Stephanie claimed that Buck was Roys nickname when questioned by it. Palmyra atoll was a prime destination for sailors and there were a number of people already there when Walker and Stearns arrived. Roy and Stephanie were spotted the next morning coming ashore in a small rowboat. 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. When he was released in 2007, he took up residence in a San Francisco motel for several years before moving to a 22-foot trailer in Willits, a small town about three hours from San Francisco. Wesley Walker (AKA Buck) Stephanie Stearns Buck and Stephanie They buy a boat that had sunk and was raised from the harbor in Maui. Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club thats right for you for free. Not long after The Iola arrived another yacht arrived in the harbor,the impressive Sea Wind. Roy and Stephanie were not prepared for life at sea and had run out of supplies pretty quickly. You'll receive an email with an opt-in link to complete your subscription. I hope Stearns will some day pay for what she did. No signs of Mac Grahams remains have been located. Stephanie Walker Husband. Privacy Policy/Your California Privacy Rights. Lots of Adventist Pioneer stories, black line master handouts, and teaching notes. 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. 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. Roy told Stephanie that they had been invited over and perhaps the Grahams were out fishing for their dinner. Your browser's security settings are preventing some features from appearing. 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. In that wallet was a drivers license with Roy Allens name on it. Bugliosis careful analysis of the tides revealed Stearns was lying about her activities purportedly occurring on the 30th and 31st of August 1974. During World War II it housed a US Naval base that had long been abandoned. We also recommend using Mozillas Firefox Internet Browser for this web site. Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users. Both Stearns and Walker had stated the Iola sank on the reef just inside the Palmyra harbor while they tried to tow it back to Hawaii. They also found The Iola hatch cover onshore which told agents that Roy and Stephanie had planned on scuttling The Iola as no one would go to sea without a hatch cover for their vessel. Buck and Stephanies trials were held separately in San Francisco due to the publicity the Graham case had in the media. Their plans for the bountiful marijuana crop finally faded as the seedlings they had planted had been eaten up by the island insects. Cameron Todd Willingham Accidental Fire Or Intentional Arson. The other sailing couples had enough supplies for themselves and a little bit left over for emergencies, but not to supply a couple who didnt prepare for their trip. An FBI agent from the Hawaiian field office was assigned and met with Bernard and the Coast Guard at the yacht harbor. She successfully convinced a jury that Walker committed the murders alone, having to hide the bodies in the aluminum boxes to conceal them from her as well as the authorities. Her boyfriend, Buck Walker, was convicted of murder in June and sentenced to life in prison. Most of those that knew and loved her are gone and she has been shamefully abandoned by the sailing community. A theory started to develop where perhaps Stephanie and Roy had tied the Grahams up and then put them on The Iola and sank the Iola to cover up their crime. A careful reading of FINAL ARGUMENT answers these, and many more questions that should have been asked, but were not. Stearns was pretty easy to get along with so most of the conflict came from Walker. I keep waiting--in vain--for it to pop up on Netflix. Both were found guilty. They found other sailors already there, including two male Canadian scientists, but nonetheless stayed. By this time the Grahams had been alone for 10 days with Roy and Stephanie. A sailor and wooden boat own- er for nearly fifty years, duly licensed to practice law in the State of California, former Deputy Public Defender for the County of Los Angeles and trial lawyer for over forty years. This revealed that it had been lying against a hard surface, such as a container. Complete class lesson plans for each grade from Kindergarten to Grade 12. However, the organization of the book is erratic, confusing at points, & chopped full of grammatical errors & poor punctuation. San Diego sailors Malcolm Mac Graham III, 43, and his wife Eleanor Muff LaVerne Graham, 41, sailed the 37.5-foot ketch Sea Wind into Palmyra in July. Read this book - if you read only one book about the Palmyra Murders, read Tom Bucy's "Final Argument"! Stephanie ended up being acquitted of all charges. It had a top-notch navigational system and plenty of supplies on board. They would exchange marijuana for supplies that friends brought them. 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. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness. Its been grueling, Stephanie Stearns told reporters after hugging her tearful parents, who sat in the front row throughout the trial. They had shown Bucks picture to the waitress and she recognized him. Walker, 69, earned release from the U.S. Parole Commission in part because of advancing age and poor health. Some factors, such as Walker's age, 69, and alleged poor health, might lead to a parole, he said. Everybody familiar with the case regards this theory as utter hogwash. While Walker was represented by a public defender, Stearns, from a well-to-do family, was defended by high-profile attorney Vincent Bugliosi, Charles Mansons prosecutor. The Sea Wind had already proven itself to be a seaworthy vessel as it had already been sailing all around the world. As others have said, the book doesn't seem to have been edited, so much of it reads like a stream of random thoughts, with little coherence, and the endless errors in grammar, spelling and sentence construction are distracting. He asked for a cigarette. 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, Maryland 20904. Publisher The duo has been together since 2004. Buck Walker was paroled from federal prison in 2007. Malcolm Graham's body was never found. Raised in Oceanside and was once a Catholic priest and a touring pianist for dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov, Reveles was 74, Ceci Moss is the new director and chief curator of the Mandeville Art Gallery at UC San Diego. The strange goings-on at Palmyra Atoll were remarkable enough to spawn a legend about the island being unlucky, and today you'll still hear Pacific travelers talk about the "Palmyra curse." 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. The trials were big news nationally and, especially, in San Diego. Walker was tried first, convicted and sentenced to life in prison for Muffs murder, thanks, in part, to the testimony of a fellow inmate to whom hed made a jailhouse confession. It is considered an incorporated territory of the United States and is under its sovereignty since 1911. The Iola owners also had very few provisions along with them. Deeply researched and passionate, but marred by lack of edting, Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2015. The book has kept interest in the case alive. 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. The Story of two couples who met on a | by Jean Campbell | CrimeBeat, David Meirhofer & Wayne Nance Montana Serial Killers, Jack Unterweger Celebrity Writer Serial Killer, Christian Martin Kentucky Murder Suspect. Stephanie Stearns The friction between the two materials caused a crack in the hull and it had taken on water. Stephanie Walker Her broken and bleached bones were spilling out of a half-buried metal chest that apparently had washed ashore. Discover more of the authors books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more. Meaning the wear to Muffs skull came from the hard lining of the aluminum container, not from the bottom of the harbor. 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. Macs friend radioed the following week as planned, but there was no response from The Sea Wind. As the various sailing groups are introducing themselvesRoy noticed that Mac Graham was a smoker. Stephanie Walker Husband. I just finished this after reading And the Sea Will Tell (a 2nd time last week). 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. She was acquitted Friday by a federal court jury. Muff was a wonderful gal, he says. He had a rougher appearance and gave off an aura of being dangerous. They showed up at 6:30 PM but the Grahams weren't there. Were they a victim of the seas or something more nefarious? Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations. Authorities would later identify them as Buck Duane Walker and Stephanie Stearns. The San Francisco medical examiner confirmed the findings of the FBI examiner. During the years following the Grahams disappearance, Palmyra atoll visitors had maintained a stack of newspaper clippings about the incident in a jungle shack. So you have the boat that Bernard recognizes as the Sea Wind, but had been painted over and a person on deck who didnt own the yacht. Bucy puts forward his idea of what happened on Palmyra and there may be some justification for his theory. Let's teach children to be unafraid. In May, they sailed to Kauai, and prepared the boat to set sail for Palmyra atoll. 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. She was acquitted Friday by a federal court jury. I cannot address everything but hope my examples will show why this book is a waste of your time. She was acquitted Friday by a federal court jury. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the San Diego Union-Tribune. Who was Stephanie Stearns in and the sea will tell? Buck Duane Walker was a convicted felon and fugitive. Betty Fullard-Leo said the Graham case left the family shocked and disturbed. Stephanie did testify on her own behalf and was able to give her version of events. The conviction in part resulted from photographs taken by Walker from the Sea Wind showing the badly damaged Iola on the open seas sailing away from the Sea Wind. Part 1 aired on February 24, and Part 2 was aired two days later. A writer attempted to raise funds to bury Muff back in San Diego where the Grahams were originally from.