CRAWFORDVILLE, Ga. – On Tuesday, January 1, 2019, at approximately 8:50 p.m., the Taliaferro County Sheriff’s Office requested the assistance of the GBI regarding a death investigation which occurred on a logging road off Carters Ford Road in Crawfordville, Taliaferro County, Georgia.  Earlier in the evening, deputies with the Taliaferro County Sheriff’s Office and Greene County Sheriff’s Office located a Ford pickup truck with two deceased individuals inside.  The vehicle located by Sheriffs’ personnel fit the description of the vehicle the Greene County Sheriff’s Office was looking for regarding a missing couple from Greene County.

The GBI responded and began an investigation into the deaths of the occupants of the vehicle. The vehicle was burned and due to the condition of the two occupants, a positive identification could not be made. The two bodies will be transported to the GBI Medical Examiner’s Office in Decatur, Georgia where autopsies will be performed to determine cause and manner of death.

Taliaferro County Sheriff Marc Richards told WSB-TV that investigators found a shotgun and spent shells at the scene where the truck was located. Richards added that it appeared authorities were dealing with a murder-suicide.

Harrison told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Melissa Rhodes’ daughter reported her missing Monday night after she was unable to get in touch with her mother. Deputies and local volunteers launched a search for the couple, which was complicated by bad weather in the area Tuesday morning.

“We were told [Steven] Rhodes had a tendency to take back roads,” Harrison told the paper. “With all the rain we’ve had, it didn’t make it easy for patrol cars.”

The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to call the GBI at 706-595-2575 or the Taliaferro County Sheriff’s Office at 706-456-2345.