The Wayne County Sheriff’s Department dive team was instrumental in assisting the Ware County Sheriff’s Office searching for items possibly connected to the recent murders of Charles Barnett and Virginia Thomas.
Ware County Sheriff Carl James confirmed a dive team from Wayne County assisted. No information has been released detailing what may or may not have been found during the search.
The Wayne County team posted on Facebook that the event “was a very successful dive and recovery effort in the Satilla River.”
Ware County EMA Director Jonathan Daniell said the dive team was looking for murder weapons and reached out to him in hopes of getting a dive team together to search the Satilla River.
“There were five people from Wayne County that came to help,” said Daniell. “I need to let the GBI or the sheriff’s office tell you if they found anything they were searching for.
“Wayne County has a very good dive team. So does Brantley County, Coffee County, Appling County and Jeff Davis County. They deal with incidents in the Altamaha River a lot.
“That’s why I called them. They are very good at what they do. I need to let them tell you. I was just there for support.”
Sheriff James said Monday (July 18) he was involved in a meeting at the Waycross Police Department and was unavailable to talk.
Bernard Rittenhouse, 55, of Waycross, and his wife, Janet Rittenhouse, 53, have been arrested and charged with two counts of Felony Murder and one count of Burglary in connection to the deaths of Charles M. Barnett and Virginia D. Thomas.
Barnett, 75, and Thomas, 73, were found deceased at their home at 2906 S. Lakeview Drive, Waycross, Ware County.
The murders were the fourth and fifth in Ware County this year.