GA GA - Shirley, 87, & Russell Dermond, 88, Putnam County, 2 May 2014 - # 7

[Cardinal47]

yes, and then there is the possibility of Mrs. D being in shock from possibly witnessing her husband's murder and decapitation.

You know I have thought that perhaps one of them died of a heart attack after being attacked and scared out of their minds. It happens.

 

[lakeoconee]

I an curious. Is there anyplace near where she was found that she could have been dropped into the water after she was dead and drifted to the place she was found? Perhaps a boat was not used at all.

I don't know about that. I remember hearing that Sills was consulting with UGA about water movement described as complex in these two lakes.

 

[JustyThoughts]

This probably doesn't have anything to do with this case, but a Jon boat and trailer were reported stolen from Putnam County and recovered in another town approx 20 minutes away. The police log doesn't say when the boat was reported stolen.

http://themonticellonews.com/dnr-arrests-three-on-jackson-lake-road-p10902-1.htm

OSU, your post is interesting. It may not have anything to do with this case, or it very well may.

The Monticello News article shows:

"•Om May 29 the JCSO reported the recovery of a John boat and trailer which were reported stolen out of Putnam County."

"On June 1 a resident reported the theft of Basstrender boat, marine battery and a trolling motor from a residence on Lakeshore Drive."

http://themonticellonews.com/dnr-arrests-three-on-jackson-lake-road-p10902-1.htm

Seems to be some boat stealing going on in the area. I'd like to know when and where the boat was stolen out of Putnam Co.; and where it was recovered in Jasper County.

Another point of interest I noted during a brief look-see at Jasper County Sheriff's Office Facebook page is the volume of Meth, Molly and the like issues locally.

 

[Zuri]

You know I have thought that perhaps one of them died of a heart attack after being attacked and scared out of their minds. It happens.

The ME would have been able to tell if an MI was the COD on either Dermond. IMO, from what Sills said and the fact that RD head missing, his COD had to be cerebrocrainial trauma if everything else was ruled out. SD COD was blunt trauma so I interpreted that to mean depressed skull fracture.

I was really hoping they might have had a suspect by now.

 

[oceanblueeyes]

So, you say a small boat. That might go how fast? If they left from the dock that's 5 1/2 miles.

I am just coming back on line after spending a glorious day with our family.:loveyou: I didn't want you to think I was ignoring you question, lakeoconee.

It depends on what horse power motor they used. If they used a 20 hp.. lets say.. I don't think it would take them long at all to go five miles. And was that road miles or was that lake miles? I thought I read if he went by water it would be around 3.5 miles one way which sounds about right to me since the distance by water is usually quite a bit shorter.

IMO

 

[Cardinal47]

The ME would have been able to tell if an MI was the COD on either Dermond. IMO, from what Sills said and the fact that RD head missing, his COD had to be cerebrocrainial trauma if everything else was ruled out. SD COD was blunt trauma so I interpreted that to mean depressed skull fracture.

I was really hoping they might have had a suspect by now.

Thank you. Yes they know the cause of death and not heart attack but that had to be a terrible trauma for such elderly folks.

Which makes me think they might have been blindsided and neither saw it coming.

MOO

 

[oceanblueeyes]

The ME would have been able to tell if an MI was the COD on either Dermond. IMO, from what Sills said and the fact that RD head missing, his COD had to be cerebrocrainial trauma if everything else was ruled out. SD COD was blunt trauma so I interpreted that to mean depressed skull fracture.

I was really hoping they might have had a suspect by now.

Hi there my sweet friend!:seeya:

You are right, Sills said both were murdered, and killed by two different weapons.

Neither of them died from a heart attack for that could readily be seen by the ME during autopsy.

Even if it had happened, but everything points away from it happening, the killer would still be held criminally responsible since his acts caused the heart attack/death to come on. He still would have been guilty because he was in the middle of committing one felonious act and because of that felony it caused Shirley's death (another felony) to occur. But neither one of them had a heart attack.

It really shows they both must have still been in good health especially if Shirley witnessed her husband being murdered and then decapitated and was able to withstand the horror she had seen. She had the strong will to live and I so wish it had happened.

IMO

 

[stmarysmead]

If the address that I think belongs to Dermonds is correct, it looks like it faces on to a small finger of water, not the wider main channel. That makes this even more sinister. Why would anyone turn down there...there is one really huge house on the lake just before you come to that turn. It also looks like there is a house directly across that small cove that seems quite close.

If random thieves came by water, it seems there would be better targets and ones less likely to be problematic as to being seen or heard.

 

[southernmimi]

I recently spoke with a relative who lives and works in the Lake Oconee area. At first, I hesistated to ask about it since she said prior that she was sick of hearing about it. However, I did ask her what the general chitchat was about the murders. According to her, people in the area feel like it was a hit aimed at Russell...and he probably saw his wife murdered to add to his horror and torture. The killers came and left by boat at night...and could have used night goggles to aid them. She said SS is known as a good law man, but the perps are long gone and most likely will never be found. Sad if this is correct on any level. Not my opinion, but of interest

 

[lakeoconee]

I am just coming back on line after spending a glorious day with our family.:loveyou: I didn't want you to think I was ignoring you question, lakeoconee.

It depends on what horse power motor they used. If they used a 20 hp.. lets say.. I don't think it would take them long at all to go five miles. And was that road miles or was that lake miles? I thought I read if he went by water it would be around 3.5 miles one way which sounds about right to me since the distance by water is usually quite a bit shorter.

IMO

:loveyou:
5 miles by water.

 

[oceanblueeyes]

The murders occurred the weekend before Mother's Day. Could someone have told the security guard at GW they had a surprise delivery and they would have let the murderer
in ? Any FedEx/ UPS trucks/ white delivery trucks/ vans that you could stick a magnetic sign on and get in GW? About shift change? So the first guy lets the perp in and the subsequent guard didn't know the perp is there because the first guy broke
Policy? Or the guard knew the guy and let him in? And now is too afraid to talk because the murderer is threatening him and he's gonna go to jail either way. JMO.
I just keep thinking about Lita Sullivan...and that delivery...
Just my wild and crazy brain!

Perhaps, but then the guard at the guard shack would have turned over all the names on the list of all the people that had entered GW from the last day they were seen (May 1st until the day Russ was found) to the police. And Sills would have verified everyone by now that had passed by the guards during the time period in question. I don't think he found anyone that shouldn't have been there or were lying why they were there. If so I think he would say they have a POI in mind. Imo, everyone checked out at GW concerning passing in and out the gate.

The hit man in Lita Sullivan's murder came there and once she opened the door he immediately killed her. And was gone from the scene as quickly as he came and that is the MOs for hit men. To kill Lita probably took him no more than a minute or two being at the scene, if that long. In 9 seconds a person can shoot a gun about 5-6 times. Hit men don't dilly dally around taking time to cut heads off nor finding a boat to take a body out on the water in order to hide the body hoping it never rises.

And I think Sills has very good evidence that a boat was used to take Shirley out in the deep waters of Lake Oconee. They may have found blood droplets on a part of the dock. It doesn't take but a speck of blood to know that is the way they left. Not coming from Shirley because I think she was taken out alive although bound and gagged and then killed on the boat. But it may have dripped off of his hand from where he had decapitated Russ or if he had the head in a plastic garbage bag it could have dripped as he carried it in his other hand. He would be gripping Shirley's arm as he forced her to walk the walkway leading down to the dock.

A boat being involved is one thing Sills has been consistent on from the very beginning and he has never backed off of that not even in his latest interviews. He says now he is convinced Shirley was transported by boat and he has long had ample time to get the information back from the hydrologists iirc he asked. So they must have told him she had to be transported by boat to some location on the water when he threw her overboard between the Dermond's boat dock and where she surfaced.

At first he said he thought they may have come by boat and left by boat.Since he has now backed off coming by boat I do wonder if he suspects the killer was already on the GW grounds before the murders even occurred because then the only mode of transportation he would need is the boat and nothing more.

Of course as I believe the person who did this is from that same area so he would fly under the radar of detection if he was one of the ones who had passed to and from the guard shack during the May 1-May 6 timeline and nothing would look out of the ordinary since he was a resident of some kind who lived there.

I don't understand why some seem to think taking her out in the boat to kill her isn't doable when it really would be so simple and easy to do. It sure isn't nearly as complex as it would be to kill her elsewhere and then have to lug the body to the boat afterwards.

Killing her in her home or elsewhere would then make him have to struggle to get a dead body all the way down the steep slope to the boat dock and then having to load her dead body onto the boat. Imo, he was trying to leave as little evidence as he could behind...not more. Killing her beforehand would have left blood and many more risks for him.

If it happened in the dark all he needed was low beam running lights which aren't glaring spot lights anyway, and he just glides along a lake he knows very well like the back of his hand, and once there he hits her in the head, and knows she is dead... then he throws her overboard, watches her sink, and then returns to GW.......docks and goes back in the home he is staying in.

It is so simple, imo.......not a lot of body movement at all.......no vehicle needed other than a boat for transporting Shirley and Russ' head. No having to go through the front gate or come back in late at night after disposing of the body/head. No struggling with dead weight.........no risk of leaving Shirley's DNA blood evidence behind. Vehicles are very hard to clean up when it comes to DNA of victim however; a boat... both inside, and out is meant to be washed down, and when it is done no one thinks a thing about it.

IMO

 

[oceanblueeyes]

:loveyou:
5 miles by water.

Thank you so much for answering my question, lakeoconee.:heart:

It may not have been you but I thought you said it would only take about 15 minutes by water or was that another local poster?

If they even had a 20 HP motor then I don't think it would take them long at all. My hubby, my brother, and myself have fished the Flint River in a 14 feet Jon boat when we are fishing for large catfish. We go at least that many miles or more and it doesn't take much time.

One thing why it doesn't take nearly as long as it would by road is because there are no stop signs and once out in the deep water there aren't even wake speed limits either. Its just full speed ahead once we get out on the big open water.:floorlaugh:

 

[Canaille]

Of course it doesn't make sense. No way would a person that kills and beheads an elderly man take the wife alive and flailing around to a boat in the lake and kill her. Why do that for heavens sake?

If she did go to the place she was found it happened in the dead of night and I am pretty sure she was dead.

BTW I am not convinced she wasn't simply thrown into the water at some point and the current took her to where she was found. Therefore no boat would have been necessary.

Is there a bridge near where she was found?

 

[tomkat]

What's The Thinking That Only A Small Boat With Very Small Motor Power Was Used, I Would Think Less CnspicuOs In That AreA With A Nicerl Fishing Boat

They Go In coves To fish But No Attention Would Be Drawn To It Where Finer Boats And Homes Are, Not THat there Are No Jon BoAts There However, But Transport EasY On Any

 

[tomkat]

I Dont Think So

Is there a bridge near where she was found?

 

[tomkat]

:loveyou:
5 miles by water.

@ 60 Mph 5 Minutes, 10 Or 15Min Maybe 30Hp, Lots Of Waves Longer, None Maybe qjicker

 

[tomkat]

=honeybun1807;10627238]Well that's interesting that they watched tv out on the screened in porch. Really made themselves targets for anybody out on the lake looking for trouble.1

Screens are easy to cut and could have been cut earlier and they would have been right in with the Dermonds at any time.

Most elderly people are a bit hard of hearing so they might not have even been aware somebody was coming for them until way too late.

I wonder if the evidence people found any sign of a struggle out on that porch?

ScreenPorch Tv Typical iN All Of ga

 

[CHERIE.T]

The murders occurred the weekend before Mother's Day. Could someone have told the security guard at GW they had a surprise delivery and they would have let the murderer
in ? Any FedEx/ UPS trucks/ white delivery trucks/ vans that you could stick a magnetic sign on and get in GW? About shift change? So the first guy lets the perp in and the subsequent guard didn't know the perp is there because the first guy broke
Policy? Or the guard knew the guy and let him in? And now is too afraid to talk because the murderer is threatening him and he's gonna go to jail either way. JMO.
I just keep thinking about Lita Sullivan...and that delivery...
Just my wild and crazy brain!

Didnt Sills say all delivery people were checked out?

 

[OTPTarheel]

Perhaps, but then the guard at the guard shack would have turned over all the names on the list of all the people that had entered GW from the last day they were seen (May 1st until the day Russ was found) to the police. And Sills would have verified everyone by now that had passed by the guards during the time period in question. I don't think he found anyone that shouldn't have been there or were lying why they were there. If so I think he would say they have a POI in mind. Imo, everyone checked out at GW concerning passing in and out the gate.

snipped for focus
IMO

They keep a written list? Really?

And I'm thinking you could make a RP/GW sticker that looked authentic at some place like Zazzle...or a place that makes fakes, like fake driver's licenses, passports, and there are quite a few of those in Atlanta...

 

[Rhyolite]

Didnt Sills say all delivery people were checked out?

If the cameras were not working, how do they know for sure that every vehicle entering and leaving was accounted for? At rush hour, a guard would be hard pressed to be sure that every vehicle bypassing the guard shack lane had a sticker.