International Courant
Somebody utilizing a magnet to fish for steel objects in a Georgia creek pulled up a rifle in addition to some misplaced belongings of a pair discovered slain in the identical space greater than 9 years in the past.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says driver’s licenses, bank cards and different objects dragged from Horse Creek in rural Telfair County are “new proof” in a homicide case that is nonetheless awaiting trial.
A citizen who was magnet fishing within the creek on April 14 found a .22-caliber rifle, the GBI stated in a information launch Monday. The unnamed particular person returned to the identical spot two days later and made one other discover: A bag containing a cellphone, a pair of driver’s licenses and bank cards.
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The company says the licenses and bank cards belonged to Bud and June Runion. The couple was robbed and fatally shot earlier than their our bodies had been found off a county street in January 2015.
Authorities say the couple, from Marietta north of Atlanta, made the three-hour drive to Telfair County to satisfy somebody providing to promote Bud Runion a 1966 Mustang.
Just a few days later, investigators arrested Ronnie Adrian “Jay” Cities on costs of armed theft and homicide. They stated Cities lured the couple to Telfair County by replying to a web-based advert that the 69-year-old Bud Runion had posted in search of a basic automobile, although Cities did not personal such a automobile.
Ronnie Adrian “Jay” Cities is seen in courtroom on Jan. 27, 2015, in McRae, Georgia. In response to a information launch issued on April 23, 2024, somebody utilizing a magnet to fish for steel objects in a Georgia creek pulled up a rifle and a few misplaced belongings of Bud and June Runion on April 14, 2024. (Kent D. Johnson/Atlanta Journal-Structure by way of AP, File)
Georgia courts threw out Cities’ first indictment over issues with how the grand jury was chosen — a protracted authorized battle that concluded in 2019. Cities was indicted for a second time within the killings in 2020, and the case was delayed once more by the COVID-19 pandemic. He has pleaded not responsible.
Courtroom proceedings have additionally doubtless been slowed by prosecutors’ choice to hunt the dying penalty, which requires additional pretrial authorized steps.
Cities’ protection legal professional, Franklin Hogue, didn’t instantly return cellphone and e-mail messages in search of remark Tuesday.
Prosecutors are making ready for Cities’ trial to begin as quickly as August, although no date has been set, stated District Lawyer Tim Vaughn of the Oconee Judicial Circuit, which incorporates Telfair County. He stated the newly found proof ought to show helpful.
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“It was a very good case already,” Vaughn stated Tuesday, “however this makes it a good higher case.”
He stated the rifle from the creek is similar caliber because the gun that killed the Runions, although investigators are nonetheless making an attempt to find out whether or not it is the weapon used within the crime.
The objects discovered within the creek additionally led investigators to acquire warrants to go looking a Telfair County dwelling the place they recovered extra proof. The GBI’s assertion gave no additional particulars and Vaughn declined to touch upon what was discovered.
