Identified! Mystery couple murdered in South Carolina, 1976 - Pamela Buckley & James P Freund #8

[Betty P]

However, I do think, one of them.. think.. it must have been James, picked the matches up at a truck stop, where/ maybe he started to hitchhike and along the road got possession of a car.

Are you implying that the murder victim JPF stole a car? On what evidence do you make this claim?

It would be interesting to see the results of that poly, but they may not be conclusive. It might be more helpful to recheck old alibis and timelines. Sometimes a person who was willing to lie to protect a killer 40 or 50 years ago is ready to tell the truth.

 

[Fukiyama]

I believe this was a carjacking, and that very likely they did pickup one or a pair of ruthless hitch-hikers, who stole their vehicle, their id and money, and all their other stuff.

There has been a ton of discussion over the years on how they died and who did it. One of the key details that stumped a lot of people as far as the who was the location of the bodies. It is generally agreed by those who have posted who know the area that one has to know how to get to that road where the bodies were found. This, along with the gun ending up in the possession of a local, has always pointed to someone from Sumter County being the killer.

We've figured out everything about James and Pam, we've got the photos, we've got a probable sequence of death, but we have no idea where they went, and LE doesn't wish to release that info (which is understood)

Probable. Still a lot of assumptions.

 

[onceuponadecember]

There has been a ton of discussion over the years on how they died and who did it. One of the key details that stumped a lot of people as far as the who was the location of the bodies. It is generally agreed by those who have posted who know the area that one has to know how to get to that road where the bodies were found. This, along with the gun ending up in the possession of a local, has always pointed to someone from Sumter County being the killer.



Probable. Still a lot of assumptions.

True. The theory on the carjacker being from SC is possible, but another theory I had was that James and Pam may have cut over from the highway into Locklair Rd.

 

[Vern]

I am honestly confused how the food in James and Pam's stomachs can't be conclusively confirmed. I'm no expert, but wouldn't ice cream have a different consistency than fruit when digested?
IMO

Well, they are experts so I suspect they had a reason for stating such.

IMO, I'm thinking more along the lines of:

1) Fruit with ice cream = Ice Cream Shop Visit Possibility; or
2) Fruit with a glass of milk = Fruit Stand/Restaurant/Snack Bar/Camp Ground Visit or even from a cooler they may have had in a possible vehicle etc

Fruit and dairy were found in their stomachs; they just can't say whether it was ice cream or a glass of milk and ergo need some tips if these two were seen out and about in any of the above scenarios which would account for those stomach contents and where/how the ingestion occurred.

 

[onceuponadecember]

Well, they are experts so I suspect they had a reason for stating such.

IMO, I'm thinking more along the lines of:

1) Fruit with ice cream = Ice Cream Shop Visit Possibility; or
2) Fruit with a glass of milk = Fruit Stand/Restaurant/Snack Bar/Camp Ground Visit or even from a cooler they may have had in a possible vehicle etc

Fruit and dairy were found in their stomachs; they just can't say whether it was ice cream or a glass of milk and ergo need some tips if these two were seen out and about in any of the above scenarios which would account for those fresh stomach contents.

I would probably guess it was fruit with ice cream IMO. Maybe this could indicate James and Pam were somewhere hot and had fruit w/ice cream to cool off from the heat?

 

[killarney rose]

Back then, we often had a big dish of ice cream for supper in a hot day.

 

[Vern]

I would probably guess it was fruit with ice cream IMO. Maybe this could indicate James and Pam were somewhere hot and had fruit w/ice cream to cool off from the heat?

Absolutely possible. Did it come from a shop somewhere or from a cooler in a possible vehicle they were travelling in?

I know there were reports they had been possibly seen at a fruit stand. Maybe that explains the fruit, but cops still couldn't explain the dairy and how it came into the picture. I'm sure they would have asked the fruit stand owners if they also served ice cream and/or milk knowing it was found in their stomach contents too.

It all goes to say that they had milk or ice cream in their systems too, so the cops KNOW they must have gotten that dairy somewhere (because it melts and goes rancid on hot days! And, no one is eating/drinking it then.) They accessed that dairy close to their times of deaths.

Where is the critical question in that timeline? A gas station nearby? A store? A restaurant? Did they therefore run into their killer at that location? A cooler in their (possible) car and stopped at a rest stop to eat/drink and met a killer there?

 

[worldwatcher]

Are you implying that the murder victim JPF stole a car? On what evidence do you make this claim?

It would be interesting to see the results of that poly, but they may not be conclusive. It might be more helpful to recheck old alibis and timelines. Sometimes a person who was willing to lie to protect a killer 40 or 50 years ago is ready to tell the truth.

No, of course not! I think you mis understood my post, I think he bought a car during his travels. If he had one, before he started with travelling, it would be much easier to track him for the family, but then again, I really don't know, how registrations of cars went in mid 70ss in the USA.
MOO

 

[Betty P]

No, of course not! I think you mis understood my post, I think he bought a car during his travels. If he had one, before he started with travelling, it would be much easier to track him for the family, but then again, I really don't know, how registrations of cars went in mid 70ss in the USA.
MOO

Now that they've identified him, they're probably able to track any DMV records for cars he may have owned. He obviously owned cars when living back in PA as there are a couple of news items of him getting traffic tickets back in the 60's. Nothing major, probably a little drag racing. His father was an auto salesman and he was a trained mechanic in the Army.

Re his t-shirt, with the Coors Beer advertising the 1975 stock car race in Florida, someone made an important comment on it back in one of the early threads here.

In 1975, Coors didn't sell their beer in the south, east or much of the midwest, so they wouldn't have been selling advertising merch there. They would, however, sell a lot of t-shirts in Colorado. In fact, Coors t-shirts were very popular there in the 1970's. JMO, this could indicate that JPF had been living or visiting in Colorado before his trip and untimely death in SC.

ETA: Could have also been a specialty item you could buy in the gift shop duirng a brewery tour or get from a Coors employee. Of course, the biggest possibility is still getting it after attending the race in FL that year if they were handing them out or selling them there.

 

[worldwatcher]

Now that they've identified him, they're probably able to track any DMV records for cars he may have owned. He obviously owned cars when living back in PA as there are a couple of news items of him getting traffic tickets back in the 60's. Nothing major, probably a little drag racing. His father was an auto salesman and he was a trained mechanic in the Army.

Re his t-shirt, with the Coors Beer advertising the 1975 stock car race in Florida, someone made an important comment on it back in one of the early threads here.

In 1975, Coors didn't sell their beer in the south, east or much of the midwest, so they wouldn't have been selling advertising merch there. They would, however, sell a lot of t-shirts in Colorado. In fact, Coors t-shirts were very popular there in the 1970's. JMO, this could indicate that JPF had been living or visiting in Colorado before his trip and untimely death in SC.

ETA: Could have also been a specialty item you could buy in the gift shop duirng a brewery tour or get from a Coors employee. Of course, the biggest possibility is still getting it after attending the race in FL that year if they were handing them out or selling them there.

Yes, I know he was a mechanic, that is why I stated "in possession of a car"
Could be that, he worked as a mechanic and in exchange got a car for it.

However, I do hope DVM registration still exist.
Also have the feeling, about reports of the two being missing wasn't taken seriously, because they were both adults and during those times, most miners were labelled as "run aways"
Imo.

 

[user0101]

Hey, I've been following this case for a couple of years now and I'm happy to be able to contribute my very first post on this site of what I have found.

I found an un-dated Promotional Photo for the band Sunlending (the bottom of the photo is curled, but it says Sunlending) showing Johny Daly, rocking a Beatles fringed hair-do and wearing the same style circle framed glasses as in the only other band photo I have seen.

Now this is the part I'm unsure of:

The female in the picture, who I'm assuming is Pamela, has her hair similar also to the other band photo where it's parted in the middle and with the front bangs tucked under to the side of her face. On her index finger you can see some sort of elongated ring that she is wearing, which I would imagine to be one of the 3 rings when they found her body and as seen in the evidence photos.

Absent from the photo is Anthony Matthews the third band member, who died in a hang-gliding accident on August 1st 1975, so I would assume this photo was taken between then and until December 1975 of that year when Pamela disappears from Colorado Springs, CO.

I read a post in another thread from user fred&edna who found an article from: Volume LIV, Number 7, Alabamian - University of Montevallo - January 26, 1977

Where it stated that another female singer named Mary MacGregor, at some point being the lead singer for Sunlending:

"Mary Macgregor was born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota, and completed her early musical training with ten years of classical piano and theory, two years of vocal training and one year on the violin. During high school and college she sang and played in a fourteen-piece dance band and then worked as a folk singer around the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. Later she sang, danced, and played electric piano, organ, and electric bass in R&B and folk-rock bands, winding up as the lead singer in a country-rock band called Sunlending. Mary is now working on her own, commuting from her home which is 35 miles from civilization in the mountains near Steamboat Springs, Colorado."

But I can't imagine this being her, as she appears to always be rocking the Farrah Fawcett bangs blowout hair-do and I can't find any picture or video of her with straight hair or no bangs covering her face, but then again look at Johny Daly and his completely different hairstyle looks. The only thing I can vision this to be her would be the fact that the article matches up to her being able to play an electrical bass guitar and the female in the picture is playing a guitar.

And after scouring through Mary's wikipedia page, it mentions that after graduating from the University of Minnesota, she toured the country with various acts, but no where on there does it mention that she replaced or that she was the lead singer of Sunlending at some point.

What do you guys think ? I created a collage of Pamela where you can see her hair darker and eyebrows more visible compared to the washed-out newspaper clipping. And I enhanced the rings evidence photo that Unsolved Mysteries aired and rotated the middle coral & turquoise ring to be vertical to match up with the index finger wearing the elongated ring.

 

[onceuponadecember]

Hey, I've been following this case for a couple of years now and I'm happy to be able to contribute my very first post on this site of what I have found.

I found an un-dated Promotional Photo for the band Sunlending (the bottom of the photo is curled, but it says Sunlending) showing Johny Daly, rocking a Beatles fringed hair-do and wearing the same style circle framed glasses as in the only other band photo I have seen.

Now this is the part I'm unsure of:

The female in the picture, who I'm assuming is Pamela, has her hair similar also to the other band photo where it's parted in the middle and with the front bangs tucked under to the side of her face. On her index finger you can see some sort of elongated ring that she is wearing, which I would imagine to be one of the 3 rings when they found her body and as seen in the evidence photos.

Absent from the photo is Anthony Matthews the third band member, who died in a hang-gliding accident on August 1st 1975, so I would assume this photo was taken between then and until December 1975 of that year when Pamela disappears from Colorado Springs, CO.

I read a post in another thread from user fred&edna who found an article from: Volume LIV, Number 7, Alabamian - University of Montevallo - January 26, 1977

Where it stated that another female singer named Mary MacGregor, at some point being the lead singer for Sunlending:

"Mary Macgregor was born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota, and completed her early musical training with ten years of classical piano and theory, two years of vocal training and one year on the violin. During high school and college she sang and played in a fourteen-piece dance band and then worked as a folk singer around the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. Later she sang, danced, and played electric piano, organ, and electric bass in R&B and folk-rock bands, winding up as the lead singer in a country-rock band called Sunlending. Mary is now working on her own, commuting from her home which is 35 miles from civilization in the mountains near Steamboat Springs, Colorado."

But I can't imagine this being her, as she appears to always be rocking the Farrah Fawcett bangs blowout hair-do and I can't find any picture or video of her with straight hair or no bangs covering her face, but then again look at Johny Daly and his completely different hairstyle looks. The only thing I can vision this to be her would be the fact that the article matches up to her being able to play an electrical bass guitar and the female in the picture is playing a guitar.

And after scouring through Mary's wikipedia page, it mentions that after graduating from the University of Minnesota, she toured the country with various acts, but no where on there does it mention that she replaced or that she was the lead singer of Sunlending at some point.

What do you guys think ? I created a collage of Pamela where you can see her hair darker and eyebrows more visible compared to the washed-out newspaper clipping. And I enhanced the rings evidence photo that Unsolved Mysteries aired and rotated the middle coral & turquoise ring to be vertical to match up with the index finger wearing the elongated ring.

I think it's probably her, the only problem that I notice with it is her eye color. Her eyes are very light colored in most photographs, but this woman has very dark eyes. The hair looks very much like Pam's, but another problem with this photo is that the woman is playing a guitar. Pam, from what has been shared, was a vocalist, never a guitarist or any type of instrumental musician. It's a 50/50 chance.
IMO

 

[onceuponadecember]

I re-looked at the photo and I think it is Pam now.

 

[Triss]

Oh that's definitely Pam. Great find and great first post Welcome to WS, @user0101 !

 

[retrometro]

I’m just now catching up on this thread after a few days away. I’m so relieved that Pam and James now have their names back and that their family members can get some sense of closure. I think the biggest surprise to me is that they were separately reported missing in 1975. I had previously speculated that their families might have looked for them as individuals somewhere other than S.C., but I was thinking in terms of missing person reports after 1976, not before.

I doubt we’ll ever know why exactly they ended up in South Carolina or the precise sequence of events leading to their deaths, even if their killer is one day identified. I do tend to agree that the killer(s) was most likely someone local to Sumter County and that robbery was the most likely motive. It doesn’t feel like a drug case to me in spite of the execution-style killings. I’m undecided on the point about whether they had a car or were hitchhiking; the latter seems slightly more likely to me, but I’m not sure it makes a huge difference to the overall theory of case

 

[onceuponadecember]

One thing I really wonder about is how Pam ended up with the Southwestern costume jewelry. Colorado is not southwestern, but there is another link that could explain it. Like I said earlier, Pam spent July of 1971 in New Mexico playing gigs for Sunlending. She could've gotten the costume jewelry while down in New Mexico, possibly.
IMO

 

[wary]

I re-looked at the photo and I think it is Pam now.

Could she have been posed with the guitar just to make a good picture? Truth in advertising may not apply to promotional posters....

 

[onceuponadecember]

Could she have been posed with the guitar just to make a good picture? Truth in advertising may not apply to promotional posters....

Good point.
I just did a little research on the ring and it looks like the stones are turquoise and red coral. Anyways, here's a similar ring I found online that I'm going off here:

I'll see what I can find on the possible class ring.

 

[retrometro]

One thing I really wonder about is how Pam ended up with the Southwestern costume jewelry. Colorado is not southwestern, but there is another link that could explain it. Like I said earlier, Pam spent July of 1971 in New Mexico playing gigs for Sunlending. She could've gotten the costume jewelry while down in New Mexico, possibly.
IMO

New Mexico makes a lot of sense to me. If not on the 1971 trip, it’s possible that she could have traveled on I-40, which would have taken her through Albuquerque. And although most people assume the Grants Truck Stop matches came from Nebraska, there was another Grants Truck Stop in Lupton, AZ, right along I-40 near the New Mexico border.

 

[Warwick1991]

I’m just now catching up on this thread after a few days away. I’m so relieved that Pam and James now have their names back and that their family members can get some sense of closure. I think the biggest surprise to me is that they were separately reported missing in 1975. I had previously speculated that their families might have looked for them as individuals somewhere other than S.C., but I was thinking in terms of missing person reports after 1976, not before.

I doubt we’ll ever know why exactly they ended up in South Carolina or the precise sequence of events leading to their deaths, even if their killer is one day identified. I do tend to agree that the killer(s) was most likely someone local to Sumter County and that robbery was the most likely motive. It doesn’t feel like a drug case to me in spite of the execution-style killings. I’m undecided on the point about whether they had a car or were hitchhiking; the latter seems slightly more likely to me, but I’m not sure it makes a huge difference to the overall theory of case

I think Jim/James may well have owned a vehicle that drew the attention of the killer. As an auto racing fan and a mechanic, he may have owned - and been driving - an attractive vehicle that may have motivated the killer. The motive(s) of the crime may have included stealing the vehicle.