At this time, the police reported that the three men were shot and killed with a shotgun.On the evening of July 9, 1988, twenty-two-year-old Airman First Class Kenneth Griffith, his twenty-three-year-old friend, Sgt. ![]() From this day onward, this made Frank Casteel guilty! Days after Larry Sneed removed a shotgun from Frank Casteel’s home, the bodies of Richard Mason, Kenneth Griffith and Earl Smock were found at a dump in the next county. He was a suspect in the murders, so the reports went. The police said they found blood at this location.Īs early as Monday night Frank Casteel was shown on the news along with clips of his property. The police were led to a place called The Gate where one man said he had heard shots from either The Gate or 300 yards north of The Gate. People had been coming forward to help in the search and give information to the police. Police feared something bad had happened because of the blood found on the ATVs. Also Hershall Green who testified in the first trial had also seen a plane flying over the area that day.īy the next day, Monday, the story spread in newspapers and on radio and television. ![]() It was told to the legal team that the reason for the three men going on this ride was because Mason had seen a plane fly over and drop something. ATVs identified as those used by Mason, Griffith, and Smock had been found in a trash dump off the side of the mountain on Roberts Mill Road. That night the disappearance of the three men led the local news. Even in the missing persons report the first report made in this case, states that they were going riding. All reports stated they were going riding not the blue hole, going riding. It had never been said until after Casteel’s arrest that these three men were going to the blue hole. On July 10, 1988, the family members of three men, Richard Mason, Kenneth Griffith and Earl Smock, reported the men as missing after they didn’t return as expected from riding three-wheelers the previous day. Signal Mountain was a favorite place to ride all-terrain vehicles (ATVs). After they left he walked down and joined his wife. He told them they couldn’t use the Blue Hole that day, and he talked with them for a while. His wife naturally wandered down the hillside toward the Blue Hole.Ī couple of boys approached Frank while he was finishing up the campsite preparations. Frank began setting up camp along the edge of power lines. The perfect spot for this outing was within walking distance to the Blue Hole. The second couple never came in that night. Frank’s brother in-law and his wife planned to join them (they were married in a double wedding years before). ![]() On July 9, 1988, Frank Casteel and his wife could think of no better way to celebrate their anniversary than by camping on their newly purchased property. For use of the land, his visitors would have to clean up after themselves, pick up other garbage, act as if this was a prized possession rather than a garbage pit. A police officer had advised Frank to keep track of the people who came and went on the property, so Frank Casteel started a list in a book now known as the “logbook”. He knew it might take a while for others to come to respect the land he’d dreamed of settling on all of his life, but Frank Casteel was determined to make his dream of owning this find a workable reality.Īfter Frank bought the property he believed he could find a way to live as he wanted and encourage uninvited visitors to care about preserving the land’s natural beauty. The Blue Hole attracted old and young alike who wanted to go swimming and camping at one of the most secluded parts of the mountain. Permitted by owner Carter Patten to walk the land before he made an offer to buy, Frank Casteel noted the build-up of discarded trash strewn about in an area the locals called the blue holeįrom the first, Frank knew there was no chance of an overnight change of the long held habits of people coming and going on the property. In early 1988, Frank Casteel and his wife surveyed an ideal piece of property for sale located on Signal Mountain near Chattanooga Tennessee.
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