Authorities say a man has pleaded guilty in the slayings of a Georgia couple who were driven to their deaths nearly a decade ago; after authorities wrapped the rifle of someone fishing for magnets in a stream and other evidence linked to the unsolved case.

Telfair County Sheriff Sim Davidson said Ronnie Jay Towns pleaded guilty in the 2015 murders of Bud and June Runion and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. expression Monday.

The outcome of the case comes just months after a man used a magnet to fish on a Georgia stream. He pulled out a rifle as well as some of the Runions’ belongings in the same area where the couple was found murdered. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said driver’s licenses, credit cards and other items taken from Horse Creek in April were “new evidence” in the murder case.

Authorities later said the magnet hunter found a .22-caliber rifle, the same caliber as the gun used to kill the Runions. When the magnet hunter returned to the same spot two days later, he found a bag containing a cellphone, driver’s license and credit cards that investigators said belonged to Bud and June Runion.

The couple’s bodies were found off a county road in January 2015, and authorities said they had been robbed. Investigators said their bodies and cars were found in three different locations, CBS affiliate WMAZ-TV reported. reported.

Investigators said Towns lured the couple by responding to an online ad posted by 69-year-old Bud Runion, who was looking for a classic car, but Towns did not actually own the car. The couple drove three hours from their home in Marietta to Telfair County to look at the vehicle, authorities said. They never returned.

Towns was eventually charged with the murders, but his trial was postponed multiple times — once because too few jurors had reported for jury duty when prosecutors took the matter to a grand jury at WMAZ-TV. reported. He was charged again in 2020, but the case was postponed by the court. Covid-19 pandemic. After new evidence was eventually pulled from the creek, Towns pleaded guilty and is now set to spend the rest of his life behind bars.

“We are grateful to have closed this case and our prayers are with both families,” Sheriff Davidson said. in question Monday.

People fishing with magnets have attracted other unexpected items in recent months. In June, a New York couple said they used magnets. wrap in case containing two stacks of $100 bills filled with water. A month ago, a magnet fisherman human skull It was padlocked to an exercise dumbbell from the New Orleans waterway.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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