Boone, NC — A huge break in a 50-year-old triple homicide that’s remained local lore in Watauga County stemmed from a Georgia correctional facility, helping shut the books on a case that’s haunted the high country for decades.
A release from Watauga County Sheriff’s Office detailed the latest stages of an investigation that spanned numerous departments in a family-wide murder that shocked the locals in and around Boone. Authorities believe the grisly murders were linked to three men who were part of a former crime network that formerly caused chaos throughout the south.
Bryce Durham, 51, his wife Virginia, 44, and son Bobby, 18, were brutally murdered in their home on Feb. 3, 1972. “The Durham case,” as it became known, started when Troy Hall, the Durham’s son- in law, found the family members dead.
Billy Wayne Davis, 81, currently a resident of a correctional facility in Augusta, Georgia, is believed to be the only surviving perpetrator in the Durham Case. Other perpetrators have been identified as Billy Birt, Bobby Gaddis and Charles Reed, all deceased.
“In May 2019, we received a phone 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 to investigate the new leads, and conducted in-person 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 the corroboration of evidence. We are confident that we now know who committed these crimes.”
While being interviewed for a book about well-known Georgia crimes, Shane Birt, the son of Billy, shared that he was very close with his father. He remembered Billy had told him during a prison visit that he killed three people in the North Carolina mountains during a heavy snowstorm, adding that they almost got caught. After hearing Shane Birt’s account, the White County Sheriff’s Office reached out to Watauga officials.
Investigators believe the four were part of a loosely organized team known as the “Dixie Mafia.” The Georgia-based team is thought to have engaged in dozens of violent crimes in Georgia and elsewhere across the southeast in the ’60s and ’70s. The circumstances surrounding the Durham case were similar to that of the Fleming case. Mr. and Mrs. Reid Oliver Fleming Sr. were found dead in their home in Wrens, Georgia, and authorities say Birt, Gaddis, Reed and Davis were all involved.
Davis was interviewed by Watauga investigators at the Georgia facility where he is serving a life sentence for crimes he committed in Georgia. During those interviews, Davis implicated Birt, Gaddis and Reed as engaging in a hired “hit” in the North Carolina mountains, one where they almost got caught during a bad snowstorm. Davis said he played the role of getaway driver and that the other men had entered the house.
Despite the progress made in the case, Watauga officials are unsure who ordered the hit against the Durhams. In November, investigators informed Durham family members about the updates.
Ginny Durham shared her gratitude, saying, “I would like to thank all of the people who worked for decades on my family’s case. I know that they sacrificed many days and weekends in order to work on solving this case since 1972.
“Had Sheriff Hagaman and his team not taken this tip seriously, this case may never have been solved,” said Chris Laws, special agent in charge for the Northwestern District, North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. “Many agencies, law enforcement officials, investigators and agents worked diligently on this case for decades.”
The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, Watauga County Sheriff’s Office, Boone Police Department, White County Sheriff’s Office in Georgia, Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Appalachian State University Police Department are several of the agencies that worked the case.
“I know I also 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 continued wishes for privacy.”
