The bodies of Gene Siller, Henry Valdez and Paul Pierson were all found on the green at the Pinetree Country Club on Saturday afternoon. Siller, the club’s golf pro, was shot to death near the 10th hole when police say he came upon a crime in progress. Police later found Valdez and Pierson bound and shot to death in the bed of a pickup truck parked on the green.
Investigators say a white pickup truck drove onto the 10th hole Saturday around 2 p.m. The suspect was driving the truck and there were two dead bodies in the truck bed, according to police. Siller was shot in the head on the 10th green.
Two of the three men found shot to death on a Cobb County golf course July 3 had been bound and gagged with tape before being placed in the bed of a pickup truck. Investigators said Valdez 47 CA and Pierson, 76, KS who lived in other states, were found dead in the back of a Dodge Ram after Rhoden drove it onto the 10th hole of the Pinetree Country Club and got stuck near the green. The pickup belonged to Pierson. A relationship, if any, among Valdez, Pierson and the killer is unknown at this point.
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Rhoden’s arrest warrant alleges he used tape to bind the hands, legs and mouths of both Pierson and Valdez before concealing them in the enclosed bed of the white pickup. Investigators have not revealed where the men were killed or why they were in the Kennesaw area but said they did not appear to have any connection to the country club.
Officials have not said how detectives linked Rhoden, an Atlanta resident and aspiring rapper with a newly released mixtape, to the shootings and would not discuss a possible motive. A Cobb police spokesman said Thursday that details would come out in court.
Bryan Rhoden, 23, was arrested Thursday after being identified as the “lone shooter” in the triple homicide. He was taken into custody at Chamblee police headquarters after authorities lured him to the station under the guise of returning a “large sum of money” seized Saturday during an unrelated DUI arrest, officials said.
Who is Bryan Rhoden, the suspect accused of a triple murder at a Cobb County country club?
COBB COUNTY, Ga. — On Thursday, police arrested Bryan Rhoden in the murders of three men at a Cobb County golf course.
The bodies of Gene Siller, Henry Valdez and Paul Pierson were all found on the green at the Pinetree Country Club on Saturday afternoon. Siller, the club’s golf pro, was shot to death near the 10th hole when police say he came upon a crime in progress. Police later found Valdez and Pierson bound and shot to death in the bed of a pickup truck parked on the green.
Here’s what we know about the suspect:
1. Rhoden is 23 years old and from the Atlanta areaBryan Anthony Rhoden grew up in the Smyrna area. He was living in a high-end, high-rise condo in Midtown at the time of his arrest. He attended Georgia State University. Rhoden is an up-and-coming rapper who goes by the name B Rod and has thousands of followers on his Instagram page. The manager listed on his Twitter profile confirms Rhoden, also known as B Rod, is his client. The manager adds that he is working on a statement to release.
2. Arrest warrants say Rhoden kidnapped and bound the victims in the truck.
Channel 2 obtained arrest warrants Friday that say Rhoden kidnapped Valdez and Pierson prior to killing them. He is accused of binding their hands, legs and mouths with tape before shooting them. Rhoden was allegedly driving Pierson’s truck with Kansas license plates when he drove onto the 10th hole at Pinetree Country Club in Kennesaw on Saturday.
3. Investigators are working to find a connection between Rhoden and the victims
Investigators have not said whether Rhoden had any connection to the victims found in the truck. In a news conference Thursday night, Cobb County police said they are working to figure out if Rhoden had a connection to Pierson or Valdez. They would not release anymore information, citing an active and ongoing investigation. They said they are positive he had no connection to Siller.
4. Rhoden was arrested hours after the murders on an unrelated charge
Within hours of the murder, Rhoden was arrested by the Chamblee Police Department on unrelated charges, including DUI, driving a vehicle without insurance, false identification and more. At the time, Chamblee police say they did not know that Rhoden was a suspect in the triple murder. During the arrest, Chamblee police say a large amount of money was confiscated. Rhoden bonded out of the DeKalb County Jail on those charges on Tuesday at 8:35 p.m.
Cobb County Police Chief Tim Cox did not comment on whether or not Rhoden had already been identified by his department as a suspect at that time. He did, however, say that investigators developed Rhoden as a suspect within a few days of the crimes.
5. Rhoden was arrested in Chamblee Thursday in connection to the murders
Five days after the shooting, Bryan Rhoden was arrested in Chamblee with the help of the fugitive task force. Investigators set up a sting using the confiscated money. Rhoden contacted the department to retrieve the money. He was taken into custody when he showed up at the Chamblee Police Department. Rhoden has been charged with three counts of felony murder, three counts of aggravated assault and two counts of kidnapping.
6. Rhoden has been in trouble with the law before
In 2016, Rhoden was arrested in another shooting in the parking lot of a residence hall at Georgia State University. Police said Rhoden, 18 at the time, shot the driver of a Honda, 19-year-old Shelton Flournoy II, three times while attempting to sell him and a passenger drugs. Rhoden was shot once in the chest. Georgia State police said they recovered a gun and large amount of marijuana from Rhoden’s backpack. Rhoden was a GSU student at the time and lived in the dorms on Piedmont Ave. The Fulton County District Attorney told Channel 2′s Justin Gray the charges in that case are listed as “nolle prossequi,” which means the decision was made not to proceed with prosecution.
In 2020, Atlanta police seized more than $19,000 in suspected drug money from Rhoden at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport as he was boarding a plane to Los Angeles. According to court papers, another agency tipped them off about Rhoden’s suspected drug activity. K-9 units detected the smell of marijuana on the money. Rhoden allegedly punched a drug unit officer while trying to flee. He forfeited the money, but was never charged with a crime.
Rhoden was also arrested in Indiana last year for leading police on a high-speed chase that reached speeds of up to 150 miles an hour.
7. Rhoden faced a judge Friday night
Rhoden faced a judge in his first court appearance Friday night. The judge said there was no bond attached to the warrant and he would not be setting bond. A separate bond hearing will be held on July 27.
8. Rhoden has retained a high-powered criminal defense attorney
Channel 2′s Michael Seiden has learned that Rhoden has retained attorney Bruce Harvey.
Golf pro killed at country club was not the intended target
Police are releasing new information in a triple killing at a Cobb County country club.
www.wsbtv.com
Golf pro killed at country club was not the intended target
Police are releasing new information in a triple killing at a Cobb County country club.
www.wsbtv.com
Police: Murdered golf pro 'happened upon a crime in progress'
A man linked to the death of three people whose bodies were found in Kennesaw over the weekend does not pose an "active threat to the public at large," Cobb
2 golf course shooting victims were bound, gagged in truck bed, warrant says
Two of the three men found shot to death on a Cobb County golf course July 3 had been bound and gagged with tape before being placed in the bed of a pickup truck, according to warrants made public Friday morning.
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