Murder in Paradise - Chris Farmer and Peta Frampton

February 26, 2024

In this episode, Payton and Garrett delve into the tragic case of Chris Farmer and Peta Frampton, two college students in search of adventure. However, their quest takes a devastating turn when they encounter the wrong individual, leading to the loss of their lives.

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AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

You're listening to an Oh No Media podcast.

Hey everybody, welcome back to the podcast. This is Murderwith My Husband. I'm Payton Moreland and I'm Garrett Moreland, and he's thehusband and I'm the husband.

I'm sad to say that we have just been recording for 25minutes and didn't realize that we didn't press record. Okay, everybody, deepbreaths, deep, long breaths. Everything's going to be okay, but that sucks. Sonow we are going to go through everything once again, and Garrett now knows alittle bit of the story at the beginning. So the best part is we can zoomthrough all this, but you're going to want to listen to this. Don't, don't zoomthrough and skip. I know some of you skip. Just give us 3 minutes. I'll makethis quick. Okay, go, go, go, go.

First, merch. Merch is available for another week. Afterthat, that drop is gone. So please check it out. It's one of our favoritedrops, seriously. Links will be everywhere. Second, we got Patreon and Applesubscriptions. Bonus content, it's all ad-free, so you have no ads. I thinkit's 100% worth it and it really does help support us a ton, so please go andcheck it out. Ad-free content, bonus episodes, don't miss it. This is where Icut in and tell you guys that a portion of our proceeds on Patreon do getdonated to different crime nonprofit organizations. We've had some people belike, "You guys don't donate." We just didn't feel the need to talkabout it all the time. Everyone on Patreon knows, so if you do subscribe to ourPatreon or Apple, a portion of your proceeds do go to more than just listeningto the show. So thank you, thank you, thank you so much.

And now we have my 10 seconds and I guess I'll just tell thestory again since it just got cut out because we weren't actually recording butwe were talking into the mics the entire time. Basically, the last week or twoI've been washing my face with some magical face wash that I found in ourshower. I've been using it for like a week or two. It's been amazing. My skin'sbeen clear. It feels good. It doesn't smell the best, I'll be honest. It smellsa little funky. But I was washing my face the other day and Payton comes by andshe goes, "Hey, what are you washing your face with?" Like, what areyou talking about? Like, this face wash that's right here. Long story short,that was not face wash. What was it, babe? Garrett was washing his face for thelast week, week and a half, using my vagina wash. Wash made specifically for myvagina, pH, all the girl stuff, all the girl stuff. Okay, and if sorry for thestrong language, I guess vagina, but that's what I was doing. I was washing myface with it and I had no idea. But I will let everybody know, I am stillwashing my face with it because there actually was a bunch of dermatologistsand other people who said that it's just a pH balancing so it's gentle. It'sfine. And it's working. So disclaimer, I'm not a dermatologist, I'm not adoctor, but if you want to try something new, maybe you need some new facewash, go and check it out. That's what I got for our 10 seconds. Um, we made itshort, that was a lot faster. It was a lot faster.

So let's hop back, not back into, let's hop into today'sepisode. Our sources for this episode are Dead in the Water by Penny Farmer,bbc.com, The Washington Post, Variety.com, The Cinemaholic, Docomo, The Sun,The Daily Mail, Medium.com, and LittleThings.com.

Okay, and before I get into the story, I am just going tobeg you. I'm going to do it. I am not above it. If you are watching this onYouTube, please, please, please give it a thumbs up. Please leave a comment.Please turn on notifications. If you are listening, please leave us a reviewand please turn on automatic downloads on podcasts. It just helps us out somuch.

Share this on your social media, share it with someone inyour life. You guys, like I said, I'm just... I'm not above it anymore. I needyour guys' help. I really, really, really just want the algorithm to pick upthe podcast, so please. We love you guys so much and thank you for supporting.That was early beggy. You can also follow us on Apple and on Spotify. There's asubscribe and follow button that helps a ton. Let's get into today's case.

So, as we've learned by now, not all cases come with that"who done it" mystery. Sometimes the culprit is obvious, and instead,the question lies somewhere between how did it all go down and why the heck didthey do it? Well, today's story is absolutely one of those cases: a crime thatwent uninvestigated for decades, primarily over issues with jurisdiction sinceit happened in international waters. But everyone knew who was responsible,including the suspects two young sons who actually saw the entire crime happenright before their very eyes. Yet, they were forced to keep their father'ssecrets for years.

So, getting into it. It's December 1977. 25-year-old ChrisFarmer and his 24-year-old girlfriend Peta Frampton are about to embark on thetrip of their lives. For the next 12 months, they'll be going from Australia toNorth America, down through Central America and beyond, filling their days withonce-in-a-lifetime experiences.

So, Chris and Peta were actually childhood sweethearts whogrew up in the suburbs of Manchester, UK, and their romance was an impenetrableone that stood the test of middle school, high school, and their college years.Even a small handbag business that the two actually ran together. In fact,their love for one another was so strong that when Chris got accepted to studymedicine at Cambridge University, he turned it down so that he and Peta wouldkeep their decades-old promise that they were going to go to college together.So, the two enrolled in Birmingham University. Like Peta from "HungerGames." Yes, except she's a girl. Okay. There, Peta studied law whileChris got his medical degree, a goal he'd set for himself early. It was aroundthe age of 10 when he decided to do that. But Chris was the kind of person toalways follow through on whatever he'd set his sights on. And it wasn't justthe future paycheck that excited Chris about getting his medical degree. He hada longing for adventure, a desire to be challenged, and he knew that practicingmedicine was something that could take him to all different parts of the world:a trait that was well complemented by his outgoing personality. Chris was thekind of person who was always the center of attention. He was larger than lifeand eccentric in a way that made people gravitate towards him. He was the kindof guy who had no problem standing up in a crowd to vocalize what he believedin, to tell someone that their beliefs were outdated, intolerant, or just plainoffensive. Chris had principles, the kind of guy you'd be proud to say was yourdoctor.

And Peta either shared or complimented a lot of those samequalities. She was independent, a go-getter, someone who had a lust for lifeand was willing to participate in a good adventure if not just for the story.But Peta was also meticulous, a communicator, and a planner. So much so thatbefore their big trip across the world, Peta drafted a will, one that left mostof her earthly possessions to her beloved Chris. However, looking back, thatdocument will read more like a sign of doom than a declaration of love.

So, on December 5th, 1977, Chris and Peta could not be moreexcited as they said goodbye to their families in Manchester and arrived atHeathrow Airport for their big trip. The plan was this: for the next severalmonths, Chris was going to be participating in a medical program out ofBrisbane, Australia, where Peta had landed some temporary work as a secretary.Once Chris's program concluded, they'd freewheel it, go where the wind tookthem, which was exactly what happened. Upon arriving in Australia, the couplesettled in quickly, making sure to keep up with their phone calls and lettersback to their respective families in the UK. Ample time off allowed them toenjoy afternoons on the Sunshine Coast, eating delicious food and participatingin one of their favorite shared pastimes: sailing. Then, in April of 1978, Petawrote a letter home, laying out the next steps of their journey. She said theyplanned to visit New Caledonia, Fiji, and then Los Angeles. From there, theywere going to make their way down to Mexico. And while Peta expressed hersympathies for Chris, who had a large bag of books that he had to bring alongwith him to study, she herself seemed upbeat and prepared. They were justmaking the most of this study and really doing what they've always wanted todo.

I love traveling, but I do not think I could travel thatconsecutively for three months or whatever. They're going for 12 months. Or 12months, yeah, that's a lot. A lot. Also, while studying for school like they'redoing this, it's an excuse to go somewhere as he's studying for school, whatnot? Yeah, um, but like I said, Peta was very organized. She listed to herfamily all of the vaccinations they'd received, travelers checks they'd cashed,and visas they'd secured to ensure the next leg of their travels was seamless.Which it was. The islands were filled with scuba dives and snorkelingexcursions. And when they arrived in the states, they rented a car and drovesouth from Los Angeles to San Diego and on through the Mexican border.

On May 29th, 1978, Chris made an audio recording for hisbrother Nigel's birthday, saying how much fun he and Peta were having on theirlittle extravaganza and that they planned now to head east to the YucatanPeninsula. But on June 6th, Peta wrote that they had actually changed theirplans. On a bus ride out east, they met another young English couple who washeaded to Bolivia with a stopover in Belize. So after hearing that Belize washome to one of the longest reefs in the Western Hemisphere, Chris and Peta werekind of tempted to tag along with this couple that they had just barely met.They were craving another great snorkeling adventure. However, this slightadjustment to their plans wouldn't just change the course of their vacation; itwould end up changing the course of many people's lives.

By the end of June, Chris and Peta found themselves stayingin a cheap Bohemian motel on an island just off the coast of Belize called CayeCaulker. And even with its crystal blue waters and white sand beaches, thedestination was a hotspot for those on a budget, particularly young backpackersand older fishermen looking for a quick stopover, which was how Chris and Petacame to meet a 37-year-old American seaman named Silas Dwayne Boston. Dwayne,as he called himself, with his piercing blue eyes and innate charm, immediatelycaught the attention of Chris and Peta at the hotel bar one night. As they gotto chatting, they learned that Dwayne was traveling around the islands in his32ft wooden sailing boat he named after one of his kids. The boat was called JustinB, not John B. He mostly made his cash by ferrying tourists to the many keysoff the mainland. However, Dwayne didn't work alone. He'd come from Sacramento,California, with his other two sons, 13-year-old Vince and 12-year-old Russell,who were helping him out with the small business.

At the time, the only thing that set off alarm bells forChris was the fact that Dwayne was said to be somewhat of a ladies' man. So,despite how underwhelming Dwayne was in the looks department, he spoke of howmuch success he had with women and boasted about having been married fivedifferent times. Still, with his two young children on board, Chris and Petafelt comfortable enough to actually hire Dwayne one day for an afternoonexcursion. So, Chris and Peta, our UK couple, are going to go out with Dwayneand his two sons on an excursion. And from Peta's letters, the first tripseemed enjoyable enough. They set out for a day of snorkeling and scuba diving,while Dwayne and his boys cooked them lunch with the fish and lobsters they'dcaught that afternoon. The evening ended with a bonfire on the beach, sippingcoconuts before a drop-off back at their hotel. It was delightful enough forChris and Peta to take Dwayne up on another excursion, and then another, ohman, to the point where over the next few weeks, they became pretty friendlywith Dwayne and his sons. And when the couple was finally ready to move on fromBelize and travel further south, Dwayne made them an offer. Rather than take aseries of buses, why not let him take them by sea to their next destination,which was Roatan, Honduras? So, after all, it was on his way to Costa Ricawhere he'd planned to sell his boat before heading back to the states with theboys. So he's like, "We're done with this gig. We made it work. We'reheading out anyways. We will drop you off on our way to Costa Rica, and thenwe're heading back to America, and you guys can go to Honduras." I wonderhow true this all was. I'm sure we'll get into it. So all Dwayne asked for inreturn was $500 for their passage, which seemed reasonable enough to Chris andPeta.

It was nearing the end of June when Peta wrote anotherletter home to her parents to tell them about the next leg of their journey.She mentioned Dwayne, his two sons, and the Justin B, which is the sailingboat. How she and Chris were quite enjoying their travels and found the journeypeaceful. They were even liking the fact that they could catch and cook theirown supper. But in that same letter, it was also becoming clear that tensionson the boat might have been running a little high. Remember, they've beenspending a lot of time together with these people.

Peta wrote that the ship was not very comfortable, that thelower deck was mostly used for storage, making it too cramped for sleeping. Itwas overrun with cockroaches, and a shower only came when they docked for thenight in a harbor somewhere. Oh no, they shouldn't have said yes. Plus at thattime of year, even the nights were getting unbearably hot, making thepassengers irritable in such a confined space. Still, Peta signed her letterwith an optimistic outlook, claiming it all seemed worthwhile once she watchedthe sunset each evening. So, like I said, Peta was feeling okay about thejourney, but Dwayne maybe wasn't feeling the same way, and we know this becauseone afternoon, Dwayne stopped the boat on a small island for a little break.That afternoon, Russell and Vince came running up to him to show him somethingthey had found on the beach, and it was a handful of poisonous berries. SoDwayne took them from his kids but didn't warn them or reprimand them. Instead,he said something that stuck with Russell for years to come. He said, "MaybeI should just feed these to Chris and Peta."

At the time, Russell, the kid, just waved it off, freaked.He knew his father had a problem with alcohol, and that day on the beach was noexception. So, needless to say, Dwayne was two sheets to the wind. But once henodded off, Vince and Russell knew better than to leave the berries with theirfather. So they stole them back, fearful that Dwayne might actually followthrough on his threats if given the opportunity. That's weird that you wouldever even think that that would be a possibility, and I think it says a lotabout the type of character Dwayne is that even his sons are like, "Maybewe should steal the berries back." Yeah, that's weird.

So on June 28th, 1978, Peta penned another letter updatingher parents on their journey. In this one, she said after speaking with alighthouse keeper, they learned it was especially hard to get into the port inHonduras this time of year due to the tides. So they were told they might haveto rethink their travels with an unexpected stop in Livingston, Guatemala,instead. It also became clear in this letter that Peta and Chris were at theend of their rope with Dwayne and his boys. Like what started as like,"Oh, we're friends, and we're going on this journey, you know, we've doneall these excursions," it's just not... it's not going well anymore. Petamentioned how Russell and Vince argued all the time and acted much younger thantheir age. They're getting annoyed with the two boys and that a drunken Dwaynewas constantly yelling at them, bringing the awkward tension on the boat to anall-time high. With nowhere to escape to on the 32ft vessel, things werebecoming untenable. Chris and Peta were essentially over it. Peta signed thatletter with lots of love and mailed it out at the next port, but that was it.After that, Peta and Chris's communication back home stopped entirely.

That final letter arrived at Peta's parents' house in Augustof 1978, and when days turned into weeks with no word from either Chris orPeta, both of their families sounded the alarm bells. Come September, theFarmers and the Frampton knew it was time to get the authorities involved. TheFarmers began by reaching out to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, whichhelped scan the borders of all countries between the United States and Peru.This is... I mean, and this is like something that's hard, is they don't knowhow far they made it, so what country could they even be in by the timesomething bad happens? Well, also, they were in the middle of the sea in themiddle... in the middle of the sea on a ship. I don't... that's so hard.

So both families wrote to the consuls in South America aswell, but nothing produced results. Chris's father then contacted the HarborMaster in Bise City, trying to dig up any information he could on the Justin B,since this is the last known place that they knew their kids were in. October,he received a letter back saying yes, they had been on the passenger list whenthe boat left Bise, but the next time the boat docked in Livingston, Guatemala,on July 6th, Chris and Peta were no longer aboard the vessel. Okay, and whenthe Farmers reached out to a commander of a naval base in Honduras, they alsoconfirmed Justin B had never made it to that port, despite the fact that Chrisand Peta had secured visas for Honduras. There was no record of them ever enteringthe country.

So, authorities did, however, have the name of one personwho might shed light on where these people went, and that was Dwayne. By thispoint, now mid-October, Dwayne and the boys had returned to the states. Dwaynewas said to be living with his father just outside of Sacramento. So theBritish Foreign and Commonwealth Office asked a Consulate General in SanFrancisco to look into Dwayne. Oh, what a mess because you have to go throughall the different legal procedures of the different countries and justicesystems. I can't even imagine. Well, and I mean, if we're just playing ontheory here that Dwayne did do something to them, probably thought he got awaywith it. Well, also, there's a pretty good chance he can get away with this,yeah, considering where he was and what's going on.

So, the Consulate General in San Francisco looks into Dwaynefor the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and here's what they learn:Dwayne had a pretty unsettling criminal record in the States. He'd been accusedof assault and rape, and ten years prior, in 1968, his third wife, Russell andVince's mom, had also disappeared without a trace. What a ladies' man.

When that consulate official visited Dwayne for an interviewin December 1978, the 37-year-old wasn't exactly forthcoming, but he did seemrather calm and collected, without much concern for the whole situation. Dwaynedid say, however, that he dropped Peta and Chris off at a place called Cabo deTracé Punas across the bay from the Livingston, Guatemala Port. So he's like,"I just dropped them off right there, and then I just skidded across andwent to Guatemala, and that's why they weren't with me." He did thisbecause then they wouldn't have to go through immigration, and then he justcontinued on without them.

After the interview, the Consulate General who conducted theinterview was certain Dwayne Boston was a suspect in their disappearance. Ifeel like if your record is that bad and you've been charged for rape or armedrobbery or something of that sort, you should have to wear like a sign on yourchest at all times, or like on your head, so then people know. You know whatI'm saying? You know, people aren't even happy that sex offenders have toregister. There's a pretty wide group of people that don't think that shouldhave to happen. Well, they probably shouldn't listen to this podcast. Probablynot.

So the consulate's like, "Okay, uh, reporting back toduty, um, I'm pretty sure this guy definitely has something to do with thedisappearance of Peta and Chris, but with zero concrete evidence, he didn'tfeel like there was much they could do to pursue the charges, and from there,the investigation kind of sizzled out, at least for government officials.Obviously, the Farmers and the Frampton were hellbent on keeping the casealive. These are their children, yeah? Which is when they hired a privateinvestigator named Alfonso de Pena back in Belize to take up the case. Armedwith photos of the couple, Alfonso went to nearly every bar, hotel, andrestaurant in the country, asking if anyone had seen them. And come January1979, his digging turned up a major piece of information.

That month, Alfonso was contacted by a Catholic priest downin Livingston, Guatemala, who said back in July, a few local fishermen made agruesome discovery right near the border of Bise, okay, about 200 cards fromshore. They discovered the bodies of two Europeans, a male and a female, intheir early to mid-20s. How are they? I mean, they were supposed to be on theship. Both appeared to have their hands and ankles bound and were tied to heavyengine parts. The woman also had a plastic bag over her head. When they werecut loose, they, the bodies, were brought back to Puerto Barrios, Guatemala foran autopsy. There, it was determined that the couple was still alive when theyentered the water, and the cause of death was listed as drowning. My gosh,that's insane.

After the autopsy, the two were buried in unmarked graves ina nearby cemetery since their identities remained unknown. That is until thepriest passed the word onto Alfonso. When news reached the Farmers and theFrampton back in England, they felt pretty certain this probably was theirmissing loved ones. But the only way to prove it for sure was to exhume thebodies and compare the dental records. The process took about nine weeks.Imagine waiting nine weeks. It's hard because there's not... they're in a differentcountry, you have... there's just so much you have to go through. But comeApril 1979, the families got their answers.

The dental records were a match with the two unknownvictims. These were the bodies of Chris Farmer and Peta Frampton. Just asdevastating was the complete lack of investigation into the bodies after theywere recovered. The Guatemalan police never looked into the crime or evenalerted any embassies, as far as I'm aware. I mean, they're thinking,"Okay, these are just two Europeans who are probably traveling. How are weever going to get to the bottom of this?" and didn't look any further. Anyevidence, including the ropes and engine parts they were tied to, were lost inthe shuffle, never analyzed for clues. What adding to the frustration, afterconfirming their identities, both families requested that the bodies be placedin a British Cemetery. However, there's a strange rule in Guatemala that a bodymust remain in its original burial plot for at least four years. Why? I don'tknow. So the families are like, "Hey, can we bring... can we just at leastbring our kids home? You know, they were young, they were just trying to livetheir lives. Can we just have them home in a resting spot near us?" Andthey were like, "Nope, they gotta stay buried for four years."

So four more years passed when the trail on Dwayne Bostonran even colder. The families were told they could now exhume Peta and Chris'sremains and have them sent back to the UK. But at this point, both felt sincethey were already exhumed once and reburied, it was best to just maybe keepthem together where they were. Let Guatemala maybe be their final restingplace. And with that, four years quickly turned to about 40 as the Farmers andthe Frampton were left without much resolution. Holy crap.

So 40 years basically goes by and they are not able to do athing. Yes, there was one person who never let Dwayne Boston leave her mind,and that was Chris's younger sister, Penny Farmer. Okay, so you have to keep inmind, my brother, right, my brother's murdered while he's traveling the worldwith his girlfriend who was his high school sweetheart from middle school. Yep.Um, and we basically know who did it. Like, we know it's this Dwayne guy. Helives in the States in California, but there's just no evidence, but we'repretty sure. And Dwayne's got to be like almost 80 at this point, right?

So let's now cut to October 2nd, 2015. We have Penny Farmer,Chris's little sister, who is hellbent on solving this case, and she has to bebetween 50 and around 60 or somewhere around there, is my guess. So Penny was17 when her brother went missing; she was now in her 50s, okay? She was grownwith a husband and kids. She was sitting outside her Oxfordshire home whensomething dawned on her: why not look Dwayne and his kids up on the internet?Like, the internet's a thing now, all this time has passed, yep, she's probablythinking about his case, and she's like, "Wait, I wonder if I can justfind him?" Yep. So she's looking for Dwayne, she can't find him, but shegoes looking for the kids. Remember, one of their names was Vince Boston. So itwas as easy as typing Vince Boston into the Facebook search bar, and suddenlythere he was, in living color, okay? The boy who had most likely witnessed herbrother's murder was now a 51-year-old man. He was an aviation engineer inTucson, Arizona. Um, but there was a post on his page that actually caughtPenny's eye.

Vince had written a status that read, "My mother waskilled at 23 with a gun," and it went on. Now, this struck Penny as oddbecause she distinctly remembered in their letters, they were told Vince andRussell's mother had disappeared. Yeah, it was a huge reason she and her familywere suspicious of Dwayne in the first place. Like, his one of his wives haddisappeared, and now they had disappeared. So she was wondering, has somethingchanged in the woman's investigation, or was she unraveling some dark familysecret? So Penny keeps digging, eventually uncovering the 49-year-old Russell'sFacebook page as well, who was also living a seemingly normal life as anillustrator out in Laguna Beach, California. Wow. Though Penny didn't stopthere, another quick search, she finally found father Silas Dwayne Boston. Hehas a Facebook. He's got to be like 80, like I said earlier.

The now 74-year-old man's profile photo showed a morehardened Dwayne with an aging gray beard hiding under a baseball cap andsunglasses. Beneath it all, ladies man, Benny was sure it was the same monsterwho'd claimed Chris and Peta's lives. The fact that he even had a Facebookpage, in her opinion, was a privilege he should have never gotten. Yeah, yethere it was, a path forward, a life he had lived. This was a chance for Pennyto reconnect with the only people in this world who knew the truth about Petaand Chris's final days.

So Penny decides to send a few messages to the sons Vinceand Russell, and after receiving no response, she decided to bring the caseback up to the Greater Manchester Police, or the GMP, now that she had foundthem. Now Penny and her family knew the chances of reopening this investigationwere slim. So when she contacted the GMP and learned that they still had all ofthe case files, she was kind of shocked, even more when the GMP spoke to adetective named Amy Crosby with the Sacramento Police, they learned they hadjust reopened a case against him recently. It was the case surrounding Dwayne'smissing wife, Mary Lou Boston.

What are the chances of that? Over in the UK, they're like,"Hey, can you please reopen this case?" They contact American police,and the Californian Police are like, "We actually just reopened adifferent case on Dwayne, the case of his missing wife, Mary Lou. Karma, man,it always comes back around. I do not care what you say." And by completecoincidence, Vince, the son, had been interviewed by Detective Crosby mere daysafter Penny had reached out to him on Facebook. So police are actually alreadytalking to the people they want them to talk to, just for a different case. Sohe told the detective it was an open family secret that his father had shot hismother back in 1968, but her body had been missing ever since.

So they talk to the son, and he's like, "Yeah, myfather definitely killed my mother, but we just never found her body."What he said, like, yeah, the son tattled on his father, essentially. So Vincesaid he was about 3 years old at the time that his mother disappeared, only hedidn't learn the truth about her death until they went down to Bise in 1978.This tying us back to our case, yep, that's when a drunken Dwayne beganconfessing to his sons that he had killed their mother because she wanted adivorce. But she wasn't the only one he killed, dozens of other people as well.At least this is what he told his sons. What in the world? What do you... whatdo you do? 'Cause his sons are so young as well, it's like they're not... whatare they going to do? That's crazy. So this was a statement that the boysactually wholeheartedly believed, which now makes it a little moreunderstanding why they stole those berries back, yeah, 'cause they didn't wanttheir dad killing their new friends, Peta and Chris. So they were alsoterrified of reporting after they saw what he did to two English tourists thatsummer that were on the boat with them.

So during that interview, Vince also told detectives thefull account of what he'd witnessed on the Justin B that July. I didn't expectthis. I didn't think that they were going to comply, and they're just...they're letting it all out. So it's in March of 2016 Penny and her family werefinally brought into the GMP's office to hear his statement that he had madeback in California, at least getting the details of how and why Chris and Peta haddied.

So here's what Vince said. The summer of 1978, Dwayne tookhis two boys to Belize to dodge an arrest for a statutory rape charge. Holycrap! So they had said, 'Oh, it's just this family business,' like we came herebecause, you know, we thought it'd be good money. No, he was trying to get outof the states. What a scumbag! His plan was to buy a boat, sail along the coastof Central and South America, stay under the radar. But that was easier saidthan done for a man like Dwayne. Come July 1st, Chris and Peta were regularfixtures aboard the Justin B. And as we learned from Peta's letters, tensionswere starting to run high. One evening after too much to drink, Dwayne beganordering Russell around, yelling at him to get into the water and untangle theanchor. Russell, terrified of his drunk father, always did what he was told.But when Russell noticed there was nothing wrong with the anchor, he got backon board and began reeling it in to show his father it wasn't stuck. But that'swhen Dwayne came up behind him and started beating the 12-year-old boy. What?!

Well, this being such a tiny boat, Chris and Peta borewitness to the entire thing, and Dwayne was just taking it way too far. Theyhad been fighting, they had been yelling, but now this physical abuse was justtoo much. So Chris stepped in and tried to pull Dwayne off of Russell, his son.And when Dwayne took a swing at Chris, he missed entirely, instead falling offthe boat and into the water. Now, the drunken Dwayne was absolutely humiliated.Like, this is his boat, and he just tried to punch someone, and he fell in thewater. And even though Chris offered him a hand to get him back on board,Dwayne was not about to consider it an olive branch. Over the next severalhours, he replayed the events over and over in his mind, to the point where hewas set in his convictions: it was time to kill Chris and Peta. This wholething had just been too embarrassing; he was over it. That's insane to me!

So on the following evening, July 2nd, Dwayne pretended likeall was forgiven. He asked Chris for his help pulling up the anchor, and that'swhen Dwayne snuck up behind him and attacked. He hit Chris over the head with aclub repeatedly and tried to stab him with an old broken fillet knife untilChris surrendered. Poor Chris suffered in pain until the following morning whenDwayne came to him and Peta and said he'd be dropping them off near a port inGuatemala. But in order to give him ample time to get away, he said he neededto tie them up to slow them down. He forced them to strip naked, bound theirwrists and ankles, and then for the next 36 hours, Dwayne sat and tortured andplayed mind games with the couple and the kids who were there the whole time,convincing them that he was going to let them live if they played along.

But on the morning of July 4th, both Chris and Peta,physically and emotionally, were beaten to a pulp. Dwayne chose not to makegood on his promise. He placed plastic bags over their heads and forced hischildren to help him tie the couple to those old machine parts. Then Dwaynegrabbed Chris and threw him overboard, followed by Peta. Ultimately, Chris andPeta died trying to defend Russell, their...yeah, Dwayne's son, in a time ofneed. I don't understand how. I just don't understand how someone like that isnot in jail before, and it's just out in the open 'cause he's running away.Yeah, so I can't even imagine how that must have left Russell feeling in theaftermath of all this.

But as it turns out, he didn't keep this bottled up for allthose years like the farmers in the Frampton had first imagined. Apparently,both Russell and Vince had tried several times to report all of it, all ofthis, to the Sacramento PD and the FBI, even Scotland Yard and Interpol. Only,none of those agencies followed up on their statements. No freaking way! Howdoes that happen? 'Cause they're young kids. So even after what, and this iseven after Vince joined the US Navy. That's so frustrating.

In 1982, over time, Vince just began to think that hisfather was the luckiest criminal in the world. Like, they had gone andreported, and their father was still out, somehow managing to escape convictionfor both Chris and Peta and his mother's death back in 1986. But someone whofeels that invincible usually doesn't stop there. But with not enough evidencein every single murder, there's now enough, at least circumstantial evidence,to charge Dwayne with Peta and Chris's deaths, as long as the boys agree totestify against him. But police had one last hurdle to jump through, becauseDwayne was right: his crimes were out of Sacramento's jurisdiction.

So they began looking for ways that they could prosecuteDwayne. They considered extraditing him to Guatemala, but the government therejust didn't want to take on this now 40-year-old case. They probably didn'tcare. Belize claimed the murders weren't in their jurisdiction, since theyhappened off the coast of Guatemala. Even the FBI couldn't take it on, sinceGuatemala didn't have ties to the US. However, the US could claim jurisdictionif the crime happened out in open waters in a boat that was owned by a UScitizen, which it did. So all they needed was more proof that Dwayne owned theJustin B.

Turns out Russell, the son, is like, "Okay, let me getin on this." He finds a mountain of useful evidence stored in his garage:a boat flag with the words "Justin B" written in Dwayne'shandwriting, photos of them with Chris and Peta, Chris's old cassette tapecollection which he left behind, and the old ownership title to the Justin B. Ican't believe... I'm still kind of in awe how proactive the kids are being,which is amazing. I thought that they were going to be scared of their dad orsomething else was going on. But they tried multiple times before to report it.Yeah, so I'm glad that it's going this way. Well, I think now at 50, they'reprobably like, "He murdered my mom, he murdered people in front ofus." Yeah, like who... who like... he needs to go to prison for life.Like, this is crazy. Yeah, and he beat us as kids.

So with this smoking gun, they can now prosecute Dwayne forthose murder charges here in the US, something Dwayne himself never thoughtwould happen. But on December 1st, 2016, the 75-year-old Dwayne got the shockof his life when he was met at his nursing home with an arrest warrant. That'swhat I'm talking about! The following day, he was charged with two counts offirst-degree murder. His trial was set to begin in October 2017. Only Dwaynewould never make it.

On March 20th, 2017, Dwayne, shackled to a hospital bed,took a turn for the worst. He had exercised his rights to end his treatment,had stopped taking his medication, and was now letting his liver and heartproblems get the best of him. In April, Russell came to visit him, figuring nowwas the time to get everything off his chest. He told his dad he did love him,he did forgive him. Before he died, he wanted Dwayne to answer for one lastthing: Where did you bury mom's body? Dwayne looked to the US Marshall guardinghis bedside, then turned back to Russell and said, "You don't expect me totell you with him sitting here, do you?" Dwayne then proceeded to callRussell a traitor and a snitch. But in all of that, he never confessed to wherehe buried their mother, Mary Lou. You can catch me unplugging all thosemachines as he's saying all that.

On April 24th, 2017, Dwayne died in that hospital bed, justtwo weeks shy of his first pre-trial hearing. As Penny Farmer put it, Dwaynehad taken the coward's way out. Yeah, she said she felt cheated that she waslooking forward to the day Dwayne had to face her and her family in court andhear about the pain he had caused them.

So she went on to write a book about her brother's case andincluded a quote that I think speaks to how many of the victim families mustfeel in a situation like this. Penny wrote, "Time blunts the intensesearing pain of bereavement, but what remains is a dull throbbing ache, alonging for what might have been, and the knowledge that a life with them in itwould have been so much richer for us all." And that is the case of ChrisFarmer and Peter Frampton.

It's hard because I'm glad that we knew who did it. So, forthem, it wasn't really a who did it, it was more of when does he get caught.And then when he does get caught, he dies. And that's just crazy. Like, noreason. Like a lot of these cases, no rhyme or reason. Just because, honestly,he was a bad guy and wanted to kill people. Like, there was no other reason.Yeah, it's devastating. It's devastating for his kids, yeah. Devastating forthe victims who were just supposed to be on the vacation of their life, hadtrusted this guy to get them somewhere. Mhm.

But that is all we have for this week. Remember, um, we havebonus episodes over on Patreon and Apple Subscriptions, and we will see younext time with another episode.

I love it.

And I hate it.

Goodbye.

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