A request to take a DNA sample from an inmate at the Augusta State Medical Prison provides new details about the killing of a young Fort Benning soldier 40 year ago.
The death of Rene Dawn Blackmore, 20, slipped into a cold case after her remains were found in a rural area in west Georgia on June 28, 1982. She had been listed as AWOL by the Army after she failed to return to her barracks in April of that year.
The last sighting of Blackmore was 10:30 p.m. April 29, 1982, when she left the base on a borrowed motorcycle. She was headed for Columbus, Ga. A few hours later, a man was recorded by a security camera at an ATM while he accessed Blackmore’s bank account.
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Blackmore, who was from Arizona, was killed by a shotgun fired at her head. Several weeks before her body was found, her sweater and wallet were found on U.S. Highway 280 in Chattahoochee County, about 11 miles from where thieves reportedly found the borrowed motorcycle she had been riding, according to a GBI agent’s affidavit.
What wasn’t found immediately was an Armitron watch Blackmore wore. It had a unique alarm ring tone.
About six months later, on Jan. 5, 1983, another victim was found in a rural, wooded area of nearby Stewart County.
Major White, 57, was a mentally and physically disabled man last seen the day before. White left home on foot to go to the bus station to buy a ticket. White had been beaten and shot three times. He had also been tied to a tree and set on fire, according to the search warrant’s affidavit.
Investigators identified Marcellus McCluster, then 24 of Richland, Ga., as a suspect. At his home investigators found a rifle and a shotgun that ballistic tests would link to White’s and Blackmore’s deaths. Investigators also found what they believed was Blackmore’s watch.
In September 1983, McCluster pleaded guilty to murder in White’s death. He is now serving a sentence of life in prison at the Augusta State Medical Prison.
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Blackmore’s death remained unsolved after McCluster’s plea in White’s homicide, however.
In 2020, the GBI opened a cold case unit that took on Blackmore’s case. McCluster’s vehicle from the 1980s was tracked down in Alabama. According to the search warrant affidavit filed in Richmond County, fibers from Blackmore’s found sweater were in the trunk of that vehicle, and fibers from the truck carpet were found on the sweater.
The search warrant seeks to take a DNA sample from McCluster to compare his DNA to a sample to be taken from Blackmore’s found wallet. Because the man who accessed her bank account obtained the card from Blackmore’s wallet, he could have left DNA on the wallet while taking the bank card, according to the search warrant affidavit.
On April 22, a Chattahoochee County grand jury returned an indictment against McCluster that accuses him of murder in Blackmore’s death.
Sandy Hodson is a staff reporter covering courts for The Augusta Press. Reach her at sandy@theaugustapress.com.
