by Ann Rule
Ronda was premature, a tiny baby who didn't grow eyelashes or fingernails for several months. She is about six months old here, living in California with Barb and her husband, Ron Scott. She was a happy baby whose young mother adored her. Barb Thompson Collection.
At age four, Ronda poses proudly in her Easter outfit. Ronda, Barb, and Gramma Virginia were living in Texas then, and Ronda started talking with a southern drawl. Barb Thompson Collection.
Ronda graduating from the fourth grade. She was honored for her perfect attendance and for always making the honor roll. Barb Thompson Collection.
Barb Ramsey Scott in her twenties. She was an exceptionally pretty young widow. She didn't have much time to date, as she always worked two or three jobs to support her mother, Virginia, and her little girl, Ronda. She probably knew Don Hennings during this time, but their relationship was complicated. Barb Thompson Collection.
Ronda, thirteen, now living in Spokane with Barb and her second husband, Hal Thompson, proudly shows off her white pony and full cowgirl garb. Since she was a baby she was consumed by everything equine and training to compete in horse shows. However, her dream of becoming a Washington state trooper began at this time, too. Barb Thompson Collection.
Ronda, fifteen, smiles for her junior high school yearbook. She was proud of her braces and grateful to have them. A schoolmate thought Ronda must be rich to have braces--but her mom worked hard to pay for them. Barb Thompson Collection.
Ronda and Clabber Toe. She loved all horses, but Clabber Toe was her special horse. Barb Thompson Collection.
Ronda, riding Clabber Toe, as they compete in the American Quarter Horse Association, Youth World Class horse show in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Ronda was seventeen or eighteen and Spokane horse aficionados believed she had the makings of a champion. They paid for her trip to compete. She came in twelfth out of 180. Barb Thompson Collection.
Ronda was working toward her goal--and soon to enter the Washington State Patrol's training academy. When she graduated, she would be a trooper. She was the youngest female to be accepted, but she was very mature. Her family knew she would make it through the difficult academy. Barb Thompson Collection.
Ronda, wearing a typical horsewoman's outfit, casual shirt and jodhpurs. She was happy with her life as she entered her twenties. Barb Thompson Collection.
Barb Thompson in her late forties, still a most attractive woman. She divorced Hal Thompson because of his maniacal temper and jealousy when he'd been drinking. As always, she started over. She had gone from owning one horse to almost three dozen world class American quarter horses--Palominos and Paints. She was there when the mares foaled, and she raised the colts tenderly. Barb Thompson Collection.
Barb's brother, Bill Ramsey. Their father treated his two daughters much better than he did Bill, so Barb protected him. He lived to fly, and she made it possible for him to attend the U.S. Naval Academy. He became a superior pilot and then a helicopter rescue pilot. He is always there to help Barb as she once helped him. Barb Thompson Collection.
Ronda receiving her commission as a Washington State Patrol trooper and her badge. #954. Barb Thompson Collection.
Ronda on a break from patrol. She worked all shifts, but preferred Third Watch, from 8 P.M. to 4 A.M. Local cops and deputies, as well as other troopers, remember they could count on her for backup. Barb Thompson Collection.
Ronda, writing up a report, was honored by a local paper for her work in catching a killer. Barb Thompson Collection.
Don Hennings, Ronda's "dad," hugs her. He was very proud to see her as a Washington state trooper. Ronda carried a gun on her hip, and taught gun safety in state patrol classes. Barb Thompson Collection.
Ronda stands beside her patrol unit. She worked a "one-man" car, although sometimes women friends did "ride-alongs." Claudia Self was with her the night she stopped a killer. Barb Thompson Collection.
Ronda with her fiance, fellow trooper Mark Liburdi. They attended a Marine Corps Reserve formal dance. Gramma Virginia made Ronda's dress. Barb Thompson Collection.
Mark and Ronda rehearse their wedding vows on the evening before their wedding. Barb Thompson Collection.
Gramma Virginia and Ronda collaborated on Ronda's wedding gown and Virginia sewed it. Barb Thompson Collection.
Mark and Ronda Liburdi smile after their lovely outdoor wedding. Ronda looked forward to helping Mark raise his three children and to having more of their own. Barb Thompson Collection.
A montage of Ronda's mom, "dad," and Ronda at her wedding. Don Hennings gave her away, Gramma Virginia made her dress, and Barb took care of the details like hanging balloons decorating the hall for the reception. It was a happy day in June! Barb Thompson Collection.
Barb Thompson and Ronda. The road ahead looked bright. Ronda loved her new husband, her law enforcement career, and she had just told her mother that she was pregnant. Tragically, this was the baby boy she lost at five months. She loved Mark's children and the ranch she and Mark bought in McCleary. But she was devastated when she miscarried. Barb Thompson Collection.
Catherine Huttula at fourteen. Her family owned a profitable pharmacy, and they lived in a large home. She was a brilliant student who would lose two siblings to death.
Ron Reynolds, fourteen. He was his parents' pride and joy, and they were indulgent. He got whatever he wanted. His sisters and cousins found him selfish and avoided him.
Catherine Huttula's photo for her junior year yearbook at Elma High School. Her personality drew fellow students to her. She was extremely popular with both male and female students.
Ron Reynolds in the eleventh grade at Elma High. He was a "brain" and too thin to play sports. He and Catherine both made the Honor Society--but they didn't date. They did attend church functions occasionally with a group of other students.
Catherine Huttula with other members of the Elma High pep squad. She is the second cheerleader on the right. She was a rather plain teenager, but her personality more than made up for that.
Catherine, left, laughs as the cheerleaders pose for yearbook pictures. She was one of four "duchesses" on the pep squad. She went to college in Arizona. But she came back to Washington State University and set out to win Ron Reynolds.
Ronda had been divorced only six weeks when she married Ron Reynolds in the first week of January 1998. A new year. A new marriage. A new life. She believed Ron truly loved her. Barb Thompson Collection.
Ronda wore a white satin suit for her wedding to Ron Reynolds. Barb couldn't attend the ceremony in January 1998 because she had horses foaling--but Gramma and Ronda's brother. Freeman, went. Barb Thompson Collection.
A rare photo of Barb Thompson laughing. Used to wearing boots on her horse ranch, she'd worn high heels to a hearing before Judge Hicks in Olympia, but Royce Ferguson hadn't told her how far the walk was. She was happy because Hicks set a hearing date in November 2009, but her feet were killing her. Walking home, she took off her heels and put on the socks. Ferguson grabbed his camera. Royce Ferguson Collection.
Micah Reynolds is the second oldest of Ron and Katie Reynolds's five sons. He didn't live in the house in Toledo, but sometimes visited.
David Reynolds (left) was one of Katie and Ron's sons who lived with Ron and Ronda. Neither he nor his next older brother, Jonathan, liked their stepmother very much.
Ron Reynold's son Jonathan, lower right, was seventeen, the oldest of Katie and Ron's boys who lived with them. He and Ronda didn't get along, and he was very angry when she used a "takedown" move on him, forcing him on his face. She was small, but she had WSP training and experience.
Blair Connelly was a single mom with two sons when she met Ron at a school football game. She thought he was great--at first--but complained later that she was more a maid and housekeeper than a girlfriend. Blair Connelly.
Blair and Ron during the first--and happiest--days of their relationship. Ron still had Ronda's china cabinet (left). Katie Huttula had moved out four months before, and Ronda had only been dead for nine mo
nths when the couple started dating. Blair Connelly.
Ron Reynolds and friends celebrate his fiftieth birthday at a barbeque in his honor. He is much heavier than he was in his school years. Blair Connelly.
Ron at the Elma High School 40 Year Reunion in August 2009. He was married to his fourth wife, who accompanied him. His first wife, Donna, attended the event with her second, longtime husband; his second wife, Katie, was missing; and Ronda, his third wife, had died under mysterious circumstances. Fellow classmates recalled that he was jovial and at ease during the festivities. Darryl Prowse.
November 2, 2009: Judge Richard Hicks raises his right arm to swear in the jury who will decide if Coroner Terry Wilson "has been derelict in his duty in determining the manner of Ronda Reynolds's death. KOMO-TV, ABC Seattle.
Coroner Terry Wilson (rear) of Lewis County, Washington, and his deputy, Carmen Brunton. Carmen went to the scene of Ronda's death; Wilson did not. Over eleven years, Ronda's manner of death was officially changed four times. KOMO-TV, ABC Seattle.
Left to right: Deputy Coroner Carmen Brunton, defense attorney John Justice, and Coroner Terry Wilson. The big question for the jury and the gallery was: "Will Terry Wilson testify?" But Wilson wasn't in court for most of the November hearing. Carmen sat in for him, and his wife, Donna, was always there, too. KOMO-TV, ABC Seattle.
Ron bought this new home on Twin Peaks Drive in Toledo. Ronda brought all her furniture, and gave Ron $15,000 she borrowed from her mom to help with the down payment. Ron's three younger sons lived with them. Ronda was found dead here. Barb Thompson Collection.
There were so many "players" in the courtroom drama in Chehalis that Royce Ferguson wisely used charts to introduce them to the jurors. They all listened avidly as he made his opening remarks. KOMO-TV, ABC Seattle.
Barb Thompson was the first witness in the hearing to determine if Terry Wilson was derelict in his duty. She wore Ronda's pink and gray suit to give her courage. Although she had longed to tell her daughter's story to a jury, testifying was very difficult for her. KOMO-TV, ABC Seattle.
Sergeant David Bell of the Des Moines, Washington, Police Department testifies. Years before, he and Ronda came close to marrying. They remained good friends for many years. He still loved her and was one of the last people to see her alive. Being on the witness stand was obviously anguishing for him. KOMO-TV, ABC Seattle.
Jerry Berry, who risked his career in law enforcement to find out who killed Ronda, on the witness stand. He told jurors about the nearly two dozen red flags that popped up in his mind as he worked the case as a Lewis County sheriff's homicide detective. KOMO-TV, ABC Seattle.
I am talking with Barb Thompson at the railing as a day in court ends. (I'm having a bad hair day because I was caught in a squall that whipped around the Law and Justice Center.) Carmen Brunton, the Lewis County coroner's deputy, is in the background. KOMO-TV, ABC Seattle.
Tracy Vedder (back to camera) and Paul Walker of KITI Radio in Lewis County interview Barb Thompson as other reporters wait nearby in the hallway just outside Judge Hicks's courtroom. The November 2009 hearing made headline news not only in Lewis and Thurston counties--but also in Seattle and Portland. KOMO-TV, ABC Seattle.
Marty Hayes, a firearms expert who volunteered to help Barb, testified about the death weapon, the sound of a gun blast, and the pillowcase found over Ronda's head. Here he points a handgun at the ceiling as he begins to describe angle of fire and Ronda's wound, and states he doesn't believe Ronda shot herself. KOMO-TV, ABC Seattle.
Marty Hayes had to show slides of Ronda, deceased, to explain her wound and how the gun would have to have been held. Barb thought she could handle it, but seeing her dead daughter in blown-up photos on the court screen was too much for her and she'd left sobbing. Here she returns, carrying a box of Kleenex, in control of her emotions again. KOMO-TV, ABC Seattle.
Attorney Royce Ferguson demonstrates a possible position if Ronda had shot herself--but she was right-handed and the gun appeared to have been fired by her left hand. Her other hand was under her body. It just didn't fit the facts. KOMO-TV, ABC Seattle.
Firearms expert Marty Hayes shows a slightly different angle where a suicidal person might point a gun. But the bullet that killed Ronda didn't even cross the brain's midline. Another angle that didn't fit the facts. Why had the gun been in her left hand? KOMO-TV, ABC Seattle.
Dr. Jeffrey Reynolds, a forensic pathologist, points to where the bullet entered Ronda's head and brain. He testified he had never seen a bullet path like Ronda's in a suicide--even though he had performed thousands of autopsies. KOMO-TV, ABC Seattle.
Dr. Jeffrey Reynolds refers to a file to prove his point. This is the huge white notebook that Barb Thompson put together with information on Ronda's death and the investigation that followed. She believed it was inadequate and misguided. The notebook was entered into evidence at the hearing in Judge Hicks's courtroom. KOMO-TV, ABC Seattle.
Now a private investigator, like all witnesses Jerry Berry was allowed to sit in the courtroom after he testified. He listened to John Justice, Terry Wilson's attorney, with skepticism. KOMO-TV, ABC Seattle.
On an evening during the hearing, Barb Thompson meets with her crew and an expert on forensic interviews, Gary Aschenbach. Eating at the Kit Carsons Restaurant in Chehalis are, left to right, Gary Aschenbach, Royce Ferguson, Marty Hayes, Jerry Berry, Barb. Barb Thompson Collection.
Judge Richard Hicks looks very serious as he reads instructions to the jury before they retire to deliberate. KOMO-TV, ABC Seattle.
Barb, crying, being hugged by her "adopted" daughter, Lieutenant Kim Edmondson of the Kootenai County, Idaho, Sheriff's Office after the jury agreed unanimously in their judgment. KOMO-TV, ABC Seattle.
Although a detective prematurely removed the death gun, this is Ronda Reynolds as she was found in the closet off the master bathroom. Her body is in full rigor mortis, which would have taken several hours. She was right-handed, and that hand is under her breast. Her left hand position--as demonstrated by investigators in other photos--is awkwardly positioned and almost impossible to achieve--PLUS she would not have had the strength to pull the trigger, which would have taken a minimum of three pounds. Lewis County Sheriff's Office crime scene photo.
One of Barb's world-class American quarter horses, the Palomino she named "Slide Me a Dollar" stirs up the dust in her corral in Spokane. When she is with her horses, she feels close to Ronda, too. Barb Thompson Collection.
After Barb lost Ronda, she felt blessed that she still had her son, Freeman. He was almost killed in a motorcycle accident, but, working together, Barb and Freeman saw that he came all the way back. He is an accomplished engineer, and he is always there when she needs help. Barb Thompson Collection.
Gramma Virginia Ramsey loved Ronda dearly. She passed away on February 4, 2010. Barb admits there are times she feels almost envious. She knows her mother and her daughter are together now, and that they are happy. Although she herself has years to go, she looks forward to joining them "on the other side." In the meantime, she works tirelessly to bring out the whole truth about Ronda's strange death.
I NEEDED A GREAT DEAL of help as I researched the story of Ronda Reynolds, even though I had been following it in the background of my mind since December 1998. Fortunately, scores of people came forward and remembered the heartwarming, exciting, and sometimes tragic details of Ronda's too-short life. With their help, Ronda came alive for me, just as she had for the three men--Jerry Berry, Marty Hayes, Royce Ferguson--all forensic specialists in their own areas of expertise. Each of them worked virtually pro bono for years to remove the blindfold across Justice's eyes and unveil the truth.
This is Ronda's book, but it is also her mother Barb's book. To quote from The Ladies' Home Journal: "Never underestimate the Power of a Woman."
Some of the people listed below shared vital information with me, some taught me forensic science that I needed to know, and some had my back during the challenges I faced when I began to writ
e about Ronda.
