Sumter County Does

On August 9, 1976, the bodies of a young man and woman were found shot to death on a dirt road off Interstate 95 near Sumter, South Carolina. Both had been shot multiple times. They appeared to be in their early twenties and were well-dressed, leading investigators to believe they were travelers. No identification was found on or near them, and their car was never located.

The couple became known as the Sumter County Does and remained among South Carolina's most enduring unidentified person cases for over four decades. Despite detailed descriptions, dental records, and later DNA extraction, they could not be matched to any missing persons reports. The case was featured in numerous unidentified person databases and generated periodic media attention.

In January 2021, breakthrough DNA genealogy work by genetic genealogist Dr. Colleen Fitzpatrick and the DNA Doe Project identified the man as James Paul Freund (30), originally from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and the woman as Pamela Mae Buckley (26), from Redondo Beach, California. The couple had apparently been traveling together and stopped in the Sumter area for unknown reasons.

The identification opened new investigative avenues. With names and backgrounds, investigators could begin retracing the couple's movements and associations in 1976. As of the identification, no suspect had been named, but the case—now a double homicide with identified victims rather than unknown Does—has been actively reinvestigated by the Sumter County Sheriff's Office.