GA GA - Shirley, 87, & Russell Dermond, 88, Putnam Co, 2 May 2014 - #13

[concernedcitizen706]

I have read as much as I can about the case, and I have not seen anything in the media about the boat. If you could provide a link that would be far more helpful, but I understand if you can't provide a link.

I, of course, am aware Mrs. D's body was located in the lake, but I think the location of the body could suggest it could've been dropped from the near by long shoals boat ramp, as well.

Most, if not all the boats on their dock or the near by docks are more than likely on a lift. That would also make a good bit of noise and not go unnoticed by an owner who only visited their home every now and then.

I can see how the Mrs. D being dropped in a boat as a great theory, it may have also been how the perps accessed the home in the first place. I was just curious where it had been mentioned before, in the news or something.

I'm most curious about the DNA, and the lamp the detective got a plane seat for! Very encouraging news!

Well I forgot where they said it was in a boat. I assumed it was a boat. Since they said she was found in like the deepest part of the lake. Yeah I guess that she could have been dropped from some kind of overpass too. That would narrow the location of the path of the perp. And I did not hear about this airplane seat for a lamp. So I'm going to have to look that up too.

 

[fsngruv]

I took your very helpful advice and found this...

"Investigators arrived and began to comb over the scene. There was no evidence of a struggle or forced entry and the couple’s home left little clues as to what happened. They also were not sure if the killers somehow got in through the gate or found their way to the home by boat."

New evidence surfaces in Lake Oconee beheading

Russell and Shirley Dermond were supposed to attend a Kentucky Derby Party on May 3, 2014, at a neighbor’s home. They never showed up. Three days passed with no excuse, no apology, and no signs of activity at the Dermond home.

www.fox5atlanta.com

 

[AliceInPain]

I have read as much as I can about the case, and I have not seen anything in the media about the boat. If you could provide a link that would be far more helpful, but I understand if you can't provide a link.

I, of course, am aware Mrs. D's body was located in the lake, but I think the location of the body could suggest it could've been dropped from the near by long shoals boat ramp, as well.

Most, if not all the boats on their dock or the near by docks are more than likely on a lift. That would also make a good bit of noise and not go unnoticed by an owner who only visited their home every now and then.

I can see how the Mrs. D being dropped in a boat as a great theory, it may have also been how the perps accessed the home in the first place. I was just curious where it had been mentioned before, in the news or something.

I'm most curious about the DNA, and the lamp the detective got a plane seat for! Very encouraging news!

I followed this from the start on WS and all info and news links with LE statements at the time should be here in the first threads. Hopefully if the links are dead you can still view them on archive.org. I remember lots of talk about a boat too but can't remember if it was just people speculating or if it was LE.

 

[fsngruv]

Well I forgot where they said it was in a boat. I assumed it was a boat. Since they said she was found in like the deepest part of the lake. Yeah I guess that she could have been dropped from some kind of overpass too. That would narrow the location of the path of the perp. And I did not hear about this airplane seat for a lamp. So I'm going to have to look that up too.

Hmm. Well, isn't that funny!

I'll provide the link and the quote from the article pertaining to the lamp.

After 10 years of probing double-homicide at Lake Oconee, new evidence comes to light

It’s been 10 long years since the brutal slayings of Russell and Shirley Dermond at their million-dollar home in Great Waters, a plush gated community at Reynolds of Lake Oconee

www.unionrecorder.com

"But there is encouraging news of late from a private laboratory in Utah that might link DNA evidence from the home and garage to a possible suspect."
...
"Asked what type of items were taken, Sills said he didn’t wish to discuss such in detail.

“But things, articles that we know the perpetrator or perpetrators had to have handled,” Sills said.

The sheriff was also asked about a lamp that was taken to the lab from the living room of the Dermond home.

“I can tell you that I took a lamp,” Sills said. “It was a typical table lamp, three feet tall, and 15 inches in diameter that I had to purchase a separate seat for with the airlines.”

Eta: the article goes on, "When Sills and other law enforcement authorities first saw the lamp, it was located in the garage of the Dermond home where Russell Dermond’s headless body laid on the floor.

Sills assumes the lamp was removed from inside the home and taken into the garage to provide more light, apparently to aid the killer or killers as they decapitated Russell Dermond, a World War II veteran.

Sills said the lamp was “very” close to Dermond’s body."
...
I highly doubt there would be an overpass
involved because the two I know of are over 6 miles away, though not an impossible theory. Jmo.

I'm not so sure about your claims of the depth of where Mrs. D was found. While parts in the middle are very deep the inlets are shallow.

Lake Oconee (GA) nautical chart and water depth map

Lake Oconee (GA) nautical chart on depth map. Coordinates: 33.5045, -83.2827. Free marine navigation, important information about the hydrography of Lake Oconee

usa.fishermap.org

Eta(also)
Seems she was found at the mouth of Richland Creek.

Sportsmen asked for clues on Dermond murder at Lake Oconee

Local law-enforcement teams are asking sportsmen and anglers to share any information that could help bring justice to a recent murder case on the banks of Lake Oconee in Putnam County. The double …

www.onlineathens.com

 

[fsngruv]

I followed this from the start on WS and all info and news links with LE statements at the time should be here in the first threads. Hopefully if the links are dead you can still view them on archive.org. I remember lots of talk about a boat too but can't remember if it was just people speculating or if it was LE.

Thanks!!

I left a comment with what I believe may be the link I was requesting?

Thanks again!!

 

[Valiant]

Wouldn't anybody kind of remember hearing a boat go by? I mean he did travel miles away. And he made at least two trips. So how come nobody heard this boat?

I have no idea if they are common there, but when I lived by a lake in Georgia everyone had electric boats. They are incredibly quiet.

 

[acehard]

I looked up bullet making for another issue, and I see it's not that hard to do. You can make many types of homemade bullets, in many ways, and filled with a lot of different fillers and powders. I learned from looking up homemade bullet making, that you can make a bullet in many creative ways. And so for example, if police found a similar bullet in another incident, that could link the two. They would at least know the size of gun he had and if it was a revolver or whatnot.

Agree. Some people customize bullets and other have color tips, most common red tips.

 

[acehard]

I have no idea if they are common there, but when I lived by a lake in Georgia everyone had electric boats. They are incredibly quiet.

Yeah and this is a high end retirement community where the houses are far from each other

 

[Rush4087]

I think this will never be solved. Sheriff Sills should have involved GBI and FBI from the get go.

Imo this case would’ve been solved long ago had it not been for Sheriff Howard R. Sills and his stubborn refusal to involve the FBI and the GBI (whom he hates) early in the case. He sometimes reminds me of Buford T. Justice - only more self important and more belligerent. As Andy Griffith said in one episode: “Call the man Aunt Bee, just call the man!”

Suspects arrested after incident at Putnam County sheriff’s home

An incident unfolded at the home of Putnam County Sheriff Howard R. Sills on Saturday afternoon that led to a gunshot being fired before two men were arrested on various

www.unionrecorder.com

And, from

New evidence surfaces in Lake Oconee beheading

Russell and Shirley Dermond were supposed to attend a Kentucky Derby Party on May 3, 2014, at a neighbor’s home. They never showed up. Three days passed with no excuse, no apology, and no signs of activity at the Dermond home.

www.fox5atlanta.com

“What we really need more than anything is for someone to call us up and tell us who is responsible for this savagery.”

Okay.

And, what serious LE officer would ever pose for photos like the ones in this article:

Relentless: Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills chases a killer

In Putnam County, GA, everybody knows Sheriff Howard Sills, and Sills knows everybody—except who murdered an elderly couple on Lake Oconee last May.

www.atlantamagazine.com

Is he trying to scare the bad guys?

Then:

After 10 years of probing double-homicide at Lake Oconee, new evidence comes to light

It’s been 10 long years since the brutal slayings of Russell and Shirley Dermond at their million-dollar home in Great Waters, a plush gated community at Reynolds of Lake Oconee

www.unionrecorder.com

So, after ten years, Sheriff Howard R. Sills finally discovers that there are DNA labs out there like Othram in Houston, TX (“It’s actually in The Woodlands, as they call it.”) that might be able to help. “I sat down with their people… And they found DNA”.

The article continues: ‘Additional STR testing, which is a COMMON (my caps) type of DNA profiling used in criminal cases, was required.’

Sills: “And only the FBI or a company they partner with […] could do it.” Wow. Just wish Howard had known about that several years ago.

For the first few years, this case received extensive local, state, and national media coverage. Extensive. It did not go unsolved because nobody had ever heard of it, because everybody had. It was (and still should be) a big deal. Imo the fact that it faded and became almost a cold case after just 3–4 years is directly related to lack of progress made in the investigation by the Eatonton County Sheriff’s Office.

I hope the DNA that Othram and Sorenson found comes back and provides the clue needed to solve the case. Russell and Shirley Dermond deserve Justice.

I just have little faith that the crime will ultimately be solved by the same man who went back into his house from raking leaves in his front yard in order to grab a .38 pistol so he could (only if necessary!) shoot out the front tire of a pick up truck parked in his driveway in order to prevent two notorious pine straw solicitors from making a clean getaway (then insisting of course that it was not an officer-involved shooting, and that the two perps would only be given citations; nothing to see here)

As I myself have sadly discovered over the past dozen years or so, this truly IS no country for old men.

Jmo

 

[acehard]

'Mr. Dermond’s body was found decapitated on May 6, while Mrs. Dermond’s body was not found until May 16 when an angler fishing several miles downstream near the mouth of Richland Creek discovered her body.'

The last seen cctv footage is from May 1st, that's 4-5 days before they were found. Did the autopsy reveal when he or she died?

 

[concernedcitizen706]

I have no idea if they are common there, but when I lived by a lake in Georgia everyone had electric boats. They are incredibly quiet.

Hmmm. Interesting. Well that would make more sense, because if he's jaunting around in a gas boat, I would imagine somebody would hear him.

 

[concernedcitizen706]

Imo this case would’ve been solved long ago had it not been for Sheriff Howard R. Sills and his stubborn refusal to involve the FBI and the GBI (whom he hates) early in the case. He sometimes reminds me of Buford T. Justice - only more self important and more belligerent. As Andy Griffith said in one episode: “Call the man Aunt Bee, just call the man!”

Suspects arrested after incident at Putnam County sheriff’s home

An incident unfolded at the home of Putnam County Sheriff Howard R. Sills on Saturday afternoon that led to a gunshot being fired before two men were arrested on various

www.unionrecorder.com

And, from

New evidence surfaces in Lake Oconee beheading

Russell and Shirley Dermond were supposed to attend a Kentucky Derby Party on May 3, 2014, at a neighbor’s home. They never showed up. Three days passed with no excuse, no apology, and no signs of activity at the Dermond home.

www.fox5atlanta.com

“What we really need more than anything is for someone to call us up and tell us who is responsible for this savagery.”

Okay.

And, what serious LE officer would ever pose for photos like the ones in this article:

Relentless: Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills chases a killer

In Putnam County, GA, everybody knows Sheriff Howard Sills, and Sills knows everybody—except who murdered an elderly couple on Lake Oconee last May.

www.atlantamagazine.com

Is he trying to scare the bad guys?

Then:

After 10 years of probing double-homicide at Lake Oconee, new evidence comes to light

It’s been 10 long years since the brutal slayings of Russell and Shirley Dermond at their million-dollar home in Great Waters, a plush gated community at Reynolds of Lake Oconee

www.unionrecorder.com

So, after ten years, Sheriff Howard R. Sills finally discovers that there are DNA labs out there like Othram in Houston, TX (“It’s actually in The Woodlands, as they call it.”) that might be able to help. “I sat down with their people… And they found DNA”.

The article continues: ‘Additional STR testing, which is a COMMON (my caps) type of DNA profiling used in criminal cases, was required.’

Sills: “And only the FBI or a company they partner with […] could do it.” Wow. Just wish Howard had known about that several years ago.

For the first few years, this case received extensive local, state, and national media coverage. Extensive. It did not go unsolved because nobody had ever heard of it, because everybody had. It was (and still should be) a big deal. Imo the fact that it faded and became almost a cold case after just 3–4 years is directly related to lack of progress made in the investigation by the Eatonton County Sheriff’s Office.

I hope the DNA that Othram and Sorenson found comes back and provides the clue needed to solve the case. Russell and Shirley Dermond deserve Justice.

I just have little faith that the crime will ultimately be solved by the same man who went back into his house from raking leaves in his front yard in order to grab a .38 pistol so he could (only if necessary!) shoot out the front tire of a pick up truck parked in his driveway in order to prevent two notorious pine straw solicitors from making a clean getaway (then insisting of course that it was not an officer-involved shooting, and that the two perps would only be given citations; nothing to see here)

As I myself have sadly discovered over the past dozen years or so, this truly IS no country for old men.

Jmo

The guy may have had a point there about the gbi and FBI, in relation to this case.

 

[StarryStarryNight]

“His wife, who was not beheaded, died from blows to the skull, wounds possibly inflicted with “something like a hammer,” Sills said. Sills said Shirley Dermond was struck more than once and was dead when she was dropped in the lake.
Her body was found floating by fishermen on May 16. Weighed down by a pair of 30-pound concrete blocks, her corpse bloated and surfaced facedown in 46 feet of water. By boat, the spot lies some five miles from her home, in a wide bend above the Wallace Dam.”

Read more at: https://www.macon.com/news/local/crime/article30230859.html#storylink=cpy

 

[concernedcitizen706]

“His wife, who was not beheaded, died from blows to the skull, wounds possibly inflicted with “something like a hammer,” Sills said. Sills said Shirley Dermond was struck more than once and was dead when she was dropped in the lake.
Her body was found floating by fishermen on May 16. Weighed down by a pair of 30-pound concrete blocks, her corpse bloated and surfaced facedown in 46 feet of water. By boat, the spot lies some five miles from her home, in a wide bend above the Wallace Dam.”

Read more at: https://www.macon.com/news/local/crime/article30230859.html#storylink=cpy

Is there a dam there that you can walk on? So maybe he threw her off the dam?

Also, can you take a boat from Lake Oconee to Lake Sinclair? Cuz they looked like they're connected, but now that I just looked at satellite, with that dam there, it looks like it's not connected.

 

[concernedcitizen706]

My question would be, how often did Shirley go shopping in the Eatonton area. I know the husband was shopping shortly before the murders there. When was the last time she went shopping?

 

[acehard]

The last seen cctv footage is from May 1st, that's 4-5 days before they were found. Did the autopsy reveal when he or she died?

I'll answer my own question - most likely Friday night

 

[Warwick1991]

I'll answer my own question - most likely Friday night

I think that it was reported that both the Friday and Saturday newspapers were untouched outside. Perhaps the killer(s) entered the house sometime Friday morning. It would be interesting to know what time the newspapers were delivered, and when the Dermonds normally took them in. The killer(s) spent some time doing what they did; they may have been in the house for several hours, and taking Shirley to her death would have also taken some time.

 

[STAGNUM]

Lets dismiss the idea that the killers decapitated RD to retrieve a bullet that might implicate them. That idea is pretty far reaching. SD was killed by blows to the head, not a gunshot. Lets suppose that the killers decapitated RD because they were instructed to bring the head of XX as proof of the killing. We can assume that RD had no enemies that would want that sort of retribution. On the other hand, there is someone in the county who has such enemies and who bears some resemblance to RD. Ideas?

 

[concernedcitizen706]

Lets dismiss the idea that the killers decapitated RD to retrieve a bullet that might implicate them. That idea is pretty far reaching. SD was killed by blows to the head, not a gunshot. Lets suppose that the killers decapitated RD because they were instructed to bring the head of XX as proof of the killing. We can assume that RD had no enemies that would want that sort of retribution. On the other hand, there is someone in the county who has such enemies and who bears some resemblance to RD. Ideas?

That or the killer wanted a trophy.

 

[concernedcitizen706]

So the reason I asked if someone can go by boat from Lake Sinclair to Lake oconee is, it's possible the killer stayed closer to Eatonton, where the husband went shopping the last time he was seen. That seems to be the town center and where all the retail stuff is. So possibly the killer hangs out closer to Eatonton, which is Lake Sinclair. And saw the couple in Eatonton somewhere. So I was thinking he took a boat from Lake Sinclair to Lake oconee. But now it looks like there's a dam in the middle, so it doesn't look like he can do that now. Is there some kind of carve out, where he can go around the dam?

Also now that we know the body was found next to a dam, maybe the perp did not take a boat, but instead drove onto the dam and threw the body over. And also just drove over to the house too. No boats involved. I wonder if there are any cameras on the dam. Hopefully there were. But you never know.

Edit- so I was thinking about it more, and I think the perp must have hung out in the Eatonton shopping area. Probably just hanging out in his car, in the parking lot. Watching the people go into the supermarket that the husband went into. And he saw the couple, of the older husband and the wife, go into the market together, and he admired that. And he began scoping them out and following them. And then he made his plan to attack them. I think that's easier than him driving around where they lived, in the woods, to find them. So they should get the date that the last time the husband and wife were out together in that area. And see what was going on that day. For example when those security cameras at the subdivision were messed with, I think it was like a week before, what did the husband and wife do right before that. Where did they go.

Like if they have the surveillance cameras, of what was going on in the parking lot, when the husband and wife went shopping the last time, that would be very helpful.