TELFAIR COUNTY, Ga. — Nine years after Bud and June Runion were killed, their daughter said her parents can finally rest in peace after a the suspect in their deaths pleaded guilty.
Jay Towns has been in the Telfair County Jail for nearly a decade waiting for a trial. The victims' daughter, Brittany Patterson, told 11Alive Towns pleaded guilty to two counts of malice murder Monday and will spend the rest of his life in jail.
Towns stood accused of killing the couple after Bud Runion posted an ad on Craigslist looking for a 1966 Mustang, similar to the one he had after returning from Vietnam.
WMAZ, 11Alive's sister station in Macon, Georgia, reported the Cobb County couple was lured down to Telfair County, between Macon and the Georgia coast, on Jan. 15, 2015 after Towns responded to their Craigslist ad. But instead of coming home with a new car, the Runions were shot to death. Their bodies were found in a wooded area near the Towns' family property.
Patterson said her dad loved classic cars.
"He had a Mustang in the 1960s, which he purchased while in the Army," she explained. "He was a Vietnam Vet, drafted to serve overseas. He just wanted to find that car again and enjoy life now retired."
She described her parents as people who served other families in need. She said the two started a ministry in 1991.
"They helped pay utility bills, buy groceries, help single parents, gave toys at Christmas," she added. "In 1996 he joined with a church friend who had an outreach ministry to the Marietta projects. They began a Christmas Eve tradition of delivering bicycles to children in the projects. He would collect new and used bikes -- fixing up the used ones -- and they had a big delivery day."
She said her mother always supported her father and his big ideas.
"Their home became a storage facility for bikes and a food pantry," Patterson described. "She was always supportive and worked alongside him. Their ministry reached many states in the Southeast including West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. They responded to natural disasters with food and building supplies."
While their goal was to always reach people's physical needs, Patterson said they also wanted to reach them spiritually.
"They wanted to share the love of God with people," she said. "Losing them was devastating not just to their family, but it was a great loss to our community."
WMAZ reported that in exchange for the plea on the most serious charges — including murder — Judge Sarah Wall agreed to drop six other counts listed in the indictment along with dropping a Dodge County indictment against Towns.
The news outlet said Towns didn't speak during the hearing.
