McRAE-HELENA, Ga. — Someone the use of a magnet to fish for steel items in a Georgia creek pulled up a rifle and a few misplaced assets of a pair discovered slain in the similar space greater than 9 years in the past.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation mentioned driving force’s licenses, credit playing cards and different pieces dredged from Horse Creek in rural Telfair County are “new evidence” in a homicide case that’s nonetheless watching for trial.
An individual who was once magnet fishing in the creek on April 14 came upon a .22-caliber rifle, the GBI mentioned in a news free up Monday. The unnamed individual returned to the similar spot two days later and made any other to find: a bag containing a cell phone, a couple of driving force’s licenses and credit playing cards.
The company mentioned the licenses and credit playing cards belonged to Bud and June Runion. The couple was once robbed and fatally shot prior to their our bodies had been came upon off a county highway in January 2015.
Authorities say the couple, from Marietta north of Atlanta, made the three-hour pressure to Telfair County to satisfy any individual providing to promote Bud Runion a 1966 Mustang.
A couple of days later, investigators arrested Ronnie Adrian “Jay” Towns on fees of armed theft and homicide. They mentioned Towns lured the couple to Telfair County via replying to a web based advert that the 69-year-old Bud Runion had posted in quest of a vintage automobile, regardless that Towns didn’t personal this sort of automobile.
Georgia courts threw out Towns’ first indictment over issues with how the grand jury was once decided on — a protracted felony fight that concluded in 2019. Towns was once indicted for a 2nd time in the killings in 2020, and the case was once not on time once more via the Covid-19 pandemic. He has pleaded no longer accountable.
Court complaints have additionally most probably been slowed via prosecutors’ resolution to hunt the demise penalty, which calls for further pretrial felony steps.
Towns’ protection legal professional, Franklin Hogue, didn’t instantly go back telephone and electronic mail messages in quest of remark Tuesday.
Prosecutors are making ready for Towns’ trial to begin once August, regardless that no date has been set, mentioned District Attorney Tim Vaughn of the Oconee Judicial Circuit, which incorporates Telfair County. He mentioned the newly came upon evidence will have to turn out helpful.
“It was a good case already,” Vaughn mentioned Tuesday, “but this makes it an even better case.”
He mentioned the rifle from the creek is identical caliber because the gun that killed the Runions, regardless that investigators are nonetheless seeking to resolve whether or not it’s the weapon used in the crime.
The pieces discovered in the creek additionally led investigators to procure warrants to go looking a Telfair County house the place they recovered further evidence. The GBI’s observation gave no additional main points and Vaughn declined to touch upon what was once discovered.
