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Thread: Russell Dermond (88) was beheaded; his wife, Shirley (87), abducted & killed

  1. #51
    What do you care? Boston Babe 73's Avatar
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    Sounds like they're starting to center on the Grandkids. But I don't think a photo of a cat in a jar and swords in Europe is anything to get excited about. I took pictures of the same kind of relics in Ireland. It doesn't mean I'm a sword freak. And the cat? If he had a history of watching crush films.... Then be concerned. Cat in a jar is just a silly cat photo that a lot of people would share on FB.

    This case baffles me. For some reason I still get a "Natural Born Killers" vibe from it. But the police say there is evidence against that theory. Also, I would think we would see similar crimes happening if that were the case. It's looking more and more like someone in the family either did it or hired someone to do it and tried to stage it to look cultish or crazy spree killerish.
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  2. #52
    Senior Member TupeloHoney's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Boston Babe 73 View Post
    Sounds like they're starting to center on the Grandkids. But I don't think a photo of a cat in a jar and swords in Europe is anything to get excited about. I took pictures of the same kind of relics in Ireland. It doesn't mean I'm a sword freak. And the cat? If he had a history of watching crush films.... Then be concerned. Cat in a jar is just a silly cat photo that a lot of people would share on FB.

    This case baffles me. For some reason I still get a "Natural Born Killers" vibe from it. But the police say there is evidence against that theory. Also, I would think we would see similar crimes happening if that were the case. It's looking more and more like someone in the family either did it or hired someone to do it and tried to stage it to look cultish or crazy spree killerish.

    What on earth makes you think they're focused on the grandkids? That article Star posted isn't from an actual news site. It's from one of those sites anyone can write for and say whatever stupid crap they want while pretending to be a news writer. I'm pretty sure she posted it because it's completely stupid, not because there is actual evidence that the grandson is a crazed killer.

    I did say that I think it will turn out to be either family or somebody they knew, but let's not start smearing the grandkids based on a load of crap.
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    I will out think the fucking pants off of you and you would thank me for helping you out of them.

  3. #53
    What do you care? Boston Babe 73's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by TupeloHoney View Post
    What on earth makes you think they're focused on the grandkids? That article Star posted isn't from an actual news site. It's from one of those sites anyone can write for and say whatever stupid crap they want while pretending to be a news writer. I'm pretty sure she posted it because it's completely stupid, not because there is actual evidence that the grandson is a crazed killer.

    I did say that I think it will turn out to be either family or somebody they knew, but let's not start smearing the grandkids based on a load of crap.
    I didn't realize it was some blogging article. That was my mistake. I thought it was an actual article. I also thought it was stupid which is why I said basing it on pictures from Europe and the cat in the jar was dumb. I didn't smear anyone. I thought it was a real article and that the police were starting to look at family.

    Exactly where did I smear the Grandson?
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    That is too pretty to be shoved up an ass.
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    You can take those Fleets and shove them up your ass



  4. #54
    Senior Member TupeloHoney's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Boston Babe 73 View Post
    I didn't realize it was some blogging article. That was my mistake. I thought it was an actual article. I also thought it was stupid which is why I said basing it on pictures from Europe and the cat in the jar was dumb. I didn't smear anyone. I thought it was a real article and that the police were starting to look at family.

    Exactly where did I smear the Grandson?
    I didn't say you smeared him. I said, "Let's not start smearing" him/them.
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    I will out think the fucking pants off of you and you would thank me for helping you out of them.

  5. #55
    What do you care? Boston Babe 73's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by TupeloHoney View Post
    I didn't say you smeared him. I said, "Let's not start smearing" him/them.
    Well I agree there. Even if it WAS the family (and that's a big if) it sounds like it would have been a planned out kind of thing. And I doubt they would leave it up to the Grandkids to pull it off.

    I have a hard time picturing the family being able to do it in such a gruesome manner. I think they would have hired someone. And really, the only reason why I would even question if the family was involved is because there haven't been any other murders or similar incidents since. I would think if it was some joy killer, that we would see other stuff happening.

    I still don't get the vibe that the family had anything to do with it. It just baffles me.
    Quote Originally Posted by Nic B View Post
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  6. #56
    Senior Member *crickets*'s Avatar
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    I read a plausible explanation for why the killer(s) cut the old guy's head off & took it with them-- to hide evidence. IF they shot him, the bullet in his head could be used to ID and trace the gun. That would make the whole thing a little less psycho-ish (if true.)

  7. #57
    Senior Member blighted star's Avatar
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    http://www.cbsnews.com/news/report-e...-sheriff-says/


    ATLANTA - The sheriff leading the investigation into the mysterious slayings of an elderly Georgia couple tells the Atlanta Journal-Constitution he believes the victims knew their killers and says he is certain the killers accessed the couple's property by water.

    Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills told the paper Tuesday that he is operating on the assumption that Shirley and Russell Dermond "were at least minimally acquainted with whoever did this."

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

    Friends found the headless body of 88-year-old Russell Dermond on May 6 in the garage of the couple's Lake Oconee home. Dermond's 87-year-old wife, Shirley, was nowhere to be found.

    Police have said the home, which is in a gated, exclusive community guarded by private security, showed no signs of a struggle or forced entry and no ransom note was left behind.

    It wasn't until 10 days later, on May 16, that two fishermen found Shirley's body in Lake Oconee, five to six miles from the couple's home. Officials have said she died of blunt force trauma to the head before she was submerged in the water.

    Russell Dermond's head has still not been found.

    Sheriff Sills told the paper Tuesday that both he and FBI profilers who have examined the case believe at least two people were involved in the crime -which is believed to have taken place May 2 or May 3.

    Sills said some video footage captured around that time in the area of the couple's home has been sent to the FBI for examination, according to the paper.

    The sheriff reportedly went on to say that no one has been ruled out as a suspect, other than some yard workers who have been interviewed and, in some cases, polygraphed.

    "This is not the work of some drug-crazed individuals, and this is not some professional assassin," Sills reportedly said.

    The couple's three grown children have not been eliminated as suspects, though Sills pointed out there is no evidence linking them to the murders, according to the paper.

    The sheriff has previously said there is nothing that indicates the couple had any financial trouble or enemies.

    The couple had a son who was reportedly killed in a drug deal gone wrong in 2000, but Sheriff Sills has said there is no evidence that the murders of Russell and Shirley Dermond are in any way linked to that.

    ? 2014 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

  8. #58
    Senior Member TupeloHoney's Avatar
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    I was thinking about this case a few weeks ago when my husband and I drove over Lake Oconee when we went to South Carolina. Decided to check for updates and found a brand new story. It's super long so I snipped it a bit:

    http://www.macon.com/2015/05/02/3726...igns.html?rh=1

    New details as mystery reigns in year-old Dermond lake murders

    (May 2, 2015) There was terror in her voice the morning the murder mystery came to light.

    She was on the phone, gasping, breathless in the 11 seconds it took someone to answer and say, "Putnam County 911."

    "Yes, uh, I have an emergency," the woman, 68, said. "I think I have somebody dead. ... Oh, my God. Oh, my God."

    Come Wednesday, a year will have passed since that emergency call, since the frantic woman's husband found the decapitated body of their 88-year-old friend, Russell J. "Russ" Dermond.

    Within hours of the May 6, 2014, discovery there in the Great Waters subdivision, a dozen miles northeast of downtown Eatonton, investigators concluded that Dermond's wife of 68 years had disappeared.

    The FBI was called in. A $45,000 reward was offered. Potential evidence was gathered. The couple's relatives and acquaintances were questioned, and then ... nothing.

    In the 12 months that followed, no reasons or explanations have emerged. Nor any suspects.

    But guesses abound about what befell the Dermonds: Why Russ was left lying in his home's two-car garage with his head cut off; why his wife, Shirley, 87, was beaten to death, her corpse sunk in Lake Oconee, only to surface a week and a half later.

    The neighbors who alerted the authorities about Russ' death live about a mile from the Dermond place. The neighbors had hosted a Kentucky Derby party the previous Saturday, May 3. The Dermonds had said they'd attend but never showed. So the neighbors, a few days later, went to check on them.

    The neighbors, the woman and her 75-year-old husband, were no doubt the first people in the Dermond home after a crime that has puzzled and frustrated investigators from the outset.

    Besides the headless body sprawled in the garage between the Dermonds' Lexus SUV and their Lincoln Town Car, little in the home was amiss. Their front door was unlocked.

    The neighbors who made the 911 call did so on the Dermonds' cordless phone. The husband who found Russ slain can be heard on the recorded line in the background searching the house in vain -- apparently for Shirley.

    "There's nothing back here," he said.

    Seconds later, at his wife's side, she asked, "Did you find both of them?"

    "No," the husband said.

    'A MAN'

    Unsolved murders and disappearances, by nature, generate their share of speculation.

    But when the worst happens in the seemingly best of places, folks cannot help but wonder why or how. Especially when someone was decapitated, the whereabouts of his head unknown. And when the crime scene, in all likelihood, was a $769,000 lake house.

    Among locals who didn?t even know the slain couple, an uneasiness set in. The notion of such an atrocity in an exclusive, golf course-ringed neighborhood struck at people's deepest fears: If it happened there, is anywhere safe?

    The two-story Dermond home, a four-bedroom, four-bath, 3,500-square-footer in a wooded cul-de-sac overlooking a cove, is now on the market.

    Howard Sills, Putnam's homegrown, two-decade sheriff, knows the area as well as anyone.

    Sills, 59, professorial and occasionally profane, has explored all avenues, obvious and not so, including the circumstances surrounding the murder of the Dermonds' eldest child, Mark C. Dermond. He was shot in the neck and torso 15 years ago while buying crack cocaine in downtown Atlanta the night of his 47th birthday.

    His killer remains in prison, and people on the slaying's periphery -- relatives, friends and others -- appear to have played no role in his parents' deaths.

    At this point, maybes are about all the sheriff and his investigators have when it comes to potential culprits.

    Are there clues? Yes.

    Sills has told The Telegraph that he and his deputies are not muddling along in the dark.

    Progress, gradual as it may be, has been made.

    There have, since early in the probe, been developments or findings not shared publicly that, in the event of an arrest, could prove useful in convicting the killer or killers.

    Though Sills declined to elaborate, he mentioned the sighting of a potential suspect outside the Dermond house at 147 Carolyn Drive.

    "A man," the sheriff said, "we'll just leave it at that, was seen on the property during the period that the murders could have occurred."

    Also, he said recently, "I'm considering some new forensic testing of evidence we have."

    It is not certain how Russ Dermond was killed, just that whatever caused his death was a traumatic head injury. He could have been shot, beaten or suffered some as-yet-unknown end. He was decapitated after he died, likely on May 3 or the day before.

    His wife, who was not beheaded, died from blows to the skull, wounds possibly inflicted with "something like a hammer," Sills said.

    Sills said Shirley Dermond was struck more than once and was dead when she was dropped in the lake. Her body was found floating by fishermen on May 16.

    Weighed down by a pair of 30-pound concrete blocks, her corpse bloated and surfaced facedown in 46 feet of water. By boat, the spot lies some five miles from her home, in a wide bend above the Wallace Dam.

    Sills had not until earlier this year wanted it known that the blocks were what Shirley Dermond's killer had apparently used to anchor her to the lake floor.

    The FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit has provided Sills with a broad description of the culprit.

    "Someone who likes guns and knives," Sills said, recalling some contents of the FBI's report.

    Such insight -- helpful as it may be down the road -- does little to narrow the field of suspects. That said, it points out a daunting truth.

    Practically anyone could be the killer.

    'VERY, VERY SAD'

    For a decade and a half, from about the turn of the century on, the Dermonds had called Lake Oconee home.

    Russ, once an avid golfer when he and Shirley lived near Roswell, had called it a career after more than 10 years in the restaurant business. He ran a chain of metro-Atlanta Hardee's eateries. Before that, he spent most of his working years as an executive for a New York-area clock company.

    Shirley, a housewife, was, like her husband, a New Jersey native. She liked to read, play bridge, go to church. She'd gone to her duplicate bridge club meeting in Eatonton the Thursday before her death. It was the last time she was seen alive.

    Russ, who would have turned 89 last June, was seen at the Publix grocery store near his house the Thursday of Shirley's bridge outing. Someone also reported seeing him the next day strolling the neighborhood golf course.

    An investigators has said the Dermond home was kept so neat and clean that "you'd eat off the floors."

    Out at the Great Waters entrance, there is now a security gate, one of those arms that goes up and down when you're let in. The guard shack lies a shade under two miles from the Dermond house. Its security cameras had been knocked out by a storm in the weeks before the killings and were of no use to the authorities.
    The Rev. David W. Key Sr. of Lake Oconee Community Church, where the Dermonds were members, says shock and despair linger.

    "It may have shattered any kind of false security that we've had," Key, 52, said last week. "Now part of the challenge is that we live with unanswered questions."

    On Sunday, the likely anniversary of the couple's death, Key planned to lead an afternoon memorial service at the church.

    His message, he said, would touch on coming to grips with "something that should not have happened."

    "That's what makes it even a stranger story. Looking at all the couples, they would have been the last you would have picked out," Key said. "They weren't gaudy, they weren't pretentious. They were just really down-to-earth."

    Key recalls the Dermonds being in church the weekend before they died, and how so much time has passed since.

    "A year ago," he said, "I would have expected (the authorities) to have found something by now."
    Might the slayings be the work of burglars the Dermonds walked in on?

    Perhaps, Sills says, but the usual things a burglar might steal -- televisions, jewelry, electronics -- were apparently not taken.

    Shirley, the sheriff says, appears to have been up and dressed for the day, while Russ, in a robe, T-shirt, boxer shorts and slippers, may have, when the killer arrived, just been into his morning coffee-drinking and reading routine.

    How their killer or killers arrived is anyone's guess.

    "I still think they came by car, but there is no question whatsoever that Mrs. Dermond's body was, in my opinion, disposed of by boat," Sills said. "They could have come by boat."

    As for the number of assailants involved, Sills said, "If one person did this, he spent the weekend. It's just my opinion that it would just be impossible for one person. One person may have made the initial assault, or something like that, but somebody had some help at some juncture."

    He said one "plausible theory," as he put it, is that the killings involve "some sort of extortion or robbery-type thing by somebody" the Dermonds "at least initially knew."

    It is possible that whatever the killer sought, if anything, was something the Dermonds didn't have.
    Quote Originally Posted by Not your business View Post
    I will out think the fucking pants off of you and you would thank me for helping you out of them.

  9. #59
    Senior Member jennafyre's Avatar
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    Whoa.

  10. #60
    Senior Member queenaevadamthng's Avatar
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    Damn Tup, you shoulda honked when you passed by. I live a few miles off of exit 2.


    "Theoretical physics can prove that an elephant can hang from a cliff with its tail tied to a daisy. But use your eyes, your common sense".... JIM GARRISON

  11. #61
    Senior Member TupeloHoney's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by queenaevadamthng View Post
    Damn Tup, you shoulda honked when you passed by. I live a few miles off of exit 2.

    Are you off 85? We were on 20 (went to Columbia for a concert), so I think we were a little too far south to honk and wave!
    Quote Originally Posted by Not your business View Post
    I will out think the fucking pants off of you and you would thank me for helping you out of them.

  12. #62
    Senior Member queenaevadamthng's Avatar
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    Yup I'm off 85...Oh well..

    This story is scary as shit. Knowing that the killer is still out there.


    "Theoretical physics can prove that an elephant can hang from a cliff with its tail tied to a daisy. But use your eyes, your common sense".... JIM GARRISON

  13. #63
    Senior Member blighted star's Avatar
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    Sorry for the bump, I was slow getting back in here after Tup posted. Anyway - Here's a link to "an interactive timeline of the Dermond murders" posted May 2nd. (I can't believe murders get interactive timelines?? Maybe they'll make a fun app too)


    http://www.wsbtv.com/news/timeline/r...tation-murder/

  14. #64
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    I’ve been reading about the Dermonds’ murders. Several things stuck in my mind.

    A criminal profiler said he believes the person who decapitated an 88-year-old man is a white male between ages 20 and 40.
    "The possibilities would be schizophrenia or paranoid schizophrenia, a borderline personality disorder, even a bipolar disorder and also a substance abuse disorder," said Dr. Dave Davis.
    http://www.wbtv.com/story/25478704/d...8-year-old-man

    Shirley died from multiple blows to the skull, wounds possibly inflicted with “something like a hammer. It is not certain how Russ Dermond was killed, just that whatever caused his death was a traumatic head injury. He was decapitated after he died.
 http://www.macon.com/news/local/crim...#storylink=cpy

    The Dermonds were acquainted with their killer.
    http://www.ajc.com/news/local/murder...PeXGMWwxMby6L/

    The Dermonds put all their expenses on two credit cards and didn’t carry cash. They didn’t own an ATM card. Without an ATM card, no one could quickly withdraw cash from their bank accounts.
    http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nati...icle-1.1828839

    Nothing was taken from the Dermonds' home.

    Cases of decapitating and kidnapping elderly people in the USA is almost nonexistent. To top this, the Dermonds' neighborhood had a crime rate which was extremely low. IMO, only someone who’d have been a suspect immediately without the decapitation and Shirley’s kidnapping (later foiled by her surfacing in the lake) would’ve taken the time to stage their crime scene with such over-the-top horrors.

    If someone cut off your granddad's head and tied your grandma's body up with bricks and tossed her in a lake, would you spend time begging people for clues and posting the reward on your social media pages? I sure would. Why isn't that occurring on the Dermonds' social media pages? Why aren't they giving frequently interviews or going on talk shows to beg for tips? I don't get it.

    Btw, the Dermonds have many white, male grandkids ages 20-40.

  15. #65
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    I’d like to believe the crazy, drunk guy who slashed 20 tires with a big knife in the Dermonds’ neighborhood was guilty, but the FBI stated the Dermonds’ murder appeared to be "personal."
    http://www.hlntv.com/video/2014/05/2...a-lake-oconee/

    Sheriff Sills stated that whoever did this planned it out meticulously. No material items were stolen or even disturbed in the house and the mansion was spotlessly clean, perhaps clean to excess. (This doesn't sound like the work of a drunk or a psychotic person.)

  16. #66
    Senior Member blighted star's Avatar
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    Damn. I can't believe this is still unsolved :(


    Also, re the getting out on media & begging for clues - not everyone can deal with speaking in front of cameras. AND could be that since every family member who stuck their head out, intentionally or otherwise, ended up getting themselves & their nearest living relatives targeted & accused online? Maybe they all got a little wary of putting their names & faces out there after being burnt a few times.

    Or maybe they & LE have their suspicions & know public appeals aren't going to help bring justice at this point?


    Staying out of public view isn't a sign of guilt. Guilty people are more likely to do interviews. They take every opportunity to express concern & cry fake tears for the camera because they're trying to play the role that they think the public expects to see.

    Genuine grieving family members pull themselves together for the cameras too but there's huge variation in human behaviour. If you were extremely introverted before losing a loved one to a high profile violent crime, you're probably not going to suddenly overcome that & front up for press conferences & media interviews while you're trying to get through the trauma/grieving process. If ever.

    Besides, as far as I'm concerned, the general public has no need whatsoever to watch family members begging & pleading for help. & people with information that might help shouldn't have to watch people weep before their conscience kicks in & they pick up the ph. That shit is seriously fucking gross.


    (Not directed at anyone here, my post just morphed into a rant)

  17. #67
    Senior Member blighted star's Avatar
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    https://www.myajc.com/news/crime--la...RgITlUbahtphO/



    Beheading mystery in upscale community still confounds Georgia sheriff
    ATLANTA-NEWS By Christian Boone - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ...

    Posted: 3:48 p.m. Thursday, July 27, 2017

    This is the first in an ongoing cold case feature where The Atlanta Journal-Constitution revisits some of the highest profile murders in Georgia history.


    Even the internet is baffled.

    On Reddit, where there typically are 10 conspiracy theories floated for every fact, only questions surface in a discussion group devoted to the grisly murders of Russell and Shirley Dermond, the elderly Eatonton couple found dead more than three years ago.

    For every theory, there's a contradiction that debunks it. The lead investigator in the case, longtime Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills, admits the trail for the killers - he's confident at least two people were involved - has run cold.

    "We-ve eliminated many, many, many things," said Sills, a gruff, plain-talking lawman entering his third decade as Putnam sheriff. "But as far as a suspect, we're probably as far away as we were 3 1/2 years ago."



    Recently, Sills agreed to open up the case file to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, sharing autopsy photos, pieces of evidence and his personal reflections on why this has been ?the absolute most confounding thing I've ever dealt with in my entire career."

    "They had no enemies"

    The call came in on Tuesday, May 6, 2014, from inside Reynolds Plantation, a gated community located on Lake Oconee, about 80 miles southeast of Atlanta.

    Neighbors of Russell and Shirley Dermond had gone to their home inside the Great Waters subdivision out of concern for their well-being. The couple, married for 62 years, hadn't shown up at a Kentucky Derby party three days earlier. Phone calls went unanswered.

    As their friends entered through the screened porch where Russell Dermond, 88, would watch the Braves on TV nothing seemed amiss. Shirley Dermond, 87, kept a meticulous home. Nothing was out of place. There was no sign of a struggle, let alone a homicide.


    Then, inside the garage of the 3,200-square-foot home, one of the neighbors found Russell Dermond?s body, slumped behind one of the couple?s cars. Upon closer inspection, they discovered something beyond macabre ? a detail that would escalate this case into the national spotlight.

    Dermond's head was missing, and so was his wife.

    Beheadings are rare. Rarer still was the fact the head was nowhere to be found.

    Sills initially assumed organized crime involvement. Someone was sending a message, he figured.

    Meanwhile, the search for Shirley Dermond commenced.

    ?I felt she had been kidnapped up until the time her body came up,? Sills said.



    But there was no ransom note. And no apparent motive.

    The Dermonds were well-off but not wealthy, at least when compared to many of their neighbors inside Reynolds Plantation. Sills contacted the FBI who told him they had ?absolutely nothing connected to (the Dermonds) at all.?

    "They had no enemies," he said.

    Family ties?

    In every homicide, the search for suspects begins with those closest to the deceased. The Dermonds have three adult children ? two sons who live in Florida and a daughter in North Carolina.

    It was quickly established they were nowhere near Putnam County when the murders took place. But could they have contracted someone to kill on their behalf? Or maybe the killers were sending them a message?

    "They all took polygraphs. The FBI took two of them," Sills said. "I watched their reactions myself. We did three of them separately."



    Each of the children passed the polygraphs. Subsequent reviews of bank and cellphone records showed nothing that might indicate their involvement.

    The Dermonds had a third son, Mark, who was killed in a drug deal gone bad in 2000 in The Bluff, an area of Atlanta infamous for crime. But Mark Dermond was a drug user, not a dealer, and his killer was locked away in prison.

    Still, everything was on the table. Sills said he even briefly considered Shirley Dermond. Could she have possibly killed her husband, or had someone do it?

    It was a stretch, but Shirley Dermond did have a prescription for the sleep aid Ambien and, ?People have done some strange things taking Ambien,? Sills said.

    A gruesome discovery, a theory discarded

    Ten days after her husband?s body was found, some fishermen on Lake Oconee turned up the bloated body of Shirley Dermond, floating on the water, about five miles from her home.

    An autopsy revealed Shirley Dermond was killed by two, maybe three blows to the head with a blunt object, such as a hammer. They weren't casual blows but deep wounds indicating a particularly brutal attack, Sills said.

    "There was an intent for Shirley Dermond's body to never be found," the sheriff said.

    But the killers were sloppy, binding the elderly woman?s body with two cinder blocks weighing 30 pounds apiece ? not enough to keep a body under water forever and a sign the perpetrators were most likely amateurs.

    "A professional killer shoots you in the head and leaves,? Sills said. ?They don?t tote (a body) five miles down the lake and run the risk of someone seeing all that.?

    Meanwhile, her husband's head remained missing. It still hasn?t been found.

    With so little known about who killed the Dermonds and why, fear began to envelop Eatonton, a quiet enclave known as the birthplace of authors Alice Walker and Joel Chandler Harris and, more recently, the home to some of the region?s richest citizens.



    ?This has cast a pall over the whole area,? Atlanta attorney Claud ?Tex? McIver, who owns a ranch just outside of Reynolds Plantation, wrote in an op-ed for The Eatonton Messenger. ?People are not going out on the weekends like they used to. One family I know, with two small children, won?t come up here anymore.?

    Ironically, McIver is the topic of much more conversation around Putnam County than the Dermonds. He is due to stand trial in October for the fatal shooting of his wife, Diane.

    Known unknowns

    Former U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld could?ve been discussing the Dermond case when he said, ?There are things that we know we don?t know.?

    Sills, who, according to Eatonton Messenger associate editor Lynn Hobbs remains something of legend in Putnam County, said he is embarrassed he hasn?t been able to find the killers.



    But Marietta defense attorney Philip Holloway, a former prosecutor and host of a podcast, ?Sworn,? which examined the Dermond mystery, said the sheriff has left no stone unturned.

    ?This is the most thorough investigation I?ve ever seen,? Holloway said. ?I don?t think there?s anything else he can do.?

    Here?s what Sills knows, or thinks he knows:

    There was more than one killer.

    The Dermonds knew at least one of their assailants: ?It had to be some type of acquaintance or there?d be some sort of struggle,? Sills said.

    The Dermonds most likely were killed outside of their home: ?I don?t see how there?s not more blood (at the Dermonds residence),? he said. ?That?s impossible to do.?

    Russell Dermond did not die from the decapitation but instead was most likely shot. The beheading was done to conceal the real cause of death, Sills said, noting that bullets often yield considerable clues traceable to the killer.
    Robbery was most likely the motive: ?I think whoever this was went there because they thought the Dermonds had something, or had access to something of great value,? Sills said.

    But that?s not been enough to lead him to any suspects. In the meantime, Sills remains open to any suggestion, no matter the source.

    ?I had five psychics come down here one day,? he said. ?I?ll listen to anything.?

    And he remains optimistic.

    ?This case is going to be solved like the Grinstead case,? Sills said, referring to the 2005 murder of Tara Grinstead, a south Georgia teacher and former beauty pageant queen. The trail for her killer had hit a dead end until a tipster contacted the GBI this past February, leading to the arrest of two former students.

    ?These people weren?t even remotely suspects,? he said.

    If that occurs, Sills has possession of some key physical evidence that could potentially confirm the killers? identity. The AJC is not disclosing that evidence, per the sheriff?s request.

    Until then, Sills carries the burden of a mystery unsolved.

    ?It has tormented me,? he said.
    Last edited by blighted star; 08-29-2018 at 03:46 AM.

  18. #68
    Senior Member Jezebelle's Avatar
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    New technology? All that comes to mind is genetic genealogy.
    I really hope this case gets solved.

    https://www.unionrecorder.com/news/n...703a04928.html


    EATONTON, Ga. — Nearly every day for the past six years, Putnam County Sheriff Howard R. Sills has done some sort of investigative work concerning the unsolved double-murder case of Russell and Shirley Dermond.

    Sills talked with agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Thursday about the case and how technology that wasn’t yet developed six years ago might be useful to authorities in solving the case.

    “We met and talked about three hours today about this case,” Sills told The Union-Recorder earlier this week. “We talked about some technological stuff that we’re working on right now.”

    Sills said he could not elaborate on what was discussed with FBI agents from the Macon field office, however.

    “We looked back over some of the crime scene photographs and talked about a lot of things during our meeting,” Sills said. “A lot of what we talked about concerning technology was about what is available today that wasn't available primarily then.”

    Sills said they re-examined aspects of the case, as well as timelines to see whether some of the technology in place today might help going forward with the investigation.

    Sills said he didn’t know if he would describe the conversation as promising, “but anything is a step forward at this point.”

    When asked if some of the technology was the way to go at this time, since other ideas have been exhausted, Sills quickly replied.

    “I would ride my bicycle from here (Eatonton) to McIntyre (in Wilkinson County) backward with thumbtacks in my butt if I thought it would solve this case,” Sills said.

    Sills said this case has baffled him more than any other murder in his career.

    “Once I knew the backgrounds of Russell and Shirley Dermond, I have always thought that this was some sort of extortion,” Sills told the newspaper. “Mrs. Dermond might have been taken and held against her will until some sort of demand was made. And since that demand could not be satisfied, both she and her husband were killed. And now, that’s my gut feeling, and do I have any evidence to support that — no. But, I can’t find anyone who had an ax to grind with them and I can’t find any connections to any kind of criminal enterprise or other activity, whatsoever.”

    Sills said he has discovered no evidence indicating that the killings were carried out randomly by anyone driving through the gated area or coming up by boat to the couple’s million-dollar home.

    “Clearly, there was more than a person involved,” Sills said.

    The elderly couple, who lived in the affluent gated community of Great Waters at Reynolds Lake Oconee in Putnam County, was brutally slain sometime over the weekend of the Kentucky Derby in May 2014.

    The 88-year-old Russell Dermond, a World War II veteran, is believed to have been shot in the head and was beheaded afterward. His wife, Shirley, was beaten to death and her body taken six miles away by boat to one of the deepest portions of Lake Oconee. Her body was anchored by two 30-pound cinder blocks that were placed into a nylon bag and then thrown into the lake, according to Sills.

    “It was a synthetic-type bag,” Sills said. “That bag was tied to her feet.”

    Russell Dermond’s head has never been found. His body was discovered by neighbors in the garage of the couple’s home.

    The veteran sheriff said some of the evidence, including two towels found around the corpse of Russell Dermond, had been of value to them.

    “The towels belonged to the Dermonds and, yes, there was other evidence found at the scene, but I can’t go into any of that evidence,” Sills said. “I’ll just say that there was valuable evidence that we have yet to match up to anything.”

    The sheriff said he believes Russell Dermond’s head was severed by some “very sharp” instrument.

    But why?

    Sills said he believes he knows the answer.

    “If Russell Dermond was shot in the head like we believe was the case, there is likely a bullet inside and if that weapon that was used to kill him was used to commit another crime and that case got solved, then the bullet from that weapon could be used to match it back to the killing of Russell Dermond,” Sills said. “I think the head was taken and discarded to prevent evidence from being obtained from it.”

    Sills, who has helped solve dozens of murder cases during his career, said he believes it was the intent of the killers that the body of 87-year-old Shirley Dermond would never resurface.

    He said he also believes that when Shirley Dermond’s body was tossed into the lake, the killers could easily have thrown Russell Dermond’s head into the lake at the same time.

    “We used some of the most advanced underwater electronic equipment that the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Division has in an attempt to find Shirley Dermond’s body, as well as the head of her husband,” Sills said. “But there’s no way for us to search all of Lake Oconee to try to find the missing head. It’s impossible.”

    It originally had been thought by authorities that Shirley had possibly been abducted and taken from her home for ransom.

    The FBI, who has assisted the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office in the investigation, launched an intensified search, placing Shirley Dermond’s photo on digital billboards throughout the area, but received no information.

    Ten days later, Shirley Dermond’s body surfaced near where two men were fishing in a boat on the lake, just inside Greene County.

    The case remains as much a mystery today and is it did when the crimes first happened.

    Anyone with information about this unsolved double-murder is asked to call the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office at 706-485-8557.

  19. #69
    Senior Member KimTisha's Avatar
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    Good find, Jezebelle! I think of this case often.

    Quote Originally Posted by Endnote View Post
    I?ve been reading about the Dermonds? murders. Several things stuck in my mind.

    A criminal profiler said he believes the person who decapitated an 88-year-old man is a white male between ages 20 and 40.
    "The possibilities would be schizophrenia or paranoid schizophrenia, a borderline personality disorder, even a bipolar disorder and also a substance abuse disorder," said Dr. Dave Davis.
    http://www.wbtv.com/story/25478704/d...8-year-old-man

    Shirley died from multiple blows to the skull, wounds possibly inflicted with ?something like a hammer. It is not certain how Russ Dermond was killed, just that whatever caused his death was a traumatic head injury. He was decapitated after he died.
 http://www.macon.com/news/local/crim...#storylink=cpy

    The Dermonds were acquainted with their killer.
    http://www.ajc.com/news/local/murder...PeXGMWwxMby6L/

    The Dermonds put all their expenses on two credit cards and didn?t carry cash. They didn?t own an ATM card. Without an ATM card, no one could quickly withdraw cash from their bank accounts.
    http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nati...icle-1.1828839

    Nothing was taken from the Dermonds' home.

    Cases of decapitating and kidnapping elderly people in the USA is almost nonexistent. To top this, the Dermonds' neighborhood had a crime rate which was extremely low. IMO, only someone who?d have been a suspect immediately without the decapitation and Shirley?s kidnapping (later foiled by her surfacing in the lake) would?ve taken the time to stage their crime scene with such over-the-top horrors. <snip>
    I know Endnote's post is 3+ yrs old, but it's so well laid out and summarized, it bears repeating after so much time. And since the case is in the news again....

    I remember when this happened! We were on a trans-Atlantic cruise, and our dinner mates for the week were neighbors of the Dermonds. They were positively traumatized by the news. These folks are like my parents, they didn't have enemies and they don't have a lifestyle conducive to victimhood. Nice little old retired folks.

    Since it doesn't appear to be a random act of joy killing, there are really only two possibilities.

    (1) The Dermonds were targeted. I always believed we would find out the killer was someone very close to the Dermonds: a child, grandchild, godchild, adopted child, foster child, like-a-child, nephew, greatnephew.... it feels very familial. Nothing of value was taken, it could only be personal or for financial gain. Sheriff Sills seems to have conducted a very thorough investigation of the people around the Dermonds, and he's coming up empty-handed so maybe it's...

    (2) Mistaken identity. There are indications the perpetrator approached the house from the lake. Take a look at the realty listings for that neighborhood - all of the houses look alike from the lake side - multi-level glass fronts with multiple sharply pitched roofs (and a dock, of course). When I tried to Google stalk the house, I thought I was looking at three views of the same house - it was three different houses in the same neighborhood! So this could definitely have been a case of wrong place, wrong victims. It's almost the only thing that makes sense if those close to the Dermonds are coming up clean.

    ?I would ride my bicycle from here (Eatonton) to McIntyre (in Wilkinson County) backward with thumbtacks in my butt if I thought it would solve this case,? Sills said.
    OMG, southern colloquialisms... My old Commander (from Georgia) was full of them, most notably: ".... tougher 'n shavin' a bob cat inna phone booth." And he said it with a confident wink and the sure knowledge of a man who has tried it before, and thinks you have too.
    You are talking to a woman who has laughed in the face of death, sneered at doom and chuckled at catastrophe.
    ...Collector of Chairs. Reader of Books. Hater of Nutmeg...

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