The Story of Freeda Bolt

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

The body of Freeda Bolt, 18, of near Willis, Floyd County, who disappeared last Thursday night, was found at ten o’clock last night on Bent Mountain, eighteen miles south of Roanoke.

Discovery of the body was made by Sheriff Hilton, of Floyd, and two deputies who, acting on the reported statements of Buren Harmon, of Floyd county, who has been held since the girl’s disappearance, that the body would be found beneath several logs, about thirty yards from the highway, where the highway makes a bend on the mountain.

DISCOVERED BODY.
Sheriff Hilton discovered the body about ten o’clock, and communicated with Roanoke county officers, who departed at eleven o’clock for the scene.

The body, fully clothed, was found in a secluded spot in the woods, and was in a fair state of preservation, Dr. G. A. L. Kolmer, Roanoke county coroner, said at 1:30 o’clock this morning, in a telephonic communication.

A heavy cord had been tied tightly around the victim’s neck, but whether or not this had been used for the purpose of strangulation or to drag the body from the road to its hiding place, Dr. Kolmer and Deputy Sheriff J. L. Richardson were unable to say. Only a cursory examination was made this morning before the body was removed to the home of J. D. Willett, half a mile from the scene.

REMOVE BODY TO SALEM.
Arrangements were being made to remove the body to Salem, where an autopsy will be held today, Dr. Kolmer said. Whether or not Harmon will be turned over to Roanoke county authorities has not been determined, Deputy Sheriff Richardson said, since it has not been established just where the young girl met her death.

The girl, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. K. Bolt, who reside about seven mile from Willis, had been boarding in Willis, while attending school. Telling friends she was going to be married, she left her boarding house last Thursday night and, according to her father’s report to police here, she was later seen in company with Harmon, apparently headed toward Roanoke.

Young Freda Bolt

SEEN IN FLOYD FRIDAY.
Harmon was seen in Floyd Friday morning, the father stated, but denied having seen the girl on the previous night. He admitted, it was said, that he had an appointment with her that night, but contended that the meeting never took place.

Since that time, Mr. Bolt had asked the aid of police in the principal cities of the State in helping to locate his daughter. It was at first thought that she probably had come to Roanoke, since Harmon had friends here. Search, however, was extended to Richmond and other cities.

Deputy Sheriff J. L. Richardson, accompanied by Dr. G. A. L. Kolmer, county coroner, and R. T. Hubard, commonwealth’s attorney, of Salem, went to the scene, arriving there shortly after midnight.

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“Freeda Bolt was my step-aunt, a sister to Truman Bolt Sr., my step-father,” says writer Doug Thompson over at the Blue Ridge Muse. ” My mother, Ethel McPeak Thompson, married him eight years after my father died in an industrial accident in Tampa, Florida, in 1949.

“As a child, I knew the story of Freeda Bolt and the family anger at Buren Harman, the man who killed her.  I also knew it wasn’t something we discussed.  Her death brought calls that he be lynched.  A Roanoke County judge sent him to prison for life but the governor of Virginia pardoned him 18 years later and some expected one or more of the Bolt brothers might take him out if he ever showed up in the Floyd County again.”

The Bolt brothers did not take Harman out; he died of natural causes in 1969.

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In another sad twist to this story, Freeda’s father Kyle Bolt was murdered three years after his daughter in a dispute with local merchant Harley Gardner. 

“The shooting took place at Gardner’s store, six miles south of Willis,” reported The Bee (Danville, VA) on October 18, 1932.

“Bolt, authorities were told, went to the store about 5 o’clock and asked for a settlement of his account. After a few words had been spoken by the two men, Gardner is alleged to have drawn a pistol and fired twice at Both, who ran to the road.

“Two more shots were fired through the window by Gardner, it was said, and this time Bolt was hit, death being instantaneous. Gardner thereupon walked to a room in the back of the store, picked up a shotgun, and fired the full charge into his own head, according to officers.

“Bolt is survived by his widow and eight children.”

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More articles on crime in Appalachia:

Did Mill man commit suicide or was he Murdered?(Opens in a new browser tab)

The Greenbrier Ghost(Opens in a new browser tab)

Double murder in Vinton County, part 2(Opens in a new browser tab)