Who Murdered Pamela Mitchell Hoy?

On July 25, 1990, 41-year-old Pamela Mitchell Hoy had dinner with her husband Fred Hoy at a Burlington restaurant, and then went home and packed her gray Dodge van with her clothes and grooming tables, exercise runs, and crates. Pam raised and showed Italian greyhounds and was preparing for a trip that would take her to South Carolina the next day to a competition. She had plans to take her 11-year-old daughter on that trip. She went back inside the house to give her oldest daughter a magazine before leaving. She was expected at her parents’ home later that evening around 10:30 p.m., but never arrived.

Pam Hoy grew up in the Greensboro area and graduated from Grimsley Senior High School. She was the only daughter in a family of five sons and her parents said she doted on her brothers and loved being a big sister, babysitting them when they were young and then later, driving them all around to their various activities. She was outgoing and funny, an avid Girl Scout, volleyball and softball player, and rescuer of stray animals. After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a B.S. degree in health and physical education, Pam took a job after graduation with the Greensboro Veterinary Hospital. She met Frederick Martin Hoy, or Fred, when they ran into one another on the campus of UNC-Greensboro. He was originally from Maine and attended Elon College, where he received a B.A. degree in education. At the time they were married, he was pursuing a master’s degree and working at Burlington City Schools. They married in June of 1971 and had two children together.

The Hoys Separate

In 1990, after being together for 19 years, the couple had decided to separate and she moved in with her parents in Greensboro temporarily. Pam was still employed with the Greensboro Veterinary Hospital. Fred Hoy told investigators and the local media that the two were still on good terms and talked every day. When she went missing everyone in her life was confused, from her family to her employer. It was completely out of character for her, and she loved traveling to the dog shows. The Alamance Kennel Club promptly put together a $10,000 reward for information leading to Pam’s safe return.

Her van was very recognizable because it had a wire dog cage strapped to the front and had a vanity plate that read “AHOY.” Police in the area received calls from people claiming to see the van in South Carolina, Virginia, the coast of North Carolina, and the Blue Ridge Parkway.

One Mystery Solved, But Questions Remain

A week later, on a Sunday, authorities found the van backed into a parking space at the back of a Days in Motel on Randleman Road in Greensboro, but there was no sign of Pam. It was clear the van hadn’t been to any of the places the tipsters believed they saw it. Inside the van police found Pam’s purse and her clothes and gear just as she had packed them.

Five months later, a woman and her daughter discovered the remains of Pam Hoy wrapped in a pink comforter off Mt. Hope Church Road in Guilford County. What’s interesting is that Pam’s family had hired a few different psychics to aid in their search and they kept bringing up sites that ended up being near Mt. Hope Church Road. Pam was also found about 500 yards away from the body of another woman named Kathy Clark Fogleman. Twenty-eight-year-old Kathy was from Burlington and was discovered nude. An autopsy revealed she had been killed when a vehicle drove over her chest, but the medical examiner couldn’t pinpoint Pam’s cause of death right away. He did say it appeared Pam had died at a different location before being left on Mt. Hope Church Road.

Police quickly zeroed in on a suspect in Kathy Fogleman’s murder. They found he was a taxi driver for the Red Bird cab company in Burlington, and had picked Kathy up shortly after 11 p.m. on November 3, 1990 to take her to the Best Western Cocktail lounge. They issued a warrant for Keith Allen Brown’s arrest and soon learned he had fled the area via the Durham bus station. He was eventually arrested and confessed to the murder, but said he had nothing to do with Pam’s death. Police didn’t think he had any reason to lie about that, so he was ruled out in the Pamela Hoy case.

An article that was published in the Greensboro News and Record on September 26, 1998 revealed a lot more information about the relationship between Pamela Hoy and her husband Fred. They moved to Alamance, a small village on the outskirts of Burlington in 1982. Fred was elected the mayor. While they enjoyed many happy years together taking trips on their motorcycle and attending NASCAR races, and Pam established herself in the world of champion dogs, things weren’t always what they appeared. Her trips with her dogs caused marital strife, according to quotes Fred shared in the article. Pam’s father, Bill Mitchell, said Fred had been abusive towards Pam, and colleagues had seen her with bruises occasionally. Fred denied the abuse and there were no records of 911 calls from the Hoy residence.

Fred Hoy’s Alibi

Police said they couldn’t confirm Fred Hoy had been at home in his garage from 10:30 p.m., when Pam supposedly left in her van, to 11:45, when Pam’s mother called him to ask if he’d seen her daughter. They reasoned he could have murdered Pam and driven her to the location where she was later found and left her van at the Days Inn in the time period, but he would have needed an accomplice.

According to others in Alamance who knew and worked with Fred, they didn’t believe he was involved. He was re-elected as mayor. He stopped cooperating with police and focused on raising their daughters. In 1998, a new investigator ordered scientific tests on the maggots found with the dirty quilt Pam’s body had been wrapped in, hoping they could tell whether Pam had been poisoned or drugged before her death. I didn’t find any information on whether or not those tests turned anything up. But in 2006, a news report on WFMY, they revealed information found in search warrants served on the home of Fred Hoy. They seized paperwork related to insurance and attorneys, and other things they said showed Fred had motive of financial gain in the event of his wife’s death.

Suspicions Linger

Authorities were suspicious that Fred had doubled a life insurance policy on Pam three years before her death, taking it from $50,000 to $100,000. They took items out of his garage, including rope, debris, a paint sample, and a partial bag of absorbent to see if it matched something found at the crime scene. They named Fred’s live-in girlfriend in the warrant, and said they believed he had given her earrings and a necklace belonging to Pam and then reported them lost or stolen. Pam’s family said she believed Fred was running an illegal chop shop out of his garage and had threatened to go to the authorities about it before she died.

Despite this information, it appears the Alamance and Guilford County District Attorney’s Office has never moved forward in indicting Fred Hoy in the murder of his wife Pam. He and his daughters have maintained they believe Keith Allen Brown, who murdered Kathy Fogleman, is also responsible for the death of Pamela Hoy.  

If you have information about this case, call the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department (336) 641-3694 or the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation at 800-334-3000.

This case appeared in Episode 102 of the Missing in the Carolinas podcast.