PUTNAM COUNTY, Ga. — On May 6, 2014, a neighbor went to check on Russell and Shirley Dermond at their Lake Oconee home in Putnam County, Georgia.
Russell, 88, and Shirley, 87, had been married 68 years and were living out their golden years at the beautiful, gated lakefront property. Three days earlier they were supposed to go to the neighbor's house to watch the Kentucky Derby, but never showed.
As their phones went unanswered, neighbors grew concerned. One neighbor went to conduct the check and found their door was unlocked; an unretrieved newspaper was still in their driveway. After searching the home, the neighbor made a horrifying discovery -- Russell, killed and decapitated, in the couple's garage.
Ten days later, a pair of fishermen found Shirley dead near a Lake Oconee dam about five miles from their home. Authorities said her remains were found in the water, with two red cinder blocks tied around her ankles, in an effort to weigh her down.
No suspect has ever been identified.
"These people committed a heinous crime, depraved act," Sheriff Howard Sills told 11Alive's Cody Alcorn after a recent development in the case. "They need to be caught."
Here's what we know about where the case stands:
Murder of Russell and Shirley Dermond | Where the case stands 10 years later
- Timeline: Based on his investigation, Sheriff Sills has narrowed the time-frame of the crime to somewhere between 4:30 p.m., on Friday, May 2 -- when the mail was delivered -- to 4 p.m., on Saturday, May 3, when the couple did not show up for the party. Although there is a guard house at the main entrance to the community, there is no gate keeping visitors from approaching the community from the lake.
- There was a lack of evidence from the beginning: There was little of it at the crime scene where Russell was found and the killer or killers placing Shirley in the water ensured whatever evidence with her would've largely deteriorated.
- Investigation: There were no fingerprints, no foreign DNA at the scene and no eye witnesses. There was a security camera running at the gated community, but it wasn't recording when the murders occurred due to a storm a few weeks earlier. Hundreds of interviews were conducted but, as Sheriff Sills said in 2018: “The boxes are nothing but files with interviews after interviews after interviews of people. There's nothing magical in these boxes."
- Nonetheless, law enforcement has had some sense of what may have happened: They determined it was likely Shirley was beaten to death, and Russell was found with bruising on his hand as well one particularly noteworthy piece of evidence: Strands of Shirley's hair interwoven with Russell's wounds, suggesting he may have fought the attacker in an attempt to save his wife. "It would appear that there was a struggle and dad was trying to be protective of mom," their son Brad told 11Alive back in 2018.
- The sheriff believes Russell was likely shot in the head: This would explain several things, including the decapitation -- to remove evidence of the method of the murder -- as well as gunshot residue that was found on his shirt.
- Authorities also don't believe it was random: Sheriff Sills has noted in the past there were no signs of forced entry or struggle -- or a disturbance of any kind, for that matter -- anywhere else in the home besides the garage.
- One lead that went nowhere: In May 2015, it came out that a mystery man was spotted on the Dermonds’ property around the time of their murders. Sills interviewed him, but no arrest was made.
- It's believed more than one suspect should be out there: “There’s no way one person did this. I’m not going to say it’s absolutely physically impossible, but it’s highly unlikely,” the sheriff said in 2018. This is also the opinion of FBI Special Agent Andy Smith, who talked to 11Alive last week.
- Motive theories: At one point in 2014, Sills believed that the Dermonds died after a botched robbery extortion -- in which the Dermonds were unable to deliver the cash or valuables demanded of them. But as FBI Special Agent Smith noted, there was a lack of evidence of any actual theft, which "makes it seem more of a personal crime." Nothing else that's been explored -- ranging in everything from a possible New Jersey mob hit to a family member potentially committing the killings -- has ever panned out.
- New leads: In just the last month, Sheriff Sills revealed one of the most promising potential breaks in the case since the Dermonds were murdered 10 years ago -- evidence taken to labs a year ago turned up a "DNA hit" for DNA that does not belong to either Russell or Shirley.
- What that does and doesn't mean: It doesn't mean they can pinpoint a suspect yet, and they still need more DNA to "hopefully get enough to where it can be submitted" to criminal DNA databases, Sills said. It also doesn't mean they can yet fully rule out that the DNA belongs to someone completely innocent -- a lab technician, for instance, or a law enforcement officer; someone involved in the case at some point. But if it's not someone like that, Sills said, "it's probably gonna be whoever perpetrated these murders, or at least somebody who was a party to the crime."
- Other new evidentiary leads: Special Agent Smith told 11Alive they're also evaluating cellular data and other possible evidence. "There are several things that we have that we’re evaluating that no one knows," he said last week.
- Reward: A $25,000 FBI reward is being offered for anyone who has information on who killed the Dermonds or may have been involved. The Putnam County Sheriff's Office also has a $5,000 reward.
If you have info
Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact the FBI Atlanta Office at 770-216-3000 or the Putnam County Sheriff's Office at 706-485-8557.