Who Decapitated a Hardee's Franchise Owner and Killed His Wife — While Family Was Still Haunted by Son’s Prior Murder? By Christina Coulter

Russell Dermond, 88, was found in the garage of his Georgia home, decapitated and lying in a pool of blood. Ten days later, his wife, 87-year-old Shirley Dermond, was found floating in Lake Oconee, weighed down by concrete blocks.

Russell’s head has never been found — and the killer’s identity has never been learned, despite new DNA evidence recovered from an article of his clothing.

On May 1, 2014, the Dermonds were seen running errands. Friends expected them at a Kentucky Derby party on May 3, but when the couple never arrived, neighbors went to check on them.

Inside their gated Lake Oconee home in Eatonton, Ga., they found Russell’s heaadless body. Shirley was gone.

Her body was recovered more than a week later, miles away, weighted with two 30-lb. concrete blocks, Fox 5 Atlanta reported.

The Dermonds, who had four children and nine grandchildren, had moved away from metro Atlanta around the turn of the century and retired to the Great Waters subdivision, a gated golfing enclave on Lake Oconee. Their four-bedroom home, in a wooded cul-de-sac, overlooked a cove about 12 miles northeast of Eatonton, per The Telegraph.

Authorities investigating their killings reported no signs of forced entry or theft at the home and concluded that the attack was not random. A security camera at the subdivision entrance had recently been knocked out by a thunderstorm, limiting video leads, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported, while TIME reported that valuables, including wallets and phones, were left behind.

Fox 5 Atlanta reported that gunshot residue was discovered on Russell’s collar, leading investigators to believe he was shot before the decapitation and that his head may have been taken to hinder ballistics testing.

Shirley’s autopsy determined taht she died of blunt-force trauma, but the specific weapon couldn’t be identified, per GPB News.

“It must have just been a moment of horror, and probably a very long moment of horror, unfortunately. And so, we know that Mom and Dad want us to keep going,” their son Brad Dermond told WSB-TV, with his voice quivering.

In 2024, investigators got a potential break when testing on Russell’s clothing revealed an unknown DNA profile. The sample was analyzed by private labs in Texas and Utah, and if it doesn’t match anyone already in CODIS — the national DNA database used by law enforcement — investigators say they may turn to advanced genealogical techniques to try to identify the source.

In early 2025, Atlanta News First reported that Sheriff Howard Sills was awaiting further lab results.

Investigators have re-mined phone records and cell-tower data over the years, and the FBI has publicized a tip line. The reward stands at $25,000 — $20,000 from the FBI and $5,000 from Putnam County — as reported by 11Alive and reflected in FBI materials.

The couple had been married for decades — 68 years, per the AJC — and were fixtures in their lake community. Russell owned several Hardee’s franchises before retiring, Fox 5 Atlanta reported.

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The sheriff has said other family members have been ruled out as suspects. Their eldest son, Mark, was killed in an unrelated 2000 shooting in Atlanta, a tragedy investigators don’t believe is connected to the parents’ murders, Fox 5 Atlanta added.

Sheriff Howard Sills has repeatedly emphasized the intentional nature of the attack, telling The Telegraph the killings were “not random,” probably “targeted,” and that “somebody else knows they did this.”

In another Telegraph story, Sills said the crime “screams out for an enemy — a vicious enemy.”

Tips can be submitted to the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office or the FBI Atlanta Field Office at 770-216-3000, or online at tips.fbi.gov.