Police have identified a suspect in the case of a Georgia couple who went missing after contacting a car seller on Craigslist.
Elrey “Bud” Runion, 69, and his wife, June, 66, placed an ad looking for a 1966 Mustang on the advertisements website.
They drove to the South Georgia town of McRae from the Atlanta suburb of Marietta on Thursday to meet someone who responded to the ad, relatives said.
No one has heard from them since.
“He was excited about the car. He had one when he got back from Vietnam,” daughter Stephanie Bishop told CNN affiliate WSB-TV in Atlanta.
Relatives filed a missing persons report after the couple failed to show up to baby-sit their grandchildren the next day.
‘Last known communications’
Authorities are looking for Ronnie “Jay” Adrian Towns, who they believe responded to the ad.
Towns, 28, was the “last known communications” with Runion, said Telfair County Sheriff Chris Steverson.
The couple made the trip to look at the car, and once Runion got to Telfair County, the suspect communicated with him, according to the sheriff. He did not say who called whom.
The suspect lied to investigators at an earlier interview, authorities said.
Two warrants
Police have issued two warrants for the suspect; one for making false statements to investigators and another one for criminal intent to commit theft by deception. A manhunt is underway.
For days, authorities have searched for the couple using helicopters and watercraft, and will continue to do so, Steverson said.
“I am eternally grateful for the prayers that have been lifted up, the encouraging words, complete strangers who have reached out, we are so thankful for that,” said Josh Patterson, the couple’s son-in-law.
“Bud is a veteran. He and June are great people; they give so much, they are selfless.”
The Runions were last seen driving a champagne 2003 GMC Envoy.
McRae is about 180 miles from Marietta.
Site has history
Though the overwhelming majority of Craigslist transactions occur without incident, the site has a history of being co-opted by criminals.
Just in recent years, there have been numerous such instances. In Henderson, Nevada, police said a man placing an ad in July met three men at a park, who took him to a vacant house, tied him up, beat and robbed him, then escaped in his car.
In March, a San Jose, California, woman responding to an ad for a cellular phone was allegedly kidnapped at gunpoint by two men who drove her to an ATM and demanded her passcode, police told a newspaper.
In May 2013, a Maine teenager drove to Portland to sell his BMW sedan to a 29-year-old who had responded to his Craigslist ad. The teen was allegedly forced into his own trunk and driven to Delaware, according to media reports and an FBI affidavit.