GA GA - Rhonda Coleman, 18, Hazlehurst, 18 May 1990

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For years after her death, the mere mention of her name still brings tears to the eyes of those who knew her best and in those who only heard of her in death. A smart, spunky teenager, who dreamed of being a pediatric nurse, lost her life on a country road outside Hazlehurst, Georgia.

On May 17th, 1990, after spending the evening working on senior class activities, Rhonda said goodbye to her friends for what would be the last time and slipped away into the arms of God. Her car was found abandoned that night with the lights still on and the engine running. Her body was found three days later in neighboring Montgomery County.

While Rhonda was only with us for 18 wonderful years, her spirit and her legacy lives on in those who knew and loved her. This site is dedicated to her memory and in the hope that her killer will one day be brought to justice.

The family of Rhonda Sue Coleman is still seeking information which will lead to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for the murder of Rhonda. We know who the killer is but we need that final piece of evidence which will close this case and allow Rhonda and her family to finally see justice done in this case.

Anyone with information can contact the:
Georgia Bureau of Investigation at 912.389.4103
Jeff Davis County Sheriff's Department at 912.375.6600

<MOD NOTE: Several original links throughout the thread were broken and have been edited to include the current link (when available) and images as of October 12, 2022>
 
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A murderer among us?

Rhonda Coleman family clings to hope, after 22 years,their daughters killer will one day be brought to justice
The Blackshear Times

By Robert M. Williams, Jr.
Published:Wednesday, April 4, 2012 4:39 PM EDT
snip
Her car was found abandoned that night with the lights still on and the engine running. Her body was found three days later in neighboring Montgomery County...

snip
We know who did it, says one family member with certainty. Its just that they dont yet have enough evidence.

I dont know how this person can live with this on his conscience, says Gayle Coleman.

Fearful of going too far, saying too much, Rhonda Colemans family members have resorted to writing messages to this man on the memorial website.
<modsnip: broken link>
29 years leaves man wanting family time
Published Monday, November 18, 2002
By Teresa Stepzinski - Times-Union staff writer

snip
Rhonda Sue Coleman, 18, of Hazlehurst also was slain in 1990 as she drove home from working on graduation decorations with high school classmates. Four years ago, Christy Dawn Myers, 20, was stabbed to death near her Broxton home.

"These cases weigh heavily on you as a person and as an investigator," Butler said. "There's nothing in the world I'd rather do than be able to help their families. They deserve to know what happened to their loved ones and to have whoever did this to them brought to justice."
<modsnip: broken link>
Savannah News Press
November 1, 1990
 
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It looks like the family is refreshing flyers and getting the news out there again. I saw the flyer on facebook and read that they (the family) have done interviews recently. I have family who live there so I'm going to try and see what I can find b/c I have no idea of the backstory other than her car was found running and she was found 3 days (?) later and everyone knows who did it......where can I find that theory? Who is this guy? What do they have on him so far? Are we allowed to talk about that??
 
https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/col...niversary-rhonda-sue-coleman-s-murder-n873721
May 13 2018

Family hopes for leads on 28th anniversary of Rhonda Sue Coleman&#8217;s murder

by Juliet Muir
Rhonda Sue Coleman was two weeks away from graduating high school in Hazlehurst, Georgia on May 17, 1990. That night, as a part of a Jeff Davis High School tradition, she and fellow seniors gathered at a student&#8217;s house to decorate a graduation banner to put up at school, her cousin Natasha Bennett told Dateline.
After the banner-decorating party, Rhonda, 18, and a few other students went to a nearby convenience store. Rhonda&#8217;s friends would later tell police that a little after 10:00 p.m., Rhonda said she had to leave to get home by her 10:30 p.m. curfew, and that she planned to stop at a nearby Hardee&#8217;s drive-through on the way. She left her friends to drive the three miles to her house, Natasha said
.
Rhonda Sue Coleman Natasha Bennett

Police found Rhonda&#8217;s purse inside her car. They also found footprints leading from her car toward the tire tracks of another vehicle. These tire marks indicated that another vehicle, other than Layla&#8217;s, had pulled over on the side of the road that night, GBI Region 4 Special Agent in Charge Mark Pro told Dateline.

&#8220;It's possible that she knew the person or persons that pulled up to where her vehicle was,&#8221; Special Agent Pro, who is a supervisor on the case now, told Dateline. He says that authorities still don&#8217;t know for sure.

On May 20, 1990, after three days of ground searches, handing out flyers and helicopter searches, Rhonda&#8217;s body was found by a hunter about 15 miles from where her car had been found. It was in a rural, wooded area in Montgomery County, Georgia. Rhonda, whose body had been burned, was fully clothed, Special Agent Pro confirmed to Dateline. She was only 18 years old.
Police found Rhonda&#8217;s purse inside her car. They also found footprints leading from her car toward the tire tracks of another vehicle. These tire marks indicated that another vehicle, other than Layla&#8217;s, had pulled over on the side of the road that night, GBI Region 4 Special Agent in Charge Mark Pro told Dateline.

&#8220;It's possible that she knew the person or persons that pulled up to where her vehicle was,&#8221; Special Agent Pro, who is a supervisor on the case now, told Dateline. He says that authorities still don&#8217;t know for sure.

On May 20, 1990, after three days of ground searches, handing out flyers and helicopter searches, Rhonda&#8217;s body was found by a hunter about 15 miles from where her car had been found. It was in a rural, wooded area in Montgomery County, Georgia. Rhonda, whose body had been burned, was fully clothed, Special Agent Pro confirmed to Dateline. She was only 18 years old.
Rhonda was planning to attend Georgia Southern University to become a pediatric nurse. Her parents received her honorary diploma at Jeff Davis High School just two weeks after her body was found.

&#8220;I think about her all the time, wondering what she would be doing today,&#8221; Rhonda&#8217;s mom Gayle said. &#8220;We would like to have some sort of closure. I don't know if we will ever get all the answers, but we're not gonna stop trying.&#8221;

Rhonda&#8217;s family is providing a $35,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of her killer. If you have any information about her case, please contact the Georgia Bureau of Investigations at (912) 389-4103.
 
Hello, my name is Jody Ponsell and I am a licensed private detective in the state of Georgia. I am also a retired special agent from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. I have been retained by the Coleman family to investigate their daughters death. I am interested in doing something to honor and renew interest in the cold case of Rhonda Sue Coleman. Rhonda died in 1990.
<modsnip>
Searching the websleuths website has information about her disappearance and discovery a few days later of her burned and discarded body in rural South Georgia.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Jody
 
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Hello, my name is Jody Ponsell and I am a licensed private detective in the state of Georgia. I am also a retired special agent from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. I have been retained by the Coleman family to investigate their daughters death. I am interested in doing something to honor and renew interest in the cold case of Rhonda Sue Coleman. Rhonda died in 1990.
<modsnip>
Searching the websleuths website has information about her disappearance and discovery a few days later of her burned and discarded body in rural South Georgia.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Jody
 
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Hello, my name is Jody Ponsell and I am a licensed private detective in the state of Georgia. I am also a retired special agent from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. I have been retained by the Coleman family to investigate their daughters death. I am interested in doing something to honor and renew interest in the cold case of Rhonda Sue Coleman. Rhonda died in 1990.
<modsnip>
Searching the websleuths website has information about her disappearance and discovery a few days later of her burned and discarded body in rural South Georgia.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Jody

Welcome! Hopefully your presence will bring more activity to the thread.
 
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Family hopes for leads on 28th anniversary of Rhonda Sue Coleman’s murder
May 13 2018

Rhonda Sue Coleman Natasha Bennett
''Police found Rhonda’s purse inside her car. They also found footprints leading from her car toward the tire tracks of another vehicle. These tire marks indicated that another vehicle, other than Layla’s, had pulled over on the side of the road that night, GBI Region 4 Special Agent in Charge Mark Pro told Dateline.

“It's possible that she knew the person or persons that pulled up to where her vehicle was,” Special Agent Pro, who is a supervisor on the case now, told Dateline. He says that authorities still don’t know for sure.

On May 20, 1990, after three days of ground searches, handing out flyers and helicopter searches, Rhonda’s body was found by a hunter about 15 miles from where her car had been found. It was in a rural, wooded area in Montgomery County, Georgia. Rhonda, whose body had been burned, was fully clothed, Special Agent Pro confirmed to Dateline. She was only 18 years old.

Rhonda’s parents Gayle and Milton, and her cousin Natasha, were with the rest of their family when police told them the news. To this day, Rhonda’scause of death is listed as “undetermined” by the GBI crime lab.''
 
I'm hopeful that I might get a few new ideas from the members here. the case has been cold for a long time. I wanted to try something new other than just a newspaper article on the upcoming 30 year anniversary. Any ideas?

I feel like you would know much better than I would!

I think a very good podcast, using a narrative style, chapters maybe, with sound effects, setting the stage, making people get to know Rhonda, interviews with people, etc., could drum up interest and spark someone’s conscience. Maybe.

I would try to interview as many people from that night, and/ or who were friends or acquaintances, as possible. Asking them:

1. What they remember about Rhonda? What was she like?
2. Did anyone dislike her? Express jealousy?
3. Did anyone like her romantically a lot. Or express a lot of interest?
4. Did she ever mention feeling uncomfortable about someone?
5. Do they remember the night Rhonda went missing? If so, what happened that night? Who was Rhonda hanging out with? Talking? What did they themselves do that night and speak to?
6. Do they remember when they found out she was missing or dead? Did they have conversations with people about it? Anything stand out? Anyone surprisingly upset? Or surprisingly not upset? Anyone acting weird? Changing their patterns? Disappearing after it happened? Being obsessed with the case? We’re there any rumors about what happened?
 
Welcome Jody, I wish you all the best and hope this gets solved. I admire and appreciate what you are doing.

Isn’t Hazelhurst an extremely small town in south GA? I think I went thru there going to Valdosta several years back.

Anything we can do to help, just yell.
 
What about possible DNA? I’m sure that route has been taken but I mention it because so many cold cases have been solved. I just seen an arrest in a local case in SC from 1976.
 
Hey everyone,

Please welcome GBI Jody to this discussion.

We have invited GBI Jody to become verified in this discussion. Once they apply and approval is given, we'll notify everyone here on the thread.

Thank you to all for being here to discuss Rhonda's case and hopefully to bring long overdue justice for Rhonda and resolution for those who loved her.
 
I wish the reports were more precise about where her car, and she, were found. I’m just curious to see it on a map.

I do agree with the notion that it was someone that she knew, or knew of. I think it was smart too when that group put out this statement of having an idea of who it was, whether true or not, that could turn up some pressure. Particularly if there was more than one. We know that anything is possible but I don’t think this was some pass thru serial killer stranger. Just my thoughts.
 
Welcome Jody, I wish you all the best and hope this gets solved. I admire and appreciate what you are doing.

Isn’t Hazelhurst an extremely small town in south GA? I think I went thru there going to Valdosta several years back.

Anything we can do to help, just yell.
Thank you. Yes Hazlehurst is a small town and in some ways it’s because of this that it makes this case even more sad that it hasn’t been solved in over 30 years. I remain optimistic that Rhonda’s untimely death will be solved one day.
 
I'm hopeful that I might get a few new ideas from the members here. the case has been cold for a long time. I wanted to try something new other than just a newspaper article on the upcoming 30 year anniversary. Any ideas?

As I read your post, Kathy Wilson from Kirkland Lake Ontario Canada came to mind ... my understanding is that the detective who pursued her case, believed the case could be solved and working from the file he found a handwritten note on the back of an official report ... information given to LE at the time of disappearance by her sister.
 
Hello, my name is Jody Ponsell and I am a licensed private detective in the state of Georgia. I am also a retired special agent from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. I have been retained by the Coleman family to investigate their daughters death. I am interested in doing something to honor and renew interest in the cold case of Rhonda Sue Coleman. Rhonda died in 1990.
<modsnip>
Searching the websleuths website has information about her disappearance and discovery a few days later of her burned and discarded body in rural South Georgia.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Jody
Nice, very impressive.
 

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