KENNESAW, Ga. (AP) — Authorities on Thursday afternoon arrested a man in the killing of three men — including a Topeka resident — who were found shot to death Saturday on the golf course of a suburban Atlanta country club.
Cobb County sheriff’s deputies and U.S. marshals arrested Bryan Rhoden in Chamblee, more than 25 mile southeast of where the slain men were discovered Saturday, Cobb County Police Chief Tim Cox said during a news conference Thursday evening.
Rhoden faces three counts of murder, three counts of aggravated assault and two counts of kidnapping, Cox said. The police chief described Rhoden as the “lone shooter” in the slayings but he declined to give further details about what prompted the violence.
“We literally had detectives that have worked around the clock and some have literally slept in their offices since July 3rd trying to clear this case,” Cox said.
Police say golf pro Eugene Siller was gunned down Saturday when he went to find out why a white pickup truck had driven onto the 10th green at Pinetree Country Club in Kennesaw, northwest of Atlanta.
Two other men were found dead from gunshot wounds in the bed of the pickup truck. Police identified them as 46-year-old Henry Valdez of California and 76-year-old Paul Pierson of Topeka.
Investigators believe that Siller, 46, was slain because he came upon a “crime in progress,” police have said. It doesn’t appear that he was targeted, and the other men appear to have “no relation to the location at all,” police had said in a statement. Pierson was the truck’s registered owner.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper, Pierson was listed as the director, president, treasurer and secretary of Nevada-based Eco Environmental Remediation Services Inc.
Citing public documents, the newspaper said Pierson spent much of his adult life in the area of northern California’s wine country.
Police haven’t commented on any possible motive for the killings of the two men whose bodies were found in the pickup.
It wasn’t immediately known if Rhoden has an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
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