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 of
forensic 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.