Late last week Jonathan Meyer a Lewis County Prosecutor refused, after a inquest on October 19, 2011 that the 1998 death of Ronda Reynolds was indeed a homicide. The prosecutor is claiming he doesn't have enough evidence to charge both her husband Ronald A. Reynolds (pictured left)and his son Jonathan A. Reynolds, both of whom were in the house late that night.
"I can't go forward. "I have to have substantial evidence to convict." said Meyer. I would put up the crime scene photo's but they are far too disturbing. In my expert opinion, based on facts in 1998, this is an intimate partner homicide!
The crime scene was staged, rearranged to look like a suicide," according to forensic pathologist Dr. Jeffrey Reynolds.
Ronda Reynolds fulfilled her childhood dream by becoming a Washington State trooper and firearms instructor. She left the patrol a few months after she married to work in private security.
In early 1998, Ronda married Ron Reynolds, an elementary school principal in the small Lewis County town of Toledo, Washington. During their brief marriage, Ronda discovered her husband was having an affair. She confronted him. She told him the marriage was over and that she expected the $15,000 she put into the new marital home to be returned. That night, Ronda booked a flight to her mom's home in Spokane. She made arrangements just after midnight with a friend and veteran police officer to drive her early that morning to the airport. Crime Scene photos show she'd packed her bags and left a message to her husband on the bathroom mirror: "I love you, call me."
Within hours of leaving, Ronda was found dead on the floor of her master bedroom,in the closet,with the door open, just 15 feet away, where her husband claims to have been sound asleep. When Ron Reynolds was questioned, he told police Ronda was distraught and talked about killing herself.
The gruesome crime scene photo's tell a different story. (if you go to the link, please be advised the photo's are on this site are graphic).
Jerry Berry was Lewis County's lead detective on the case and said "this appeared to have the earmarks of a staged homicide."But Berry faced serious evidence problems because he wasn't called to the scene until two hours after Ronda's body was found, and the crime scene had already been disturbed.
But, seven months after Ronda's death, Ron Reynolds' attorney wrote the department insisting they remove the cloud of suspicion and close the case. And "if you do not then we will." Berry says the sheriff's office caved, closing the case as a suicide over his objections. "They just basically wanted me to let it go, leave it as a suicide, and move on and take on other cases and be done with it," Berry said.
News accounts of the inquest 2 weeks ago said " most of the testimony and evidence offered at the coroner's inquest was hearsay and conjecture, which would not be admissible in a criminal trial."
The gruesome crime scene photo's tell a different story. (if you go to the link, please be advised the photo's are on this site are graphic).
Jerry Berry was Lewis County's lead detective on the case and said "this appeared to have the earmarks of a staged homicide."But Berry faced serious evidence problems because he wasn't called to the scene until two hours after Ronda's body was found, and the crime scene had already been disturbed.
But, seven months after Ronda's death, Ron Reynolds' attorney wrote the department insisting they remove the cloud of suspicion and close the case. And "if you do not then we will." Berry says the sheriff's office caved, closing the case as a suicide over his objections. "They just basically wanted me to let it go, leave it as a suicide, and move on and take on other cases and be done with it," Berry said.
News accounts of the inquest 2 weeks ago said " most of the testimony and evidence offered at the coroner's inquest was hearsay and conjecture, which would not be admissible in a criminal trial."
If, Ronda Reynolds had the opportunity to complete the Evidentiary Abuse Affidavit in 1998, heads would be rolling and there would be arrests in Ronda's case. Her own words, not hearsay of the abuse she suffered and why she was fleeing for her life would have be captured in an affidavit and on a recorded video.
On October 31, 2011 in Mrytle Beach, SC at the techno forensics conference WetStone Technologies and myself will introduce and unveil this groundbreaking tool for victims of intimate partner violence ,stalking and homicide.
To read about this amazing technology visit Journalist and Author Crime Scre column on Forbes: Crime. She Writes:
Susan Murphy Milano is a staff member of the Institute for Relational Harm Reduction and Public Pathology Education. She is a specialist with intimate partner violence prevention strategies and high risk cases and available for personal consultations through the Institute. She is also part of the team at Management Resources Limited of New York.
Susan is the author of "Time's Up: A Guide on How to Leave and Survive Abusive and Stalking Relationships,"Moving out, Moving on, and Defending Out Lives. Susan is the host of The Susan Murphy Milano Show, "Time's Up!" . She is a regular contributor to the nationally syndicated "The Roth Show" with Dr Laurie Roth and a co-host on Crime Wire.
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