Guilty verdict in yacht murder trial

yacht murder trial

San Francisco. A Man

described by his lawyer as “a boat thief, but not a murderer” has been convicted of killing a wealthy San Diego woman in 1974 on an isolated South Pacific island.

Jurors deliberated just two hours on June 13 before fin ding Buck Duane Walker, 47, guilty of the first-degree murder of Eleanor “Muff” Graham, of San Diego.

Mrs Graham, whose burned bones were discovered at Pal myra Atoll in 1981, had been on a cruise with her husband, Malcolm, in their yacht and disappeared after they stopped at the horseshoe-shaped island about 1600 km south of Hon olulu. No trace was found of Graham.

Walker “murdered Muff Gra ham to get the (Graham) sail

boat and its supplies. ” US attor ney Elliot Enoki told the jury, adding that Walker’s own boat, lola was leaking badly and carried dwindling provisions.

“The motive is so strong it about overwhelms the rest of the case,” he said.

Defence lawyer Earle Par tington vowed to appeal, saying he was surprised at the speed of the jury’s verdict and accusing US district judge Samuel King of “assisting the prosecution” with his ruling during the 11day trial.

The Grahams had sailed their 11-metre yacht Sea Wind around the world and lived on it all year, Enoki said, describing the couple’s last cruise and their landing in July 1974 inside the lagoon at Palmyra, an occasio nal port-of-call for yachts cruis ing the Pacific.