Sheriff: Arrest in slaying of 3 men found at a golf course

Posted at 7:56 PM, July 8, 2021 and last updated 8:29 PM, May 12, 2023

KENNESAW, Ga. (AP) — Authorities announced the arrest of a man Thursday in connection with the killing of three men found shot to death on the golf course of a suburban Atlanta country club.

 

Cobb County sheriff’s deputies and U.S. marshals arrested Bryan Rhoden more than 25 miles (40 kilometers) from where the slain men were discovered Saturday, Cobb County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Saba Long told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

No further information on the arrest was immediately available. It was not immediately clear what Rhoden was being charged with.

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 Kansas.

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 said in a statement. Pierson was the truck’s registered owner.

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 had a lawyer who could speak on his behalf.

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