Convicted murderer charged in 1982 slaying of Ft. Benning private

CUSSETA, Ga. (WTVM) - A Richland man has been charged for the 1982 murder of a U.S. Army private in Cusseta.

On March 28, 2022, a Chattahoochee County Grand Jury indicted 64-year-old Marcellus McCluster for the 1982 murder of 20-year-old Rene Dawn Blackmore, of Phoenix, Arizona.

On April 29, 1982, Blackmore disappeared on her way back to the barracks on Ft. Benning - where she was stationed as a private. A month later, her wallet and sweater were found on a roadside near Cusseta.

On June 28, 1982, Blackmore’s remains were found off of a road in Chattahoochee County with gunshot wounds - determined to be from a shotgun. The United States Army Criminal Investigation Division and Georgia Bureau of Investigation identified McCluster as a possible suspect within a year - but the original investigation eventually stalled.

In 2020, the GBI established the agency’s cold case unit - compiled of retired GBI agents - and this case was the initial focus of the unit.

McCluster is charged with one count of malice murder and alternate counts of felony murder.

Georgia Bureau of Investigation served McCluster with an arrest warrant at the Georgia Department of Corrections Facility in Augusta, Georgia - where he is currently serving a life sentence for an unrelated 1983 Stewart County murder conviction.

McCluster is scheduled for an arraignment hearing set for April 25 in Chattahoochee County.