Authorities on Tuesday identified two bodies as those of a Georgia couple who disappeared after driving three hours to buy a classic car; a suspect already in custody was charged with murder and armed robbery.

The Telfair County sheriff, Chris Steverson, said 69-year-old Elrey “Bud” Runion and his 66-year-old wife, June, were shot dead and that 28-year-old Ronnie Adrian “Jay” Towns of McRae had been charged with malice murder and armed robbery.

Towns was initially charged with giving false statements and criminal attempt to commit theft by deception.

Authorities said Bud Runion posted a Craigslist ad last week seeking a classic car and travelled to Telfair County with his wife to meet a potential seller. The two were reported missing and their SUV and bodies were found on Monday.

In Telfair County, where cotton and peanut fields meet dense woods, a three-hour drive south of the Runions’ suburban Atlanta home, days of searching by authorities and volunteers ended with a grim discovery and an arrest. Sheriff Steverson said the couple’s SUV had been found in a lake a few miles outside McRae, a tiny city of 5,700 about 80 miles south-east of Macon. Searchers discovered two bodies nearby.

The same day, investigators arrested Towns. The sheriff said a cellphone used to make the last known contact with the Runions had been traced to Towns. He said the young man turned himself in on Monday, accompanied by family members.

The arrest stunned Towns’s family. He grew up on a farm beside a long dirt road where his father grew soybeans, cotton and peanuts, not far from where the bodies were found. Towns lived in neighbouring Wheeler County with his family – a wife and a young daughter he supported doing construction work for a local homebuilder, said his uncle, Buddy Towns.

“He’s a good kid, and very smart,” said the uncle, who often saw his nephew’s truck pass his McRae business as Jay Towns headed to work. “It just doesn’t make any sense why this would even go down. It’s hard for his parents. They’re not understanding.”

The sheriff said investigators found no evidence that Towns owned the sort of classic car Runion was seeking.



The Runions’ daughters reported them missing after they didn’t show up to babysit their grandchildren. They told WSB-TV their parents left home with their cellphones and chargers, but no one had heard from them since 3.30pm on Thursday.

“If someone has taken them, we have forgiven that person, because God tells us to love and forgive,” daughter Virginia Owens said, before her parents’ vehicle was located.