Bud and June Runion Laid to Rest in Canton; Classic Cars Accompany Procession

A small army of classic cars traveled alongside the hearse carrying murdered East Cobb residents Bud and June Runion to their final resting place on Monday.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the group of over 20 vintage vehicles were members of the same car enthusiast club which Bud Runion, 69, belonged to. Runion and his wife June, 66, were allegedly lured to Telfair County by Jay Towns, 28, who answered an ad Bud Runion posted on Craigslist seeking a 1966 Ford Mustang like the one he bought after he came home from Vietnam.

Authorities in Telfair County suspect that Towns never had the car, and instead wanted to rob the man of the significant sum of cash he was likely carrying to secure his dream car.

The Runions left their East Cobb home two Thursdays ago intending to drive 200 miles south to buy the classic car, but their children became concerned when they had not returned by that Friday.

The couple was found shot to death in a wooded area of Telfair County last Monday, near a pond where their missing SUV had been discovered earlier . According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which conducted the autopsies on the Runions, both were killed by a shot to the head from a small caliber gun, said the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The cortege traveled from the Mayes Ward-Dobbins Funeral Home in Marietta to the Georgia National Cemetery in Canton, a 25-mile trip. Car club members told the AJC that they felt it was their duty to accompany Bud and June to their burials, and said that Bud and June would have done the same for any of them.