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They arrived from Palmyra Island, 1,100 miles south of Honolulu, later claiming they abandoned their own boat and took the Grahams' after the couple mysteriously disappeared. Macs friend radioed the following week as planned, but there was no response from The Sea Wind. Stearns told authorities she and Walker had discovered the overturned dinghy on a beach in the lagoon and had only taken the Sea Wind to protect it from vandals. However, the organization of the book is erratic, confusing at points, & chopped full of grammatical errors & poor punctuation. Bugliosi's book 'And the Sea Will Tell,' presenting as it did a reasonably full account of the murder of 'Mac' and 'Muff' Graham on the island of Palmyra, is a compelling read. The couple had no children, and he has been searching for close relatives. After they arrived they found the abandoned camp that Roy had made on the beach. Its been grueling, Stephanie Stearns told reporters after hugging her tearful parents, who sat in the front row throughout the trial. Wesley G. "Buck" Walker, the former Big Island marijuana grower convicted in the 1974 murder of a wealthy San Diego couple on Palmyra, has died in California at age 72. The bones had fallen out of an aluminum box found open on the beach. Both were found guilty. Walker never acknowledged committing the murder, self-publishing an 895-word novel he called the true story of an island tragedy.. Stephanies defense was that she blamed Buck Walker for the murder. To this day no one ever has. She is merely married to her beloved husband whose identity is not known. For the most part he does this by omitting critical testimony that proves the lie such as Stearns patently absurd account of her sailing method re leisure sailing, or her improbable account of the Iolas supposed approach to Palmyra. On August 30, according to Stephanie Stearns, Buck Walker told her that the Grahams had invited the two of them over for dinner aboard the Sea Wind. She was taken to the Coast Guard offices for questioning. Reviewed in Canada on March 27, 2016. Necrophilia, cannibalism, and dismemberment were all part of his routine in his attempts to satiate his morbid desires. Originally they told authorities that their own boat, theIola, got stuck on a reef at Palmyra, but Stearns later admitted they scuttled theIola in favor of stealing theSea Wind. When Stephanie and Roy arrived they could see how the Sea Wind outshined The Iola in every way. Her boyfriend, Buck Walker, was convicted of murder in June and sentenced to life in prison. But the one body was enough: Walker and Stearns were arrested in Arizona for murder. A law school student in Hawaii had written an article about handling a bag containing the skull of one of the victims in the spring of 2009 during a classroom lecture by an FBI agent. IIn October 1974, 37-year-old Buck Duane Walker and 27-year-old Stephanie Stearns sailed into Hawaii on a boat others instantly recognized as the Sea Wind. Wesley Walker (AKA Buck) Stephanie Stearns Buck and Stephanie They buy a boat that had sunk and was raised from the harbor in Maui. Authorities would later identify them as Buck Duane Walker and Stephanie Stearns. After Bugliosi argued that Buck Walker had committed the Palmyra murders himself without Stearns's participation or knowledge, and following her testimony at the trial, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty. A woman acquitted on charges that she helped her boyfriend murder a yachtswoman on a remote Pacific atoll in 1974 says her faith in the American judicial system has been reinstated.. Buck Walker was paroled in 2007. Please join me at my new blog, The Garden of Memory. Perhaps he murdered them at different times and different places around the island. Her husband's body was never found. Muff was a wonderful gal, he says. "He took a short walk every day. Enter youremail to subscribe to Dr. Munger's updates! The Big Book of Serial Killers (An Encyclopedia of Serial Killers), Edmund Kemper: The True Story of The Brutal Co-ed Butcher (Real Crime by Real Killers). Read this book - if you read only one book about the Palmyra Murders, read Tom Bucy's "Final Argument"! Their plan had been to live off the resources of the island and grow a crop of marijuana. Officials granted Walker release into Northern California, although the specific city was not named. Privacy Policy/Your California Privacy Rights. Her body was then placed in a small metal storage container that had been removed from one of the old military rescue boats on the island and then finally dumped into the lagoon. WebStephanie Walker Photo Stephanie Walker Salary. The fate of the Grahams was unknown until Muff Graham's charred bones were found on Palmyra in 1981. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies. He had been awaiting sentencing on a drug conviction when he and Stephanie had absconded on The Iola. Stearns received a two-year sentence for the theft and Walker a 10-year sentence for the theft to run concurrently with his 5-year sentence for selling ecstasy. "I have no intention of returning to Hawai'i any time in the near future if I have any say-so," Walker wrote in a letter to Stephens Media. So too, there is considerable variance between Bugliosis cross-examination as revealed in the original trial transcript re Pollock and Shoemaker and his recounting this same testimony in his book. She has never received a formal burial. Authorities had a difficult time tracking down the other sailors who had run-ins with Stephanie and Buck in Palmyra. Palmyra Atoll Islands is located south of the Hawaiian Islands. Copyright 2023 Ellen G. White Estate, Inc. The ex-con, Buck Duane Walke r, and his girlfriend, Stephanie Stearns, had arrived at Palmyra in their shabby, poorly stocked boat while the Grahams were anchored there. Graham and her husband, Malcolm Mac Graham, had disappeared on Aug. 29, 1974, after sailing about 970 miles south from Hawaii to the Palmyra atoll. Final Argument: An Inquiry into the murders of Mac and Muff Graham on Palmyra Island by Buck Walker and Stephanie Stearns Paperback May 1, 2014 by Tom Bucy (Author) 37 ratings See all formats and editions Kindle $5.99 Read with Our Free App Paperback $24.95 2 Used from $22.50 6 New from $23.02 He told his friend that perhaps they wanted a truce. I believe that Walker, and possibly Sterns are guilty, but other possibilities are a murder suicide (husband shoots wife and then himself), or that they really did drown, someone finding a body on the beach at some time later and burying it in a trunk. Palmyra atoll was a prime destination for sailors and there were a number of people already there when Walker and Stearns arrived. Roy did not make a good first impression on the other group members either. Their presence was quickly wearing thin with the others that found them to be more of a nuisance. , Dimensions It includes substantial portions of the original trial testimony that were excluded in ATSWT. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. You'll never find him." The thing was, when they were back on the island in 1974, Stearns and Walker sawtwo aluminum crates, left over from when Palmyra was a surplus depot during World War II. The author does a reasonable job of analyzing & proving that Stephanie Stearns was definitely involved in the brutal murder of Muff Graham. Macs friend feared the worst. He was set free Tuesday from prison in Victorville, Calif., although he wasn't up for mandatory release until 2018. It teems with life.". Shortly after the Grahams disappearance, an ex-convict and his girlfriend were arrested for stealing the Sea Wind, but they werent charged with murder until a traveling sailor stumbled across Muffs remains on the Palmyra beach in 1981. Authorities would later identify them as Buck Duane Walker and Stephanie Stearns. Cameron Todd Willingham Accidental Fire Or Intentional Arson. On January 21, 1981, a South African couple Robert and Sharron Jordan were visiting the Palmyra Islands. His friend decided to reach out to any yachtsmen in the Pacific by radio asking if anyone had seen The Sea Wind. Walker, 69, earned release from the U.S. Parole Commission in part because of advancing age and poor health. Stephanie Walker Salary. He had a rougher appearance and gave off an aura of being dangerous. One photo showed Stephanie standing on the Sea Wind taking a picture of Buck sailing the Iola. Walker was an ex-convict fleeing a drug possession charge and had come up with the idea of growing cannabis on Palmyra to support himself. I keep waiting--in vain--for it to pop up on Netflix. The zodiac was overturned on the beach as it is not designed that way to overturn. Well, kind of, Video shows Memphis jailers beating Black inmate before his death. Were they a victim of the seas or something more nefarious? Walker and his girlfriend, Stephanie Stearns, were arrested in Honolulu in 1974 after they returned from Palmyra in a yacht stolen from Malcolm "Mac" Graham and his wife, Eleanor "Muff" Graham. They found nothing, but sharks. We have provided a download link below to Firefox 2 installer. What made this case difficult was subpoenaing of witnesses who lived and traveled by boat. Its been grueling, Stephanie Stearns told reporters after hugging her tearful parents, who sat in the front row throughout the trial. Stearns and Walker had sailed to Palmyra aboard a leaky boat and were the only other people on the atoll besides the Grahams at the time of their disappearance in 1974. The pair were desperate enough to murder the Grahams and steal their boat. 101: Thank you, Richie!, NWS: More heavy snow headed to Mendocino County mountains this weekend, Forcing Californians into mental health treatment would get easier with proposed legislation. (Most egregious were her August 5th log remarks about drooling and dreaming anticipating possession of the SEA WIND on execution of the Grahams.) Use of this site signifies your agreement to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy/Your California Privacy Rights , updated March 2009. Supposedly Walker killed him in self defense after Mac killed his wife. Murdoch has survived scandal after scandal. Its been grueling, Stephanie Stearns told reporters after hugging her tearful parents, who sat in the front row throughout the trial. Reviewed in Australia on March 24, 2022. When told that he hadnt seen the Grahams the Coast Guard reached out to the FBI as they felt this might lead to something outside of their jurisdiction. The area was completely void of any boats. While researching the case of a San Diego sailing couple brutally murdered on Palmyra Island in 1974, retired L.A. deputy public defender Tom Bucy, made a surprising discovery. Prosecutors argued that Buck Walker and Stephanie Stearns had been trapped on Palmyra with supplies running out and a boat that was not seaworthy. The Grahams had brought more than a year's supply of food for their voyage, but Walker and Stearns quickly consumed their own meager supplies and resorted to harvesting the island's few coconuts, often by chopping down entire trees, leaving scars on the island habitat. Please try your request again later. For myself, after arguing on behalf of thousands of defendants as a Los Angeles County Deputy Public Defender, I too now change sides, and argue on behalf of MAC and MUFF GRAHAM. Stearns was arrested in the lower level of the Hawaii Yacht Club for the theft of the Sea Wind,[1] but Walker was able to escape and avoid capture by using a motorized dinghy to race up the "400 row" of the Ala Wai Harbor. Stearns and Walker were arrested in 1981 for murder and tried separately in federal court in San Francisco. Her husband has never been found. These presentations help teach about Ellen White, her ministry, and her writings. In spite of these shortcomings. Stearns and Walker took over the Graham's ritzy yacht, theSea Wind, and sailed it back to Hawaii. True Crime Stories: 48 Terrifying True Crime Murder Cases (List of Twelve Collection), Killer Moms: 16 Bizarre True Crime Stories of Murderous Moms. Although authorities strongly suspected the couple had murdered the Grahams, no bodies were found. Walker lived off his Social Security check and paid $400 a month in rent. In May, they sailed to Kauai, and prepared the boat to set sail for Palmyra atoll. Two Coast Guard officers closed in the man who then turned and dove off the pier and started to swim away. Around one of the bones was a gold wristwatch. : Bernard pointed out to authorities where the yachts appearance had been changed from taking off the nameplate and trying to paint over it and repainting parts of the boat. There are 38 fully-developed lessons on 10 important topics that Adventist school students face in their daily lives. When it arrived its motor had frozen up and it was barely limping along. Walker earns an annual salary ranging between $ 45,000 $ 110,500. The Iola was a cramped boat and soon Roy moved into a makeshift tent onshore while Stephanie remained on the boat. Discover some of the worlds most infamous killers in perfectly-illustrated detail. Buck Duane Walker was a convicted felon and fugitive. Betty Fullard-Leo said the Graham case left the family shocked and disturbed. The US Attorneys office didnt feel there was enough evidence to charge Stephanie and Buck with the murder of the Grahams. There are evidently makeshift memorials to the Grahams on the island, which is private property and illegal to trespass upon, but naturally being so remote it's difficult to police. You'll find a list of the currently available teaching aids below. Then known as Buck Duane Walker, the former Big Island marijuana farmer was convicted in the 1974 murder of a San Diego couple on Palmyra, a remote Pacific island just north of the equator and about 1,100 miles south of Honolulu. HILO In 1974, Buck Duane Walker and his girlfriend, Stephanie Stearns, sailed in a leaky boat to Palmyra Atoll and returned to Honolulu Harbor in a beautiful yacht owned by a San Diego couple who had been vacationing on Palmyra. The ketch had been reregistered under the name Lokahi and had been partially repainted. On July 13th Muff Graham wrote a letter to her mother. The Iola was a wooden sailboat. The skull also showed charring and a hole in the left eye socket which was consistent with a gunshot wound, but investigators could not say conclusively it was due to a bullet due to its deterioration. After WWII the Palmyra Islands are mostly used as a stopover point for sailors traveling to Samoa. Malcolm Graham's body was never found. Do you love reading true crime? Authorities found out that a woman had visited Buck the day before his escape. The trial lawyer who represented Walker, Earle Partington, sued Bugliosi for defamation, claiming that both the book and the docudrama portrayed Partington in a negative light. WebStephanie Walker Photo Stephanie Walker Salary. Reviewed in Canada on February 9, 2018. Mr. Walker and Miss Stearns turned up here in October 1974, sailing the Grahams's yacht, the Sea Wind, which they had partly disguised and repainted. Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video! To an experienced sailor, Stearns account of her navigational skill is grossly overstated to the point where reading Bugliosis book And The Sea Will Tell becomes an exercise that tests ones patience. So the FBI put a trace on the make and model of her car and that led them to a hotel in Nevada. Some of his theory is speculative. I read the entire book and felt I did get something out of it. The Week in Photos: California exits pandemic emergency amid a winter landscape, Column: Did the DOJ just say Donald Trump can be held accountable for Jan. 6? Important Note: To access all the resources on this site, use the menu buttons along the top and left side of the page. But none of these possibilities are looked at, and in fairness they should be. Brief content visible, double tap to read full content. Not long after The Iola arrived another yacht arrived in the harbor,the impressive Sea Wind. They started bartering their possessions for food with the other yacht owners in the area. A graduate of the University of Michigan with a bachelor's degree in psychology, Juris Doctor degree from the San Fernando Valley College of Law. Walker earns an annual salary ranging between $ 45,000 $ 110,500. The night before Sanders and Wolf were to leave Palmyra they had cocktails with the Grahams aboard the Sea Wind. In January 1981 a South African couple visiting the atoll, found a human skull and other bones that had apparently fallen out of a World War II vintage metal box washed up on the beach after a storm. The pair were desperate enough to murder the Grahams and steal their boat. Macs friend tried to get authorities involved, but they declined to investigate at the time so he had a friend fly over Palmyra to see if he could spot The Sea Wind. Final Argument: An Inquiry into the murders of Mac and Muff Graham on Palmyra Island by Buck Walker and Stephanie Stearns Paperback May 1, 2014 by Tom Bucy (Author) 37 ratings See all formats and editions Kindle $5.99 Read with Our Free App Paperback $24.95 2 Used from $22.50 6 New from $23.02 They also showed that the zodiac wouldnt have worked if it had been found the way Stephanie and Buck said it was. Because no bodies were found, Walker and Stearns were initially prosecuted only for the yacht theft and convicted in August 1975. In mid-August, two men arrived at the Palmyra lagoon. The murder was the basis of a best selling book And the Sea Will Tell, which was turned into a popular mini-series starring James Brolin. The jury believed the defenses theory that it was Buck who acted alone and concealed what he did from her. Roy also noticed a Coast Guard boat in the harbor coming towards them. WebBoat Bumpers from the sea wind still on Palmyra this image was taken in 2014. And I long ago accepted I'll never know what happened down on that island.". As Bucy, a graduate of San Diegos Cal Western School of Law, did research for his own book on the high-profile murder and what he believes to be Stephanie Stearns role in it, he hardly expected to discover that the Hawaii FBI still had custody of Muffs remains 28 years after Stearns acquittal. Stephanie Walker Salary. Stephanie took off into a hotel stairwell and was found soon hiding behind a potted plant. Roy and Stephanie were spotted the next morning coming ashore in a small rowboat. Roy and Stephanie then tried to take their boat back to Hawaii, but it got stuck on the reef so they decided to take the abandoned Sea Wind instead. And the Sea Will Tell is a true crime book by Vincent Bugliosi and Bruce Henderson. Bernard Lenard spotted a 38-foot ketch with distinct lines in a Honolulu marina that looked like The Sea Wind, but it had been repainted. The ex-con, Buck Duane Walke r, and his girlfriend, Stephanie Stearns, had arrived at Palmyra in their shabby, poorly stocked boat while the Grahams were anchored there. According to trial testimony, the Iola was not considered seaworthy and would not have made it even to Fanning Island about 175 miles away, the nearest location for equipment and supplies. Who was Stephanie Stearns in and the sea will tell? The Grahams were upper-crust people, pretty conservative and reserved. In one of the mothers letters, she wrote that she was afraid for Mac and Muff and that they should leave Palmyra before something bad happened to them. Other factors, especially a recent, self-published 895-page book in which Walker still denies he killed the Grahams, work against his release, Partington said. Walker and Graham were both convicted for the theft of the boat. Dark came, no sign of them. The skeleton was identified as Muff Graham, and she died in very grisly fashion--hit over the head, dismembered, and her face burned with a welding torch. The Sea Wind thieves were tried for murder. Although Walker never testified, the defense claimed that he and Stearns were attempting to return the Sea Wind to Hawaii with the Iola in tow, but the Iola ran aground on the reef as they exited the lagoon and had to be abandoned. Suffering from terminal cancer, he was paroled in 2007 and has since died. Once in Hawaii, the couple had the Sea Wind repainted and also renamed it, which according to boating superstition brings bad luck. She was acquitted Friday by a federal court jury. On August 30, according to Stephanie Stearns, Buck Walker told her that the Grahams had invited the two of them over for dinner aboard theSea Wind. He felt that something had happened to Mac and Muff Graham and that Roy and Stephanie were behind it. Meaning it didnt get caught up on the reef and sink. Now, a state hotline is trying to call them out. After Bugliosi argued that Buck Walker had committed the Palmyra murders himself without Stearns's participation or knowledge, and following her testimony at the trial, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty. In September 1974, friends of the Grahams arranged for a flyover of Palmyra atoll and no vessel was spotted there. Its been grueling, Stephanie Stearns told reporters after hugging her tearful parents, who sat in the front row throughout the trial. I worked my way through the last half of the book by skimming repetitious portions of the court transcripts. Learn more. But Walker's former attorney, Earle Partington, says the Aug. 28 "projected" release date posted by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons means only that Walker will be considered for parole then. Including serial killers, cannibals, and mass murderers. : WebFind helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Final Argument: An Inquiry into the murders of Mac and Muff Graham on Palmyra Island by Buck Walker and Stephanie Stearns at Amazon.com. , CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; 1st edition (May 1, 2014), Language Bucy puts forward his idea of what happened on Palmyra and there may be some justification for his theory. Bucy, who now lives in Canada, earlier had tracked down Macs sister, Mary, who was once married to the late hydroplane boat racer Bill Muncey, of La Mesa. Next, she said that they left the island in the Sea Wind towing the Iola behind them. The separate murder trials were transferred to San Francisco because of publicity in Hawaii. WebStephanie Stearns was tried separately in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco. Most of those that knew and loved her are gone and she has been shamefully abandoned by the sailing community. It is really foolish to go to sea without being prepared with adequate supplies. Stearns was pretty easy to get along with so most of the conflict came from Walker. Mr. Walker and Miss Stearns turned up here in October 1974, sailing the Grahams's yacht, the Sea Wind, which they had partly disguised and repainted. Having read the clippings, the couple contacted authorities who identified the remains as those of Muff Graham. We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. HILO Buck Duane Walker, 69, convicted of murder in 1985 in connection with the 1974 theft of a yacht south of Hawaii, could be released from federal prison in California next month.