BOONE, NC (WJBF) – A Georgia inmate has helped North Carolina police solve a nearly 50-year-old triple homicide.
Billy Wayne Davis, 81, is serving time at Augusta Medical State Prison in Georgia, and according to police, he recently admitted he was implicated along with three other suspects in the murder of a family in Boone.
A mother, father and son were found dead in their home during a snowstorm in 1972.
A tip from a Georgia Sheriff’s Office has helped the Watauga County Sheriff’s Office close a 50-year-old triple homicide case that occurred in Boone on February 3, 1972, known locally as the Durham case.
Bryce Durham, 51, his wife Virginia, 44, and son Bobby, 18, were found brutally murdered at their home during a snowstorm. Troy Hall, the Durhams’ son-in-law, found the family deceased after he and his wife – the Durhams’ daughter, Ginny – searched for the family with the help of a neighbour.
Billy Wayne Davis, 81, a current resident of a correctional facility in Augusta, Georgia, is believed to be the sole surviving offender in the Durham case. Other perpetrators have been identified as Billy Sunday Birt, Bobby Gene Gaddis and Charles David Reed, all deceased.
“In May 2019, we received a call from the White County Sheriff’s Office in Georgia about information that we recognized could be very important to the Durham case,” said Watauga County Sheriff Len Hagaman. “We immediately began investigating the new leads and conducted face-to-face interviews with Billy Wayne Davis in September 2019, October 2020 and August 2021. It was these interviews that ultimately helped us determine who was responsible through corroborating evidence. We are confident that we now know who committed these crimes.”
Interviews with two sources confirmed crime scene evidence in the Durham case, and the circumstances surrounding the crime were similar to a 1973 Georgia case known as the Fleming case involving Birt, Gaddis, Reed and Davis. Led by Birt, Davis, Reed and Gaddis, they were part of a loosely organized network known as the Georgia-based “Dixie Mafia” and are believed to have been involved in dozens of violent crimes in Georgia and elsewhere in the Southeast during the 1960s. 70s
The 2019 lead first surfaced when Birt’s son, Shane Birt, was at the White County Sheriff’s Office to participate in research for a book about crimes that had taken place in Georgia, including the Fleming case. Shane Birt revealed that he was very close to his father and recalled a story Birt told him during a prison visit when he admitted killing three people in the North Carolina mountains during a heavy snowstorm and himself remembered they almost got caught. After hearing Shane Birt’s report, the White County Sheriff’s Office immediately contacted the WCSO.
Davis was questioned by WCSO investigators at the Georgia facility where he is serving a life sentence for crimes he committed in Georgia. During these interviews, Davis involved Birt, Gaddis, and Reed in a hired “hit” in the North Carolina mountains that nearly caught them in a severe snowstorm. Davis claimed he was only acting as a getaway driver and that it was the other three men who entered the home that night.
It remains unclear who orchestrated the crime against the Durham family.
In November 2021, the WCSO held a meeting with members of the Durham family to update them on their investigation and conclusions.
“If Sheriff Hagaman and his team hadn’t taken that tip seriously, this case might never have been solved,” said Chris Laws, a special agent for the Northwestern District with the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. “Many agencies, law enforcement officials, investigators and agents have worked diligently on this case for decades.”
“This is a much-needed turning point for the Durham case,” Hagaman said. “We cannot begin to express our gratitude to all of the professionals and community members who have worked together for so many years to help resolve this case. Thank you very much for your commitment.”
Ginny Durham also expressed her gratitude, saying: “I want to thank all the people who have worked on my family’s case over the decades. I know that since 1972 you have given up many days and weekends to work to solve this case.”
She continued, “I want to give a special thank you to Len Hagaman, the Watauga County Sheriff, who has been there from the start and advocated for me and my family to close; Wade Colvard, SBI Special Agent; Carolynn Johnson, chief investigator in the Watauga County Sheriff’s Office; and Charles Whitman, SBI Special Agent, who continued to work on the case after retirement. I am so thankful for his help and friendship during the difficult years.”
Hagaman thanked the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, the Watauga County Sheriff’s Office, the Boone Police Department, the White County Georgia Sheriff’s Office, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Appalachian State University Police Department and many other professionals, community members and their families for years of hard work on the case.
“I would also like to thank WCSO Captain of Investigations Carolynn Johnson, SBI Special Agent in Charge for the Northwestern District, Chris Laws, and White County Sheriff’s Office Chief, Deputy Bob Ingram for their recent investigative work on this case since 2019,” he said.
“I know I speak for the entire Watauga County community when I say that we will never forget to keep the Durham family in our thoughts and prayers,” Hagaman said. “Please, let’s remember your ongoing desire for privacy.”
Watauga County Sheriff’s Office
The Watauga County Sheriff’s Office wishes to express its appreciation for the many professionals who have worked to solve the Durham case since 1972.
