New evidence has been discovered in the 2015 murders of a metro Atlanta couple.

Authorities say a man with a magnet, who was fishing in a Telfair County creek this month, discovered items connected to the deaths of Bud and June Runion who drove about 200 miles more than nine years ago to buy their dream car.

According to The Atlanta Journal Constitution, the GBI confirmed Monday that the man “found a .22-caliber rifle on April 14 while magnet fishing in Horse Creek on Old Prison Camp Road in McRae-Helena.”

The AJC’s Shaddi Abusaid adds that two days later, “he pulled up a bag containing drivers’ licenses and credit cards belonging to the Runions, along with what authorities believe was the couple’s cellphone.”

Last week, Abusaid reports investigators executed multiple search warrants at a home in the 400 block of Webb Cemetery Road. The GBI will analyze all the evidence collected at the agency’s crime lab.

“Magnet fishers use a large magnet to scour bodies of water for metal debris, often as a hobby,” Abusaid explains.

In January 2015, the Runions thought they were meeting a man selling a Ford Mustang when they made the 200-mile drive to McRae in southeast Georgia.

Bud, 69, and June, 66, made it to Telfair County, but there was no car. The couple was reported missing, and four days later, the Runions’ bodies were found. They had been shot in the head, according to police.

Investigators previously charged Ronnie “Jay” Towns in the Runions’ deaths and armed robbery.

More than nine years later, Abusaid reports Towns’ trial is “tentatively scheduled to start in August.” Read more here.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution contributed to this story

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