SILAS Duane Boston was charged with murdering British couple Chris Farmer and Peta Frampton in 1978.
Here’s everything we know about the murderer as well the victim’s tragic deaths — which are dramatised in the new series Dead in the Water.
Who was Salis Duane Boston?
Silas Duane Boston was a former resident of Sacramento, California.
In 1986, he shot his wife, Mary Lou, point-blank in the head after she said she wanted a divorce and hoped to take their two sons away.
Ten years after his wife’s murder, Boston fled rape charges in California, moving himself and his boys, Vincent and Russell, to Belize to start a new life.
It was here where Boston committed his next heinous crime, this time in front of his two sons.
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On December 16, 2016, he was arrested from a Paradise convalescent home for the murders of Chris Farmer and Peta Frampton after a decades-long investigation.
He was then charged with the English couple’s killings, whose bodies were found by fishermen about 200 yards off the coast at Punta de Manabique, Guatemala, on July 8, 1978.
“It was never a second thought that dad would kill me if I got in his way – he’d threatened to many times.”
Boston’s son Vince
The victims had been tortured, tied to heavy engine parts, and thrown into the sea.
Why did Salis Duane Boston kill Chris Farmer and Peta Frampton?
Chris Farmer and Peta Frampton, both from Manchester, England, were fresh university graduates who had decided to take a year off to travel.
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The couple travelled to Australia before embarking on their journey to America.
They informed their parents via letter that they had encountered Boston while in Belize and had chartered his boat to transport them to Mexico.
In 1978, Boston welcomed Frampton and Farmer on board his boat for a two-week sailing experience.
However, the situation quickly escalated when Boston had a falling out with the couple, resulting in him bludgeoning them.
He then shackled their bodies to engine parts before throwing them overboard to their deaths.
Their bodies were eventually discovered off the coast of Guatemala, before being quietly buried.
The murders are dramatised in the new Prime Video series Dead In The Water, where Boston’s son Vince reveals how his dad pressured him into keeping silent about his horrific act.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun, Vince says: “He told us that snitches were the worst thing a man could be, and that if we ever said anything to anyone about what we’d seen, or if the authorities found out, we’d be next to die.
“I knew he had killed my mother in cold blood, so I really feared him and, for a long time, said nothing.”
“It was never a second thought that dad would kill me if I got in his way – he’d threatened to many times,” he added.
Boston’s mother told her grandson: “I don’t want to lie to you kids. There is no Santa Claus and your mother is never coming back.
“Your dad killed her because he didn’t want to lose you kids.
A 38-YEAR-OLD COLD CASE:
June 29, 1978: Peta Frampton sent a letter to her parents saying they had met Boston and were chartering his boat to Mexico. She said his two sons were also on board.
June and July 1978: Sometime after the letter was sent, Boston murdered Frampton and Farmer.
July 8, 1978: The bodies of the couple were found off the coast of Guatemala.
It became a cold case until it was relaunched thanks to an investigation into the 1968 disappearance of Boston’s former wife, Mary Lou Boston.
December 1, 2016: Boston is arrested over Farmer and Frampton’s deaths.
December 8, 2016: He was charged with their murders.
When can you watch Dead in the water on Amazon?
Dead in the Water was based on the book of the same name by Penny Farmer.
The true crime programme premiered on February 28, 2024
You can watch it on Amazon Prime Video.
