Nine years later, the mystery behind the murders of Russell and Shirley Dermond on Georgia’s Lake Oconee still confounds authorities.
Cox Media Group’s Nicole Bennett is revisiting the investigation with Karyn Greer, anchor for WSB-TV in Atlanta, to explore how a private lab could finally help solve the case.
>> Listen to the full episode below.
Russell and Shirley Dermond, an elderly couple, lived for 15 years inside the Reynolds Great Waters gated community in Eatonton, Georgia, on the banks of Lake Oconee.
Russell Dermond, a retired clock manufacturing executive and fast food franchisee, was last seen on May 1, 2014, running errands around town. Just five days later on May 6, when the Dermonds never showed up to a friend’s Kentucky Derby party, the couple’s neighbors called 911 to report a gruesome discovery.
The body of Russell Dermond, 88, was found inside the garage of the couple’s 3,200-square-foot-home, slumped behind one of the couple’s cars. There was something else though – a detail that would propel this case into national headlines. Russell Dermond had been decapitated, and his head was nowhere to be found.
Shirley Dermond, who had been married to Russell for 62 years, was also missing. Her body would surface 10 days later, discovered about five miles from her home by a couple of fishermen on Lake Oconee. Mrs. Dermond’s body had been weighed down with 30-pound cement blocks.
An autopsy later revealed that Shirley Dermond, 87, was killed by multiple blows to the head with a blunt object.
At first, the murders appeared to be the work of professionals. Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills said he initially assumed the beheading was meant to send a message. But the FBI couldn’t find any connections to the Dermonds in any of their investigations. The couple had no known enemies.
As the investigation got underway, Sheriff Sills soon ruled out the ‘profession hit theory’. His observation – Russell Dermond was most likely shot. There was gun residue on Mr. Dermond’s collar indicating that he was shot and the sheriff believes his head was removed because the killers knew the bullet could be traced. Russell’s head has yet to be found.
Every resident close to the Dermonds in the Reynolds Great Waters neighborhood has been questioned over the years and cleared of any involvement in the case.
The Dermonds had four children. In 2000, their oldest son Mark was killed in Atlanta in a drug deal gone wrong. Investigators have not found any connection between that crime and Russell and Shirley Dermond’s murders. Their other children – two sons in Florida and a daughter in North Carolina – all passed polygraphs, two of which were administered by the FBI, and nothing links them to the crimes.
Listen to the full episode above for the latest on the investigation into the murders of Russell and Shirley Dermond.
Beyond Criminal Headlines is a podcast in which Cox Media Group’s Nicole Bennett sits down with experts who’ve investigated some of the most notorious cases in U.S. history. Find the latest ‘Beyond Criminal Headlines’ content on any podcast provider or listen on demand here.
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