Identified! Mystery couple murdered in South Carolina, 1976 - Pamela Buckley & James Freund #10

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I do think that during his journey, James worked as a mechanic,being a good samatarian, for those in need, got his own vehicle to roam and met Pam when she was traveling the roads, with the band.
I do agree that them being gunned down, was well organized and targeted.

If that tip was valid, James and Pam at the fruit stand, it could be that during that day, they were on a journey, without a care, enjoying the travels and somehow ended up, at the wrong time, wrong place and with the wrong people.
Left on a dirt road, no ID, no vehicle to trace.
 
worldwatcher said:
I do think that during his journey, James worked as a mechanic,being a good samatarian, for those in need, got his own vehicle to roam and met Pam when she was traveling the roads, with the band.
I do agree that them being gunned down, was well organized and targeted.

If that tip was valid, James and Pam at the fruit stand, it could be that during that day, they were on a journey, without a care, enjoying the travels and somehow ended up, at the wrong time, wrong place and with the wrong people.
Left on a dirt road, no ID, no vehicle to trace.
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Sounds possible. If Pam and Jim had been recently living and working in the general area of Sumter or big cities nearby, someone would have called LE to share that info. A landlord, co-worker, neighbor, etc.
 
Betty P said:
Sounds possible. If Pam and Jim had been recently living and working in the general area of Sumter or big cities nearby, someone would have called LE to share that info. A landlord, co-worker, neighbor, etc.
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To my knowledge, Pam was the only woman in the band "Sunlending"
The band split up, during the tours along the coast, wonder how they traveled, back then. In a pick up, or van?

Maybe Pam kept the vehicle to stay on the roads, while the two other men returned home?

Could it be that,while meeting James, that was the reason, of the break up, - of the band?
. ETA:
Media Links Only - *No Discussion*
 
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worldwatcher said:
To my knowledge, Pam was the only woman in the band "Sunlending"
The band split up, during their tours along the coast, wonder how they traveled, back then. In a pick up, or van?

Maybe Pam kept the vehicle to stay on the roads, while the two other men returned home?

Could it be that,while meeting James, that was the reason, of the break up, - of the band?
Click to expand...

I think the touring with Sunlending had ended a couple years before. IIRC, there was a period when Pam was living in Colorado Springs, got married to a man there and later divorced. There's a blank space in her timeline for a few months when she split up with her husband in Colorado Springs, then was found deceased with Jim in South Carolina. It's possible she was touring, but she would have been doing so as a solo act as no other musicians/singers were with her.
 
Betty P said:
I think the touring with Sunlending had ended a couple years before. IIRC, there was a period when Pam was living in Colorado Springs, got married to a man there and later divorced. There's a blank space in her timeline for a few months when she split up with her husband in Colorado Springs, then was found deceased with Jim in South Carolina. It's possible she was touring, but she would have been doing so as a solo act as no other musicians/singers were with her.
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It would be interesting to know, how she (or the band) traveled/vehicle , was it normal to hitchhike when doing a gig, even as a solo musician? She must have played in all kind of places, if she toured on her own, doesn't make sense, to touring as a solo musician.
Hard to schedule, imo
 
worldwatcher said:
was it normal to hitchhike when doing a gig, even as a solo musician?

She must have played in all kind of places, if she toured on her own, doesn't make sense, to touring as a solo musician. Hard to schedule, imo
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Given the times, hitchhiking to sort of, kind of gigs was probably pretty common. The journey probably counted for far more that the gig(s) at a destination.

My guess is that the victim did not really keep schedules. Rather, she hitchhiked to locations that interested her, or that she heard had a local music scene, or was scheduled to be the site of one of the era's what- three day concerts?

Upon arriving, she connected into the local scene and tried to obtain gigs- small venue, big venue, solo, in a new group, back up, her creative content, or the songs of others. She may of had preferences, but would take anything.

She then stayed until the music action dried up. Then, she moved on. Perhaps solo, perhaps as part of an established group that either had an invite to scheduled performances- or was just hoping to get invited after arrival.
 
T rex said:
I'm still baffled at the coroner during the press conference when he said he wasn't going to discuss the calibre of the gun because it's an ongoing investigation. Well don't we already know the calibre??? And from what I was able to hear no one even asked anything about the gun, he just said this straight up out of the blue. I find that strange.
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RSBM

I know I'm bringing up an old post, but I'm just getting caught up on this case. If the actual gun was a .357 caliber, a .357 can fire either .357 caliber rounds OR .38 rounds. So, it is possible .38 rounds were used in this murder and LE has kept that piece of evidence quiet as part of the investigation.

ETA - Just speculating.
 
griss said:
RSBM

I know I'm bringing up an old post, but I'm just getting caught up on this case. If the actual gun was a .357 caliber, a .357 can fire either .357 caliber rounds OR .38 rounds. So, it is possible .38 rounds were used in this murder and LE has kept that piece of evidence quiet as part of the investigation.

ETA - Just speculating.
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It is so common to use .38 caliber in a .357 magnum revolver that it's hard to imagine that being a "hold back." It is typical to use .38 rounds for practice in a .357 magnum revolver, and many people who buy a .357 magnum revolver intend to use .38 caliber ammunition only - they just want a more robust revolver with the flexibility to use the more powerful .357 magnum round. My guess is that the current coroner might not be aware of the amount of information circulating. A number of published accounts (cited in earlier threads and posts) note that the murder weapon was a S&W .357 revolver recovered from Lonnie Henry - unless that isn't true and there's another unpublished development.
 
Cryptic said:
Given the times, hitchhiking to sort of, kind of gigs was probably pretty common. The journey probably counted for far more that the gig(s) at a destination.

My guess is that the victim did not really keep schedules. Rather, she hitchhiked to locations that interested her, or that she heard had a local music scene, or was scheduled to be the site of one of the era's what- three day concerts?

Upon arriving, she connected into the local scene and tried to obtain gigs- small venue, big venue, solo, in a new group, back up, her creative content, or the songs of others. She may of had preferences, but would take anything.

She then stayed until the music action dried up. Then, she moved on. Perhaps solo, perhaps as part of an established group that either had an invite to scheduled performances- or was just hoping to get invited after arrival.
Click to expand...

We had a discussion about this earlier. By 1976, women hitchhiking on their own, especially for long distance, was extremely rare. Pam wasn't dressed or groomed like someone who hitchhiked regularly.

That said, its possible she was traveling with other musicians when this happened. If so, it seems they would have checked with LE when they circulted her photo after she was found deceased. It's also possible she and James were performing together as a duo. If so, why woukd local people in SC want to kill them?
 
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Warwick1991 said:
It is so common to use .38 caliber in a .357 magnum revolver that it's hard to imagine that being a "hold back." It is typical to use .38 rounds for practice in a .357 magnum revolver, and many people who buy a .357 magnum revolver intend to use .38 caliber ammunition only - they just want a more robust revolver with the flexibility to use the more powerful .357 magnum round. My guess is that the current coroner might not be aware of the amount of information circulating. A number of published accounts (cited in earlier threads and posts) note that the murder weapon was a S&W .357 revolver recovered from Lonnie Henry - unless that isn't true and there's another unpublished development.
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Oh, I agree with you. I have a decent amount of knowledge/experience with firearms. I was just trying to wrap my brain around why the coroner would refuse to discuss the caliber of the cartridges used.
 
griss said:
Oh, I agree with you. I have a decent amount of knowledge/experience with firearms. I was just trying to wrap my brain around why the coroner would refuse to discuss the caliber of the cartridges used.
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You're probably right. Maybe the coroner and LE withheld that information. It was a great stroke of luck they found the weapon, just a shame they didn't follow up stronger to prosecute the killers.
 
Betty P said:
We had a discussion about this earlier. By 1976, women hitchhiking on their own, especially for long distance, was extremely rare. Pam wasn't dressed or groomed like someone who hitchhiked regularly.

That said, its possible she was traveling with other musicians when this happened. If so, it seems they would have checked with LE when they circulted her photo after she was found deceased. It's also possible she and James were performing together as a duo. If so, why woukd local people in SC want to kill them?
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Of course, I completely forgot about that.
Maybe Pam and James teamed up on their travels, he as a mechanic making an extra buck, and she as a musician/singer.

Could be that sometimes saw them as an easy target and robbery was the motive.
 
Valiant said:
But yet, where would be any motivation for a motorcycle club to kill two random people? Unless those people ripped off or otherwise cut into the club's "business"?
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Bikers back then didn't need much motivation. If they perceived you were some kind of threat to their way of life they would kill you and forget about it before they got two miles up the road.

I wouldn't rule out someone stationed at Shaw AFB. James was in the military and Pam had been living around Colorado Springs where there are more AFB's including Peterson and there was quiet a few transfers between there and Shaw. Its possible that one of them knew one of these people and that could be a reason to have been in the area.
Someone stationed at a base becomes like a temporary local. They would get to know the area and the roads, they would get to know the other locals and they would have access to the things locals do, such as stolen weapons circulating around. They would be there for years but would eventually go home or get transferred and more or less be forgotten about.
Well it's about time someone started remembering. We now have what Sheriff Parnell wanted for all that time, the victims identity and if that doesn't lead to a break in this case in the next few years then I guess it's just gonna go unsolved. MOO.
 
Has anyone thought of contacting Sumter County LE to see if there's any news on the case? At the time, the sheriff indicated there were a couple of people he had in mind as suspects. @worm are you local? What do you think about sending them an email or something?
 
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