GBI: New evidence found in 2015 Telfair County double murder case
New evidence discovered as GBI continues investigation into 2015 murders of Bud and June Runion
MCRAE-HELENA, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) said Monday investigators have found new evidence in a case involving the January 2015 deaths of Cobb County residents Bud and June Runion.
According to a GBI news release, a citizen found a .22 caliber rifle on April 14 while magnet fishing in Horse Creek on Old Prison Camp Road.
“The same person continued to magnet fish in the area, and on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, found a bag containing the drivers’ licenses and credit cards belonging to the Runions, and a cell phone believed to belong to the Runions,” the release stated.
GBI agents and the Telfair County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant on Wednesday, April 17, at a home in the 400 block of Webb Cemetery Road. The GBI then executed another search warrant at the same home on Friday, April 19.
According to the GBI, investigators recovered evidence from both search warrants, which will be submitted to the crime lab for further analysis.
Ronnie Jay Towns (File photo)
Ronnie Jay Towns was arrested in January 2015 and charged in connection with the Runions’ deaths and armed robbery. Authorities said then that Bud Runion had posted a Craigslist ad seeking a classic car and traveled to Telfair County with his wife to meet the potential seller. The two were later reported missing before their SUV and bodies were found in a lake. Towns was later indicted before the Georgia Supreme Court threw out the indictment in 2019.
In January 2020, Oconee Circuit District Attorney Tim Vaughn announced Towns had been re-indicted.
According to the GBI, the case is tentatively scheduled for trial in August.
Anyone with information should call the GBI Regional Investigative Office in Eastman at (478) 374-6988. Anonymous tips can be submitted by calling 1-800-597-TIPS (8477), online at https://gbi.georgia.gov/submit-tips-online, or by downloading the See Something, Send Something mobile app.
