The murder of Bobby Joe Durham
Boone, Watauga County, North Carolina · 1972
Overview
Bobby Joe Durham, an 18-year-old Appalachian State University student, was murdered alongside his parents, Bryce Durham, 51, and Virginia Durham, 44, in their Boone, North Carolina home during a snowstorm on February 3, 1972. All three were found bound with their heads submerged in a running bathtub. The triple killing of the prominent local Buick dealer and his family went unsolved for 50 years until, in February 2022, the Watauga County Sheriff's Office announced that four members of a Georgia-based criminal network known as the Dixie Mafia had carried out the murders as a paid contract killing.
How it was solved
The case broke in May 2019 when the White County Sheriff's Office in Georgia contacted Watauga County Sheriff Len Hagaman. Shane Birt, the son of Dixie Mafia figure Billy Sunday Birt, had been researching a book about his father and recalled that during a prison visit his father admitted to killing three people in the North Carolina mountains during a heavy snowstorm. Investigators traced the crew to four men: Billy Sunday Birt, Bobby Gene Gaddis, Charles David Reed and the lone survivor, Billy Wayne Davis. Davis, by then in his eighties and serving a life sentence in Georgia for an unrelated 1971 murder, confessed in a jailhouse interview to acting as the getaway driver. He described details only someone present would know, including where the getaway car was parked, the scene inside the house and the snowstorm. The other three killers had all died before the case was solved. On February 15, 2022, Sheriff Hagaman publicly identified the four men and declared the case solved, noting that the person who hired the crew was never identified because Birt died in prison without ever naming who ordered the hit.
Sources
- 50 years later, case of murdered NC family solved thanks to tip from Georgia prisoner
“Bryce Durham, 51; Virginia Durham, 44; and Bobby Durham, 18 ... were found dead in their home ... The case was solved through a tip originating from Georgia ... Shane Birt, son of perpetrator Billy Birt ... recalled his father mentioning ... he killed three people in the North Carolina mountains during a heavy snowstorm.”
- A North Carolina Triple Murder Has Been Solved After 50 Years
“Bryce Durham, 51; Virginia Durham, 44; Bobby Durham, 18 ... February 3, 1972, in their home in Boone, North Carolina. Virginia died of strangulation; Bryce and Bobby were drowned. All three bodies were found in a bathtub.”
- A Mystery for 50 Years, New Info IDs 'Dixie Mafia' as Killers of North Carolina Family
“The perpetrators have been identified as Billy Sunday Birt, Bobby Gene Gaddis, Charles David Reed and Billy Wayne Davis ... Billy Wayne Davis, 81 ... incarcerated in Augusta, Georgia correctional facility.”
- 1972 Triple Murder Solved After 81-Year-Old Inmate Confesses To Killing The Family
“Billy Wayne Davis, 81 (alive, serving life sentence for a 1971 murder; confessed to being getaway driver) ... part of a loosely organized network known as the Georgia-based 'Dixie Mafia,' ... carrying out a hired hit.”
- Durham Murder Case: New Details Revealed During February 15th Interview with Watauga County Sheriff Len Hagaman
“It's speculation that there was cash in the house ... The perpetrators were hired killers from the 'Dixie Mafia' who only did it for money ... Davis recalled being parked in a specific place ... he knew about the scene inside the house; he knew about the snowstorm.”
- Update On Durham Family Murders
“Bryce Durham 'owned the Buick dealership in Boone' and was 'a graduate of Appalachian State College' ... Billy Sunday Birt (leader of Dixie Mafia, died in prison 2017) ... whoever arranged these murders is forever lost due to the death of Billy Sunday Birt.”
- Triple murder solved 50 years after North Carolina family found slain in bathtub
“Bryce Durham, 51, his wife Virginia, 44, and their son Bobby, 18, were found dead in their home during a snowstorm on February 3, 1972, in Boone, North Carolina ... The killers were identified as Billy Sunday Birt, Bobby Gene Gaddis, Charles David Reed, and Billy Wayne Davis.”
- The Durham Family
“All three victims were 'hog-tied, lined up, and slumped over the lip of the bathtub, their heads submerged in the running water' ... the borrowed GMC was found 'abandoned about a mile away' with 'the vehicle still running' ... On April 26, 1972, police arrested four white men based on an informant's claims ... the informant 'had actually been in jail on the night of the Durham murders.'”
- How The Durham Family Murders Were Finally Solved
“51-year-old Bryce Durham, 44-year-old Virginia, and 18-year-old Bobby Joe ... submerged in a bathtub with the water still running ... Billy Sunday Birt (died 2017), Bobby Gene Gaddis (died in prison), Charles David Reed (died in prison), and Billy Wayne Davis (alive, serving life for unrelated murder). Davis confessed they were 'paid to kill the Durhams' but didn't reveal who ordered it.”
- Investigation of Durham family's slaying continues
“Bobby Joe Durham, an Appalachian State University student, was murdered in his home on Clyde Townsend Road on the west side of Boone, North Carolina, along with his parents during a snowstorm beginning the evening of February 3, 1972.”