Has there been any updates on the unidentified Sumter County couple killed in 1976?

The guy's name may have been 'Jaques', and I think I read perhaps here that the killer may be known, but he himself has been dead for years also.

I know the "Grateful dead doe" has finally been identified just recently after he died in 1995, and same for that "Andrea" who was hit and killed on Pacific Coast highway in 1990, hoping this Sumter County couple can get some final hope eventually.

Has there been any updates on the unidentified Sumter County couple killed in 1976?

The guy's name may have been 'Jaques', and I think I read perhaps here that the killer may be known, but he himself has been dead for years also.

They are both being researched by the DNA Doe Project!

https://dnadoeproject.org/case/sumter-jock-doe-1976/

https://dnadoeproject.org/case/sumter-jane-doe-1976/

Investigators now suspect that they were carjacked and the murder weapon was found the year after their deaths during a traffic stop, but the man denied being involved with their murders and that was that.

They are both being researched by the DNA Doe Project!

https://dnadoeproject.org/case/sumter-jock-doe-1976/

https://dnadoeproject.org/case/sumter-jane-doe-1976/

Investigators now suspect that they were carjacked and the murder weapon was found the year after their deaths during a traffic stop, but the man denied being involved with their murders and that was that.

In fairness to the police, he strongly denied it.

This case always bugged me... Someone has to know these two, and two families have to be missing them. The reports said they seemed "Well to do" so you wouldn't imagine they were homeless or runaways. I just can't believe that no one has been able to give enough info to identify either one of them. Hopefully they get a hit with the DNA.

This case always bugged me... Someone has to know these two, and two families have to be missing them. The reports said they seemed "Well to do" so you wouldn't imagine they were homeless or runaways. I just can't believe that no one has been able to give enough info to identify either one of them. Hopefully they get a hit with the DNA.

I've wondered if his story is true - that he was disowned. I've also thought she could be an Indigenous Canadian and might be the other/true part of why he was disowned. His parents might even be aware but feel he got what he deserved for the choices he was making. Her family could have reported her missing but it wasn't taken seriously because of her race.

I always thought that the "well off" was probably a bit of an exaggeration - small county, they probably saw clean clothes/nice hair and for the area and combined with the expectation for roadside victims' appearance thought "oh, they look like they have money". Even today, people from big cities that are at the same socio-economic level as someone in a small town can appear to be much more well-off because they have more access to things at their price point.

I've wondered if his story is true - that he was disowned. I've also thought she could be an Indigenous Canadian and might be the other/true part of why he was disowned. His parents might even be aware but feel he got what he deserved for the choices he was making. Her family could have reported her missing but it wasn't taken seriously because of her race.

I always thought that the "well off" was probably a bit of an exaggeration - small county, they probably saw clean clothes/nice hair and for the area and combined with the expectation for roadside victims' appearance thought "oh, they look like they have money". Even today, people from big cities that are at the same socio-economic level as someone in a small town can appear to be much more well-off because they have more access to things at their price point.

I’ve always thought the well to do/disowned sorry sounded too literary/romantic.

It’s much more likely they were just out of state teenagers, possibly foreign, bumming around the country who fell into misadventure.

I’ve always thought that the South American angle is more likely than Quebec, but that is really just a bunch. I wouldn’t be shocked to find out they were American.

Years of UM viewing has taught me that witnesses are unreliable, so I don’t necessarily by the Jock/Jacques story either.

https://www.reddit.com/r/gratefuldoe/comments/ir7m75/ddp_has_posted_genetic_admixtures_for_the_sumter/

This link has the genetic admixtures for both Sumter Co. Does.

Interestingly, Jane Doe DOES have some Native American ancestry.

I did some 'websleuthing' on my own and came up with a few possible matches for the Jane Doe found in a missing persons database, based on the dates they went missing (expanded the search gap from 1973-1976). Let me know what you guys think:

Jane Smith (Sudbury, Ontario)
Megan Emerick (Alaska)
Eileen Hynson (Napa County, California)
Rebecca Kellison (Denver, Colorado)
Belinda VanLith (Minnesota)

(From NamUs' site):
Mary Kathleen Thill
Nancy Baird
Jan Cotta
Phyllis Berry
Sandra Hopler

(From Canada's missing persons site):
Diane Bourne
Sylvie Ouimet

Last month, they were positively identified. They are Pamela Buckley, age 25 from Minnesota, and James Freund, age 30, from Pennsylvania. Authorities are uncertain of the relationship between the two but it is known they are not related by blood. One of them (I'm not sure which) was reported missing nine months before the murder. Not much is publicly known about them and apparently their families have refused to be interviewed. I think the guy they found in North Carolina with the murder weapon was the guy who killed them. He wasn't able to give a reasonable explanation for how he ended up with the gun but they didn't have sufficient evidence to prosecute him, especially since they couldn't even identify the victims. With the passage of time, its a good chance whoever did it may be dead themselves but there is no statute of limitations so the murder case is still active.