Episode 196, The Durham Family Murders

In February 1972, Bryce, Virginia and Bobby Durham were found murdered in their Boone, North Carolina, home during a heavy snowstorm. Within months, four men were charged and two were eventually indicted for murder, but the case against them collapsed. Nearly fifty years later, a story remembered by the son of a Georgia criminal led investigators to four entirely different men and an unexpected explanation for what happened that night.

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Episode Sources

• Watauga County Sheriff’s Office, “Sheriff Hagaman Announces That 50-Year-Old Triple Homicide ‘Durham Case’ Solved”
• Watauga Democrat, “Suspects Get Counsel for Current Term,” May 15, 1972
• Watauga Democrat, “Investigation of Durham Family’s Slaying Continues”
• Watauga Democrat, contemporary coverage of the June 1972 preliminary hearing in the Durham murder case
• Watauga Democrat, contemporary coverage of the September 1972 grand jury indictments of Jerry Ray Cassada and Dean Chandler
• Watauga Democrat, contemporary coverage of Dean Chandler’s 1973 speedy-trial motion and scheduled trial
• Winston-Salem Journal, contemporary February 1972 coverage of the Durham family murders and early investigation
• The Charlotte Observer, “Family Was Found Dead in a Bathtub 50 Years Ago. Now NC Cops Say They Know the Killers”
• The News & Observer, retrospective coverage of the Durham family murders and crime scene
• Associated Press, contemporary coverage of the dismissal of the remaining murder charges against Jerry Ray Cassada
• Watauga County Sheriff’s Office / Watauga Online, “Sheriff Hagaman Announces That 50-Year-Old Triple Homicide ‘Durham Case’ Solved”
• High Country Press, “Watauga County Historical Society Speaker Series: ‘Convoluted: The 1972 Durham Family Triple Homicide,’ with Terry Harmon”
• Missing in the Carolinas, “Episode 130: The 1972 Murders of Bryce, Virginia, and Bobby Durham in Boone”
• WSOC-TV, 2022 coverage of the Watauga County Sheriff’s Office announcement identifying the men investigators believe killed the Durham family
• WBTV, 2022 coverage of the Watauga County Sheriff’s Office announcement that the Durham case had been solved
• Georgia Supreme Court, Birt v. State
• Georgia court records concerning the murders of Reid and Lois Fleming
• Federal court records concerning Bobby Gene Gaddis and crimes associated with Billy Sunday Birt
• The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, reporting on Billy Sunday Birt, his family and his criminal history
• North Carolina Newspapers / DigitalNC, Watauga Democrat archive, 1972–1973
• Terry Harmon, Convoluted: The 1972 Durham Family Triple Homicide

Episode Music

Out of the Mines, courtesy of Ross Gentry, Asheville, North Carolina.