A headless body in the garage. An elderly woman bludgeoned to death, her body weighted down with cinder blocks in the middle of a lake. Nearly four years later, the brutal murders of Russell and Shirley Dermond remain unsolved.
It was May 6, 2014 when a neighbor found Russell Dermond's body on the concrete floor of the garage of his lakefront home in an affluent neighborhood on Lake Oconee. The 88-year-old man had been decapitated.
His wife, 87-year-old Shirley Dermond, was missing. Her purse and phone were left behind. So were the couple's vehicles.
For 12 days, crews search by land and lake for Shirley.
On May 16, a fisherman made a grisly discovery about five miles from the Dermonds' home: Shirley's body near a dam on Lake Oconee. She'd been killed by blunt force trauma to the head, her body weighted down with cinder blocks in the middle of the lake.
Four years later, the Russell Dermond's head has never been found, no arrests have been made in connection with the case, and it continues to haunt Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills.
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What happened?
There were no signs of forced entry or indications of a struggle in the home, authorities said.
Investigators narrowed the timeframe of Russell Dermond's murder to somewhere between 4:30 p.m. on May 1 -- when the mail was delivered -- to 6 p.m. May 4 -- when the couple failed to show up for a party.
No motive has been determined.
The couple had been happily married for 68 years, there were no signs of any kind of domestic problems according to Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills.
Russell Dermond had been retired for two decades after working in the fast food industry. Sills says Dermond had owned fast food franchises, and the couple moved to Putnam County from Atlanta.
The neighborhood they lived in is described as upscale and crime-free. According to Putnam County tax records, the Dermonds' home and property on Carolyn Drive was valued at over $1 million in 2014. It includes a boat dock on Lake Oconee.
According to online records, the home is in Reynolds Plantation's Great Waters gated community, built around a Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course. The Dermonds purchased the land in 1994, according to tax records.
Who did it?
Sills has chased down leads across the country, but still nothing.
Sills is convinced more than one person was involved.
"There's no way one person did this," he said. "I’m not going to say it’s absolutely physically impossible but it’s highly unlikely."
Sills believes that Dermond was decapitated after he was murdered in an attempt to hide evidence. He believes the killers likely accessed the victims' property by boat.
"Until the case is solved, everyone's a suspect"
As the four-year anniversary of the brutal crime approaches, 11Alive is revisiting the case.
Thursday night at 11, for the first time since the murder of his parents, Brad Dermond talks to 11Alive.
He answers:
Why break the silence now?
What do you remember about the day you learned the news of your parents' murders?
What does he think happened that night?
What does say to people who think that the family had something to do with the deaths?
Did the mob have anything to do with the deaths?
Watch The Late Feed Thursday night at 11 on 11Alive.
SUNDAY NIGHT
Sheriff Sills has searched far and wide for leads on the case. It's the only unsolved murder in Putnam County in the last 21 years.
"I have utilized the resources of the FBI, and I found somebody in China," Sills said. "I've reached out to London on the case."
But he hasn't reached out to Georgia's own lead enforcement agency.
"I’ve never asked the GBI to assist me in any investigation," Sills said.
So why won’t Sheriff Sills do it?
Hear from Sills, Sunday night at 11 on The Late Feed.
KNOW SOMETHING?
Anyone with information is asked to call the Putnam County Sheriff's Office at 706-485-8557.
►FLASHBACK: Georgia Mystery: Lake Oconee double murder◄
GONE COLD: More cold case mysteries
