Man Claims He Unknowingly Picked Up Hitchhiker Who Had Human Head in Bag

A Georgia man who says he picked up a hitchhiker who was at the time on the run and wanted on suspicion of murder claims he later discovered that the hitchhiker was carrying a human head in his backpack, according to local reports.

Russell Jimerson told local NBC affiliate WXIA last week that he and his son had been collecting a paycheck from Lula, northeast of Atlanta on August 8 when he spotted the hitchhiker walking along the road.

"He just stuck his hand out, just I mean very quickly. I told my son: 'Let's get 'em.' I help everybody," Jimerson said. "He'd been up all night, walking from Rabun County."

However, Jimerson said it was only after he had dropped off the lone traveler that he discovered that he had unwittingly helped Keegan Cleve Phillips, who was recently caught in a multi-authority manhunt, suspected of killing a person and disposing of the body in the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) has since denied that Phillips was carrying a human head in a backpack, with a spokesperson telling Newsweek: "That did not happen."

The GBI announced on August 8 that police had successfully captured Phillips, 23, of Otto, North Carolina after Rabun County Sheriff's Office after being tipped off about the body. The unnamed victim's body was found on August 7, and Phillips has now been charged with murder.

Phillips had been on the run since the shallow grave had been discovered at a property in Clayton, near the border with North Carolina, Rabun County Sheriff's Office said in a statement. A cadaver dog had detected human remains in the shallow grave, but a body wasn't found.

The office said that Phillips had been held at gunpoint by a homeowner in Hall County, but had slipped away into the nearby woods before officers arrived at the address—prompting the massive manhunt.

Jimerson claimed to the news station that he had noticed the man he picked up was carrying a backpack and had a foul smell. He said he was later told by a friend over the phone that Phillips had a human head in the bag.

"There's a smell in this car, it's awful," Jimerson said.

WXIA reported that Jimerson dropped Phillips off in the area where the suspect was later held at gunpoint.

The GBI said a joint murder investigation with the Rabun County Sherrif's Office was ongoing and as such had not yet been handed to prosecutors. It also said that Phillips had been arrested "without incident."

A Rabun County Sheriff's Office spokesperson referred questions about the case to the GBI. The GBI declined to comment further beyond its denial of Jimerson's claim over concerns of compromising the integrity of the investigation.

Phillips is being held at Rabun County Detention Center without bail, along with 62-year-old Robert Lee Peppers of Lula, Georgia, who has been charged with concealing a death and the unlawful disposal of a body.

Rabun County Sheriff's Office said it had received reports of a missing woman, Martha Angela Ledford, as having disappeared the week prior to Phillips' eventual arrest. It added that the human remains found had yet to be positively identified but investigators "have been in contact with Ledford's family."

Sheriff Chad Nichols urged others to "keep the Ledford family in your thoughts and prayers as they have lost a loved one by a senseless act of another."

Update 08/15/23, 9:14 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include a denial of Jimerson's claims by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.