New Evidence in 9-Year-Old Telfair County Double Homicide Investigation

McRae-Helena, Georgia (April 22, 2024) – Investigators have new evidence in a case involving the January 2015 deaths of two Cobb County residents, Bud and June Runion. 

On April 14, 2024, a citizen found a .22 caliber rifle while magnet fishing in Horse Creek on Old Prison Camp Road, McRae-Helena, Telfair County, Georgia. The same person continued to magnet fish in the area, and on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, found a bag containing drivers’ licenses and credit cards belonging to the Runions, and a cell phone believed to belong to the Runions.   

GBI agents and the Telfair County Sheriff’s Office subsequently executed a search warrant on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, at a home located in the 400 block of Webb Cemetery Road, McRae-Helena, Telfair County, Georgia. The GBI executed an additional search warrant at the same home on Friday, April 19, 2024.  Investigators recovered evidence from both search warrants. The evidence will be submitted to the crime lab for further analysis.   

In January 2015, police arrested Ronnie Jay Towns for the Runion’s deaths and armed robbery. Towns was later indicted.  

The case is tentatively scheduled for trial in August 2024. 

Anyone with information about this investigation is asked to contact the GBI Regional Investigative Office in Eastman at 478-374-6988. Anonymous tips can also be submitted by calling 1-800-597-TIPS (8477), online at https://gbi.georgia.gov/submit-tips-online, or by downloading the See Something, Send Something mobile app.