Accused killer of Georgia couple in Craigslist slaying re-indicted in death penalty case
The accused killer of an Atlanta-area husband and wife who prosecutors say were lured to the south Georgia countryside and murdered in January 2015 after posting a Craigslist ad seeking a 1966 Ford Mustang was re-indicted Friday.
Attorneys for Ronnie Adrian “Jay” Towns had successfully argued that grand jurors who indicted Towns had not been selected randomly.
The indictment was dismissed and the Georgia Supreme Court in October upheld the dismissal.
Friday’s new indictment in Telfair County Superior Court again formally charges Towns with eight crimes, including murder, armed robbery and aggravated assault.
The case against Towns, 33, centers on the shooting deaths of Marietta retirees Elrey “Bud” Runion, 69, and June Runion, 66.
Friday’s eight-count indictment essentially begins anew with Towns facing a death penalty prosecution. Towns has previously pleaded not guilty, as is routine in capital cases.
The slayings five years ago this month generated coverage around the globe.
Towns was jailed days after investigators found the Runions’ bodies Jan. 26, 2015.
The authorities say they had been shot to death and robbed after driving to rural Telfair County in hopes of purchasing a vintage Mustang. Bud Runion had posted a Craigslist ad seeking the car.
Investigators have said Bud Runion is believed to have been contacted by someone near the county seat of McRae-Helena who claimed to have such an automobile. Runion and his wife had apparently then traveled to meet the supposed seller near the Ocmulgee River hamlet of Jacksonville.
The place is close to where Towns grew up.
The Runions had been shot in the head and their bodies were hidden along a road near Towns’ family home, east of U.S. 441 between Abbeville and Hazlehurst some 75 miles southeast of Macon.
Information from Telegraph archives was used in this report.