Georgia authorities are no closer to figuring out the person or persons responsible for the gruesome murder of an elderly couple in their lakefront home over a month ago, the Associated Press reported.
The murders of Russell Dermond, 88, and his wife, 87-year-old Shirley Dermond, shocked their gated community in Putnam County, creating rumors from mob involvement to hungry alligators as being responsible for their deaths.
The husband was found decapitated in their home on Lake Oconee in the community of Great Waters on May 6. The body of Shirely Dermond, who remained missing for weeks after her husband's body was found, was eventually recovered from the lake. Russell Dermond's head was never found.
"It is the prime topic of conversation around," Ron Bridgeman, senior editor at The Eatonton Messenger, told the AP. "It has consumed hours and hours and hours of our time."
Police suspect the couple knew their attacker or attackers. But the motive for the gruesome act is still unknown, Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills told the AP. A thorough investigation into records and hundreds of interviews yielded no results.
Sills, a sheriff of 18 years, suspects someone in the neighborhood has information but for reasons unknown will not come forward. That is why he has requested that the public contribute to a reward.
"I've found that almost all of them will respond to enough money, and we intend to offer enough money out there to spark the mercenary side of somebody."
Some believe the murders were the result of a mob hit or that it was connected to the 2000 death their son who was killed during a drug deal turned sour. Others speculate that a female alligator looking for food to feed her offspring did it, Sills told the AP.
But Sills remains confident he will catch the killer. He is certain the couple knew their killer because there were no signs of forced entry. He is also certain the killer used a boat to reach the house and then later dispose of the wife's body in the lake.
"They've done a good job concealing themselves," Sills told the AP. "We've got to do a better job of finding them."
