. I think I would have called authorities just the same had I heard gunshots. With the number of times these kids were shot, surely he didn't think he was hearing a car backfiring!

Anway, I will continue to look for the article.
 
Well, I wasn't able to find the exact article but there aren't many newspapers from SC at NewspaperArchives.com. I found one from the Florence Morning News from August 11, 1976 that says they thought they were shot right there and that nearby residents heard gunshots between midnight and 1:00 a.m.

Bodies Located Monday
Are Still Unidentified
SUMTER (AP)-​



Sumter authorities believe an unidentified man and woman whose bodies were found Monday on a dirt road near the Florence County line probably were out of state travelers. "We've sent teletypes everywhere," Kumler County Sheriff I. Byrd Parnell said, adding that they had received inquiries from as far away as Rhode Island. He also said that bulletins describing the two have been sent to other states and missing persons reports are being checked. The two were found about 6:20 a.m. near 1-95 and S.C. 141 by a man on his way to work. The dead man was about six feet tall, weighed 150 to 160 pounds and had brown shoulder-length hair. The woman was about 5-5, weighed about 110 pounds and had reddish brown hair. Both are believed to have been in their early 20s. "This girl was very young and very pretty. He was clean shaven. They were well groomed. They weren't the hippie-type. They looked like the All-American boy and girl travelers," Parnell said, "It looks like they were executed right there."


Sumter County Coroner J. Bennie Raffield said the bodies were about four or five feet apart and that both were lying on their backs. The two are believed to have been shot between midnight Sunday and 1 a.m. Monday, the coroner said. Area residents reported hearing gunshots from the area about that time.​


I think they probably were shot right where they were found.​








 
I wonder if these two might have witnessed a murder or other crime and were "eliminated" to keep them from identifying the perpetrators. Does anyone know of any Roberies or Murders in that general area just prior to their murder?
 
Richard said:
I wonder if these two might have witnessed a murder or other crime and were "eliminated" to keep them from identifying the perpetrators. Does anyone know of any Roberies or Murders in that general area just prior to their murder?
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This is a very good theory....Seems like a professional hit....they could be witnesses OR I was thinking maybe they could be a mobsters kids or somebody the mob had it out for's kids and they killed the kids as a warning to shut their mouths or they would be next, and sometimes people would rather hurt those you love as a way to hurt you,
 
I agree with the French-Canadian angle. I am very familiar with that culture and have spent a lot of time in France as well. Many French nationals travel to Canada (particularly Quebec) so it is possible the young lady was of French or European origin (the unshaven legs are also another clue, IMO). Also, there are people with French names/backgrounds all over Canada. Many of them are concentrated in Quebec, but you will find men named Jacques in almost any province in Canada. I think that this young man and his companion most definitely came from Canada- what I don't understand is why no one seems to be looking for them?
 
A few posts back someone posted that Coors was not being brought into the South in the 1970's. Not legally it wasn't but it was being brought in illegally. My father was a trucker and though I don't know of him bringing it in I did see some that was brought in illegally by another trucker. I heard talk about Coors and it being illegal made it a big deal and people wanted it. Extra money was made for truckers to run the stuff into the South. I also remember people hiding it under their beds and such so that it was not out in plain view, just in case.
 
rmf said:
I agree with the French-Canadian angle. I am very familiar with that culture and have spent a lot of time in France as well. Many French nationals travel to Canada (particularly Quebec) so it is possible the young lady was of French or European origin (the unshaven legs are also another clue, IMO). Also, there are people with French names/backgrounds all over Canada. Many of them are concentrated in Quebec, but you will find men named Jacques in almost any province in Canada. I think that this young man and his companion most definitely came from Canada- what I don't understand is why no one seems to be looking for them?
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I often wonder the same thing myself, how can NO ONE be searching for them? I mentioned in an earlier post that apparently Jacques told the guy at the KOA Campground he had a falling out with his father, who was a prominent doctor in Canada, because he gave up his medicine career. I thought maybe his father was very stubborn and refused to make the first move, thinking Jacques may have just left to start a new life elsewhere. But that could only be true for a short time period, I would think. What about his mother or siblings, if he has any? If not, surely he has other family members such as cousins or even friends who would search. And the same for the girl. There just has to be someone looking for these 2. Every couple months or so I stay up very late on weekends and try to search old Canadian newspapers and missing person websites looking for anyone who might resemble them and I just get so frustrated thinking that possibly no one ever reported them missing in the first place!
 
Did the guy from the campsite mention either of them having a french (or any other for that matter) accent?
 
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