So Ashley, can I tell you a little secret? I guess all of our listeners too. Yes. I got a little bottle of champagne and when my Christian stockings this year, I've been saving it for like a time I just need a little bit of champagne and I just busted it open.
Pop the champagne, hold the theme music, hold the intro. 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 Joe. And you guys, I wanna have all of you, I wanna cry, this is something you should be so proud of because part of it is because of you. If you guys remember, many movies ago in 2019, we did a fundraiser to fund the DNA Doe projects testing of the Sumter County Dose. And I know that feels like a long time, no one heard anything, these tests take a long time.
It probably felt like there was no movement, but you guys made a real difference in the 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 also pat yourself up the back, you guys. I am again so proud of you. 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 gonna give you the quick lowdown. Again, this came out within the last hour. So there's still a lot we don't know.
And 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.
She actually was reported missing back in 1975. And you remember, they were found in 76. So she had been reporting missing a year before her body was found. Jock Doe was named as James Froun.
We got a spelling of his name from ABC4. If you watch the press conference from the sheriff's office, like we did, 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 related. We knew early on their DNA was different enough that they weren't related. But they weren't even from the same place and they were from the US. 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? And that's something that the sheriff's office says that they're trying to figure out, were they planning to meet up? Do they run into each other? Where would that have happened?
One other question, Brett, I don't know if you saw this, 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 we got the kind of standard press conference answer. This is ongoing. We're not going to talk about that right now.
The investigation is ongoing. Yes. But the pause, man, it was like one of those pregnant pauses that you know. They have something.
You must know there was something else. There's something there. So again, we don't have much beyond this. 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 name as profile. I believe there's one page on WebSluice.
But like nothing really there to talk about. Just like the bare bones of when she was last seen. What I found so interesting. I don't know how true this is because I haven't gotten deep into WebSluice.
And certainly not in this case. You know, we work mostly off newspaper articles. But what I kept seeing people comment in the live video of the Sharestops press conference was on their Facebook page with so many people were saying that in WebSluice, they've been saying Pamela Buckley could be our Jane Doe for a while. Wow, really?
Yeah. And what I'm reading is so there's actually two missing Pamela Buckley from what I'm putting together. And two years ago, they came forward and told Sumter County Sharest that it could be this one. And I guess it wasn't.
It's not that one. But there's another one, the one who it actually is. And they said, you know, per these comments, take that way, Will, that they kind of got dismissed. But it really ended up being hurt.
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 are 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.
You know, the only thing else that came out of the press conference I thought was interesting is they did have the corner 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. They think they know what the weapon is, but they don't want to say, again, because this is an ongoing investigation. So, you know, Pamela Buckley, she would have been 69 years old today.
They may mention that in the press conference, James Froond would have been 74. This is wonderful. Again, pop the champagne. I am excited.
But this is the first. I love it. 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 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, but also are caring about these cases. 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. But it's a good day, crime junkies. And I'm proud of you. And if there's more information, we will update you.
So make sure you're following us on social for those smaller updates. We're on Instagram at Crime Junkie Podcast. When the nights grow longer, the shadows start to stir. And that can only mean one thing.
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