COBB COUNTY, Ga. — The Cobb County District Attorney will seek the death penalty against a man accused of killing three people found dead at a local country club.
Bryan Rhoden is charged in the murders of Gene Siller, the golf pro at the Pinetree Country Club in Kennesaw, Henry Valdez and Paul Pierson.
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Rhoden faces malice murder, felony murder and kidnapping charges in the July 2021 triple murder case.
“While we have not filed written notice yet, it is our intent to seek the death penalty. We will file written notice at the appropriate time in accordance with the Unified Appeal Procedure,” District Attorney Flynn D. Broady, Jr. wrote in a statement to Channel 2 Action News.
Rhoden took to Instagram on Tuesday to express his innocence. He called the charges, “erroneous” and " accusatory.”
“These are words of my own intellect and no one else’s,” Rhoden wrote on Instagram. “Meanwhile, I can be reached via mail or dm. I most definitely appreciate any and all positivity! Love, B.”
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It’s been nearly one year since the three men were found dead on the golf course on July 4, 2021.
Investigators said Siller was found with a gunshot wound to the head at the 10th hole. Pierson and Valdez were found shot to death in the bed of a pickup truck that had been driven onto the green on the private course.
Officials charged two others in the case.
Justin Pruitt, who is accused of helping Rhoden, is charged with felony murder and kidnapping. Taylor Cameron is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit a felony and drug-related offenses.
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According to warrants, Pruitt was a co-conspirator with Rhoden and participated in binding Pierson and Valdez with duct tape and zip ties against their will near warehouse on Jonesboro Road. He then helped drive them to the country club, where Rhoden shot the two men in the truck as well as Siller, who happened to be on the golf course at the time, according to police.
Police said Pruitt and Rhoden had no connection to Siller.
In court documents filed in December, investigators describe a July 3, 2021, text conversation between Cameron and Rhoden about retrieving the murder weapon.
It’s unclear if Cameron ever made it to the course, but authorities say the evidence showed that she planned to drive to the 10th hole, where Rhoden told her he had tried to hide the gun before leaving the scene.
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