After a magnet fisher reeled in a rifle from a creek, a Georgia couple’s cold case murder ends with a guilty plea
A man has pleaded guilty to the slayings of a Georgia couple nearly a decade ago who were lured to death after fishing in a creek with a magnet and reeling in a rifle and other evidence related to a cold case, authorities said.
Telfair County Sheriff Sim Davidson said in a statement that Ronnie Jay Towns pleaded guilty to the 2015 murders of Bud and Joan Runyon. June Runion) and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. statement on Monday.
The case comes to a conclusion just months after someone used a magnet to fish in a Georgia creek Take out a rifle and some Runyons items in the same area where the couple were found murdered. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said in April that driver’s licenses, credit cards and other items taken from Horse Creek were “new evidence” in the murder case.
Magnet fishermen found a .22-caliber rifle — the same caliber used to kill Runyons, officials said at the time. When the magnet fishermen returned to the same location two days later, they found a bag containing a cellphone, driver’s license and credit cards that investigators said belonged to Bud Runyon and Joan Runyon.
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In January 2015, the couple’s bodies were found along a county road and authorities said they had been robbed. CBS affiliate WMAZ-TV said investigators found their bodies and cars in three different locations at the time report.
Investigators said Downs lured the couple by responding to an online ad posted by Bud Runion, 69, seeking a classic car, even though Downs did not actually own the car. Authorities said the couple drove three hours from their home in Marietta to Telfair County to view the car. They never came back.
Downs was eventually charged with homicide, but his trial was delayed multiple times — once because too few jurors reported for jury duty when prosecutors presented the case to the grand jury, WMAZ-TV report. In 2020, he was charged again, but the case was postponed due to delays by the judiciary. COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, after new evidence was found in the creek, Downs pleaded guilty and will now spend the rest of his life in prison.
“We are thankful this case is closed and our prayers are with both families,” Chief Davidson said. explain on Monday.
People fishing with magnets have caught other unexpected things in recent months. In June, a New York City couple said they use magnets roll in safe Inside were two wads of waterlogged $100 bills. A month before that, a magnet fisherman caught a human skull Padlocks on fitness dumbbells on a New Orleans waterway.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
