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Two of the victims of a triple homicide at an Atlanta-area golf course over the weekend of July 4 were found bound with duct tape, according to an arrest warrant.
Paul Pierson, 76, and Henry Valdez, 46, had their hands, legs and mouth tied when police found their bodies in the bed of a pickup truck parked near the 10th hole of the Pinetree Country Club in Kennesaw, in Georgia, last Saturday. The body of 46-year-old pro golfer Gene Siller was also found near the truck.
Police identified the suspected killer as Bryan Anthony Rhoden, 23, who was taken into custody Thursday evening, four days after the bizarre triple homicide left authorities baffled.
Rhoden found himself on police radar just hours after the murders last weekend, but cops had yet to link him to the golf course murders, so he linked up on Tuesday night, according to reservation files.
Driving a black Maserati Ghibli, according to a separate arrest warrant, he was arrested by Chamblee police for a misdemeanor including driving while intoxicated, trespassing on headlights, fake ID, driving without insurance, driving a car. ‘an unregistered vehicle and a bad license plate on his car.
Rhoden was arrested again Thursday evening by a multi-agency task force comprising members of the Chamblee, the Georgia Police Department, the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office and the US Marshals Service. Rhoden was unarmed and was taken away without a struggle, the sheriff’s office said. In addition to three counts of murder, Rhoden is charged with three counts of aggravated assault and two counts of kidnapping, according to Cobb County Police Chief Tim Cox, who told a conference of presses that Rhoden had no accomplices and was a “sniper”. “
Cobb County Police did not say how investigators linked Rhoden, an aspiring rapper who performs as B. Rod, to the three murders. He is due to appear virtually from jail before a Cobb County Magistrates’ Court judge at 8 p.m. Friday.
Police say Valdez and Pierson, who lived in California and Kansas respectively, were found dead in the closed bed of Pierson’s Dodge Ram 3500 pickup after Rhoden drove the truck over the 10th hole at the Pinetree Country Club Saturday afternoon. When Siller, the club’s golf manager, approached the vehicle to find out what was going on, Rhoden allegedly shot him in the head and fled on foot.
Police believe Siller was killed because he “witnessed an active crime”, but it is still unclear exactly what that crime was. The relationship between Pierson, Valdez and Rhoden remains unclear. None have any affiliation with the Pinetree club, Cox said, and investigators have not revealed any motive or what prompted Rhoden to come to the golf course.
Reached by phone, Siller’s wife Ashley declined to comment. Henry Valdez’s sister Erma told The Daily Beast: “Henry was a loving son, brother, uncle and friend. Lovers of music, surfing, traveling and made friends everywhere he traveled. Her laughter might break out in a room and her big heart will be sorely missed.
Little is known about Pierson and Valdez, and Erma Valdez wouldn’t speculate what her brother was doing in Atlanta. Pierson is the co-founder of EcoServices, an environmental remediation company in Nevada, according to the company’s website. Valdez started a clothing business in 2010, according to California state incorporation records. He also created two other entities in the state, whose activities are not immediately noticeable.
Records show Rhoden was previously arrested for allegedly participating in a shooting at Georgia State University over a drug case gone awry.
Five years before the golf club’s triple homicide, Rhoden reportedly shot Shelton Torance Flournoy, 19, three times in the chest during an argument over drug trafficking in the parking lot of a dormitory in the State of Georgia.
Rhoden, who was attending Georgia State at the time, was shot once in the chest. Both men survived and were later charged with assault, attempted murder and possession of weapons. Rhoden was released from Fulton County jail on bail three days later, jail records show. But there is no record of a trial or conviction, and Rhoden’s case was sealed in 2017.
The Georgia State University shooting wasn’t Rhoden’s only previous confrontation with the law.
In 2020, Atlanta airport police seized nearly $ 20,000 in suspected drug money from Rhoden as he boarded a flight to Los Angeles. He has never been charged with a crime. Rhoden was also arrested last year after a high-speed chase in Indiana, reaching speeds of up to 150 mph.
A Georgia state spokesperson declined to provide further details on how much time Rhoden spent there as a student.
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