UPDATE: Sumter County Does - IDENTIFIED!!!

[00:00] Hi, Crime Junkies. It's Britt, and I have big news. One of my favorite seasonal shows, CounterClock, is back with a brand new season, and it is wild. Host Delia D'Ambra is digging into the 2008 Lane Bryant murders. I mean, this isn't just a recap. It is a reinvestigation. She's talking to law enforcement, people from the community, even sources who have never spoken publicly until now. And you know I love a show that asks all the questions. Listen to CounterClock Season 8 now wherever you get your podcasts. [00:35] So, Ashley, can I tell you a little secret? I guess all of our listeners, too. Yes. I got a little bottle of champagne in one of my Christmas stockings this year, and I've been saving it for, like, a time I just need a little bit of champagne. [00:46] I just busted it open. Pop the champagne. Hold the theme music. Hold the intros. We are dropping in your feed for a quick couple of minutes to pop the champagne and give you guys wonderful, great, great news. I have all of the full body chills. I'm about to cry. Today at 2 p.m. Eastern time, the Sumter County Sheriff's Office have officially identified and named the Sumter County Doe. [01:16] And you guys, I want to hug all of you. I want to cry. This is something you should be so proud of because part of it is because of you. If you guys remember, you know, many moons ago in 2019, we did a fundraiser to fund the DNA Doe Project's testing of the Sumter County does. And I know that feels like a long time. No one heard anything. These tests take a long time. And it probably felt like there was no movement.

[01:46] true crime community. A huge, huge difference. And obviously, like the Sumter County Sheriff's Office never stopped working it. There's a PI who was working it. There are so many wonderful people to give credit to for giving these two their names back. But... [02:02] Also pat yourselves on the back, you guys. I am, again, so proud of you. To every one of you who bought those shirts during that fundraiser, 100% of the proceeds went to DNA Doe Project, and you're doing wonderful things. And I don't know if you guys knew this. We actually raised enough money that they were able to do these cases and some additional. So I hope I'm able to come back with some even more great news. I hope we can keep doing stuff like this. But we're going to give you the quick lowdown. Again, this came out within the last hour. So there's still a lot we don't know. [02:32] What we do know, though, are their names. Our Jane Doe is named Pamela Buckley. And she was from Colorado Springs, Colorado, right? She was 25 at the time of her disappearance. And she actually was reported missing back in 1975. And if you remember, they were found in 76. So she had been reported missing a year before her body was found. Jock Doe was named as James Froond. [03:02] We got the spelling of his name from ABC4. If you watch the press conference from the sheriff's office like we did, you know, everyone's wearing masks. It was really hard to see. So if there's an update on his last name, we'll put that in the show notes. But we believe based on ABC4's reporting that it's spelled F-R-E-U-N-D. And he was from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, correct? Yeah. So this is the wild part, right? So there was a while where they thought maybe they were from Canada, a while where they thought maybe they were related.

[03:32] But they weren't even from the same place and they were from the U.S. The two of them were from completely different parts of the country. Both were reported missing by their families in 1975 and then somehow ended up together in Sumter County in 1976. And James was like 30 when he was found, correct? Correct. Now, one of the people at the press conference asked, do they know each other? Was there any kind of connection between the two of them? [04:02] The sheriff's office says that they're trying to figure out, you know, were they planning to meet up? Did they run into each other? Where would that have happened? One other question, Brett, I don't know if you saw this that I found really interesting that was asked at the press conference is, do you know where they were going? And there was this like pause and I saw his head kind of wobble. What do I say? What do I don't say? And, you know, we got the kind of standard press conference answer. You know, this is an ongoing. [04:32] Now the investigation is ongoing. Yes. But the pause, man, like it was like one of those pregnant pauses that you know. They have something. You almost know there was something else. There's something there. So again, we don't have much beyond this. You know, we did. We tried to do a little bit of digging. I was going on newspapers.com. There isn't a lot about Pamela out there. She does have a NamUs profile, I believe. There's one page on WebSloops, but like nothing really there to talk about it. Just like the bare bones of when she was last seen.

[05:02] What I found so interesting, I don't know how true this is because I haven't gotten deep into web sleuths and certainly not in this case. You know, we work mostly off of newspaper articles. But what I kept seeing people comment in the live video of the Sheriff's Office press conference, which was on their Facebook page, was so many people were saying that in web sleuths, they've been saying Pamela Buckley could be our Jane Doe. [05:27] Wow, really? [05:45] you know, per these comments, take that what you will, that they kind of got dismissed. But it really ended up being her. Now, I have not been able to find anything for James. I mean, again, this is 75. He was 30 years old. Potentially, that's why there aren't a lot of articles. These were two adults that went missing. They're a lot older than I think we initially anticipated. I think a lot of people are looking at like teens, early 20s. Yeah, yeah. Kind of like that college age, like 18 to 22 range was definitely like what I had in my mind. Yeah. [06:15] else that came out of the press conference I thought was interesting is they did have the coroner come on and talk and said that there was something that kept getting misreported there was actually no gunshot wounds to the throat. Yeah, I don't think that changes the case at all. They each did suffer three gunshot wounds. They said it was with the same weapon from the press conference think they know what the weapon is, but they don't want to say again, because this is an ongoing investigation. So,

[06:43] You know, Pamela Buckley, she would have been 69 years old today. They made mention of that in the press conference. James Freund would have been. [06:52] This is wonderful. Again, pop the champagne. I am excited. But this is the first step. It's not over. Yeah. Right. To a long road. They are officially reopening the homicide investigation into their cases. There is a private investigator who's been working on this case for eight long years. And so I hope that not only now do the families have some answers, but I hope that this gives them hope. [07:17] One step in the right direction, getting closer to finally figuring out who did this and holding that person responsible. And again, I want to encourage everyone out there who's listening, who again, who participated in this fundraiser. I'm so proud of you. And I want this to show you that we can make a difference. No, we're not the investigators. No, we're not the ones doing the legwork. And those people are wonderful at what they do. [07:47] It's important. Can make a difference, does matter, and has made a difference already. Yes. So continue to figure out ways that you can get involved in this true crime community that we all are a part of. We will continue to put forward nonprofits. And if you want to donate to the DNA Doe Project, who is doing incredible, important work, we are going to link to them in the show notes. We will also link to the press conference if you want to watch the entire thing.

[08:17] But it's a good day, Crime Junkies, and I'm proud of you. And if there's more information, we will update you. Make sure you're following us on social for those smaller updates. We're on Instagram at Crime Junkie Podcast. [08:30] . [08:35] Okay, crime junkies, you know I absolutely love a twist and a turn, especially when it comes to people who turn out to be someone they're not. That's why I have been obsessed with the podcast Chameleon. Every Thursday, host Josh Dean deep dives into a scam so bizarre, it will leave you wondering, how did they get away with that? [08:54] It is truly one of my favorite podcasts right now and I've been listening for years. [08:58] I think you'll love it too. [08:59] Listen to Chameleon wherever you get your podcasts.