The Case of The Bondurant Brothers

So tonight we’re talking about a duo who we previously, and briefly, covered. They were in episode #23 – It’s a Twin Thing. Their names are Pete Bondurant and Pat Bondurant and they are twins. 

Pete and Pat Bondurant were born in April 1955 in Elkton, TN to parents Hugh and Sidney Bondurant. I guess it’s good that they were born as twins because their parents had no other kids – so they had each other. Hugh and Sidney were civil service employees in the US army, which meant that the family moved around – ALOT. If you were ever raised as a military brat you know you move around every 3 years – and sometimes – every year. The other thing you become aware of as military brats, is that usually – not always – the parent who is in the military or deals closely with the military becomes some type of drill sergeant. That’s exactly how Hugh, their father, was. He was described as loud and borderline abusive towards the boys and Sidney. 

Now, some twins are fraternal and you can, obviously, tell them apart. I’ve heard that even if they are boy/girl twins, people still get asked if they are identical. I don’t think people grasp the concept of “identical”. Well Pete and Pat were actually identical and the only way to tell them apart was that Pat wore glasses. I’ve known a lot of identical twins in my life and I think there’s been only one set I couldn’t tell apart. But usually with twins, there is usually one with a rounder face and one with a more narrow face, so it’s easy for me to tell them apart.

The twins were considered very strange to everyone else when they were young. They did almost everything together – they dressed identically, they sat on the same bus seat even though they had a very large size and it was difficult for them both to sit in the seat. Them dressing alike and doing a lot together doesn’t seem strange to me. But maybe forcing themselves to sit in the same seat seems kinda strange. The twins weighed 250-300 lbs when they were in 7th grade wow! So how old is that? 12? How were they that big at 12??! 

Pete was described as a lot more outgoing and easier to talk to, in fact, he would often brag about his various skills and the fact that he was well-read and had graduated high school and passed his classes. Which…what is that to brag about? Pat, on the other hand, was a lot more introverted, shy, and did not talk as much. He didn’t brag and he let his brother just do all the talking. They would read a lot of paperback books, always the exact same book, and would often get bullied and intimidated by the fact that they did everything together. The twins found solace in each other because they were actually bullied by all sorts of people, including their own father. Because of this they protected and defended each other all the time.

Now, because Pete was a lot more outgoing and vocal, he was also a source of leadership for the brothers; he would often make the decisions for the both of them. Pat was a lot more submissive, quiet, and, like I said, introverted and he followed along with whatever his brother told him to do. They fed off of each other’s emotions and reciprocated them easily, for example, if Pat was feeling sad or angry, Pete would also feel sad or angry or, even, try to emulate those emotions. Now, that’s bizarre. 

Residents of Elkton said the brothers would intimidate everyone with their size and their trademark flannel shirts. I mean, I know I’m intimidated by flannel. 

There were also a lot of rumors flying around about them. One such rumor was that they would bury cats up to their head and then run over them with a lawn mower.

When they got older, they became heavily involved in the drug scene – pills, cocaine, stuff like that. Because of their size, they were known to get whatever you wanted, whenever they wanted. So, they quickly became popular because of drug dealing businesses.

In 1975, Pete was living with two other men and two women in Cincinnati, during, what he called, “a directionless phase of his life”. I guess that’s why he wasn’t living with his brother at that time – maybe looking to find himself. What does that mean anyway? I’ve heard people on tv saying that they want to “find themselves” – what is that? How are you lost from you? Anyway, the two roommate women went out to get cigarettes one night, and when they returned, Pete answered the door with a bloody knife in his hand. Now, if that happened to you, what would you think? Well, the women thought Pete was joking until they pushed past him and saw one of their roommates lying on the couch bleeding profusely, and the other one on the living room floor. That’s when they freaked the eff out! They called the police, and during the investigation, it was found that the first man had been stabbed more than 40 times, mostly with a screwdriver. They took him to a hospital where he later died of his injuries. I know, like me, you’re wondering what happened in that probably 30 minutes that it took the women to go get cigarettes. Well, neither the women, nor police, ever got a reason from Pete for the eruption of violence. What the what?!

Pete was convicted and sentenced to 25 years, but he was granted parole after five, in part because he was an out-of-state inmate and the prison was overcrowded. How does this make sense?!

By the mid 80s, the boys had acquired a reputation of being one of the best and most sought after drug dealers. They had established (now I don’t know how they came across this; if they bought it or not) a mansion where people could come over, party, do drugs, and basically hang out. At this time, there was, what people would call, “an aura of respect” for the twins because of their notoriety in the drug business. Another aura they presented was one that screamed, “don’t mess with us.”  People also said that Pat would eat handfuls of one pound raw hamburgers – not cooked – raw. 

 The twins both enjoyed the attention and respect that they were getting; regardless if the attention came from their criminal behavior and their “respect” was actually fear.

Now, after a while, it became known that the people who repeatedly visited the brothers’ house would disappear. Wouldn’t that get you to stop going – if you knew that if you went to this house you might disappear? Meaning something bad might happen to you.

This is what happened to a young lady named Gwen Duggar. Gwen Dugger was 24 years old at the time of her going missing. On a night in May of 1986, she went over to the twins house with her brother. He’d gone over so that the brothers could work on his car. After watching them work on the car, her and her brother decided to stay behind and chill with the twins. Then, as it got late, and her brother was ready to leave, she informed him that she would stay behind and that she would be all right with the twins. Pat also told her brother that he would take her home later.  

Gwen’s family began a search for her and, knowing that the last place she had been was the twin’s house, they started there. They questioned them about Gwen and they were like “I don’t know.” They said that they didn’t know anything, didn’t know she was coming over, and matter of fact, they hadn’t heard from her. Gwen’s relatives wouldn’t give up that easily though. Her uncle (I just made that part up – I don’t know who actually did this other than it was a relative – but this is a story so bear with me) So yea her uncle went and confronted Pete. You know Pete. The one who stabbed up his roommates because the breeze blew warm that day and he couldn’t take it. Yea, that Pete. So he confronted crazy Pete about his niece’s whereabouts. Pete became very defensive and said something like, “I didn’t kill nobody. I’ve killed before. Stay away from me. I could do it again but I didn’t have anything to do with her.” Now me, I would have been like “ok so sorry to bother you. I don’t know why I even came over here. You know what! Gwen’s probably at home baking cookies sooooo yea, I’ll let myself out.” Then I’m just going straight to the police. They are paid and trained to deal with this. I’m not.

Now you know the gossip started to fly in the town. Some people heard rumors about what supposedly happened with the twins and Gwen, but, even though it was rumors, they were still too scared of the brothers to even share them with others. Even their close friends – and I use that term loosely – were so scared of them that, even though they might hold the most information into the whereabouts of the missing people, they were too scared to tell anyone anything. 

Detective Robert Hitchcock, the detective who took over the case, would usually be found searching the forests, the rural surrounding, and anywhere he could think of in search of Gwen’s body – in search of anything to get a hint of where she was – but he never found anything. A lot of people say that they think he might have found something, but even he was scared of the twins so he never said anything. The case dragged on, for months, without so much as a lead.

Ronnie Gaines from Pulaski worked at the same rubber plant that Pat worked at. Everyone liked Ronnie. He was friendly, the life of the party, and no one had anything bad to say about him. He was affectionately known, by his co-workers- as “Hippie” On a night in October, 1986, Ronnie was at the twin’s house playing cards and partying. All of a sudden, Pat accused Ronnie of stealing his wallet. Ronnie had no idea what he was talking about, and said so. Next thing you know, no one heard from Hippie again. Ironically, around this same time, his home was found burned to ashes. 

Investigations into Ronnie’s disappearance went underway and, just like Gwen, they found no evidence. There were suspicions. There were rumors. There was no hard evidence. 

The state fire marshal, of course, suspected arson and Pat was taken in for questioning.

As a true badass, he brought his lawyer with him. Of course this made authorities raise their eyebrows. Through his lawyer, he said he had an alibi. This alibi came in the form of his girlfriend Terry Lynn Clark. I’m surprised he had a girlfriend! Someone wanted to be with that crazy person! The police said ok no problem and they set up an interview with Terry Lynn for Nov. 18, 1986. Cool! But…two days before the interview she was mysteriously found dead at the twin’s house. The brothers are the ones who called the police and reported that she’d died. They believed she died either from an overdose of in her sleep while she was in bed with Pete, either in her sleep or of an overdose. Pat told police that he and Terry Lynn had gone out of town on the night that Ronnie disappeared, but interestingly enough, Terry Lynn wasn’t around to confirm or deny his statement.

All of these cases went cold with no leads, no evidence, and no new information.

What do you think of this?

Three years later, a new investigator took over the case. In 1989, Detective Michael Chapman came across a possible witness to one of the cases. The witness was Pat’s ex-wife, Denise. At the time that they found her, she was dating a law enforcement officer. 

Denise told police that she would talk IF they granted her immunity. The police agreed (I wonder if her new boyfriend had anything to do with that – but then again they do grant immunity to some people because they want the criminals more than putting the witness in jail) Anyway she sang like a bird and the things she had to say even shocked investigators who had already seen it all.

“Brutality is not something that’s strange to me, but these two were beasts”

Denise told investigators that on the last night Gwen was seen, she was fed pills all night by Pat, Pete, and two other men. Later, Denise walked into the bedroom and witnessed Pat raping a semi-counsious Gwen. Denise was pissed. She slapped Gwen to try and wake her up and yelled at Pat. He grabbed an axe handle and hit Gwen as hard as he could on her head. The first time he hit her, she just lost her balance, but the second time he hit her, she fell. Pete then came into the room with a .22 and shot Gwen in the head two times. The twins then burned her body for three nights in their backyard, they then put her body in a 55 gallon drum and burned it more until only ashes were left. They then dumped them in a creek near Pat’s rented farmhouse in Elkton. Pete actually kept the cases of the bullets he’d used and whenever he would get around people he knew, he would rattle the empty cartridges and threaten them of the same fate if they “didn’t act right.”

Now when it came to Hippie, Deneise said he came over to play cards, eat pizza dnd drink beer. Like we said, Pat accused him of stealing his wallet and when Hippie said he didn’t do it, Pat picked up a small rocking chair and bashed him in the head until all that was left of the wooden chair was splinters. Pat then called Pete and the two of them put Hippie in their bathtub and cut up his body into tiny pieces. They took those pieces and spread them across their farm land and went to set Hippies house on fire. 

Finally, what happened to Terry Lynn. Deniese said she watched as Pete gave her a powerful barbiturate secobarbital while she sat on a beanbag chair. What’s a barbiturate secobarbital? According to medlineplus.gov, “Secobarbital is used on a short-term basis to treat insomnia (difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep). It is also used to relieve anxiety before surgery. Secobarbital is in a class of medications called barbiturates. It works by slowing activity in the brain.” This was the cause of her overdose.

With Deniese’s statement, investigators searched the farmhouse and land for forensic evidence. They found enough to be able to bring the twins in and charge them with three murders. 

The Bondurant Farm House and land

The twins were brought to trial for these charges and they plead – what? That’s right, not guilty. The trial only lasted a couple of weeks and most of the verdict was based on Deniese’s testimony as the key witness. 

Pat was convicted of first degree murder and Pete was convicted of helping his brother dismember and burn the victim’s body.

They were also charged with arson for burning down Hippie’s home.

The twins also received second degree murder because there were only charred remains and no body.

So basically:

Both of the brothers were convited in the murder of Gwen Dugger. Pat was convicted of killing Ronnie “Hippie” Gains, even though this twin was already serving life in prison. Pete was convicted of Terry Lynn Clark’s murder and of the arson of Hippie’s house. 

On Dec 26, 2016, after only 25 years in prison, Pete Bondurant was released. Upon completing his sentence, Pete told the parole board that he was “a changed man.”

Upon his release, Pete opened a Facebook account and posted a picture of him smiling in his familiar flannel shirt and overalls. (Go to our Facebook Group to see the photo: www.facebook.com/group/landmfanpage)

Pat Boundurant  is still in prison and is expected to be released in 2070.

So Pat is still alive, Pete is still alive, and Hippie, Terry Lynn, and Gwen are all dead.

And that’s the story of Pete Bondurant and Pat Bondurant.

So what do you all think of this story? Do you think Pete was released too early? Would you have continued going to that mansion with all the rumors behind it? Let us know in the comments below.

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