Man pleads guilty in deaths, admits to killings of Pinetree golf director, 2 others

Bryan Rhoden has pleaded guilty this week to the triple homicide that occurred at a Kennesaw country club in July 2021. Initially facing the death penalty, Rhoden negotiated a plea deal that will result in him spending the rest of his life behind bars without the possibility of parole.

The plea deal was finalized on Friday morning. Cobb District Attorney Flynn Broady said that the families agreed to the plea deal in exchange for withdrawing the request for the death penalty.

Rhoden was charged with the murders of golf pro Gene Siller, 46, Henry Valdez, 46, and Paul Pierson, 76, at Pinetree Country Club.

Siller, the head of golf at Pinetree, was investigating a truck that had driven onto the golf course when he was killed. Rhoden bound Valdez and Pierson with duct tape and zip ties, forcing them into the truck, and then drove them to the golf course, where he fired the fatal shots.

Rhoden pleaded guilty to all 17 charges against him, including three counts of malice murder, seven counts of felony murder, two counts of kidnapping with bodily injury, three counts of aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and tampering with evidence.

He received three consecutive life imprisonment sentences without the possibility of parole, an additional two consecutive life imprisonment sentences, and an additional five years and 12 months imprisonment sentence, all set to run consecutively.

Rhoden’s plea deal avoids the death penalty.

Broady said Rhoden, who was involved in drug trafficking, also led a drug organization. Two others, Justin Caleb Pruitt and Taylor Nicole Cameron, are also charged in connection with the triple slaying, and their cases are pending.