88 Year Old Russell Dermond Found Murdered & Decapitated, His 87 Year Old Wife Shirley Dermond Missing in Reynolds Plantation, GA

GRUESOME  MURDER AND WIFE MISSING IN  REYNOLDS PLANTATION, GA.

88 year old Russell Dermond was found murdered in his garage and his wife,  87 year old Shirley Dermond is missing and believed abducted. She is not believed to be a suspect in her husband’s death.  Authorities confirmed that Russell Dermond was found decapitated. Investigators believe Russell Dermond was killed between last Friday and Sunday, and they’re still searching for his severed head.  Shirley Dermond is 5-foot-2 and weighs 148 pounds. She has gray hair and blue eyes. She is believed to be in danger. In an area where there is almost literally no crime, the the two lived in a multimillion dollar gated community. Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills said he doesn’t believe the attack was random, partly because there was no evidence of forced entry or a struggle.

Investigators are treating her disappearance as an abduction, he said. There is no indication she’s a suspect, and there’s “plenty” to indicate she was taken, he said. Her pocketbook, cell phone and vehicle were all at the million-dollar waterfront home where her husband’s headless body was found.

Investigators believe Russell Dermond was killed between last Friday and Sunday, and they’re still searching for his severed head, Sills told reporters, describing the case as “very unusual” and the most frustrating homicide of his career.

“I don’t think it’s a random incident. I think for whatever reason these people were singled out for this,” Sills said. “They live in the most exclusive neighborhood, or one of the most exclusive neighborhoods, in this county. … They’re on a cul-de-sac in a gated, multimillion dollar resort community that we have no crime in.”

Man Beheaded, Wife Missing From Gated Community.

Investigators fear Dermond’s 87-year-old wife, Shirley, was abducted or killed. They were searching for her with the help of the FBI.

“We looked in the woods adjacent to the house, we looked in the lake,” Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills said during a news conference. “Her pocketbook and things like that are there, her cellphone is there, the car is there — we don’t have anything to track.”

“I certainly hope that she’s still alive but I’m not overly optimistic because of her husband,” he said Thursday afternoon. “If it’s an abduction, you would expect some sort of extortion demand. If it was an assassination you would think both of the people would be there — both bodies would be there.”

Anyone with more information should call the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office at 706-485-8557.