Above, ^^^ someone speaks of their own experience at the entrance to the neighborhood the Dermond's lived in.
Thanks for the acknowledgement.
I have read through the thread now, and see that there is still not a feel for the layout of the land at the lake and Great Waters.
This is NOT an exclusive suburb like we see near metro areas. Those are usually fully fenced-in gated golf courses dotted with expensive McMansions on relatively small lots and where most of the (front yard) trees are mowed down for ease of construction then resod and (tastefully) landscaped.
In Great Waters (and the other Reynolds Plantation properties) , the
Land Is King. The only trees that are removed are
those that are absolutely necessary to allow the equipment and trucks need to complete the construction of the house. Even more so when you have the even more exclusive and expensive lake-front property.
This means that from most properties, there is a very good chance that you can neither see nor hear your neighbors. If you have seen some of the videos of the house taken from copters, it almost looks like a shot of the Amazon there is so much acreage of woods.
Also....the are very long subdivisions.
As y'all (I told you I was from Georgia :smile
no doubt know by now, this is a man-made lake built by Georgia Power to generate electricity as its first purpose. Now if you are going to build a lake like this, you need a river that is running through a large valley. That means you are building through very hilly country.
That being the case, first there is a rather long road just to get to the entry. Once through, you are on roads that are just wide enough to allow two cars to pass. They are truly
lanes. The first time I went there, there was a red fox just sauntering across the "road" pretty as you please. Populated...but remote.
Beside being narrow, since the location is so hilly, it is almost like a roller coaster driving around the property. Up a hill then.....'weeeee'...back down the other side. There are also speed bumps: mostly before golf cart paths that cross the road, but also at strategic places to slow you down before you could get in trouble with some of the sharp curves and steep hills.
IOW...this is not a place where there can be strangers just passing by or roaming around , a "home invasion" as typically known is impossible, if you are in a vehicle, you cannot go fast because of pure physics.
As to security cameras, I can't see them doing more than the guard house (and getting license plates) and maybe a few other places along the small roads where they cross (many by traffic circles). Most houses are so secluded that the home owner might place them around their property (front door, etc.) but would be useless at trying to see the road or other people's property.
As mentioned before, this is not a "retirement" community (as such) and, indeed, there are small children there. But it IS so expensive that take most moderately successful folks will have to take a lifetime of shrewd savings to afford it. So while there are people who will drive the two hour (or more) commute to Atlanta, most start out as weekend getaways with the goal being to retire permanently there, so they majority of residents are certainly seniors. It is not a upper crust snob community full of "show-offs"...pretty much the opposite, in fact.
Bottom line: (IMO, of course)
This was a well organized, targeted crime committed by (probably two or more) perpetrators coming and leaving via the lake.
Since more "normal" and conventional scenarios are impossible (or the probability of such approaching 'zero') then it was a meticulous planned and executed plot, or we need to give a little more credence to
oceanblueeyes, scenario of a "thrill-kill" (think Leopold and Loeb).
Getting in and out would be very difficult for a "stranger", but a neighbor's unstable son (with or without accomplices) should certainly not be ruled out.
