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CBS Atlanta
An elderly man found dead in his home earlier this week was beheaded, officials in a small central Georgia town said as authorities on Thursday sought help from the FBI in searching for his wife, whom they fear was abducted.

[.....]

The man had been decapitated, county coroner Gary McElhenney told WMAZ-TV. Authorities said they believe the attack happened sometime between Friday and Sunday.

WSB-TV reports a law enforcement source said Russell Dermond's head was not located at the crime scene.


Sheriff Sills said he doesn't believe the attack was random, partly because there was no evidence of forced entry or a struggle.


Sills said Shirley Dermond's wallet, cellphone, purse and car were all left behind, making it difficult to track her whereabouts.

[....]

The community is guarded by a gate and security officers, and Sills said authorities are investigating whether the attacker may have approached the couple's home by boat.

"This is a huge lake, it spans four counties and entry could've been made by the lake," Sills said.

Surveillance cameras in the community were not working, Sills told The Telegraph.

Crews have searched part of the lake with sonar devices but haven't found anything, the sheriff said.

"This absolutely makes no sense at all," the couple's son, Bradley Dermond, told WMAZ. "We're still hoping that our mother is OK."

Shirley Dermond is described as 5 feet 2 inches tall and 148 pounds. She has gray hair and blue eyes. She is not considered a suspect in her husband's death, Sills said.

"[....]

The FBI is providing assistance to Putnam County authorities, FBI Special Agent Steve Emmett told The Associated Press on Thursday morning. Emmett said further questions should be directed to local law enforcement officials.

An autopsy on Russell Dermond's body was being done Thursday at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's headquarters, GBI spokeswoman Sherry Lang told the AP.

"[...]
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/elderly-ga-man-beheaded-wife-still-missing-report-says/
 
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She's not a suspect? I wonder what evidence they have of a third party being present?
 
@Abroad
Shirley Dermond is described as 5 feet 2 inches tall and 148 pounds. She has gray hair and blue eyes. She is not considered a suspect in her husband's death, Sills said.
I'd take a wild guess that they don't think it's her because of her size and the mode of murder.. she'd have had to use something pretty big/sturdy/power tool? to cut through his bones.. she's slight.. and I'm sure the heaviest things she lifts at her age are probably the dinner dishes or laundry. Also she didn't take any of her stuff? If she'd done it, sure she might have panicked, but it wouldn't have been a reason to leave her purse/cash/cell and all belongings behind if she fled.
 
Desperate search on for 87-year-old Georgia woman after husband found beheaded in lakeside home: police
Russell Dermond, 88, was found headless in the garage of his upscale, lakeside home outside Eatonton, Ga., about 75 miles southeast of Atlanta. His wife of nearly seven decades, Shirley Dermond, is missing and authorities are concerned for her safety after finding the gruesome scene.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/cri...l-home-police-article-1.1785071#ixzz31APSX5Ao
 
Wow how insane! To take the head of the husband was probably a way the killer intimidated and scared the wife in to doing what he wanted. That's my opinion. Why else would the killer have taken the head?? Anyone have a guess? I agree that the killer probably approached the residence by boat.
 
Weird, I can't find any criminal activity (unlike our 90 yr old Mexican drug runner...). This is just a sad story all around...
 
7 decades together?! The hubby and I would b around 100 yrs old by then.
And a gated community?!
This is totally an inside job. But Good Lord, decapitation? Was that necessary? Can't wait for all the details on this one....
 
Cathy Christian and her family enjoy camping along the shores of Lake Oconee. Now, they do so with a bit of trepidation.

Christian knows not far from their campsite someone killed 88-year-old Russell
Dermond and kidnapped his wife 87-year old Shirley.
[...]
"It's weird to know that somebody could be out there in the lake dead," said Christian.
[...]
The FBI is now offering a $20,000 reward for information that leads to Shirley Dermond and her husband's killer.

"I hope somebody comes forward," Christian said.

People who live and work in the Reynolds Plantation and Lake Oconee Community
have varied opinions about whether or not the reward will help.

"I was thinking it might not help in this community because I don't
believe people have any information to give," said one resident.

"I don't think it will help, the $20,000. I just don't think that's enough
money," said Lynn Copeland. It could be somebody who has money."

http://www.cbs46.com/story/25518727...lake-oconee-murder-kidnapping-case?hpt=ju_bn1
 
Who takes the head? Never mind that he was beheaded, that's creepy enough, but to keep the head. Why?
 
Update: Missing wife of decapitated man found dead in river

The body of an 87-year-old Georgia woman who
disappeared two weeks ago after her husband was found decapitated in
their home has been discovered in the state’s Oconee River, a close
family friend told CNN on Friday.

Investigators believe Shirley Dermond was taken from her home near
Lake Oconee after her husband, 88-year-old Russell Dermond, was
decapitated sometime between May 2 and May 4.

“The whole family are in shock with the news of Shirley’s body being
found,” said the Rev. David Key of Lake Oconee Community Church.

“We haven’t even had a funeral for Russell because their kids wanted
to wait. Now that we know about Shirley, we will start planning the
funeral services for both.”
[....]
http://kfor.com/2014/05/08/cops-very-bizarre-case-elderly-man-decapitated-wife-and-head-missing/
 
Article from December 9, 2014...

Investigators Comb Phone Records in Murders of Russell, Shirley Dermond

Seven months have passed since Russell Dermond was beheaded at his Lake Oconee home and his wife, Shirley, was killed and her body dumped in the lake.

Putnam County investigators have worked continuously since then to find suspects in the grisly slayings, that happened sometime over the weekend of May 2. Now, the county sheriff tells WSB TV his office is wading through a new round of evidence: phone records.

Sheriff Howard Sills told the TV station that his office has received tens of thousands of pages worth of phone records from the six months before the Dermonds were murdered. Investigators are also combing through similar phone records to anyone associated with the slain couple.

The Gwinnett County district attorney’s office is using special software to help analyze the data in hopes that the logs will uncover clues.

Russell Dermond, 88, was beheaded in his home on Lake Oconee and his body was found on May 6 when friends went to the couple’s home. His head has not been recovered.

Shirley Dermond, 87, was missing at the time. Her body was found two weeks later, in Lake Oconee, Patch earlier reported. She had suffered blunt force trauma to the head and was dead before her body was dumped into the lake.

Investigators still have no suspects, and no motive, in the double murder.

Russell Dermond had worked for clockmaking companies until the late 1980s, when he ran a chain of Atlanta-area Hardee’s restaurants, WSB reports. About 15 years ago, the couple moved to Lake Oconee to enjoy life in a golf-course community in a waterfront home.

Sills previousy told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he believes the Dermonds were “at least minimally acquainted with whoever did this. That’s an assumption, coupled with some physical evidence,” he said.

The attackers didn’t use force to enter the couple’s lakeside home. Investigators said Shirley Dermond’s wallet, cellphone, purse and car were all left behind.

A $55,000 reward is being offered to help solve the case, but has not yet generated any suspect.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the FBI at 404-679-9000 or the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office at 706-485-8557.

See also:

Police: Husband Beheaded, Wife May Have Been Kidnapped

Vigil Set for Beheaded Man, Kidnapped Wife

Shirley Dermond’s Body Found in Lake; Hunt Continues for Suspect in Husband’s Beheading

$30,000 Reward for Leads to Killer of Russell and Shirley Dermond

Cold-Case Team Studies Murders of Russell and Shirley Dermond

Elderly couple killed, husband beheaded; Florida detectives now helping in Georgia case
 
I believe they will solve this eventually. I hope sooner than later. Follow the money. Someone had access to a boat also to access property from water...to get in and to get out and dispose of the wife's body. Someone knows something.
 
Wow, looking into 10,000 phone records over a 6 month period. They're as desperate as can be, clearly.

I don't think they'll ever solve this one.
 
Wow, looking into 10,000 phone records over a 6 month period. They're as desperate as can be, clearly.

I don't think they'll ever solve this one.

Does it occur to anybody else that this is a heck of a lot of pages of phone records for just six months? Were these people ever off the blower? I bet my phone records for the last six months are a dozen pages, tops!

And exactly because there are so many pages, I think they might just find something they can use. Glad I'm not the one having to trawl through it all, though.
 
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Article from January 30, 2015...

Probe of elderly Ga. couple's murder slow-going

EATONTON, Ga. - Investigators say they plan to re-interview anyone who had close contact with an elderly Georgia couple who was brutally murdered last spring, including their family members, reports CBS Atlanta.

Concerned friends found the headless body of 88-year-old Russell Dermond in May of last year in the garage of his home on Lake Oconee. His wife, 87-year-old Shirley Dermond, was originally thought to have been abducted until her body was found a few weeks later in the lake. Police say she had been beaten to death.

Russell Dermond's head still has not been found and no arrests have been made. However, Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills has said he thinks the Dermonds likely knew the person or people who attacked them.

Sheriff Sills told CBS Atlanta this week that authorities have determined Russell Dermond was decapitated post-mortem.

"Based on the incision, it appears to me and both the pathologists that it was a knife," he said, referring to the method in which the 88-year-old was decapitated.

The sheriff said Shirely Dermond was likely killed with either one or two blows.

Sills went on to say that the last six months "haven't been very productive at all" when it comes to the investigation into the couple's murders.

He said his department plans to re-interview the anyone who worked for the slain couple and the couple's family members.

The Dermonds had three sons and a daughter. One of their sons died during a drug transaction years ago, according to the station. The deceased son reportedly has a daughter.

"We're trying to find somebody who would have some knowledge of a person or persons who would have some animosity towards them," said Sills.

The Dermonds' home, which is in a gated community, was once valued at more than $1 million and is now listed for sale at $769,000, according to the station.

A reward for information leading to a conviction in the case is up to $60,000. Anyone with information on the murders is asked to call the Putnam County Sheriff's Department at 706-485-8557.
 
it's money. I would block and money and sales if I were the authorities until I probed differently. They either had something someone wants or had something [like money owed to them] this wasn't random.
 
The Dermonds had three sons and a daughter. One of their sons died during a drug transaction years ago,
This is just my opinion, if one son was involved with drugs i would bet there is another and it was probably one of their children imo, probably got tired of waiting for them to die and wanted whatever was coming to them moneywise. I cant wait to see who did it, I love it when I get to see updates on this case.
 
Article from February 19, 2015...

Sheriff: Wife in Lake Oconee double murder was weighted down with cement blocks


The Putnam County sheriff is releasing new information about what could a big clue in the murder of a couple killed at their Lake Oconee home.

The murders of Shirley and Russell Dermond last year shocked the community.

Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne confirmed with Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills that Shirley Dermond was weighted down to the floor of Lake Oconee with two cement blocks soon after her murder the weekend of May 2, 2014.

Sills told Winne the 87-year-old murder victim's remains were tied to the blocks, but the killer or killers must not have counted on the effect of decomposing gases beneath the skin which develop buoyancy.

The sheriff says that development has yielded some of the most potentially significant evidence in the case, once a suspect is developed.

“(There’s) a lot more to work with when you have the body,” said FBI Special Agent Steve Emmett. “Whatever Putnam feels that they need from the FBI, we will be there for them.”

Emmett suggests physical evidence isn't the only thing yielded in such situations.

“From a behavioral analysis standpoint, it gives our profilers an insight by the way the body was found, the way it was disposed of as well,” Emmett said.

Sills told Winne he's checked many suppliers for the blocks, but concluded the blocks are “as common as ketchup.”

He says the blocks are the main reason he has said repeatedly that the killer or killers never intended for her body to be found, unlike the remains of her husband, Russell Dermond, who was found decapitated in the garage of their home.

See also:

Sheriff Hints at New Evidence in Beheading Murder Case

Who Murdered Russell and Shirley Dermond?



 
Synopsis from May 5th, so far:
n May 6, 2014, friends found the decapitated body of their neighbor, 88-year-old Russell Dermond, in the garage of his home in a gated, secured community on Lake Oconee near Eatonton, Georgia. His 87-year-old wife Shirley was missing and assumed abducted.

With the help of the FBI, local authorities began searching for Shirley Dermond, whose purse and cellphone were left in the house. Police said there were no sign of forced entry or signs of a struggle in the home.

No ransom note was found.

Here are the latest developments in the Lake Oconee Murders case:

Person of Interest Questioned
May 6, 2015 - One year after the gruesome murders of an elderly couple at Reynolds Plantation near Eatonton, Georgia a person has been identified as a person of interest in the case. The Putnam County Sheriff said the unnamed person came to his attention following a previous interview during the investigation into the deaths of Russell and Shirley Dermond.

"Some time ago in this investigation, a person was interviewed that was not absolutely truthful to us. Anytime somebody lies to you, that causes you to be very interested in them," Sheriff Howard Sills told reporters.

Stills said detectives do not have enough information to call the person a suspect in the case and they have not yet been able to determine a motive for the murders.

Investigators are still pursuing other lines of inquiry, Stills said, and the case is on his mind every day.

"They're still out there and by God, they're capable of doing anything," Sills said.

Body Floats to the Surface
June 11, 2014 - The search for Mrs. Dermond ended about two weeks after it began when a fisherman found her body May 16 in Lake Oconee about five miles away from their lakeside home. An autopsy revealed that she died of blunt force trauma to the head and was dead before she was put into the water.

Russell Dermond's autopsy revealed that he was dead before he was beheaded. Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills said his investigation found that the Dermonds had no known enemies, they had no financial trouble or any questionable financial dealings.

The Dermond's owned several fast-food franchises before they retired about 20 years ago and moved from Atlanta to their $1 million home overlooking Lake Oconee. The couple had been married 68 years.

Most Baffling Case
The murders took place inside the Great Waters Reynolds Plantation, an exclusive, gated community that is patrolled by private security guards where "crime just doesn't happen," Sills said.

"Quite candidly, this is the most baffling case we've ever worked on," Sheriff Sills said during a press conference. "This is not the work of some drug-crazed individuals, and this is not some professional assassin."

$30,000 Reward Offered
To help generate leads for his investigators, Sheriff Sills offered a $30,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case. He said his detectives need the public's help to find new information and new leads.

But, the investigation has turned up some evidence, he said.

Plenty of Forensic Evidence
"This is a very difficult case, but that doesn't mean we don't have forensic evidence. We're running down leads today," said Sills. "We've got fingerprints, we've got hairs, we've got fibers, we've got all matter offorensic evidence that we've collected from the house."

Sills said he and the FBI profilers believe that the crime was committed by two people. He also believes that the Dermonds knew their killers or at least minimally acquainted with them.

"That's an assumption, coupled with some physical evidence," Sills said.

Killers Approached in a Boat?
Because Mrs. Dermond's body floated to the surface about five miles away from their home, Sills believes the killers approached the house from the lake and took her body with them in their boat when they left.

Sills believes taking Mrs. Dermond's body away from the scene was done to distract investigators into believing that either she was responsible for Russell Dermond's death or that she had been abducted and was missing.

They never intended for her body to float to the surface and be found, Sills said, "I think it was a matter just to distract us, to concentrate our attention towards the whereabouts of Mrs. Dermond; whether we suspected her to be a suspect or we suspected that she had been abducted."

Still Looking for Evidence
Sills also said the investigation revealed that Russell and Shirley Dermond were not killed with the same weapon, also indicating more than one killer.

"I don't believe they were killed with the same weapon, no," said Sills. "I won't elaborate on what the murder weapons were."

Sills said investigators were going to explore the bottom of the lake for more evidence. Mr. Dermond's head has not yet been found.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Putnam County Sheriff's Office tip line at 706-485-8557.

http://crime.about.com/od/current/fl/The-Lake-Oconee-Murders.htm


Did they ever find Mr. Dermond's head, or did I just miss it?
 
Elderly couple killed, husband beheaded; Florida detectives now helping in Georgia case
The FBI and some Georgia sheriff's investigators have helped in the probe, poring over the case file.

Sills recently called on the expertise of two detectives from the Jacksonville, Florida, sheriff's office's cold-case squad. Sills roomed with Jacksonville Sheriff John H. Rutherford when the two attended the FBI Academy.

The Florida detectives spent a day and a half in Eatonton examining crime-scene photographs and other materials, Sills said.

From the beginning of the investigation, authorities acknowledged that cracking the case might prove difficult. Read more HERE.
 
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