Sheriff Hints at New Evidence in Beheading Murder Case

PHOTO: Shirley and Russell Dermond, a retired couple who lived on Lake Oconee, were murdered in their home three months ago. Screenshot from WSB TV

Investigators pursuing the killers who beheaded a retired Atlanta businessman and killed his wife have released new details about the murders, saying the suspects weighted down Shirley Dermond’s body with cement blocks before throwing her into Lake Oconee.

In May 2014, Russell Dermond, 88, was beheaded in his home on the lake. 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.

Sheriff Howard Sill told WSB TV that a search for similar cement blocks shows that they are common. But the recovery of the blocks and Shirley Dermond’s body has yielded what could be significant evidence in the case, once a suspect is identified.

FBI Special Agent Steve Emmett told WSB that the way the victim’s body was handled by the killers gives profilers an understanding of the suspects’ behavior.

Putnam County investigators in December told WSB TV their office was wading through tens of thousands of pages worth of phone records from the six months before the Dermonds were murdered. Authorities also combed 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.

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 previously 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
• Investigators Comb Phone Records in Murders of Russell, Shirley Dermond