Murdered, Yet 11 Years Later Their Cases Remains Unsolved

Warning: talks of violence, decapitation

This lovely couple in the picture above is Shirley and Russell Dermond. They were Georgia residents who had moved from metro Atlanta to Great Waters subdivision. The Dermond’s were devoted in their lake community and Russell owned several Hardee’s franchise before he retired. They were married for 68 years. They were parents to 4 children and grandparents to 9 grandchildren. And their case has yet to be solved.

On May 1, 2014, Shirley and Russell were seen running errands. Just a few days later, they had plans to attend a friend Kentucky Derby party. The Dermond’s never showed. Friends/neighbors went to go check on them. When they arrived, Russell’s body was found in the Dermond’s garage with his head missing. Shirley was nowhere to be found.

The search for Shirley started and ten days after finding Russell’s body, authorities found Shirley miles away in the lake, weighted down by 30lb concrete blocks.

During the beginning parts of the investigation, authorities noticed that there were no signs of forced entry and all valuables were left behind. They found gunshot residue on Russell’s collar, making investigator believe that Russel was shot in the head and the perpetrator took his head to hinder testing. It was also identified that Shirley died from blunt force trauma. Unfortunately, no weapon was identified.

For 9 years investigators couldn’t trace anything back to a suspect, but in 2024 an unknown DNA profile was found when they conducted testing on Russel’s clothing. Earlier this year the Sherrif was awaiting lab results.

Though authorities have been able to find new evidence through testing, no suspect has been found. It has been 11 years now and the Dermond’s killer is still out there.

I do hope you enjoyed reading. I work hard to be respectful to the victims and families of the victims. There will be more to come, I just want to take my time researching to get the correct information out to my readers. Thanks for visiting Crime with Lilo! Stay safe and healthy! 🙂