Cobb County

Who is Bryan Rhoden, the suspect accused of a triple murder at a Cobb County country club?

By WSBTV.com News Staff
By WSBTV.com News Staff

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — On Thursday, police arrested Bryan Rhoden in the murders of three men at a Cobb County golf course.

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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.

We’ll have LIVE Team 2 coverage with the latest on the investigation and what we know about Rhoden, on WSB Tonight at 11.

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Here’s what we know about the suspect:

1. Rhoden is 23 years old and from the Atlanta area

Bryan 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.

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MORE RELATED COVERAGE:

Cobb County triple murder suspect bound victims with tape before killing them, warrants show

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