Voices for Justice is a podcast that uses adult language and discusses sensitive and potentially triggering topics, including violence, abuse, and murder.

This podcast may not be appropriate for younger audiences.

All parties are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Some names have been changed or omitted per their request or for safety

purposes. Listener discretion is advised. My name is Sarah Turney and this is Voices for Justice.

Today, I'm discussing the case of Shirley and Russell Dermond.

In a quiet, gated community in Georgia, Russell and Shirley Derman seem to embody the perfect

picture of retirement, an 88-year-old World War II veteran and his 87-year-old wife,

spending their golden years on the serene shores of Lake O'Conney.

But in May of 2014, that tranquility was shattered.

Russell was found brutally murdered in his garage, decapitated, his head missing from the scene.

And surely, she seemingly vanished without a trace. This is one of Georgia's most

haunting, unsolved mysteries. It's a puzzle of wealth and violence with no clear motive,

no obvious suspects, and chilling possibilities. This is the case of Shirley and Russell Dermond. It's Saturday, May 3, 2014,

in the upscale Great Waters at Reynolds Lake O'Coconey subdivision in Putnam County, Georgia,

about 30 miles outside of Atlanta. It's an idyllic neighborhood, filled with lakehouses and part-time

residents. Two of the rare full-time residents were 87-year-old Shirley Dermand, and 88-year-old

Russell Dermond, who decided to live out their retirement in the sleepy, gated community.

Now, sources do differ here, but they'd been there for at least 10 years, if not upwards of 20.

So it's really no surprise that they'd been invited to a Kentucky Derby party that day,

hosted by their neighbors Peggy and Hewell Wyn, a couple a bit younger than the Dermans.

But as the party commenced, food and drink were served,

...