Hi, everyone. I first read about this case a couple years ago on the TruTV (then CourtTV) website, and wondered about it from time to time but never thought to research it further. A few weeks ago something made me think of it, I decided to see what else I could find about the case, and I found this site. I've been lurking for a couple weeks, reading up on everything, but I didn't really have much time to post until now (snowstorm here, so I'm off work).
I definitely agree with those that think something is just not right here. Whether it's related to a law enforcement cover-up, I don't know, but it seems like a lot of things about this case are just really strange. The photos are weird--with some of them it's hard to tell whether they're actual photos or drawings, some look altered in some way, and they vary so much from picture to picture that it sometimes looks like they're completely different people. I realize there's gonna be a bit of variation between morgue photos, crime scene photos, and drawings, but their features are even shaped differently in some of them. I also think there's too much being made of the girl's moles--they look different in each picture, and I think someone said this before, but it almost seems as if they're drawn on. In
this picture there's definitely something weird going on with her ear...it looks almost like melted plastic. In some of the pictures the guy's hair/hairline looks almost fake, like he's wearing a wig or something. And I agree with justthinkin above that in some of the pictures they look almost like dummies/mannequins. There is definitely something weird going on with the pictures, and the fact that they all look so different has to be deliberate...I'm guessing there's someone that just really does not want the identities of these two to be revealed.
There are contradictions/details missing from the Doe Network pages and other descriptions I've seen. The girl is described as having "no surgical scars", but what about any other scars, previous fractures, or other distinguishing characteristics? I guess we're supposed to assume there were none because it wasn't mentioned, but in that case, why not say "no scars", rather than "no
surgical scars"? I find it hard to believe that someone made it to at least 18 years old without scars of any type...why not mention them? Also, the description of her rings is a bit confusing. One is described as being a "feather scroll band with a jade insert". The stone in the feather ring looks turquoise, not jade, and why not mention the red coral stone? The second ring is close enough ("oblong black stone", although it doesn't mention the turquoise flecks). The third ring doesn't make sense, though. It's supposedly a "faceted band" that had red, white, and blue stones, but the picture doesn't match this description. "Faceted band" fits well enough, but it has three
blue stones rather than a red, white, and blue. I thought at first that they could just be empty settings where there had been stones but they'd fallen out, but if you look closely at the middle blue "stone", you can see on the left and along the bottom where some of the blue overlaps the metal, as if the blue parts--probably just translucent plastic rather than actual stones--was poured into the indentations, if that makes sense. Also, the DN page for the guy says his shirt said "Coors America's light beer" on the front and "Camel Challenger G-T Sebring 75" on the back. I remember reading somewhere that the shirt visible in the crime scene photo didn't match that description, although the only crime scene picture I can find is too small, far away, and blurry (when enlarged) to read exactly what his shirt says. It does look like just one word on the front, though, possibly starting with an S (Sebring?). Anyway, I know these are all tiny, nitpicky things that probably don't have anything to do with the overall case, but if small details are screwed up, it makes me wonder what else could've been screwed up in the investigation.
I don't think we can take anything for granted in this case. They're described as having olive skin, which has led a lot of people to think maybe they were from another country. To me, there's a couple things that could mean. Of course it is possible they were from another country, but not necessarily. They
were described as having olive skin "although they're white", so maybe they just had Italian/Greek/South American etc. ancestors, but were themselves American. I have several friends who are American, but have skin that could be described as olive-toned due to various ethnic backgrounds. Then there's the fact that it was summertime. Is it possible that they were just tanned, and someone mistakenly described their slightly darker skintone as olive? Also, someone recently commented that the guy seemed to look slightly African-American to him/her. Is it possible that "olive undertones" could be 1970s small-town South Carolina code for mixed race/part black? They do look quite light-skinned in most of the drawings/pictures, but given the variations between them, it's hard to tell which ones, if any, are even accurate.
Another thing that people seem to think points to them being from another country is the fact that the girl's legs weren't shaved, but again, I'm not sure how significant that is. It was the 1970s, and a lot of girls/women in that time period didn't shave their legs. I know people have said they don't seem the hippie type, based on their clothes, but if they were on a road trip/camping, it's possible they didn't have enough clothes and stopped somewhere along the way to buy more, or if they were with other people at one time, they borrowed clothes from someone else, so it's possible the clothes they were wearing weren't their usual style. (Another possibility, people have suggested they were going to the races because of the shirt the guy was wearing--it could be something he got from someone else because he didn't have a clean shirt. It doesn't necessarily mean they were into racing.) Or maybe she usually did shave her legs, but because they were camping, she just didn't bother. If they were showering at the shower houses campgrounds usually have, it's possible she either didn't have enough hot water, or she was in a hurry and just didn't want to spend the extra time. My family camped a fair bit when I was a younger teenager, and the shower house stalls were usually pretty gross and I didn't want to spend anymore time than I absolutely had to, so I usually skipped shaving my legs.
The name thing has me wondering, too. I don't think we can assume that his name was Jock, Jacques, or that his initials were JPF, because there are just way too many variables. First of all, let's say that the story the campground guy, David, gave was 100% true, both as far as he told it and as far as it was told to him by the John Doe. Everyone has assumed that Jock was actually "Jacques", but what if it was Jock? Given his scars and his athletic build, it's been suggested that he played sports. Maybe Jock was a nickname because of his love of sports, and his real first name was something completely different. Maybe he wasn't into sports like some people think, and Jock was a nickname for John, or it could've originated elsewhere. Maybe it WAS Jacques after all, but that doesn't necessarily mean that his initials were JPF. Or they could've been, but the J could've stood for something else besides Jacques. Or it's possible the ring originally belonged to a family member or friend and was given to him as a gift. Maybe he bought it at a pawn shop or something and the initials have nothing to do with him. Maybe they're the initials of the person who made the ring, and again, have nothing to do with him. There's been speculation that they were involved in selling drugs...maybe someone owed him money, and gave him the ring in exchange? The fact that he was so quick to offer to sell it suggests to me at least that he had no personal attachment to it. If someone cared enough to get their initials engraved into a piece of jewelry, I wouldn't think they'd be so eager to sell it. Although it could've been a gift from someone, and they'd gotten his initials engraved before giving it to him...if he didn't particulary care for the person, or had had a falling out with them, he might not have cared much about the ring, which is why he offered to sell it. Nobody knows for sure, though.
Then there's the possibility that the story the John Doe told David B. about being from Canada and his dad being a doctor and disowning him for not going to medical school is completely made up. Maybe the real reason they were there is because of drugs, or were in the witness protection program as a couple people have said, and he came up with a cover story. Maybe they were there for completely innocent reasons (just on vacation, or going to the races, or whatever), and he just liked making up stories and wanted to screw with someone. Maybe parts of the story were true, but not the whole thing. Maybe he was from Canada, but the part about his dad wasn't true, and he left for another reason. Maybe the part about medical school and his dad disowning him were true, but he wasn't from Canada.
The third possibility is that David B. was either lying or not remembering the story completely/correctly. Maybe he made up the entire story, or maybe he only made up parts of it, and other parts were true. I think he seems sort of suspcious. "He later
believed his pool partner was the mystery victim", "he
believed the man had mentioned he was from Canada; that he had formerly been a schoolteacher and that his father was a medical doctor. He further stated that the man told him that his family had practically disowned him because they had wanted him so badly to be a doctor" (emphasis mine in both quotes) and the ring found on the John Doe looked "very similar" to the one the guy had offered to sell him. I can understand him being a little unsure about the ring, especially if he didn't see it up close, but to play pool with guy "several times" and just
"believe" it was the same guy and that he'd told him the story? That seems strange to me. It doesn't say how many games they played on each of the occasions they played together, but it seems as if they spent a good bit of time together, and I'd think he'd be more certain than just "believing" that it was the same guy. Also, the Canada/teacher/doctor dad/disowned for not going to medical school thing is fairly detailed for just "believing" that it was the story he was told. I also remember reading somewhere that the John Doe supposedly told David B. that the girl was his girlfriend, but as with everything else, we don't know how true that is. And maybe the racing shirt the guy wore was what gave him the idea to say they had gone to/were coming back from Florida...we don't know if that was true, either. Finally, why did it take him so long to come forward with his story? Maybe it was all a lie because he was somehow involved in the murders, maybe the guy he had played pool with was someone else who looked similar, or maybe he just had a bad memory and got some of the details wrong or couldn't remember for sure.
There are just a lot of things that aren't known, or can't be proven. There are so many possibilities when it comes to who they were and why they were killed. Maybe they were American, maybe even somewhat local to the area. Maybe they were from Canada, maybe they were from another country. Maybe they were brother and sister (I do think they look quite alike in certain pictures). Maybe they were a couple. Maybe they were in witness protection for some reason. Maybe they were undercover law enforcement, as someone else has said. Maybe they were involved with drugs somehow (I remember reading that there were no drugs in their systems when they died, but I don't know how far back the tests would've been able to tell...maybe they hadn't done any recently, or maybe they sold them but didn't do any themselves) and were killed because of it...there are about a million reasons why selling drugs could lead to being murdered. They owed someone money, someone was high and got violent, etc. Maybe they were involved in racing, and some sort of illegal activities related to it...maybe someone was cheating and they knew. I don't know much about racing back then (or even now), but I'm assuming the winners probably won a good amount of money. There could be a lot of cash on the line if it was revealed that someone had cheated somehow. Maybe it was a simple robbery, and they were killed for their money. Maybe they were killed for their car. Maybe there was something about their relationship that people didn't approve of (maybe they were different races, or if they were somewhat local, people knew that there was a class difference, or their families hated each other for some reason, or something). Maybe it was racially-based (not anything to do with their relationship, but because of their olive-toned skin they were looked at as "foreigners"...I'm betting small-town South Carolina in the 70s had plenty of racists). Maybe they stumbled onto something they weren't supposed to know about (could be any number of things), and it was just a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Lonnie Henry definitely seemed like a suspect. Even if he did have an alibi for the murder as he said, I think he probably knew who killed them and was covering for them for some reason. And the more I think about it, things about David B. don't seem to add up, either...I'm starting to think he was involved in some way, as well. And what about the truck driver that found them? I'm guessing not, since I don't think I've read anything to suggest it, but is there any way he was somehow involved?
It seems unbelievable that they haven't been identified in 32 years, surely someone would've been looking for them, but there are several possible reasons. Maybe their families had disowned them. Maybe their families did look for them, but for whatever reason didn't find them (maybe the photos/drawings and descriptions are completely different than what they were like in life, purposely or not, and the families didn't realize who they were...maybe the families didn't think to look for them in a different country, or even state, if it was far enough away), and are dead now. Maybe they didn't have any living family members, or didn't know who they were. It's possible they could've left some sort of orphanage/home once they reached 18 and didn't keep in contact with anyone there, so no one would've known to look for them. Maybe they were in the witness protection program, and their families, if they're still alive, don't even know they're dead. Maybe they were some sort of law enforcement, and were killed because of what they were investigating...maybe the people (or one of them or some of them) involved are still alive, and whatever illegal activity was going on then is still going on today. Maybe there IS a cover-up on the part of local law enforcement like a lot of people think, but not for the reason they think. If they were in witness protection or in law enforcement themselves, it's possible that local law enforcement are keeping their identities hidden to prevent other people from being hurt/killed if the killer(s) is/are still alive. I'm not sure how it would all fit together, or how likely it is (probably not very), but it's a theory. Maybe no one is looking for them because their families already know they're dead. Maybe they were locals, and family members are keeping/kept quiet because they were intimidated by threats from the killers. I could see them saying something like "They're already dead, you can't do anything about it, so keep your mouth shut or you're next" and they were too afraid to say anything. Or maybe a family member or members were involved in the murders.
If they were camping/hitchhiking, surely they would've had more belongings than just the clothes on their backs. They must've had each had a backpack or something, or at least a wallet and purse. What happened to these things? If they had a vehicle, I could see leaving their backpacks there while they went for a walk, but you'd think they'd at least take their wallet/purse with them. They ate fruit/ice cream not long before they died, so they must've had money with them. If they were killed for money, it'd be gone of course, but why take anything else unless the killer specifically didn't want their identities known? I think it's probably most likely that they had a vehicle of some sort at one point or another, and whatever belongings they had with them were in it. So I can see certain things being missing (like extra clothes, and bath/shower items like shampoo or soap or a hairbrush or whatever), but it still seems like they should've had
something on them, a wallet or purse or something that would've had ID in it, and I can't see a reason to take it unless it was important that their identities be kept secret. Add the fact that it's been 30+ years and no one is any closer to knowing who they were than when they were first killed...
someone doesn't want anyone to find out who they were, whether that someone is the killer or local law enforcement, or both.
I hate to say this, but I'm not sure that this case will ever be solved. There are too many things that don't make sense, too many things we don't know, too many things that we have no way of ever knowing so long after the fact. There are too many things that suggest someone wants this to stay secret, too many things that just can't be coincidence: no one remembers/remembered anything except for a guy who "believed" he remembered the guy, but no one had any way of corroborating his story, the teeth that could possibly give some clues were thrown away, the KOA records that supposedly would've had their names, addresses, and possibly even photographs were lost in a fire, and the DNA that could also possibly give some clues has been on the backburner for +1 year...what are the chances that it will eventually be conveniently lost as well? It's just so frustrating and sad to think that these people could still have family members somewhere wondering what happened to them.
The only ones I've seen are a small one of the crime scene, sketches and one morgue picture for each Jane and John.
