Chuck and Joe's Retreat

Disclaimer: This post is a little different from the others. While the murderers in this story spent a considerable amount of time at the house we will be analyzing here, getting drunk and taking drugs, they never officially lived there. Rather, it was the home of the victims; two eccentric gentlemen who made the mistake of welcoming two troubled young men into their lives.

The Killers: Kenneth Avery Brock (b. 1965) and Samuel Tony West (1952–2023) were roommates and the perpetrators of the notorious Corpsewood Manor murders. The two decided that the older gentlemen, who had built a large fortress in the Georgia woods called Corpsewood Manor, and provided them with drugs and alcohol upon occasion, were hiding money in their home. On December 12, 1982, he two young men went to the estate under the guise of buying homemade wine and, after gaining the old men's trust, shot and killed Dr. Charles Scudder, his partner Joseph Odom, and their two English mastiffs. Finding no money in the house, the perpetrators stole a Jeep and fled to Mississippi. While there, on December 15th, they stole a car from Navy Lieutenant Kirby Key Phelps and murdered him in the process. After arguing about their plans, West and Brock split up. Brock went to Marietta, GA, and turned himself in to the police on December 20th. West was later arrested on December 24th in Chattanooga, TN, and both men were handed down life sentences for the murders. Due to the victims' homosexual lifestyles, as well as their interest in the occult and open use of hallucinogenic drugs, the crime received heavy media attention during the "Satanic Panic" of the early 1980s, fueling a local lore that continues to surround the ruined estate today.

The House: Located on Taylor's Ridge in Summerville, GA, the house was hand-constructed by Charles Scudder and Joey Odom in 1977. This was after Scudder had quit his associate professor's job at Loyola University, divorced his wife, and left Chicago for Georgia with his housekeeper and friend, Odom. The rounded, castle-like structure was built with bricks and furnished with worn renaissance-style furniture. As Scudder and Odom showed an interest in the occult, the house boasted stained-glass murals of Baphomet, statues of demons, books on the occult, human skulls from Scudder’s tenure at Loyola, and a pink gargoyle perched atop the front entrance. As the house had no utilities, the couple were forced to survive off the land.

The Floor Plan: Using AI, as well as hand-drawn sketches I found online, I was able to construct a conceptual floor plan of what the first floor may have looked like. There were two large rooms at each end of the house; a kitchen and a study. These rooms were divided by a wide main entrance and hallway in the center of the house. At the end of this hallway, and directly in-line of the front door, was a spiral staircase leading up to the second floor, containing another hallway and two large bedrooms.

Sources:

Albert, Natasha; Allen, Erin; Armistead, Sherri; Bradley, Josh. Herb Baumeister: The I-70 Strangler. Radford University: School of Psychology, 2024.

Cawthorne, Nigel, The Mammoth Book of Killers at Large. Constable & Robinson Ltd, 2011.

Hall, Dan T. (Director). "The Haunting of Fox Hollow Farm." Vizmo Films, 2011.

Hall, Steve. "Baumeister Program is Chilling But Flawed." The Indianapolis Star, 1997. 

Higgins, Will. "House with Dark Past Fulfills Family's Dream." Chillicothe Gazette, 2012.

Hundley, Wendy. "Slayings: Clues, Years Grow in Unsolved Cases." Dayton Daily News, 1996.

Hundley, Wendy. "The Gay Slayings Mystery." Dayton Daily News, 1996. 

Kaufman, Michelle. "Bone Found During Sunday Search of Herbert Baumeister Property." 2022. www.wrtv.com.  Accessed 5 June 2026.

Labalme, Jenny. "Suicide Note Mentions Marriage, Business But Not Bones". The Indianapolis Star, 1996.

Rogers, Pat. "True Nightmares: Crazy Love." Discovery Studios, 2015.

United Press International. "UPI Focus: Sheriffs Link 9 Deaths to Indiana Man." 1998. www.upi.com. Accessed 5 June 2026.