Murders of Pamela Buckley and James Freund

The victims were unidentified for forty-five years, despite the fact that their descriptions, sketches of their faces, dental information, and fingerprints had been distributed across the United States.A statement by the DNA Doe Project described the resolution of the case, and that they were withholding additional information, including the decedents' names.[7][16] At 6:20 a.m., a trucker named Martin Durant found the bodies and contacted Charles Graham, an employee at a nearby store.[7][15] He stood over 6 feet tall, weighed about 150 pounds, and had extensive, elaborate dental work that may have been performed outside the United States.The shirt read "Coors — America's Light Beer" on the front and "Camel Challenger GT Sebring '75" on the back, along with a Snoopy design.But when the Bulova company downsized in the early 1970s, they destroyed many of their records, meaning that there was no way to ascertain where the victim's watch was distributed or bought.[7][20] In 1977, a man named Lonnie George Henry was arrested in Latta, South Carolina, for driving while intoxicated.[8] After information was released to the public, a man from Nebraska stated that he may have performed repairs on a car with Oregon or Washington license plates, whose owners matched the description of the victims.Lucas himself told police that he had been in South Carolina the day that the victims died, but he was received with skepticism as he had a penchant for false confessions.[2][3] Earlier, Lucas had confessed to two murders that also happened in Sumter County; that of an elderly woman in 1975 and of a young man in 1983.[9] The couple's bodies were kept at a local funeral home in caskets with airtight, see-through lids in hopes that someone would identify them.On August 14, 1977, one year and five days after the bodies were found, they were interred in Bethel United Methodist Church Cemetery in Oswego, South Carolina.[7] The DNA Doe Project, an organization working to resolve unidentified decedent cases, was recruited in July 2019 for assistance to identify the then-unidentified couple.[27] A total of $2,300 was donated to fund the extraction of usable DNA profiles from bone marrow for genetic genealogy research.[39][40][41][42] In January the following year, the organization announced they had successfully aided with the victims' identifications as a pair of American hitchhikers.
The crime scene, showing how the victim's bodies were found
X-rays of Freund's teeth, which suggested he was older than initially estimated.
Ring worn by James Freund.
Contemporary forensic facial reconstruction depicting approximations by Carl Koppelman of the then-unidentified victims during life.
Sumter CountySouth CarolinaDouble-murdershootingrevolverHenry Lee LucasmurderCanadianDNA Doe Projecthermitdirt roadhijackedhitchhikersFitchburg, MassachusettsLancaster, PennsylvaniaSumter County, South CarolinaHomicidefirearmdentitionforensic dentistolive complexionsocioeconomic statusroot canalappendectomycontact sportsSnoopySebring RacesSebring, FloridaCoors Brewing CompanyMidwestBulovawristwatchTwist-o-FlexFlorentineRedwood County, MinnesotaColorado Springs, Coloradoeyelashesmuslinhalter topcut-off shortsStride-Ritewedge-heeled sandalscostume jewelrysterling silverSouthwestern United StatesLatta, South Carolinadriving while intoxicatedinsufficient evidenceBrunswick, Georgiatruck stopfuneral homerunawaysOswegoforensic facial reconstructionCarl KoppelmanDNA informationunidentified decedentgenetic genealogyMurders of Dean and Tina ClouseList of unsolved murderslack of evidenceHouston ChronicleNational Missing and Unidentified Persons SystemFamilySearchThe Doe Network