Hi everyone, this is Deb from Dying to be Found.
Before we get started, I just wanted to say that episodes contain disturbing discussions
on harmful acts and crimes against animals and or humankind.
Recordings are not intended for young or sensitive audiences due to the content nature of this
podcast.
Listener discretion is strongly advised.
Hi everyone, I'm Deb.
And I'm Shelby.
And Shelby, here we go again.
I'm so excited because we've made our rotation and you're up.
This is so exciting that I'm doing this rotation with my family.
I'm loving this.
Me too.
I am ready for spring break.
Me too.
I say that I just had my spring break.
Yeah, you did.
You had spring break before spring break, but I'm ready like for the beach.
Well, you went to the beach, didn't you?
We did.
Yeah, but it was pretty cold.
Yeah, still obviously a little cold.
There's still frost and ice and all that good stuff, but we're not here to talk about the
weather.
We're here to talk about what an amazing week we had.
We had so much feedback and I appreciate our listeners.
I got great emails this week, so more power to you.
I appreciate everybody sending in the love that you're feeling about season two because
I know I'm feeling it.
Yay, that's so exciting.
I know.
So keep those emails coming.
We appreciate it.
If you're new to Dying to be Found, we've gone a few rounds with my sister, Beth.
We've gone with you, Shelby, and your brother, Corey, not to mention our Dash episodes with
some really amazing fellow podcasters.
So if you have not had a chance to check that out, you can listen to us on Apple podcasts
or go find Dying to be Found, The Dash on Spotify.
And those are those shorter versions, those collab sessions.
So once again, thank you so much.
I am still lining up guests to join in on The Dash, so be sure to DM me if you want
to help me out on future episodes.
Shelbs, I'm truly amazed with the amount of support we're getting from our True Crime
community and it's a real eye opener on how many of us are doing the same thing, but we're
really looking out for each other.
So thanks again.
Yeah, that's so awesome.
And we can't forget about loyal listeners, Shelby, because I want to give a shout out
to Katie who suggested the story today.
So thanks so much, Katie.
If anyone has a storyline that you would like to hear, make sure you look in our show notes
and send us a request and we will definitely get it in the airwaves.
All right, Shelby, let's get started.
Let's do it.
And here's my question for you today.
Alrighty.
How often do you call your grandmother?
Probably not as often as I should.
But you do a really good job because every time I talk with her, she is always so excited
to hear from you.
And to be honest, I mean, that's wonderful.
We're so spread out, but it's really, it just warms my heart how much she loves those calls.
So from me to you, thanks for calling your grandma.
Maybe I'll call her tonight.
Oh, you should, but don't tell her we have this podcast because listeners, Gran does
not know that we're doing this podcast.
We've kept the secret for over a year now.
All right, so the reason I'm asking that Shelby is because I talk to your grandmother once
a week and it's usually on a Tuesday.
And I swear there are days when I'm trying to get in touch with her and she doesn't pick
up the phone.
So I'm thinking, okay, she's got an appointment that she didn't tell me about.
Well, if I don't end up talking to her by Thursday, you can be darn tooting that I'm
going to be texting your aunt Kathy to see if she's heard from your grandmother.
And that's kind of how I work, but I also work that way in your life as well, because
you know, if I don't hear from you, I'm going to be texting you, I'm going to be calling
you and then you know the next step.
Yep.
I sure do.
All right.
Today is a story about a sweet elderly couple.
And I'm going to bring you back to Georgia, Shelby.
This couple lived in Eatonton, Georgia, which is located about an hour Southeast of Atlanta
near Lake Oconee.
And I don't know if you remember where that's at, but that was not too far from where you
grew up.
Yes.
Yep.
I sure remember that.
I'll tell you something else.
I know you hold a special place in your heart for elderly people.
So I'm really going to do my best, Shelby, to keep our emotions in check today.
And I'm going to try not to make you cry because according to some of my storytelling techniques,
I tend to do that from time to time.
And I really don't mean to do that today.
We'll see.
Let's get started.
Are you ready?
I'm ready.
Listeners, I don't know what any of these stories are before we do this.
So everything is a complete surprise to me.
Yeah.
And I don't know if you may have heard about this one and we'll just see.
I mean, I know you keep up with Georgia news.
I do.
Yes.
All right.
Russell Dermond was an 88 year old World War II Navy veteran married to 87 year old
Shirley on December 15th, 1950.
In 2014, Shelby, a little bit of a spoiler alert, there was a crime that took place.
And when this crime did occur in 2014, Russell and Shirley had been happily married for 64
years.
Wow.
That's a long time.
I know.
That's such a beautiful story when I hear that people have been married that long.
To me, that is what fairy tales are made of.
Sure is and you know the 64 years, they weren't happy all the time, but to make it that long.
Oh yeah, for sure.
Well, they had four children, nine grandchildren, and many of whom would stay with them over
summer breaks.
I completely get that because we do the same thing since we're so spread out and the Germans
were all about family like that.
I had told you that they had moved to Eatonton, Georgia after retiring from clock manufacturing
in the fast food franchise industry.
They bought a home near Lake Oconee in Putnam County, which Shelby on today's market is
a highly, and I mean highly desirable area.
It's on the lake.
It's got lots of land.
It's really a nice place in Georgia.
Yeah, for sure.
And I actually think that Lake Oconee is the cleanest lake in Georgia.
Is it?
I think so.
I think they do testing.
How do you know that?
I think a previous boyfriend's stepdad's parents lived on Lake Oconee.
Oh, I would never have been.
Oh, I gotcha.
Okay.
I'm glad I could bring back memories.
Yeah.
All right.
The neighborhood that the Germans lived in was pretty upscale.
It was a gated community with large 3000 square foot homes.
They were all brick homes.
I mean, so imagine gated community, brick homes.
You've seen all of that.
Oh yeah.
That's huge.
Yeah.
Well, the Germans lived in a 4,000 square foot estate in a cul-de-sac.
For those of you who don't know what a cul-de-sac is, it's a dead end in a neighborhood where
houses are built sort of in a circle and people can turn around pretty easily.
I mean, Shelby, I grew up on a gravel cul-de-sac and we just called it a circle back then.
Yeah.
Let's go meet at the circle.
That's what we would say.
Yep.
Everybody on their bikes.
Let's go meet at the circle.
Well, the Germans moved to Lake Oconee to enjoy their retirement, playing golf and socializing
with neighbors pretty regularly.
They lived in their Lake Oconee home on the cul-de-sac for about 15 years.
So they were pretty established.
Yeah, for sure.
A lot of articles that I read stated that Shirley loved writing, gardening, and working
on crossword puzzles.
She was also an artist and attended weekly visits with friends to play bridge.
Now that's a lost art, Shelby.
I don't know if you've ever played that.
It's a card game.
I have not.
I've heard of it, but I couldn't tell you how to play and I don't think I've ever played.
Nope, neither have I.
But it was really big back in the fifties and probably even further back from there.
But back in the day when we didn't have all these distractions, a lot of people just sat
around playing cards and I love doing that.
I love to sit and play cards with my friends.
One of my favorite things to do actually.
Me too.
I love poker.
Yeah, you were the one to teach me how.
I believe the first time we played is you had to write down all the directions because
I didn't know how to play poker.
I remember that.
I'm sure.
I probably have those instructions somewhere.
On May 1st, 2014, just five days before their murder, Russell German was captured on surveillance
at a local bank in a grocery store.
He was basically running errands that day, Shelby.
There was nothing about the footage.
He had just gone to the grocery store to pick up some prescriptions.
I believe his wife was having some eye surgery or some type of surgery coming up, so he was
just going to get prescriptions.
He was just making his rounds for the day.
Nothing unusual about what he was doing.
He wasn't acting funny.
Nothing like that.
In fact, both Russell and Shirley had very reliable schedules.
Remember, they're retired, so they probably have a pretty regular routine.
They were always very social and taking part in neighborhood activities, golfing, all sorts
of stuff.
I can't wait to be retired.
Believe it or not, funny that you say that.
I have really been crunching some numbers in the last couple of weeks, and I think I
got it pretty down pat.
I just need to see if I'm going to retire early or maybe stick around for a couple more
years.
I'm not sure what I'm going to do.
Obviously, the longer you stay, the more money you're going to bring home every month.
But yeah, I've just been looking at that, and my retirement, Shelby, is looking pretty
good.
That's awesome.
All right.
On May 3rd, 2014, Russell and Shirley Durmond had plans to attend a neighborhood party to
watch the Kentucky Derby.
How cool is that to go watch the Kentucky Derby with your friends?
That is so cultured.
That is pretty cool.
I wonder if they wore all the big hats.
Oh yeah.
I mean, that too, and who coordinates a party, a get together like that?
I'm envisioning Julia Roberts.
Do you remember that scene where she, I think she was at the Kentucky Derby, wasn't she?
Yes.
Wearing a hat.
It was so cool.
I don't think, no.
Well, it wasn't the Kentucky Derby.
They were playing like polo or something.
Oh yes, yes, yes.
I got you.
Well, that's what I was envisioning, but you're right.
Well, Russell and Shirley should have arrived with hors d'oeuvres in hand, but the party
came and went.
Nobody had heard from them.
This was a little unusual.
I told you that the Germans were really good about their routine.
They were very communicative with the neighborhood and it was unusual for them not to show up
to a planned event.
And it kind of reminds me, Shelby, of my in-laws because they're regular party goers just like
this.
And it's so cool.
They're just wondering about these wonderful parties they're going to in the neighborhood.
It just sounds like a lot of fun.
Yeah.
The neighbors who were expecting Russell and Shirley didn't just assume that they hadn't
showed up for that planned Kentucky Derby event.
They eventually went to go check on them.
They called several times.
They just got voicemail.
So at least they were trying to call and see what was up because they knew it was unusual.
Yeah, that's a little bit of a red flag.
On May 6th, three days after that Kentucky Derby party, neighbors decided it was time
to go check on the Germans.
Instead of just calling them, they actually had some really pretty flowers left over from
the party and they decided to take those over to Russell and Shirley.
It's my thoughts, Shelby, that they probably use this as a decoy just to check up on things
and making sure everything's okay.
It's good to have neighbors like that, especially if you don't have family living close by.
Yeah.
The neighbors stopped at the Germans' house and this is when things got a little bizarre
shelves.
The neighbor found the back door unlocked and they decided to go inside.
I mean, I've had neighbors like that before.
If I've forgotten to turn off the curling iron or I think I left the stove on, what
have you, we had a really good set of neighbors in the neighborhood that you grew up in and
we would do that for each other.
We'd just check on things if the neighbor wasn't home.
So that's what these neighbors did.
They started looking around.
They didn't find anything out of place and they eventually made their way to the garage.
Is that something you would check?
Do you think you would check the garage?
Oh no.
Probably to see if the cars were there, right?
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, Shelbs, what the neighbor walked into was absolutely horrifying and I'm going to
give a trigger warning.
It's pretty graphic.
When they walked into the Germans garage, they discovered that Russell had been decapitated
and was lying in between the couple's two cars on the floor surrounded with towels.
Oh my gosh.
Are you okay?
Yeah, it gave me goosebumps.
I know.
Well, it's not the worst of it Shelbs.
Russell's head was missing and was nowhere and I mean nowhere to be found at the crime
scene.
So it was not on the premises.
Wow.
Obviously, police came along rather quickly.
They did not find any evidence of forced entry or a struggle at the scene and really Shelbs,
there's even a question as to if Russell and Shirley had even been killed at their own
house because nothing seemed out of place.
Everything had a spot for it.
There was no foreign DNA in the couple's house.
No valuables were missing.
Police believe that Russell had been decapitated post-mortem because the crime scene was not
covered in any blood and all those towels were placed around his body to keep his blood
from trickling out or at least this is what the police believe.
All those towels that were placed around Russell's body or at least the police believe was to
keep his blood from trickling out from underneath the garage door into the driveway.
That's so sad.
Where's Shirley?
Exactly.
We're going to get to that in just a minute.
Yeah, but she was not there and I'll tell you why in just a moment.
There was gunshot residue on Russell's collar.
So investigators do believe that Russell had been shot, but why somebody would have taken
his head is still a mystery even today because it's never been recovered Shelbs.
It's never been recovered.
Well, I'm glad they do think it's post-mortem.
Yes, I agree.
It's sad that that happened, but at least hopefully it sounds like it was fairly quick
and you know, not too much suffering involved.
Yeah, I hope not.
Investigators believe this was the work of professionals because they didn't even find
shell casings there.
So police believe that Russell's beheading was a way of sending a message, but to who?
That's the big question here.
There's no answers.
Yeah.
So the police believe whoever did this to Russell did so to remove evidence.
They basically decapitated him Shelby so that they did not have gunshot wounds or calibers
or anything.
If they didn't have the evidence Shelby, it's really hard to trace bullets, obviously.
Oh, I can imagine.
Yeah.
So they theorize that may have been one of the reasons why they did that to him.
Crime scene evidence shows that Shirley had been working on a USA Today newspaper crossword
puzzle based on her last activities.
Although the couple's bed was unmade, Russell was still in his pajamas and Shirley was fully
dressed.
This obviously was not unusual for an elderly couple.
They were retired.
I'm sure that they probably like to sleep in a bit.
So nothing unusual about that.
I guess Shirley just got a head start for the day.
Right.
But investigators also discovered some of Shirley's hair wrapped around Russell's finger,
which suggests that at some point he was probably trying to protect her.
Oh, I know.
Right.
Why?
I know.
And you had asked where Shirley was.
Yeah.
Initially police theorize that she could have been involved in her husband's murder somehow,
like murder for hire.
She wasn't found at the scene though.
Nothing was disturbed.
So again, it's just a theory.
I mean, you just have to look in every direction here.
You just don't know what's going to happen until you look into it a little bit more.
So yeah, 64 years.
I mean, I saw the sweetest reel this week and it was about a couple who has been married
for 60 something years and the man was asking the woman, will you be my Valentine?
And she's like, I'm always your Valentine, honey.
It was so sweet.
Oh, that's so sweet.
It was.
Well, Shelbs, it was not until 10 days later that authorities found Shirley in Lake Ocone
by local fishermen while they were out fishing one day.
Oh, I know.
I know.
That's rough, Shelbs.
Shirley had been taken to Lake Ocone about five or six miles away from her home.
She was submerged into the lake after she had died and was tethered with parachute
cord to two 30 pound cement blocks.
Oh wow.
And so this is kind of where they're thinking, well, was this a professional job of sorts?
Yeah.
What happens, Shelby?
I mean, regardless on how much weight you have somebody anchored down with or tethered
with, once you pass away, your body gases are going to kind of bring you to the surface.
And that's how the fishermen were able to find her.
It looked as though Shirley had been beaten to death with a hammer and died due to blunt
force trauma to the head.
Wow.
But all I can say, Shelby, is I hope she didn't suffer very long.
It's not clear if she died before or after she was taken from the home.
I'm going to assume afterwards simply because nothing was disturbed and we keep going back
to that.
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.
Well here's another thought.
I know the police know what they're doing when they investigate, but Shirley was found
in Lake Ocone and I did not find any articles to say that authorities had swept the lake
other than just off their backyard.
Because if you were to look at pictures, Shelby, of their property, you could see that their
backyard backs up to the lake.
So they had a lake home.
They had a boat ramp in their backyard, but again, Shirley was found six miles away.
So my thought process here is could they not have taken Russell's head and put it in the
lake along with Shirley?
Nothing in the articles that I read said that.
That's a good thought.
That's very possible.
Well, police conducted a thorough investigation and interviewed around 250 people about these
deaths.
The Germans have surviving children, all of which took a polygraph regarding their parents'
murder.
They passed.
So nothing unusual there.
Every resident and or handyman working in the neighborhood were questioned and nobody
raised suspicion.
Police believe the cause of Russell and Shirley's death was due to a robbery gone wrong, although
there may be a little bit of evidence that shows the couple may have known their killers.
For a moment, police wondered if whoever killed Russell and Shirley may have been connected
to one of their sons who, remember now, this happened in 2014, their son was murdered in
the year 2000 due to a drug deal gone wrong.
So of course, police are going to look at that angle.
Was there a connection that way?
Obviously, a lot of time passed, but there was really no substance to that.
So they moved on.
Right.
Ironically, Shelbs, the cameras around the neighborhood entrance that had been recently
knocked out due to a electrical storm, they had no footage.
Wow.
I know, right?
But that makes me question the security cameras around the neighborhood.
It's 2014.
It's a gated community.
Don't people in neighborhoods like that still have CCTV?
Yeah, you would think.
I would think.
Well, the sheriff of Putnam County at the time is completely baffled about this case,
even to the point that he said it's embarrassing that it cannot be solved.
Good for him though, for being honest, because you definitely want an honest sheriff in town.
Yeah.
Whoever did this obviously knew that a bullet to the head could be traceable and remove
that problem at the scene.
So again, we've got several theories of what's going on here, which I'm going to talk about.
Theory number one, could robbers have coasted up to the Dermans property by boat?
I told you that they had lake property.
Ooh, that's a good question.
I didn't think about that at all.
Yeah, I mean, that's an easy way to get into a gated community, isn't it?
Yeah.
I was thinking like, how would someone get through the gate?
And then even when you said their property had backed up to the lake, I didn't even think
about that.
Well, they could have cased the neighborhood prior to even coming in the back way.
They could have already realized Shirley and Russell lived on a cul-de-sac.
So you know cul-de-sacs don't have as much traffic as the through part of the neighborhood.
And obviously we know this is a posh neighborhood.
So whoever did this came for the cash.
It had to have been, you know, I mean, that's just part of it.
Or did they though, because there was nothing disturbed in the Dermans home?
Nothing and I mean nothing.
Sounds like it could be personal.
I don't know.
Yeah.
Well, it could be personal because authorities speculate that there could have been some
sort of grudge against the family, which is based on the fact that nothing was taken from
the house.
And I had mentioned that the Dermans son had been involved with drugs.
But again, I mean, there's just no substance to that.
However, there is another theory that this could be a mafia hit.
Again Shelves, the events surrounding the Dermans death was, and I hate to say it this
way, but it was flawless.
Shelves decapitation was so skilled and the killer or killers knew what they were doing.
But the question is why?
I mean, there's no substance to a mafia hit, but this is kind of where I had mentioned
was it a professional hit?
What was going on?
There could have been ties to bets placed on the Kentucky Derby, but police maintained
this theory with a grain of salt because the Dermans were active churchgoers.
So even if they had bets amongst the neighborhood, it was not going to be a big thing.
It's like they wanted him to be found.
If they didn't, they would have put him in the lake too.
So there's, I don't know, there it's like a hidden message to me.
You are so right.
Like shock factor.
Right.
But you're right.
And that's just one of the theories.
If it's a message, who's the message to?
That's what we need to know.
We're not going to solve that on today's episode, but it'd be really nice to know for sure.
So let's talk about some suspects here.
I mean, they knew somebody was going to come look in the house, you know?
Oh yeah, absolutely.
And the way they placed them, I mean, towels around his body, clearly they knew that he
was going to be found, but they didn't want him to be found for a couple of days.
I mean, maybe they kept Shirley alive for a few days.
Yeah, maybe.
We'll never know.
Well, let's talk about some suspects here.
In September 2015, a man was arrested for slashing tires in the Germans neighborhood.
He went around to 24 homes and slashed those tires.
This man was living with his father in that neighborhood and had a criminal record of
violence and liked to carry a 10 inch knife.
However, after questioning, he was cleared.
I'm sure he got in trouble for slashing tires, but that was about it.
Yeah, I'm sure.
Apparently a real estate developer in the area at the time turned out to be a serial
killer.
Can you believe that?
A real estate developer.
What?
And I'm going to have to look into him.
I'm not placing his name in here right now, but I might have to look into him for a future
episode.
Wow.
This man, he had been arrested after confessing to seven murders in South Carolina between
2003 and 2016, which was only a few hours away from the Germans house.
We're going towards Augusta, Georgia here, right over the Augusta line is South Carolina.
This guy had never confessed to the Germans murder, however, so of course the Putnam County
police reached a dead end.
That's ironic.
How so?
Because they passed away in 2014 and here he is, he's in the same area.
He is a serial killer.
True.
But if he's going to confess to seven murders in South Carolina, don't you think he confessed
to two more in Georgia?
I mean, you would think, but you never know.
That's true.
So we're going to talk about some new technology in cell phone data.
Investigators feel like they're getting really close to solving this case.
Only in 2020, the FBI met with the Putnam County Sheriff's Department to collaborate
on how to use technology to solve this crime.
Shelby, I'm sorry.
Back in 2014, you still have cell towers and there's no reason why you can't look at phone
records.
Yeah.
Yes.
It's a little advanced.
We know that, but there's so many different ways that you can still look at technology
back in 2014.
However, as of February, 2023, just last month, it looks like authorities are getting closer
to solving this case due to the cell phone records on file.
Good.
Yeah.
They have forensic data that they can be looking at.
I mean, they dig deep.
Even if you delete texts or delete your phone history, they can still dig into it just like
a regular computer.
Wow.
Yeah.
The FBI is actively looking into Shirley and Russell's murders and say that between now
and the time that the couple's death occurred, it plays a world of difference as far as technology
goes.
Right.
I'm not sure what kind of phone activity would be different today, but they do say again
that they're getting closer.
So that's good.
Yeah, I'm sure.
Well, Shelbs, that is the unsolved case of Russell and Shirley Dermond.
If anyone has information on the killings of this couple, please call the Putnam County
Georgia Sheriff's Office at 706-485-8557.
This is one I definitely want to follow up on and keep track of.
Have you heard of this case before we talked about it today?
No, I don't think so.
Maybe if I saw a picture, because I'm definitely better with faces than I am names, but definitely
hope that somebody can give some kind of information and they figure this out.
Because I just couldn't imagine that for the family, you know, 87, 88 years old, they couldn't
have done much harm to anybody.
No, absolutely not.
Well, we would love to receive feedback from our listeners.
Just give us a little critique on how we're doing so far.
All right, mom, what's our teachable moment for today?
Shelbs, I say check on your elderly family members or friends often.
I mentioned that I call your grandmother every Tuesday.
Sometimes I feel like I should call her more often.
But sometimes elderly folks don't have relatives living close by.
I'm glad the Germans had neighbors that would watch out for them.
Shelby, when we lived in that house where you grew up in, we did have elderly neighbors
next door.
They were in their 80s.
I was in my 20s.
But I always checked in with them several days a week, and I'm telling you, just aside
from that, I love talking with older people.
They have got really interesting stories about their lives and everything they've lived,
you know?
Sure.
I've got to have been, I don't even know, so, so young.
And I remember that huge ice storm that had come through.
And you know, I don't think they probably didn't have a fireplace, but we had a fireplace.
So I remember them coming to stay the night to stay warm.
And your dad was good about staying up and keeping that fire going for them.
Yeah, because we know as we get older, then we get cold a little bit more often.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
So my teachable moment, exercise a random act of kindness and make it a point to hypothetically
adopt an elderly couple if you know that they live alone and they don't have family nearby.
There's so many benefits to this, Shelby.
You and I have experienced this.
You meet some really interesting people who have lived a lifetime of historical moments.
You feel good because you're helping out a friend.
And to be honest, Shelby, you're practicing the golden rule, which is what we really need
to be doing anyway.
And for those of you who don't know what that golden rule is, is to treat others as you
wish to be treated yourself.
Plain and simple.
That's humanity.
And we need to go back to caring more about others than ourselves.
So that's my teachable moment.
That's a good one.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
Well, thank you all for listening.
I hope that you have some great feedback.
Make sure that you check us out every Thursday with family members and go on over to Spotify
if you can.
I have placed the Dash episodes over there.
Just look for Dying to be Found, the Dash, and you'll see those really quick episodes
that will get you to and from work.
You can listen to the whole thing and there you go.
Make sure you rate us, follow and share.
Anything else you want to say, Shelbs, before we go?
I don't think so.
That's it.
All right.
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