CHILLING DETAILS
Shocking new cold case murder evidence after elderly man beheaded and wife found weighed down by concrete blocks in lake
NEW evidence could help solve the gruesome murder of Russell and Shirley Dermond who were killed in their home in 2014.
The elderly couple was last seen running errands on May 1, 2014, in their Georgia neighborhood.
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They were most likely preparing for a Kentucky Derby party they were supposed to go to at a neighbor's home.
They never showed up and after three days of not hearing from the couple, a neighbor went to their home to check on them.
Unfortunately, they made a gruesome discovery.
On May 6 the decapitated body of Russell Dermond, 88, was discovered in the garage of his home.
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The neighbor called 911 and investigators began to comb through the house for any evidence.
There was no evidence of a struggle or forced entry. Russell's body was surrounded by towels which investigators believe were put there to stop blood from seeping out under the garage door.
There was gun powder residue on his body, leading police to believe the head was taken to get rid of ballistics evidence rather than as a trophy.
Shirley, 87, was nowhere to be found. Police feared she may have been abducted.
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Ten days later her body was found by fishermen in Lake Oconee weighed down by two 30-pound concrete blocks.
Investigators say a professional would have known this wouldn't work to keep the body concealed underwater.
An autopsy would later reveal she died from blunt force trauma.
The trail to the killers went cold until this week when Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills said his office received new data, some of it cell phone data, that could lead to a break in the case.
Sills reached out to the FBI for help with analyzing evidence, reports .
"The technology we are using was not in existence back in 2014," he said.
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"I don’t want to create an impression that I have acquired some silver bullet, but this is yet another tool we are using trying to find out who perpetrated these heinous crimes."
The couple had been married for 68 years and had four children and nine grandchildren, who have all been ruled out as suspects.
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