The Durahm Family Murders- Boone, N.C. 1972
[I
would like to start by stating that writing this report wasn’t the easiest.
Even though this crime was national news a lot of information conflicts. Not
only do some major facts differ but so do small things, like, the daughters
name spelling, victims ages, even the divide in what police thought happened. Newspapers
mixed facts and exaggerated others. I tried to make the most credible decisions
about what facts I determined to be true and what I determined to be the
Chinese whispers of a small town.]
While
most of the world remembers 1972 for things like that year’s Winter Olympics,
or the single greatest surfing day in history (“Huge Monday”). Perhaps they
even remember the made-for-television movie “The Night Stalker,” that broke
records by being watched by 75 million people or even Joe Frazier retaining his
world heavyweight championship title by knocking out Terry Daniels in the
fourth round. The people in the small mountain town of Boone N.C. would
remember it for another reason. On February 3, 1972 during a winter storm with
40 mph winds the Durahm family lay crowded side- by- side, fully clothed,
leaning over the lip of their bath tub, their heads submerged. Rope marks were
visible around all three victim’s necks. The victims were Virginia [44], Bryce
[50], and their son, Bobby Joe [19].
Before the Crime:
The
Durahm family were natives of Wilkes county. They came from Mt. Airy to Boone
in November 1969 after purchasing the local Buick dealership. The family
consisted of Virginia, Bryce, Bobby Joe {son}, and Ginny Durahm Hall
{daughter}. They had not been in Watauga County long enough to establish
contacts who knew them personally. They were friendly but kept to themselves,
which was uncommon for small business owners during this time and in this
community. A friend Bobby Joe had made during his time at Appalachian State
University was Phil Ginn, a retired trail judge. Ginn and Bobby Joe was
supposed to meet the night of the murders to watch a school ball game. Ginn
only had good things to say about Bobby Joe. He said Bobby showed good morals
and values just like his parents. He also touched on the family’s quick arrival
to Boone by saying, “He kind of just showed up here. No one knew much about
him.” It was unknown if the family had any other business dealings in Watauga
before they moved. However, it was known that Bryce was in the “auto loan
business” before buying the dealership. Bryce was confirmed to have graduated
from A.S.U. in 1941 for Physical Education. The couple’s son, daughter and
son-in-law were attending the collage as well. Outside of small town rumblings
and rumors not much else was known about the Durahm family.
Day of Murders:
On February 3, 1972 it started
snowing at 3:00 pm. Bryce had a rotary meeting during the afternoon in Blowing
Rock at the Appalachian Ski Mountain. Green Berets were training in the area
and gave a demonstration to the cub. The harsh weather conditions caused less than
half the club to show up for the meeting. After the meeting and demonstration one
the club members followed Bryce back to the Buick dealership on East King ST.
to ensure he made it safely. He estimated Bryce arrived at approx. 8:30 pm. Virginia
was already at the dealership working late, which was normal for her. Earlier
in the day she spoke to an attorney (for an undisclosed reason) and said to him
that she was “staring 14 hours of work in the face.” Bobby Joe was to meet his
parents at the dealership so they all could ride home together. They used a
4-wheel vehicle called a “Jimmy” to get home that belonged to their dealership.
Several neighbors seen the Jimmy go up the hill to the home. One neighbor
placed the time at about 9:00 pm. They remembered the time because the nine o’clock
film was just starting. The family then seemed to sit down on the sofa for
dinner.
PHOTO:Bobby Joe Durahm A.S.U. Yearbook Courtesy of Websleuths
At the
same time their daughters husband, Troy Hall, answered the phone. He told Ginny
it was her mother, Virginia that had called. He said the phone call ended
abruptly. He said she was speaking low and could have misheard her but he
thought she said “three black men had Bryce and Bobby Joe beating them in the
back room.” Ginny told him she didn’t think her mother would joke about
something like that. After only getting busy signals when trying to call they
decided to go to the Durahm home. Their car would not start so they asked a
neighbor for a ride. The neighbor was Cecil Small, a private investigator and
manager over the mobile home park they resided in. Cecil, Troy and Ginny all
took the short four-mile drive to the Durahm home. As Ginny set in the car at
the bottom of the hill leading to the house the two men walked the rest of the
way. Cecil was carrying his gun (that Ginny and Troy insisted he bring). When
they arrived to the home all the lights were on, the house was ransacked, and
one of the downstairs phones was pulled out of the wall. While the two men
searched for the sound of running water they stumbled upon all three victims in
the bathroom. The water was still running. The overflow drain kept the water
from spilling into the floor. Bryce and Bobby Joe had been strangled then
drowned. Bryce still had a loose piece of rope around his neck. Virginia had
been strangled to death. Troy and Cecil quickly left the scene and returned to
the car. Only after the car slid off the road did they go to a neighboring home
to call police.
When police arrived Troy and Cecil led them to the garage
where they had entered. Police walked into the bathroom, directed by the two,
and discovered the family. Bobby Joe was the first to be put into the tub
followed by his father then mother. The time of death was later determined to
be at about 10:00 pm. Police quickly theorized that it was a botched robbery.
They said it had to been done by multiple people. In their eyes no one person
could have murdered the two healthy parents and young, athletic Bobby Joe, who
was once an eagle scout. Valuables seemed to be missing even though a
substantial (but undisclosed amount) bank deposit was left in an envelope on
the kitchen chair. Bryce had not followed his typical routine and deposited the
money at the bank that afternoon. No tire or shoe prints had been left behind
due to the snow and 40 mph winds. All imprints would have been covered almost
immediately. The 4-wheel Jimmy the family used from their dealership was gone
from their home. Officers found it a few miles down the road on Poplar Grove
Rd. The motor was still running, as was
the windshield wipers and lights. Silverware belonging to the Durham’s was
found in a pillowcase in the back seat. The police knew the Jimmy had come off
the hill between 10:20 -10:30. Whomever was driving was speeding and almost ran
someone off the road.
PHOTO: Bryce Durahm, A.S.U. Yearbook. Courtesy of Websleuths
Theories:
The theories around these murders
are endless because of the lack of evidence and motive. So we will start with a
confession {that was never recanted} but dropped because of the lack of evidence.
Dean Chandler, 20, was in custody in
Tennessee for unrelated charges when he called Sheriff Ponder, in Boone, just a
few weeks after the murder. He said he wanted to tell the truth about the
murder. He said he was willing to talk because he wasn’t involved with the
killings first hand. He said he’d split the case open for the Sheriff if he’d
drop the pending counts of larceny against his wife, Elizabeth Ann, and
himself. The Sheriff didn’t make any promises but Chandler begin to speak in
hopes of not spending a long stretch behind bars. He admitted that he was the
one who had cased the house and set it up for three men to rob. The men he
spoke of was Jerry Cassada, 28, Eugene Clarence Garren, 22, and Dewey Henry Coffey,
21. He said he met the three at their usual rendezvous in Marion. He said after
he told Cassada about the house on the hill [meaning the Durahm house] and a
green wood house behind it Cassada went and bought several pairs of gloves to
use during the robbery. Chandler told Cassada with luck he’d hit both houses in
one night. He also told him about the dead road behind the house where he could
hide the car and be completely unseen. From there Cassada and the two
acquaintances went up the mountain to commit the crime.
Sometime
after, at 9:30 pm, Chandler and his wife started their way up the mountain
towards Boone. At 11 pm somewhere around the Avery County line on Highway 221
he met a car speeding in the opposite direction, down the mountain. He recognized
the car as Cassada’s 1965 Ford Sedan. He then did a U-turn and flashed his
lights several times to get Cassada to stop. Soon Cassada did stop but jumped
out of the car with a pistol. After announcing himself he got into the car with
the other three men. His wife followed behind in their car. They begin to tell
him many details about what had happened. He said Dewey Coffey said, “If they
had waited five minutes to come home, it would have saved them a lot of trouble
and us too.” Cassada had said that they had “messed up the whole deal.” After
reaching their destination the men changed. Cassada gave Chandler clothing and
told him to burn them. The next day Chandler led officers to the place he said
he burned the clothing. Several pieces of charred clothing fragments were
found. On April 22 police arrested Cassada and Garren. On April 26 Coffey
turned himself over to police in Prince George County, M.D. Shortly after
Coffey and Garren were released due to lack of evidence. They charged Chandler
with accessory before the fact of murder by his own admission. Cassada was also
charged. The pretrail started June 15, 1972 but ended with both men being
released in September due to lack of evidence at the time.
Some
parts in law enforcement believe in the next theory as do a lot of people
around Boone. Troy and Ginny are thought to have committed the crimes either
separately or together. The couple said Troy had gone to the A.S.U. library at
5:00 pm and even checked out a book, even though there was no way to check the
time he did so. A friend seen Hall outside the library at 8:00 pm and had a
short chat with him. Hall said he then came straight home, arriving at about
10:00 pm. Ginny was already at home and said she had been their all afternoon
and night. They started watching the Winter Olympics but after 15-20 minutes
the T.V. went out. They then turned the
radio on to listen to music. That’s when he said that Virginia called. He said
it was very hard to hear over the music and Virginias whisper. He said he
thought it was a joke but Ginny didn’t. After this is when they realized their
car wouldn’t crank and enlisted the help of Cecil Small. Wade Carrol, once the Watauga
County Sheriff, told the Winston-Salem Journal 10 years after the murder that
he didn’t think the call ever happened. He said, ‘In my opinion, Mrs. Durahm
never made that phone call. When some people come into your house to kill you
they are not going to let you make a phone call.” Unfortunately, in 1972 it was
impossible to check or have records of local calls. It was also local knowledge
that the Durham’s were pressuring their daughter to leave Hall. Not all was
well with their marriage and that strained the Durahm family relationship.
Reasons for the strain goes from dropping out of collage to drug use. None of
them can be confirmed, however. Some “case researchers” have also noted how the
times they give for their own afternoon matches up to a key time in the
case. When the T.V. broke down it would
have placed the time around 10:20, after the Durham’s time of death and the
assailants were seen fleeing. How do you talk to someone who’s already been
murdered and the culprits gone? Did Troy get feed up with Durham’s trying to tear
them apart? Did Ginny Know? Did they do it out of greed? Ginny WAS the sole
heir.
Troy
and Ginny moved to Wilkes County not long after the murders and divorced in
1976. Troy became an attorney and owns a construction company in Georgia. He
will not respond to interview requests. Ginny remarried and moved to Washington
State. She will not respond to interview requests but her new husband released
a statement on her behalf. He said, “After all the time she spent in the past
with the State Bureau, being put under hypnosis, there was nothing she knew to
help. I can tell you right now she has nothing left to say.” It seems the Durham’s
could have just let the murders in. No wet or snowy footprints littered the
home. Could Troy and Ginny have caught them off guard?
PHOTO: Ginny Durahm Hall, A.S.U. Yearbook Courtesy of Websleuths
Like I
said before this case split law enforcement up over the years on what they
believe happened. Some believed it was a well calculated contract hit. It had
military style precision. There was
little to no evidence at the scene. The few fingerprints they did manage to
find have never been identified. The family had been hog tied, also, in a
military fashion. One detective said the killings have always looked like a
contract killing to him. The military style tactics made a number of locals
believe that the Green Berets, from the rotary meeting, had something to do
with the killings. This theory was fueled even further when locals started telling
officers this was the way Green Berets killed people in Vietnam. They believed
someone had to be highly trained not to have caused any water to splash into
the floor during the murder. There seemed to be no struggle. With virtually no
one knowing about the Durham’s personal and professional life did not help the
police. Was the Durahm family involved
in drugs? Did they have a bad business dealing? People even asked if a mob
could have ordered the hit. This case just seemed to cause more speculation and
question then answers.
Police seemed to try everything
they could. They put Ginny under hypnosis. She couldn’t recall anything helpful
to police. Bryce Durham’s family even payed a Dutch clairvoyant $400.00 to
check the crime scene. The clairvoyant pin pointed the exact spot the Jimmy had
been located the night of the murder without any help. They also said they expected
4-5 men to be involved. But without names or address the police took the
clairvoyant’s message with a grain of salt, as they usually do. Bryce’s
parents, Coy and Callie Durahm, brought fourth $40,000 ($5,000 of it being put
up by the government.) for any information that would lead to an arrest. More
than 200 people have been interviewed over the years. Official’s plan to keep
re-interviewing key people in the case. Finger prints are resubmitted every
year in hopes of finding a match. Primary people involved have died, moved or
retired. The S.B.I. assigns new, fresh agents, with no knowledge of the case, to
look in on it occasionally. Even though Bryce Durham’s parents died before
seeing justice for their son, grandson and daughter- in- law prevail many
people still have hope.
[Case Edit: Police did initially look into the possibility
of the crime being carried out by three black men. However, during 1972 in
Boone, N.C., finding any black man was highly unlikely. Finding three to commit
a crime together was virtually impossible. In the theory that Ginny and Troy
killed them people believed Troy said this because in that era pointing a
finger at a black man would automatically shift blame in that direction without
much question, much like today.]
Cecil Small was also intertwined in the Kennedy
assassination.
Crime scene photos are available on google but will not be added to blog because of triggered individuals.
Article Sources :
https://ididitforjodie.com/2013/12/29/overlapping-murders-presidential-edition-travels-with-cecil/
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