Someone used a magnet to fish for metal objects in a Georgia creek and discovered a firearm as well as some lost things of a couple who were killed in the same place more than nine years ago, according to authorities.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation claims driver’s IDs, credit cards, and other items found in Horse Creek in rural Telfair County are “new evidence” in a murder case that is currently before trial.
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A GBI press release on Monday stated that a resident, while magnet fishing in the creek on April 14, discovered a.22-caliber firearm. The unknown individual returned to the same location two days later and found another discovery: a backpack holding a cellphone, two driver’s licenses, and credit cards.
According to the agency, Bud and June Runion owned the licenses and credit cards. In January 2015, investigators recovered the couple’s remains from a county road, following their robbery and shooting death. Investigators discovered their remains and the couple’s automobile in three different locations, according to CBS station WMAZ-TV.
Authorities say the pair, from Marietta, north of Atlanta, drove three hours to Telfair County to meet someone who offered to sell Bud Runion a 1966 Mustang.
A few days later, authorities arrested Ronnie Adrian “Jay” Towns on counts of armed robbery and murder. They claimed Towns enticed the pair to Telfair County by responding to an online ad put by Bud Runion, 69, looking for a classic car, despite the fact that Towns did not own one.
Due to problems with the grand jury selection process, Georgia courts overturned Towns’ first indictment, sparking a protracted legal battle that concluded in 2019. According to WMAZ-TV, the delay began because fewer than 16 of the 50 people summoned to jury duty did not show up, causing the case to be sent to a grand jury.
In 2020, Towns faced a second indictment for the killings, but the COVID-19 epidemic once again delayed the case. He’s pleaded not guilty.
The decision by prosecutors to pursue the death penalty, which necessitates more legal hurdles before trial, has also likely hampered court proceedings.
Franklin Hogue, Towns’ defense attorney, did not immediately respond to phone and email inquiries seeking comment Tuesday.
District Attorney Tim Vaughn of the Oconee Judicial Circuit, which includes Telfair County, stated that prosecutors plan to begin Towns’ trial as early as August, though they have not yet set a date. He stated that the newly discovered evidence should prove valuable.
“It was a good case before,” Vaughn said Tuesday, “but this makes it even better.”
He stated that the rifle recovered from the creek is the same caliber as the gun used to kill the Runions, but detectives are still determining whether it was the weapon used in the crime.
The materials discovered in the creek also prompted investigators to get warrants to search a Telfair County residence, where they found additional evidence. The GBI’s statement offered no additional details, and Vaughn refrained from commenting on the findings.
Magnet fishing has previously yielded unexpected results. Magnet fishermen found an unexploded ordnance in the Charles River in Massachusetts just last month, following the discovery of another in the same region a few days earlier, according to CBS Boston. The ammunition was transferred to the Massachusetts State Police Bomb Squad, which safely detonated the bomb.
During a magnet fishing trip in 2022, a man and his 11-year-old grandson retrieved two 50-caliber Barrett sniper rifles from a murky South Florida canal, according to CBS Miami. The same year, a magnet fisherman in New Jersey retrieved a 30-pound explosive device from the Passaic River, according to CBS New York.
Magnet fishermen in Michigan have discovered a wide range of items, including firearms, motorcycles, pipe bombs, pocket knives, and World War II antiques.
