Marietta couple slain in Telfair laid to rest
Bud and June Runion made their final trip Monday.
Followed by a caravan of more than 20 vintage cars, the couple’s caskets were carried from the Mayes Ward-Dobbins Funeral Home in Marietta to the the Georgia National Cemetery in Canton for burial.
The couple was killed last week in Telfair County after going to South Georgia to see about buying a 1966 Ford Mustang.
Bud Runion, 69, was a car enthusiast who longed for the vintage car of his youth.
But there was never a ‘66 Mustang. Police say the couple was lured to Telfair via a Craigslist ad by Jay Towns.
Towns was arrested last Monday and charged with the shooting deaths of Bud Runion and his 66-year-old wife.
On Saturday, hundreds of people packed into Mt. Paran North Church of God for their funeral. For Monday’s burial, members of the ROMEOS, a vintage car club that Bud Runion belonged to, escorted their caskets along the 25-mile route from the funeral home to the cemetery.
“This was important, because he was one of us,” said member Bob Hunt. “It is important that we show our respect. We would be here if it were pouring down raining.”
Dik Wesson, another member of the club, interjected, “And he’d be here for you.”
About the Author
Ernie Suggs is an enterprise reporter covering race and culture for the AJC since 1997. A 1990 graduate of N.C. Central University and a 2009 Harvard University Nieman Fellow, he is also the former vice president of the National Association of Black Journalists. His obsession with Prince, Spike Lee movies, Hamilton and the New York Yankees is odd.
