WA WA - Ronda Reynolds, 33, Lewis County, 13 December 1998

yosande

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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009086068_reynolds20m.html

All these years have gone by, and Barb Thompson still clenches with teary-eyed anger when she lingers outside this little house at 114 Twin Peaks Drive.
She stood here 10 years ago, too. In December 1998. The day after her daughter, Ronda Reynolds, a 33-year-old former state trooper, was found dead inside. Curled up in the bedroom closet with a bullet in her brain.
Reynolds' husband said she had killed herself. So did the sheriff's department and the county coroner.
Thompson didn't buy it. Not then. Not now


Ronda Reynolds had been married not quite a year when her life ended in the early morning of Dec. 16, 1998. Her husband, Ron Reynolds, the principal of the local elementary school, called 911 and calmly reported that his wife had committed suicide.
Jerry Berry, a veteran detective of the Sheriff's Office, was called to handle it.
He found Ronda Reynolds' body in a large bedroom closet, covered with a plugged-in electric blanket. A pillow had been covering her head.
Berry learned that Ron and Ronda Reynolds were splitting up. Ron Reynolds told police that his wife had made suicidal threats the previous night. So they got in bed together and stayed awake until about 5 a.m., when they both went to sleep, he said.
Ron Reynolds said he woke about an hour later and discovered her body. She was dead, covered in blood. A revolver was lying against her forehead. He said he hadn't heard a gunshot.
Then the red flags started flying, Berry says.
The bullet wound, in front of her right ear, didn't line up with any natural angle for a self-inflicted gunshot, given the way her hands and the gun were found, Berry says. There was a bullet hole through the pillow. But the gun was found between the pillow and her head.
The condition of her body indicated she likely had been dead for hours before 5 a.m., Berry says. And contrary to Ron Reynolds' account, his wife's side of the bed hadn't been slept in.
The rest of the room gave Berry the impression that Ronda Reynolds had been preparing to leave — alive.
The Yellow Pages were open to the airline listings. The day before, she purchased a plane ticket to Spokane, where her mother lives. A longtime friend was coming to pick her up that morning and take her to the airport.
And on the bedroom mirror, in lipstick, there was a note from Ronda Reynolds to "call me" at a phone number in Spokane.
That was only for starters. Berry now says he found dozens of inconsistencies
 
bumping for passionflower & others
 
Ann Rule's new book coming out in OCT is about this murder.
"IN the STILL of the NIGHT"
 
after reading Ann Rule's book about Ronda In the Still of the Night
has there been any new news on this case??/
I'm going to do some google searches.
 
I'm reading this book right now. I picked it up at the Library.

I came to check in and see if Ronda had a thread.

ETA: http://www.justiceforronda.com/

There are a couple of blogs about Ronda but from what I can tell (tonight's search) they are all the same info as the book.
 
I think it's so sad that her own sons are taking the 5th in this case. May the truth be told!
 
No fingerprints found on gun, ammo in Reynolds death
and
"It is my opinion (that) it was absolutely murder," said Berry. (Jerry Berry was the lead detective in the 1998 case)

Link to article:
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/131669043.html

I would think that if this were a suicide, Ronda's fingerprints would be on that gun. But if there are no fingerprints, seems to me someone must have wiped it clean.
 
No fingerprints found on gun, ammo in Reynolds death
and
"It is my opinion (that) it was absolutely murder," said Berry. (Jerry Berry was the lead detective in the 1998 case)

Link to article:
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/131669043.html

I would think that if this were a suicide, Ronda's fingerprints would be on that gun. But if there are no fingerprints, seems to me someone must have wiped it clean.

I think it's odd that his ex-wife moved in the evening the current wife is found dead and began sleeping with him. From your link:


Ron Reynolds' first wife Catherine Hutulla also testified, saying she believed Ronda Reynolds committed suicide. But she also admitted to having moved into Ronda Reynolds' house that very evening.

When the coroner asked where in the house Hutulla slept, she answered, "In Ron's room," adding she slept in the same bed as Ron Reynolds.
 
I think it's odd that his ex-wife moved in the evening the current wife is found dead and began sleeping with him. From your link:


Ron Reynolds' first wife Catherine Hutulla also testified, saying she believed Ronda Reynolds committed suicide. But she also admitted to having moved into Ronda Reynolds' house that very evening.

When the coroner asked where in the house Hutulla slept, she answered, "In Ron's room," adding she slept in the same bed as Ron Reynolds.

OMG, how did I miss that? Gheeez.
 
Nielsen added there was a note written on the mirror that said, "'I love you, call me,' and a phone number in lipstick."
From this article:
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/131488243.html

I wonder who's phone number was written in lipstick on that mirror? Seems a bit odd to write that and then go into a closet and commit suicide, doesn't it?
 
I have an opinion on what happened and it sounds like homicide to me. However I'm worried that the perpetrators will walk....

There just seems like there are so many speedbumps and obstacles that building a case that doesn't run into some kind of redtape will be difficult.

I hope those responsible are held responsible but having read a lot of real life crime stories, I'm worried about justice being served in this case.
 
Am I the only person who read "In the Still of the Night" and thinks Rhonda really might have committed suicide and Ann Rule let her relationship with Barb Thompson "cloud" her judgment?

An issue that Ann seems to have really "dropped the ball" on is the possibility that Rhonda had been committing credit card fraud. Ann acknowledged that "someone using the name Ronda Reynolds" had been entered into a "credit card fraud diversion program" (which would mean that that person had been arrested for fraud). Ann "suggests" that someone else may have been using her identity then just drops the whole matter as if it had no bearing on the murder vs. suicide issue.

This "issue" seemed critical. Had someone been committing fraud using Ronda's identity (and having been arrested and prosecuted under this identity) this would be a clear motive for murder. If Ronda had actually been involved in fraud, it would put a lot of events that occurred in a completely different light and given Ronda a motive suicide.
 

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