That was me a couple of months ago. I have been aware of this case since the Unsolved Mysteries segment in the early '90s. I travel that section of I-95 at least once per year so I finally decided to stop and film a couple of videos. At the time I didn't realize the cemetery was a half hour away and not close to any major highways. But I weaved over there as well. I was more impressed with the cemetery than I expected to be. It is connected to an active church in the area.
When I visited Locklair Road I mostly guessed at the murder location, based on the one available photo from 1976. However, after posting the videos on YouTube a Reddit poster who previously lived near the cemetery confirmed that my guess was mostly correct, that the murders occurred close to the intersection of Locklair Road and the larger Lynches River Road. The father of the Reddit poster had driven him to see the murder scene when this case was in its early stages.
The end of the video shows the connection between Lynches River Road and Locklair Road. I turned around and filmed the intersection:
My best estimate is that the hermit was walking along Lynches River Road somewhere near daybreak and saw the bodies on the slight upslope along Locklair Road, not far from the intersection. Then the hermit saw the trucker and told him what he discovered. These days there are many more parking areas along major interstates, designed to help truckers rest. Also there are increasing use of digital signs indicating how many open spots are available for truckers at the next rest area. Nothing like that existed in 1976. Truckers had to be aware of pull offs not far from major highways. After visiting Locklair Road I can see how that qualifies...then and now. It is an isolated dirt road about 3/4 of a mile from the northbound exit ramp on I-95. During my visit I saw numerous cars using Lynches River Road but nobody except myself on Locklair. At one point I parked my car in the center of Locklair -- which runs 1.2 miles -- with no concern whatsoever that another vehicle would approach from either direction. I felt as if I could be there all day without needing to move my car. Truckers would be aware of that road and also a deviant local would be aware of the road.
Where was the fruit stand in relation to where the bodies were found? I didn't try to figure that out. I have seen some recent reference in this thread to fruit stand location.
Previously, when I envisioned Locklair Rd, I was under the impression it was the first road off the I-95 or at the very least a road that intersected county road 341. In actual fact it is off another road making it even more remote. It makes me wonder what exits existed back in 1976 and whether or not smaller roads still has some access to the I-95. I live in an area in Ontario where some smaller roads in more rural areas still have access to major highways but most of them have been closed off to force traffic to the designated interchange.
Back when I first heard of this crime, nearly 30 years ago, I heard it was the truck driver who had gotten off the highway to rest who discovered the bodies. I presumed he used a CB radio, being a trucker, to call in his discovery. After the discovery became known locally, a man (who has been labeled a hermit) but who probably just lived alone somewhere near the crime scene, came forward to say he had heard a vehicle on the road, heard gunshots, then heard the vehicle leave quickly. His time frame was several hours before the discovery. His account jibes with the coroner saying that the deceased persons had been killed within hours of their discovery.
I don't think either of these two people were American. I think that may be a dead end. I'm not even sure they are Canadian. There is a presumption because he said his name was 'Jock' and that he was Canadian, that he was telling the truth. I'm curious whether any of the witnesses who came in contact with them ever mentioned either of them having any kind of accent. Many French Canadians are fully bilingual but even some fully bilingual may still have little speech inflections that betray French as their first language. And I can say with some certainty that a lot of French people nearly 50 years ago in Quebec could not (or would not) speak English. And not many non-French people call their boys Jacques. If anyone wanted to take on the persona of a French Canadian man disowned by his father for not following in his footsteps, I think the name 'Jacques' may be the first one you'd think of.
The fact that the female had unshaved legs comes up a lot , assigning the issue as something a foreigner would do. There has been no mention whether her underarms were also unshaved, which was a characteristic of European females at the time. During this time period, the hippie culture was still around although it was petering off. So her unshaved legs could be something as simple as not caring for a while rather than a political statement. It's not as if she had no access to a razor since the male she was traveling with was freshly shaved. So, was she a foreigner or not.
I can't stop thinking about the South American component. Athough, if they were escapees from the Dirty War, would they have had such command of the English language in such a short period of time? No one has ever mentioned talking to the female, only the male. Could it be because she didn't speak the language? I find Jane Doe's resemblance to Maria Marta Lugones is remarkable; although the decedent's face seems slimmer almost everything is spot on: shape of face, eyebrow arch, mouth. Maria doesn't appear to have the moles, though. I don't put much stock into the idea she was pregnant since the only person who claimed that recanted his story.
I find John Doe less convincing to be Cesar. There are some surface similarities like his slim frame and face shape but every picture I've seen of him he was wearing glasses so I'm presuming he couldn't see well without them. Someone could have removed them from him after death because they may have had identifying marks on them, but why not remove the watch and the rings? People who wear glasses a lot can have indentations at the side of their noses and they don't go away within hours.
There is another Argentinian who went missing during the same time frame as Maria and Cesar. His name is Miguel Angel Rodriguez Sandoval. Here's a picture of him. He resembles John Doe, especially the fuller lips and bushy eyebrows. I have no other physical characteristics on him, height, etc. The interesting thing about this man is that a women who saw him in detention said he had wounds on his upper back and shoulders from being whipped. John Doe has scars in those places. I wish the autopsy pictures included things like that but I'm not holding my breath.
I find the police work on this case was extremely shoddy and continues to this day. Over the years I've read items that claimed a lot of the politicians and law enforcement in this area were fairly corrupt. I wish I had bookmarked some of these articles because they are very difficult to find now. There is a non fiction book called Chase of the Condor by Frederick Ingram which provides interesting suppositions regarding CIA operatives who lived in the area as well as the man found with a weapon with a ballistic match that killed this couple.
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