NC NC - Bryce, 51, Virginia, 46, & Bobby Durham, 19, Boone, 2 Feb 1972

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Elementarywatsonsir said:
If Bryce's TOD was 10:00pm, or even 15 min after that, can someone explain to me how the water would still be running on the tub when the SIL showed up and not be overflowing? It wasn't a huge tub. Also, why would Bryce have had ink on his fingertips?


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Have read someplace that the water was running as you said, but the overflow valve was keeping it from spilling out onto the floor.


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In a few days it will be the 46th anniversary of this terrible crime. After reflecting over the available info online (and in this forum), it really is a shame that (1) the law enforcement efforts weren’t more sophisticated and (2) the victims weren’t better know in the Boone community because had they been long timers I bet there would have been more public input that could have possibly led to closure. There either is (or was) a killer or killers responsible for this that should have been brought to justice.


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Bumping this forgotten case one more time... it is snowing in Boone NC tonight, not as bad as described back in ‘72 but can’t help but think about what happened to this family.
 
And another year passed with no justice for the Durham family. Tomorrow marks 47 years...
 
I have never understood the son-in-law's reaction to what he says was a phone call from the mother saying they were being attacked by three men.

As I understood, they did not live close by and there was a blizzard. Why didn't he call the police and say he had received this phone call, could they please check.

Instead, he and his wife get ready, they get a neighbor who's a private detective and drive over. I believe it took them awhile to get there.

If you received a phone call like that, wouldn't you first try to call back and if there is no answer, call the police and then go over there?

If the police still have the evidence (especially the ropes) I would think those would be a great item to have tested for touch DNA.

I wonder how many people in their 70's and 80's are sitting around worried about that murder they committed 40 or 50 years ago and have always thought they got away with it. And they're probably going to be caught because of little test one of their own relatives sends in to a DNA service.

There is another board on here about cases that haunt you, I posted several years ago and at that time Arlis Perry was my top case. Her murder was solved in 2018, so even the smaller single murder cases are being solved with all the new DNA evidence.
 
I have never understood the son-in-law's reaction to what he says was a phone call from the mother saying they were being attacked by three men.

As I understood, they did not live close by and there was a blizzard. Why didn't he call the police and say he had received this phone call, could they please check.

Instead, he and his wife get ready, they get a neighbor who's a private detective and drive over. I believe it took them awhile to get there.

If you received a phone call like that, wouldn't you first try to call back and if there is no answer, call the police and then go over there?

If the police still have the evidence (especially the ropes) I would think those would be a great item to have tested for touch DNA.

I wonder how many people in their 70's and 80's are sitting around worried about that murder they committed 40 or 50 years ago and have always thought they got away with it. And they're probably going to be caught because of little test one of their own relatives sends in to a DNA service.

There is another board on here about cases that haunt you, I posted several years ago and at that time Arlis Perry was my top case. Her murder was solved in 2018, so even the smaller single murder cases are being solved with all the new DNA evidence.
 
Dragonfyree said:
I have never understood the son-in-law's reaction to what he says was a phone call from the mother saying they were being attacked by three men.

As I understood, they did not live close by and there was a blizzard. Why didn't he call the police and say he had received this phone call, could they please check.

Instead, he and his wife get ready, they get a neighbor who's a private detective and drive over. I believe it took them awhile to get there.

If you received a phone call like that, wouldn't you first try to call back and if there is no answer, call the police and then go over there?

If the police still have the evidence (especially the ropes) I would think those would be a great item to have tested for touch DNA.

I wonder how many people in their 70's and 80's are sitting around worried about that murder they committed 40 or 50 years ago and have always thought they got away with it. And they're probably going to be caught because of little test one of their own relatives sends in to a DNA service.

There is another board on here about cases that haunt you, I posted several years ago and at that time Arlis Perry was my top case. Her murder was solved in 2018, so even the smaller single murder cases are being solved with all the new DNA evidence.
Click to expand...

The point you make about the logic of the SIL and daughter not calling the police is very good and probably makes a lot of people feel skeptical about their explanation. Also makes zero sense that you’d go to the home with the daughter along for the ride expecting to meet the alleged attackers - it’s almost as if they knew in advance that they’d find the bodies there with no resistance or encounter with the perpetrators (you think?). Even in 1972 you’d call the police. The private eye/neighbor could have been brought along to add credibility to the “discovery” of the bodies, who really knows?
 
NCHillbilly said:
And now, 48 years have passed. I wonder if the perpetrators are as haunted by this as we are, Onaliv...
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I often wonder that too... This case really gets to me because on the outside looking in it appears to have a likely person of interest, and yet went unsolved and seemingly forgotten about. Had this been a deeply rooted Watauga County family with lots of pressure to keep the spotlight on, maybe things would have turned out differently.
 
I am very fascinated by this case. A big mystery for me is why there was NO water on the floor of the bathroom when the police found the bodies in the bathtub, which tells me the family was killed in another room and then put in the tub. But why? It seems very ritualistic - almost like a mob hit. The family had only lived in Boone for 18 months, so I wonder what could have happened in that short amount of time - or if trouble followed them down from Mt. Airy. So fascinating!
 
Tarheel86 said:
I am very fascinated by this case. A big mystery for me is why there was NO water on the floor of the bathroom when the police found the bodies in the bathtub, which tells me the family was killed in another room and then put in the tub. But why? It seems very ritualistic - almost like a mob hit. The family had only lived in Boone for 18 months, so I wonder what could have happened in that short amount of time - or if trouble followed them down from Mt. Airy. So fascinating!
Click to expand...


Definitely more questions than answers in this case for sure. Seems to me like the most likely suspect got away with it (at least as of right now) and was not a stranger. 1972 was a different time in crime scene investigation technology than today, and it’s a real shame. If this had been my parents and sibling, I would have pushed this until a resolution was achieved - but that’s me; I find it very strange that the surviving family member seemingly never helped keep the spotlight on this to help bring awareness and closure.
 
Here in Boone NC on Christmas Eve we’re experiencing a snowstorm right now and can’t help but think what conditions must have been like on that night in February 1972... unfortunately still unsolved after all these years.
 
I stumbled on this case looking for another one in our area. I live a few counties over. It’s amazing this case has not been solved given the technology available today. I found this post before I found websleuths. who killed the durham family? here's my story :: GoWilkes - The Community Website for Wilkes County, Wilkesboro, and North Wilkesboro, NC
This seems to have a lot of local in sight. Things I find interesting or worthy of taking notes… The private eye linked to Lee Harvey Oswald, the fact that some say Ginny was hooked on drugs, a SBI agent is her current husband (not sure if that’s true), and Troy now goes by Justin and is an attorney in GA and has had other people around him die and the fact he was supposedly married before. Does anyone know anymore about these things?
 
Wow! I was a student at Appalachian State University when this happened… It was a shock. So glad they know who did it, but still wonder who paid for the “hit”.. I remember reading something about Mr. Durham exposing a scam in which odometers were turned back on used cars. Probably somebody who was mad about him messing up their schemes… I wish they could expose whoever it was.
 
I was surprised to read this morning that the Durham family murdered was finally solved. I first learned of this case from an article in ID magazine in 2016. I've read everything that I could find about the case since then.

I would really like to know who put the hit on the Durham's. So thankful for what we have learned.
 
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