GBI isn't involved? They were involved in the Runion's case...
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/resident-question-decision-not-call-gbi-help-putna/nfxjF/
May 15, 2014 Residents question decision not to call GBI for help in Putnam Co. beheading
Sheriff Sills said his department has not found many clues to the crime or to Shirley Dermond’s whereabouts, but he said he is not prepared to call the GBI for help, instead relying on his own 40 years in law enforcement.
“If you can tell me something the GBI knows how to do that I don’t know how to do then I will be glad and call them,” Sills said.
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They were involved with the Runion case, and it was solved immediately.
"So true, southernmimi, so true"...
Correct me if I am wrong (I know y'all will!), but when SS was asked about his decision not to use GBI resources, he said in his defense that the GBI had done the autopsies, indicating he had no animosity towards the GBI. I believe that he pretty much HAD to have the autopsies done at the GBI. Putnam County is under the Coroner system, not the Medical Examiner system (as maybe 5 large counties are), and therefore had no Medical Examiner (who is a medical doctor) on staff. Has the sheriff, in the 9 months since this murder, asked for help from the GBI? Sure wish a new unbiased nonpolitical set of eyes would. for example, examine the D's last bank checking account statement (or maybe last 2 statements dependent on the banking cycle) with no preconceived ideas. I remember seeing a clip of the sheriff surrounded by numerous boxes of records saying the he had gone through 10 years of records with the result being "Nothing." What could having ONE GOOD DETECTIVE have a fresh look at the evidence hurt?
Regarding the statement that Ms D was already deceased before being put in the water, it may be that the head trauma wound (and recently woundS) may have been deemed by a medical doctor to have been unsurvivable to a human. The large volume of blood at death scenes where the body has been removed is sometimes used to determine that the missing individual is deceased because no human could survive that amount of blood loss.
Of course and as always, JMO.
True Crime Lover, Sheriff Sills has been very transparent as to why he refuses to request the GBI's assistance in the Dermond murder investigation. He does not want to render rural Sheriffs and Sheriff's Departments unnecessary or obsolete, causing them to eventually become extinct as did the dinosaurs... There is also one other very significant reason that can't be discussed on this thread.
Hopefully, we can all agree that awareness is the key in missing/murdered person's investigations in the 21st century, and that all available resources should be utilized by investigators to insure a probable successful resolution and eventual justice for the victims and their family..
It concerns me very much that this appears not to be the case in the Dermond's abduction/murders/decapitation investigation..
Why would Sheriff Howard Sills continue to refuse these valuable investigative resources; the GBI's elite special agents as well as internet social media; facebook, twitter, etc., to inform the citizenry?
We have all witnessed many successful murder investigations over the past nine months in GA with GBI assistance, including but not limited to the identification and arrest of an Atlanta serial killer, and the recent identification and arrest of the suspect in the Elrey "Bud" and his wife, June Runion murders in rural McRae, Ga. Unlike the Dermond abduction/decapitation/murder investigation, all available investigative resources were utilized...
Interactive Social Media: The Value for Law Enforcement
http://leb.fbi.gov/2013/september/interactive-social-media-the-value-for-law-enforcement
Just curious, if anyone has any plausible explanation, or ideas as to why the silence by SS, lack of investigative updates/pressers, and the absence of msm coverage by WSB2 Mark Winne, AJC's Christian Boone, Athens Banner Herald's crimewriter Joe Johnson, and the Eatonton Messenger News?
I just don't understand why the family isn't crying out for justice, talking to the media, or hiring their own investigator? Who can go over SS' head to get something done? I wish there was something WE could do, letter to the MSGR.com? Why doesn't SS call in a fresh set of eyes? I would not be satisfied with the job done so far, esp if I was their son/daughter. JMO
Happyshoes, only the GA Governor can override the authority of Sheriff Sills' refusal to request the GBI's assistance in the Dermond murder investigation.
I asked why the GBI wasn't involved in the Dermond murder investigation on their facebook page. Their reply was that they must be requested by the Sheriff or the GA Governor..<paraphrased>