He lost the trail there because the road is paved. He followed the tracks to a nearby campground to Helican Road, which led to a swimming hole called the "blue hole" and then to Vandergriff Road. His efforts were unsuccessful, but he did spot ATV tracks on the dirt trails near Mason's home. This next morning the family called neighbor Stanley Nixon, who went out searching for the three men. When they didn't return by dusk, Paula Kirby, nee Griffith, became concerned. Smock had brought his red, white and blue ATV from Florida. They had a cooler filled with drinks and a pistol in the seat of Mason's ATV. The three men set out on three ATVs near Mason's home on Signal Mountain. Smock was even bigger, standing between 6'2" and 6'4" and weighing more than 200 pounds. Paula Kirby, nee Griffith, described her husband as 6'0" and weighing 200 pounds. Griffith and Smock, both 20, were combat engineers in the same Air Force squadron and were stationed at Eglin Air Force Base in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.īecause they had only brought shorts with them from Florida, Griffith and Smock were last seen wearing green USAF flight suits. Mason, 47, was the father-in-law of Kenneth Griffin, 20, who was visiting his wife's family on Signal Mountain, Tennessee, with his friend and Earl Smock, 20. But was he the responsible party? The Victims Nearly a decade after the murders, the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office arrested a suspect. The men rode off on three ATVs to adventure in the woods around Mason's home in Walden with the intention of going swimming in the local swimming hole. The search party had been combing the woods of Signal Mountain, Tennessee, since Richard Mason, Kenneth Griffin and Earl Smock had left Saturday afternoon, July 9, 1988. It wasn't just how the grass had been forced and bent, but the blood and brain tissue among the blades and fallen leaves that told them something terrible had happened. This was season 1 episode 3 titled "Signal Mountain Murders".Searchers knew they were on the right track when they found a patch of matted grass at the end of the tire tracks. Investigation Discovery portrayed the murders in the show "Bloodlands" on August 18, 2014.The title of the episode was "Dangerous Trespassing". A&E (TV channel) covered the murders in season 4, episode 9, of their City Confidential series.Unsolved Mysteries aired a segment regarding the murders in season 2 episode 13 which aired on January 3, 1990. In 2020, Casteel's son Franklin Trever Casteel authored a book on the subject. Death Ĭasteel died in prison in May 2019 at the age of 71. In 2003 Frank Casteel was found guilty again for the triple homicide and returned to prison. The attorneys said there was no hard evidence that clearly identifies Casteel as the murderer. An appeal was made and eventually given an opportunity to overturn Casteel’s conviction in 2001. Larry Sneed had taken possession of the logbook in 1988.Īlthough no physical evidence to support Casteel’s conviction, he was sentenced to life in prison. The men were later found dead and Casteel was a prime suspect. When Frank noticed more and more people intruding on his land he consulted a police officer who advised him to keep a logbook of everyone he witnessed. The owners of the land were Frank Casteel and his wife, Susie. The bodies were found off Big Fork Road near the community of Suck Creek by a resident while their all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) were found down an embankment on the side of Roberts Mill Road. The men were missing and being searched for by their relatives when they did not return home. The three men had been riding the backwoods of Signal Mountain. The Signal Mountain murders refers to a widely publicized case in 1988 involving the shootings of Richard Mason, Kenneth Griffith, and Earl Smock near Chattanooga, Tennessee. ( October 2022) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Please do not remove this message until conditions to do so are met. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. The neutrality of this article is disputed.
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