TELFAIR COUNTY, Ga. — A new delay is pushing a nine-year Telfair County murder case to at least December.
District Attorney Tim Vaughn hoped to take Jay Towns to trial in either August or September.
Towns is accused of killing Bud and June Runion, an elderly couple from Cobb County in 2015.
Evidence found in a creek this spring has caused the delay in the case, a Telfair County judge said.
An FBI crime lab is testing a 22-caliber gun and a bag containing the couple’s licenses and credit cards.
Defense lawyers told Judge Sarah Wall they wanted their own time to examine the new evidence.
It is unlikely the trial will start before December, Wall said.
Towns is accused of luring the couple to Telfair County through a Craigslist ad for a car.
Vaughn is seeking the death penalty for Towns.
From the courtroom, Solen Aref says she’ll have more on the case at 5 and 6.
The man who found the possible evidence in April got in contact with former Telfair County Sheriff Chris Steverson after he says the sheriff’s office didn’t pick up.
"For whatever reason the sheriff's office was unable to respond,” Steverson said in April. “I don't know if they were busy or what but, I felt like law enforcement needed to be here immediately because this was a very important part of evidence for one of the biggest cases in this county's history. This was potentially all the missing links in that case.”
Steverson said that both were found less than a mile from where the Runions’ bodies were found.
"I'm glad that it was been discovered the family will have that closure," Steverson said.