By Seamus McGraw

May 17, 2006

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Emerson, Ga. (Crime Library) — It could have been a business deal gone bad or a debt that no one else knew about that in the end was paid in blood. Or maybe, just maybe, it was someone he met on the Internet, perhaps while searching for companionship or romance that ultimately led to his brutal death.

All authorities investigating the death of Robert Scott Burdette, a 43-year-old computer consultant from Emerson Georgia know for certain is that is that he was murdered, strangled it seems, by killers who tried to cover their crime by torching his body in his stolen car in a remote area 42 miles from his home.

In the two weeks since Burdette's body was found, investigators from the Douglas County Sheriff's Department, aided by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the tiny Emerson police force, have tracked down a battery of leads. They have scoured the burned out remains of Burdette's car for clues, hopeful that, as is so often the case, in an effort to cover their tracks, the killers may have inadvertently left more clues behind.

So far, says Douglas County Sheriff Phil Miller, investigators have ruled out some potential suspects. Three young men observed stealing $3 worth of gas not far from the spot where Burdette's charred body was found on May 1, for example have been cleared of suspicion, Miller said. "They are no longer players."

But authorities continue to work their way through a list of others who might have somehow been linked to Burdette, the sheriff said. "We have some suspects and some people of interest that we're looking at," Miller told Crime Library. "Do I want to talk about them any further? No."

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Contact Seamus McGraw at seamusm@ptd.net

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