ROCKY GAP, Va. — Several major news stories shared the Bluefield Daily Telegraph’s front page on Nov. 21, 1975. Ronald Reagan was seeking the GOP nomination for president and the federal government had been accused of orchestrating eight schemes to kill Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.
However, one local headline on the lower front page was of special importance to a Bland County family. “Police Investigating Shooting Death of Bland Juvenile” remains important well into the 21st Century. The family of 12-year-old Danny Lee Puckett still wants to know why he was shot in the mountains of Bland County.
A search was started Wednesday, Nov. 19, 1975 after Danny Lee Puckett failed to come home from an after school hunting trip near his home, according to the article. Trooper A.W. Stocker with the Virginia State Police then told the Daily Telegraph that state police, rescue squad members, and the Bland County Sheriff’s Office formed a search party and “scoured” the area.
A hunter found Puckett’s body 6:15 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 20, 1975. Stocker said the boy’s shotgun was found near his body, but he had apparently been shot by another person in the area. Stocker declined to speculate whether Puckett had been shot by another hunter. The body was sent to Roanoke, Va. for an autopsy.
His mother, Mary Baker of Rocky Gap,Va., still wants to know what happened to her son. She still has newspaper clippings reminding her of that time. The investigators were busy at first, but then the case grew cold.
“At first, they went head over heels at once trying to grab something out of it, but then it came to a standstill,” Baker recalled.
Baker said her son sometimes went on hunting trips with friends, but before his death, he came home upset from one trip to another county. Such trips usually lasted a week, but this time they returned on a Wednesday, which was unusual, she stated.
“He was so upset. He said, ‘I don’t think I’ll ever go deer hunting again,’” Baker said. “I don’t know what happened.”
On the morning Danny Puckett went missing, he had returned home from school and decided to go hunting in the nearby woods, Baker said.
“I was working and when I came in (home), I heard a real loud shot down the river...he was found the next morning. He didn’t come home that night and we looked everywhere.”
According to the autopsy’s results, Danny Puckett had been in water all night. He had been shot through his right arm and left shoulder, Baker said. At least two of the boys who had been with him during the trip that had upset him were questioned, but no charges were filed.
One of Puckett’s sisters, Carolyn Evans of Bluefield, Va. also said her brother’s death could have been connected to whatever had upset him when he went hunting with four young men.
“We figured it came from something they did on that hunting trip,” she said.
Evans recalled her brother’s condition when he was found. He had been discovered face down in the creek, and had been shot through his left shoulder.
After so many years, the family still wants to know what happened to Danny Puckett, Baker said.
People with information can contact the Bland County Sheriff’s Office at 276-688-4311 or the Virginia State Police.
Posted: Monday, June 29, 2015 5:00 am
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
ROCKY GAP, Va. — Several major news stories shared the Bluefield Daily Telegraph’s front page on Nov. 21, 1975. Ronald Reagan was seeking the GOP nomination for president and the federal government had been accused of orchestrating eight schemes to kill Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.
However, one local headline on the lower front page was of special importance to a Bland County family. “Police Investigating Shooting Death of Bland Juvenile” remains important well into the 21st Century. The family of 12-year-old Danny Lee Puckett still wants to know why he was shot in the mountains of Bland County.
A search was started Wednesday, Nov. 19, 1975 after Danny Lee Puckett failed to come home from an after school hunting trip near his home, according to the article. Trooper A.W. Stocker with the Virginia State Police then told the Daily Telegraph that state police, rescue squad members, and the Bland County Sheriff’s Office formed a search party and “scoured” the area.
A hunter found Puckett’s body 6:15 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 20, 1975. Stocker said the boy’s shotgun was found near his body, but he had apparently been shot by another person in the area. Stocker declined to speculate whether Puckett had been shot by another hunter. The body was sent to Roanoke, Va. for an autopsy.
His mother, Mary Baker of Rocky Gap,Va., still wants to know what happened to her son. She still has newspaper clippings reminding her of that time. The investigators were busy at first, but then the case grew cold.
“At first, they went head over heels at once trying to grab something out of it, but then it came to a standstill,” Baker recalled.
Baker said her son sometimes went on hunting trips with friends, but before his death, he came home upset from one trip to another county. Such trips usually lasted a week, but this time they returned on a Wednesday, which was unusual, she stated.
“He was so upset. He said, ‘I don’t think I’ll ever go deer hunting again,’” Baker said. “I don’t know what happened.”
On the morning Danny Puckett went missing, he had returned home from school and decided to go hunting in the nearby woods, Baker said.
“I was working and when I came in (home), I heard a real loud shot down the river...he was found the next morning. He didn’t come home that night and we looked everywhere.”
According to the autopsy’s results, Danny Puckett had been in water all night. He had been shot through his right arm and left shoulder, Baker said. At least two of the boys who had been with him during the trip that had upset him were questioned, but no charges were filed.
One of Puckett’s sisters, Carolyn Evans of Bluefield, Va. also said her brother’s death could have been connected to whatever had upset him when he went hunting with four young men.
“We figured it came from something they did on that hunting trip,” she said.
Evans recalled her brother’s condition when he was found. He had been discovered face down in the creek, and had been shot through his left shoulder.
After so many years, the family still wants to know what happened to Danny Puckett, Baker said.
People with information can contact the Bland County Sheriff’s Office at 276-688-4311 or the Virginia State Police.
Posted: Monday, June 29, 2015 5:00 am
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
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