Found Deceased GA - Bud, 69, & June Runion, 66, McRae, 22 Jan 2015 #2 *Arrest*

[mommylicious]

Do we know the age difference between the pictures? If he was working landscape, construction, brush clearing, etc as it's been reported, that can be pretty intense and result in slimming down.

 

[Chickaroo]

Being from the south if there's one thing I know we are passionate about...it's our kids.

I really do not know what to make of the videos of the suspect's family. I have sibling that is simply a bad egg. Some of the things he has done I could tell you quick that I thought he was guilty. My Mom on the other hand will look you in the eye and swear up/down he is not capable of hurting a fly or deceiving anyone. This is coming from the same person that let's him treat her horrible and get away with anything he pleases. I've watched her lie to others when speaking that he has a job, helps her out, isn't an addict, etc. She doesn't want anyone to think bad of him or her (she some how feels it's her fault, because he tells her this). I'm guessing this might be a similar scenario in this family. They are letting their anger/hurt cloud their clarity of the situation.

Look at how much damage he has caused to so many people over something so senseless and should have never happened.

 

[dancinunderthemoon]

go viral with that email, on FB or something, need to really make people really aware

i just liked their page on FB and it was there too and so I posted on my wall

 

[True Crime Lover]

Article below reads: "Towns lived in neighboring Wheeler County with his family — a wife and a young daughter whom he supported by doing construction work for a local homebuilder, said his uncle, Buddy Towns." However, from the raw video with family, it sounds like he was not working before the murders. Interesting tidbit: McRae Georgia is proclaimed as the “6th Safest City in Georgia.”

http://wishtv.com/2015/01/27/suspect-charged-with-murder-of-missing-ga-couple/

 

[dancinunderthemoon]

Being from the south if there's one thing I know we are passionate about...it's our kids.

I really do not know what to make of the videos of the suspect's family. I have sibling that is simply a bad egg. Some of the things he has done I could tell you quick that I thought he was guilty. My Mom on the other hand will look you in the eye and swear up/down he is not capable of hurting a fly or deceiving anyone. This is coming from the same person that let's him treat her horrible and get away with anything he pleases. I've watched her lie to others when speaking that he has a job, helps her out, isn't an addict, etc. She doesn't want anyone to think bad of him or her (she some how feels it's her fault, because he tells her this). I'm guessing this might be a similar scenario in this family. They are letting their anger/hurt cloud their clarity of the situation.

Look at how much damage he has caused to so many people over something so senseless and should have never happened.

and that's where they pickup on how to do what they do, no one is perfect but some parents have "the chosen ones" and then there are the scapegoats, and the co dependents
I relate that to being kindred spirits also, but this whole family just denies it, he was probably "just a boy" if he did anything wrong, in their eyes, I could see just one but NO ONE thinks this is like him or that' he'd harm anyone much less commit double murder, even his sister and they had a falling oout doesn't' believe hes capable of such

But I have and had the above situations in my family, so sad to see

I guess not all parents have psychology degrees, I dont either haha, but I do have a little more insight that I see some have out there, you just cna't turn your head when kids are doing something unacceptable, you just can't

And then there is the "childhood is what you spend the REST of your life trying to overcome" lol, "Hope Floats"

If he's guilty, he is just quiet and submissive and does what he wants to outside of home I guess and finally got caught uup with, hearing it all though and seeing family pics, just doesnt seem at all like he'd do this either if that's all you know about him

 

[noseynellie]

The timeline is NOT making sense. I just re-watched interview with Sister and Dad and here is the best timeline I can come up with

Thursday: Runions travel to McRae
Friday: Runions were supposed to babysit but did not show up. Kids called Cobb police
Saturday: Cobb police notify Telfair police????
Towns sister said she saw him Saturday night after Dad pulled him from the woods
Sunday: Dad says GBI knocks on his door looking for Towns. Dad tells GBI that he (dad) will find him and bring him in tomorrow (monday). Sunday Dad finds Towns in woods?
Monday: Dad brings Towns in.


Can someone correct me or help make sense of this?

Maybe his family knew where he was Saturday night (as his sis said) but they didn't let law enforcement know this until the pressure built up on them the next day and they had no choice. Or, she could've just meant Sunday night, though she said Sat twice. Seems like a slip, imo.

He was officially named a suspect to the public Sun and there was a lot of media attention and thousands of concerned people hawking all over SM, putting their name and quiet, isolated community in the national spotlight. That could be uncomfortable for folks used to little oversight.

I can definitely see his family trying to protect him for as long as possible, despite police telling them he likely knows the whereabouts of two missing people. Blood is thicker than water, especially there. And while he was collecting himself in his little pinestraw bed (my own imagery), the poor Runion children were frantically praying for him to be found so they could get their parents home, without the slightest clue the couple had already been left for days, dead in a nearby forest.

I would've yanked him out of his treehouse and threw him to the police if it were my son accused of such a serious crime and I found him hiding out like an escaped convict. JMO.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Solitaryone]

(FWIW, when I say he looks evil to me, this is not because of the accusations against him, confirmation bias or whatever it was referred to upstream. I say he looks evil because of my personal opinion/interpretation of his demeanor, mannerisms, and again expression on his face (eyes, mouth). I don't just jump on the wagon and say everyone looks evil to me just because they are accused of crimes. In fact, just the opposite. There was one suspect in another case, for example, where I was like, "Wow, he looks like some of my hippie friends, I can picture him strumming beatles songs on a guitar..."(sure enough he did play guitar)...I've seen a a gazillion perps here on WS, and it is my opinion that this guy is either tweaked out of his mind, enjoying the attention, not remorseful, crazy, evil. I've seen a lot of nutjobs in my life (even looked into ARS' eyes who killed Jessica Ridgeway), this guy is a evil nutjob, that's my opinion, and I'm sticking to it.

It is interesting though to see how differently people react to a suspect's image. We've seen this is many cases.

ITA. And RT's demeanor says a lot to me. He also looks like he's on meth. How long would meth have noticeable effects after last taking it? He looked still wired. And that gleam in his eyes is unsettling. I got the impression that RT was trying to hide his demeanor when the Judge entered and he lowered his head. In video of RT outside the court building I thought he was about to start laughing.

 

[westie mom]

The timeline is NOT making sense. I just re-watched interview with Sister and Dad and here is the best timeline I can come up with

Thursday: Runions travel to McRae
Friday: Runions were supposed to babysit but did not show up. Kids called Cobb police
Saturday: Cobb police notify Telfair police????
Towns sister said she saw him Saturday night after Dad pulled him from the woods
Sunday: Dad says GBI knocks on his door looking for Towns. Dad tells GBI that he (dad) will find him and bring him in tomorrow (monday). Sunday Dad finds Towns in woods?
Monday: Dad brings Towns in.


Can someone correct me or help make sense of this?

ATL local here who has been glued to the case since it first broke...

IIRC, on one of the first WSB interviews of the Runion daughters, she was upset that despite their level of concern about her parents being missing, apparently Cobb County (where the missing report was orginally made) "took over 12 hours" to make INITIAL contact with Telfair County/McRae law enforcement. SS confirmed in an early interview first being contacted very late Friday night by Cobb County, so he and his folks made their initial plans for searches and interviews during the overnight hours.

RT is interviewed at some point early on in the investigation during the day Saturday, and likely bolted for the woods when they let him go as he knew his "story" stunk to high heaven. Some time late Saturday/early Sunday SS realizes the conflicts in RT's "story", and starts trying to locate him for further interview, most likely including a call to RT's Dad. Dad, who knows his son well, figures he's likely hiding out in the woods after he was also unable to track him down. Meanwhile during Sunday morning, the media is informed of arrest warrants being issued and active search for RT (my best recollection is that this broke in the ATL media shortly before lunchtime on Sunday). LE continues their search for RT, and narrow area for further searching down to Dad's property. Dad makes his "deal" with the GBI that he will haul RT out of the woods in exchange for their not entering the woods and having no hesitation to shoot him. RT hauled out of the woods by Dad at some time Sunday night/early Monday morning (although I personally believe this happened Saturday night following the first call looking for RT - as Dad confirmed to sister on video yesterday, and family habored RT until Monday morning). Slight delay heading to Sheriff's Office that morning, likely for a family inquisition of RT and early efforts to secure legal representation. RT is hauled to Sheriff's Office around 9am (got that time from comparing various media tweets w/ photos and SS being deliberately vague in reporting surrender time as "some time before 11:30am).

Hope this helps, and if someone has further information and/or my recollection needs correcting, please speak right on up!!

Prayers for the heartbroken Runion family,

Westie Mom

 

[steelman]

I'm not putting a whole lot of weight into what he looked like during the arraignment yesterday. The guy probably hasn't slept or eaten since last Thursday. That is going to take a toll on anybodies appearance.

As far as his dead eyes go, I imagine that's what my eyes would look like too if my goose was cooked as thoroughly as his is.
There ain't no way he is gonna wiggle out of this, and he knows it.

 

[Solitaryone]

At first I thought someone else had to be involved along with RT in this, but now I think RT did this all on his own. What do you all think?

 

[swanniee11]

I'm sure this was posted but I didn't see it yet.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2928834/Suspect-charged-murder-missing-Georgia-couple.html

 

[steelman]

At first I thought someone else had to be involved along with RT in this, but now I think RT did this all on his own. What do you all think?

I think he did it on his own, with the exception being maybe he got to chatting with some buddies and they came up with some imaginary scenarios of a good way to rip people off without getting caught. I think he got this idea from somewhere. He thought about it, dwelled on it, obsessed about it, imagined it, and then carried it out when he came across what he thought was the perfect victim.

I can see how it actually might have worked were he to have met them 100 miles down the road from where he lived. But you still have that darn pesky cell phone tracking thing to deal with, don't you ? For him to have attempted this in his own backyard just defies logic.

 

[steelman]

After seeing pictures of his parents in the courtroom, and after watching them in the video, I think Ronnie Towns effectively killed them too.

Theirs is just gonna be a much slower death.

 

[Hurricane*Sara]

I can see how it actually might have worked were he to have met them 100 miles down the road from where he lived. But you still have that darn pesky cell phone tracking thing to deal with, don't you ? For him to have attempted this in his own backyard just defies logic.

Well, he doesn't strike me as a MENSA candidate. And if he is a druggie, then his mental reasoning -- combined with his (perhaps) not too high IQ -- would just be in the gutter. I would suspect that he didn't even come up with the whole Let's scam a Craigslister for quick cash scheme by virtue of his own mental creativity. And he probably got it all wrong from the original blueprint.

 

[Backwoods]

Yes, that is true but what I was referring to is they have upped it from 'attempted theft by deception' to now 'armed robbery.' Imo, which means LE found something belonging to the Runions in Towns possession or maybe located in his mobile home.

IMO

I'm thinking the armed robbery could also stem from taking their car -- that is, if they have reason to think he at some point threatened the Runions with a weapon and got in the car with them, or took the car, before they were killed.

 

[Backwoods]

Rr

The Towns family seems genuine. I did detect a few cracks, however. The first was when the reporter asked Ronnie, Sr. if Jay had ever been in trouble. Ronnie, Sr. gave a weak, no, not really, answer, then said maybe some minor stuff ( I paraphrased, as I don't remember his exact words ). His sister admitted they weren't as close as they used to be, implying a minor rift in their relationship.


IMHO

Noticed those things too. Those comments and the way they were made reinforced my thinking that likely "Jay" had developed a serious drug problem in fairly recent years.

 

[alsleuther]

I'm thinking the armed robbery could also stem from taking their car -- that is, if they have reason to think he at some point threatened the Runions with a weapon and got in the car with them, or took the car, before they were killed.

Or if there was never any money, maybe he took their wallets and wedding bands. I'm sure after the manhunt started he ditched the wallets and credit cards, but may have kept jewelry (to pawn) if he had plans to go on the run. Also his family claimed there was planted evidence, so something must have been found either on him or in his home.

Also do we know if he owned any sort of transportation himself? Seems like in the country you have to have a vehicle to get around, go to work, etc. I'm still wondering how he got to the original meeting place?

 

[Treelights]

After seeing pictures of his parents in the courtroom, and after watching them in the video, I think Ronnie Towns effectively killed them too.

Theirs is just gonna be a much slower death.

And the video of his brother crying... that's sad!
I wonder deep down if the brother realizes that his brother did do this, or was capable of doing this, and he is in denial.
If it were my brother, I wouldn't be crying, I would be mad that he was set up, if I believed my brother to be innocent.
I would however be crying if deep down in my heart, I knew that he was guilty.
I guess it goes to show ya, how people do react differently...
IMOO.

 

[Treelights]

I'm sure this was posted but I didn't see it yet.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2928834/Suspect-charged-murder-missing-Georgia-couple.html

Sadly, the photo of his dad in the article reminds me of the Thousand Yard Stare.
IMOO.

 

[margarita25]

At first I thought someone else had to be involved along with RT in this, but now I think RT did this all on his own. What do you all think?

I was going to post the same thing. His demeanor imo sure makes me requestion the accomplice theory. I think it could go either way at this point. Jmo

Eta: it did take a while iirc in TB's case for the second suspect to be ID'd.

Then there's BC's case, CL sooned AL in the charges...