Someone using a magnet for fishing for metal objects in a Georgia creek recovered a rifle and some missing belongings from a couple found murdered in the same area over 9 years ago.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says driver’s licenses, credit cards, and other items pulled across Horse Creek in rural Telfair County are ‘new evidence’ in a murder case still pending.
A citizen who was magnet fishing in the creek on April 14 discovered a 22 caliber rifle, the GBI said in a press release Monday.
The anonymous person returned to the exact location two days later and found something else: A bag containing a cell phone, a pair of driver’s licenses, and credit cards.
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The agency said the license and credit card belonged to Bud and June Runion. The couple was robbed and shot before their bodies were discovered on a county road in January 2015.
Authorities said the couple, from Marietta, north of Atlanta, drove three hours clocks from Telfair to the district to meet someone who offered to sell him a car, Bud Runion.
1966 Mustang A few days later, investigators arrested Ronnie Adrian “Jay” Towns for armed robbery and murder.
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They said Towns lured the couple to the Telfair District by responding to an online ad posted by Bud Runion, 69, looking for a classic car, even though Towns did not own such a vehicle.
Georgia courts dismissed Towns’ initial indictment on issues related to grand jury selection – a lengthy legal battle that ended in 2019.
Towns was charged a second time with murder in 2020, and the case was again delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He pleaded not guilty.
Court proceedings may also be slowed by the prosecutor’s decision to seek the death penalty, requiring additional legal steps before trial.
Towns’ defense attorney, Franklin Hogue, did not immediately respond to phone and email messages seeking comment Tuesday.
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Prosecutors are preparing for Towns’ trial to begin as early as August. However, District Attorney Tim Vaughn of the Oconee Judicial District, including Telfair County, said no date has been set.
He said the newly discovered evidence would prove helpful. “It was already a good deal,” Vaughn said Tuesday, “but this makes it an even better deal.”
He said the Creek rifle was the same caliber as the one that killed Runion, although investigators are still trying to determine whether it was the weapon used in the crime.
Items found in the creek also led investigators to obtain a search warrant for a home in Telfair County, where they discovered additional evidence. The GBI statement did not provide further details, and Vaughn declined to comment on what was found.
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