(Adds details about couple and home)
By David Beasley
ATLANTA, May 8 (Reuters) - Georgia police were searching on Thursday for a missing elderly woman whose husband was found beheaded in their home.
Friends of the couple found the body of Russell Dermond, 88, on Tuesday at the couple's home in the upscale Great Waters Community on Lake Oconee in central Georgia, police said.
His wife Shirley Dermond, 87, was missing and is believed to have been abducted, police said.
Dermond's head has not been found, Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills said at a Thursday news conference. An autopsy was pending.
Police were interviewing friends, family and neighbors.
Police believe the murder and abduction took place between Friday and Sunday. Shirley Dermond is described as white, 5'2" tall and weighing 148 pounds, with gray hair and blue eyes.
Putnam County tax records show the Dermonds' 3,200-square-foot, lakeside home is valued at slightly more than $1 million.
The Dermonds moved to the lake 12 years ago after selling a chain of fast-food restaurants, according to WSB-TV in Atlanta. (Reporting by David Beasley in Atlanta and Mary Wisniewski in Chicago; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
