COBB COUNTY, Ga. — The man accused of killing three people at a Cobb County country club last year will likely face the death penalty.
District Attorney Flynn D. Broady, Jr. said, while nothing is official, it is his intent to seek the death penalty against Bryan Rhoden.
"While we have not filed written notice yet, it is our intent to seek the death penalty," he said in a statement to 11Alive. "We will file written notice at the appropriate time in accordance with the Unified Appeal Procedure.”
The bodies of Gene Siller, Henry Valdez and Paul Pierson were all found on the golf course at the Pinetree Country Club in Kennesaw in July of 2021.
Siller, the club's golf pro, was shot to death near the 10th hole when Cobb County Police say he stumbled upon the crime already in progress. They said he he was not targeted, but was shot because he was witnessing the crime.
Police later found Valdez and Pierson tied up and and shot to death in the bed of a pickup truck on the green.
Rhoden is charged with three counts of malice murder, five counts of felony murder, two counts of kidnapping with bodily injury, three counts of aggravated assault and an additional two less serious charges.
His Instagram page featured a statement saying they were his words. 11Alive asked the sheriff's office if he had access to social media to make the post. They said they spoke with him and that they were posted by someone else on his behalf. It read:
"Contrary to the plethora of prejudicial publicity, the allegations made against me are erroneous," the statement read.
He went on to say that the reports about him are false and that they are "blatant and utter attempts to assassinate, defamate, and deplete my character and that of others" asking for people to keep an "open mind."
Chamblee Police said they took Rhoden into custody on unrelated traffic charges later on July 3. However, at the time, the suspect was still unknown to law enforcement as the alleged shooter in the triple homicide.
Rhoden "appeared to be very nervous" during that arrest, a police report stated. He had been pulled over in a black 2017 Maserati Ghibli.
Rhoden was released on bond from the DeKalb County Jail three days later. Two days after that, warrants were issued for his arrest in connection with the country club shooting. They used money that was confiscated in the arrest to set up a sting. Rhoden allegedly contacted police to retrieve the money.
Rhoden was previously arrested in 2016 in Fulton County, allegedly for a drug deal gone wrong on Georgia State University's campus. At the time, he was charged with attempted murder, but 11Alive learned that case was sealed in 2017.