Bodies, Vehicle Found in Georgia Case of Missing Craigslist Car Couple
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The Runion Family | Telfair County Sheriff’s Office(ATLANTA) — Investigators have found the unidentified bodies of a male and a female, as well as an SUV owned by a Georgia couple who vanished last week while going to meet someone to buy a vintage car they found on Craigslist.
“It’s not the outcome we had hoped for, but obviously it’s one we have to deal with,” Telfair County Sheriff Chris Steverson told reporters.
Bud Runion, 69, and his wife, June, 66, disappeared Thursday, authorities said. The pair had posted an ad seeking to buy a vintage 1966 Ford Mustang convertible. Relatives said the Mustang was the couple’s dream car, one they’d wanted to buy since they were married decades ago.
The couple’s 2003 GMC Envoy was found submerged in a lake, the Telfair County Sheriff’s Office said on its Facebook page. The unidentified bodies were found at another location, near property affiliated with the family of a suspect in the case who turned himself in to law enforcement earlier Monday, officials said.
That suspect, Ronnie “Jay” Towns, 28, was the alleged owner of the phone that last communicated with the Runions’ phone, according to the sheriff’s office.
The couple, after finding what they believed was a seller, reportedly set out on a 180-mile road trip from Marietta, Georgia, to McRae, Georgia.
The Runions haven’t been heard from since, and never showed up to babysit their grandchildren Friday. Their three daughters had grown increasingly worried by their parents’ disappearance.
“Whoever has them, we hope that they will let them come home to us,” daughter Stephanie Bishop said. “We miss them.”
The Runion family has set up a Facebook page — “Find Bud and June Runion” — and it has about 100,000 supporters, a growing group desperately searching for the couple.
“We are unbelievably grateful for all of the media support and to each of you for sharing the page. We ask that you please keep sharing the page and spreading the word so we can find Bud and June Runion,” the couple’s relatives wrote.
Officials with Craigslist referred to the safety page on the company’s website, which notes, “Be especially careful when buying/selling high value items.”
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