The Sumter County Does
Episode 118
UPDATE - IDENTIFIED
Early in the morning on August 9th, 1976, a truck driver passing through Sumter County, South Carolina, stopped to rest. To his shock and horror he discovered the remains of two murder victims shot and left along the edge of an isolated, dirt road.
When investigators arrived they presumed they would have their biggest challenge tracking down the killer. They never imagined that the identity of the victims would be the more enduring mystery.
UPDATE
In June of 2019 The Sumter County Sheriff’s Office was contacted by Matt McDaniel, a citizen investigator and researcher who had followed the case for years. McDaniel put the Sheriff’s Office in touch with the DNA Doe Project. Then the news broke – Jane and Jock had finally been identified. At a press conference on January 21st, 2021, The Sumter County Sheriff’s Office and DNA Doe Project confirmed the victims as thirty year old James Paul Freund who had gone missing out of Lancaster, Pennsylvania on December 26th, 1975 and twenty-five year old Pamela Mae Buckley who had disappeared from Colorado Springs, Colorado, much like James, in December of 1975.
James Paul Freund was the only child of Adam and Lolaetta Freund. He graduated from McCaskey High School in 1964. That same year he enlisted in the army, spending time at Fort Knox, The Army Ordnance Proving Ground in Maryland and Bremerhaven, Germany. In December of 1965, James married his high school sweetheart and they would have one child together in 1970. James filed for divorce in 1971 and was last spoken to by relatives on December 25th, 1975. Eight months later, he would be murdered in Sumter County.
Pamela Mae Buckley was the first born daughter of Robert and Shirley Buckley who would go on to have five children in total. Pamela attended Redwood Falls High School where she participated in drama club and choir, always having a love for singing. In 1971, she abdicated her throne as “Sno-Queen,” in order to go on tour with the band “Sunlending.” Pam married in October of 1972 when she settled in Colorado, first in Manitou Springs and later in Colorado Springs. In December of 1975, Pam was reported missing and her husband filed for divorce. That divorce was finalized eleven days after she was brutally murdered alongside James in Sumter County.
Sources:
“Sumter County Does” – Wikipedia
“Sumter County Does” – Unsolved Mysteries Wiki
“Sumter Jock Doe 1976” – DNA Doe Project
“Sumter Jane Doe 1976” – DNA Doe Project
“Search Begins for Identities of Slain Youths” – The Index-Journal
“No Clues in Sumter Slayings” – The Greenville News
“Sumter Shooting Victims Unidentified After 1 Year” – The Greenville News
“2 Bodies Are Buried at Sumter” – The Times and Democrat
“Unknown Couple Buried” – The Times and Democrat
“Sumter Sheriff May Have Break in Two Deaths” – The Index-Journal
“Dental Clue Good” – The Times and Democrat
“’Craftsman’ Did Dental Work on Young Man Killed in Sumter Nearly a Year Ago” – The Index-Journal
“John & Jane Doe 1976” – Sumter County Sheriff’s Office
“12 Hours of Sebring” – Wikipedia
“Slain Couple in SC Still Unidentified” – Adams, The High Point Enterprise
“Two Youths Found Slain Near I-95” – The Sumter Daily Item
“SCM760809” – Porchlight International
“Crime Still Unsolved” – The Sumter Item
“Cold Case Mystery: Unidentified Sumter Co. murder victims” – WIS News 10
“Dentist Provides Clues to Slain Man’s Identity” – Edwards, The Sumter Daily Item
“Bodies of unknowns exhumed in Sumter County” – WIS News 10