The widely discussed and reported case of the murders of Russell and Shirley Dermond may still be unsolved on its 10-year anniversary, but it is in no way a cold case.
Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills continues to not only think about the case every day but also explore every possible avenue of finding a suspect.
“Ten years is a long time, and this 10th anniversary only reminds me that I haven’t solved this case,” Sills said.
Last year, Sills made two trips to Houston, Texas, to deliver evidence items to be tested in a private lab. Two months ago, he took some of those same items and some others to another laboratory in Salt Lake City, Utah, which is also used by the FBI.
“They were articles that we know the perpetrator or perpetrators had to have handled,” he said of the items taken to Utah.
Russell Dermond, 88, and his wife, Shirley, 87, were slain sometime May 2-3, 2014. They had accepted an invitation to attend a Derby Day Party at the home of some friends, but never showed up at the party. In 2019, the friend, Marianne Wade, told The Eatonton Messenger that, when the couple never showed up, she and others became concerned and repeatedly tried to phone the Dermonds to no avail. So, Wade asked a mutual friend to take some of the roses from the party over to them.
When the friend went to their house and received no answer, he looked through a window and saw Russell Dermond’s lifeless, decapitated body in the garage. Shirley Dermond’s body was discovered in Lake Oconee more than a week later by fishermen.
Sills has said the difference in this case and the other homicide cases he worked is that he can find no criminal nexus to the victims.
“These people lived a very simple life,” he said, noting he could not even find a motive.
Three to four years ago, Sills was optimistic about some new technology regarding cellular phones that the FBI had been using to help solve cases. It took a while for those results to come in, and when he went through them, Sills said he found nothing that could immediately solve the case. However, Sills said he saved the information because he may be able to “tie it to something else later down the road.”
Other news agencies last week and earlier this week have reported that the Utah laboratory found DNA from an unknown individual on Russell Dermond’s shirt. When he talked to The Eatonton Messenger Monday, Sills said the lab later notified him that the new-found DNA was inconclusive.
But there is hope for some other DNA on another item that is undergoing further testing, Sills said.
Putnam’s veteran sheriff said he is constantly searching, staying up-to-date on the latest crime-solving techniques in hopes of finding one that will help with this, his one and only unsolved case. His voice seemed to carry cautious hope as he said he had recently been in contact with another laboratory that he read about that solved another case. As always, he declined revealing much more detail.
“I have to keep some things private, or I’ll never be able to pick a jury if I do make an arrest,” he explained of his silence. “But all I need is one little detail that can point me to a suspect, and once I have a suspect, I will have someone to compare to all these other findings.”