[WA] Ex-State Trooper Ronda Reynolds' Updates

Ronda Reynolds
Former Washington State Trooper

September 16, 1965 ~ December 16, 1998

...The county coroner said Reynolds' husband and his sons have indicated they'll refuse to testify. "They'll take the Fifth Amendment... It means, 'I refuse to testify on the grounds it may tend to incriminate me"...

JUSTICE FOR RONDA

Previous posts:

• [WA] Mother of former Trooper Ronda Reynolds never gave up
• [WA] Newschannel continues to push for truth on ex-trooper Reynolds' death
• [WA] UNPRECEDENTED LEGAL MOVE IN THE SO-CALLED SUICIDE OF EX TROOPER RONDA REYNOLDS
• [WA] CHANGE EX-STATE TROOPER RONDA REYNOLDS' DEATH RULING FROM SUICIDE - OR ELSE!
• [WA] Former Washington State Trooper Ronda Reynolds' cause of death will be decided by a coroner's inquest

TROOPER'S HUSBAND AND HIS SONS TO PLEAD THE FIFTH AT INQUEST
komonews.com
By Luke Duecy
Published: Sep 16, 2011
Last Updated: Sep 17, 2011
[Excerpts] The long-awaited inquest into the 1998 shooting death of former state trooper Ronda Reynolds will soon get under way, but it may not bring closure to her mother. Reynolds' husband and his three sons are trying to avoid testifying in the controversial case... People still wonder how her body ended up on the floor of a closet in the master bedroom in Reynolds' home with a gunshot wound to her head. On Friday, Lewis County Coroner Warren McCleod formally announced he'll hold an inquest to figure out, once and for all, whether Reynolds' death was suicide or murder. "What I hope to accomplish is a final resolution in this 13-year-old case," he said. "The jury is going to say, 'This who it was, where it happened, when it happened, how it happened and this is what we believe is the manner of the death."' In 1998, the county's then-coroner ruled Reynolds' death a suicide. In 2008, a KOMO News investigation uncovered new evidence and expert opinions that called that ruling into question. Reynolds' mother Barb Thompson sued to clear her daughter's name, and a jury unanimously found Reynolds did not kill herself. Thompson hoped the inquest might finally bring closure; however, on Friday, she found out it might not. The county coroner said Reynolds' husband and his sons have indicated they'll refuse to testify. "They'll take the Fifth Amendment," Thompson said. "It means, 'I refuse to testify on the grounds it may tend to incriminate me."'... [Full article here]

48 HOURS: Mystery on Twin Peaks Drive - The Murder of Ronda Reynolds

'I WANTED THE TRUTH, REGARDLESS OF WHAT THAT WAS'
KOMO
By Tracy Vedder
Published: Oct 20, 2011
For the first time since her daughter's death 13 years ago, Barb Thompson is a woman with peace in her soul. An inquest jury on Wednesday ruled her daughter Ronda Reynolds' manner of death was homicide and not suicide as initially determined. The jury ruled Reynold's husband, Ron Reynolds, and stepson, Jonathan Reynolds, are responsible for her death. The coroner said he would issue arrest warrants for the two men, and a charging decision is expected Friday. Much of the evidence that convinced the coroner's jury was the result of nearly 13 years of persistent digging by Thompson. "No regrets," she said. For years, Thompson has said she has been searching for just one thing: "I wanted the truth, regardless of what that was"... [Full article here]

Barbara when Ronda's death was ruled a homicide

JURY: REYNOLDS' HUSBAND, STEPSON RESPONSIBLE FOR HER DEATH
By KOMO Staff
Oct 19, 2011
[Excerpts] The jury in the inquest into the death of former state trooper Ronda Reynolds has reached a verdict... "This is overwhelming," Ronda Reynolds' mother Barb Thompson said amid tears after the verdict was read. "I always said I had faith in our judicial system, and they didn't prove me wrong again." As a result of the decision, Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod was planning to issue an arrest warrant in the case. But the unprecedented nature of the verdict left a key question lingering: Will the men even be criminally charged? The verdict drew gasps in a small Chehalis courtroom... Reynolds' death was originally ruled a suicide, but the Lewis County coroner launched a new investigation following a KOMO News investigation... Ron Reynolds and Jonathan Reynolds both refused to testify during the inquest, as did Ron Reynolds' two other sons. [Full article here]

What Barbara said she would say to Ronda, "I hope you're proud of me. We did it." Barbara also gives the credit to the media for lifting the case into the public view. 

ARREST WARRANTS IN TROOPER'S DEATH SUSPENDED OVER 'LEGAL ISSUE'
By KOMO
Oct 21, 2011
[Excerpts] An unexpected legal issue has disrupted the issuing of arrest warrants after a coroner's inquest jury ruled this week that the 1998 death of former state trooper Ronda Reynolds was a homicide. And in another surprise twist, Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod said in a statement Friday that the inquest into Reynolds' death will be reopened... that he has "temporarily suspended the process regarding the arrest warrants required by the verdict in the coroner inquest into the death of Ronda Reynolds... This temporary suspension is to allow for the investigation and resolution of a legal issue that has come to light," McLeod said in his statement. "No further details can be provided at this time but a complete public disclosure will be made when the coroner inquest is reconvened"... [Full article here]

Ronda's mom Barb Thompson outside the house at 114 Twin Peaks Drive where here daughter died.

RONDA REYNOLDS’ HUSBAND, SON TO SPEAK ABOUT 1998 TOLEDO DEATH ON NATIONAL TELEVISION
Lewis County Sirens
By Sharyn  L. Decker
Tuesday, April 17, 2012 at 9:01 am
[Excerpts] The first journalist to conduct a one on one interview with Toledo Elementary School Principal Ron Reynolds about the controversial 1998 death of his wife in Toledo says he was left thinking it was a mistake Reynolds chose to remain mum during last October’s coroner’s inquest. Reynolds and his son Jonathan answered every question and told a very convincing story about what they say was the suicide of former trooper Ronda Reynolds, Peter Van Sant said yesterday... Van Sant spoke yesterday from his office in New York, in advance of this weekend’s airing of 48 Hours Mystery, featuring the Lewis County case that is now ruled a homicide. Ronda Reynolds, 33, died with a bullet in her head in the home she shared with husband of less than a year, Ron Reynolds and his sons. She was found dead on the floor of a small walk-in closet, covered up by a turned-on electric blanket the morning of Dec. 16, 1998. Her death was labeled by then-Coroner Terry Wilson and the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office as a suicide, but her unconvinced mother Barbara Thompson battled for more than a decade for a more thorough investigation of what she believed was more likely murder... Ron Reynolds, on the advice of attorneys, avoided testifying not only at the inquest, but at the 2009 judicial review in Chehalis... “I thought it was interesting at the end of the day, Barb Thompson was not upset that these men were not prosecuted,” he said... Among their interviewees is Ann Rule, author from Seattle who published a book on the case... [Full article here]

RONDA REYNOLDS
(From realcrimes.com)
By Barbara Thompson
My daughter, Ronda Reynolds, 33, was discovered dead of a gunshot wound to her head, in Toledo, Washington, on December 16, 1998. She died on the floor of her master bedroom walk-in closet, following a heated argument with her husband. The scene was contaminated by the Lewis County Sheriff’s Department before the lead detective, Jerry Berry, ever got there. Several months later, as Detective Berry was in the process of pursuing answers to a long list of inconsistencies, Ronda’s husband hired an attorney, who threatened to sue the sheriff’s office for not following proper procedures. Sheriff John McCroskey responded by closing the case as a suicide one week later, using as justification a falsified report by his detective, Sgt. Glade Austin. Detective Berry – an honest and courageous investigator – refused to dismiss the case as suicide. On Jan.1, 2001, Berry was “transferred” (demoted) to deputy, put back on road duty, and instructed to leave the case alone. In June, 2001, following months of harassment and trumped-up reprimands because he refused to go along with the cover-up, Berry quit the department. Berry says this was far from the first time the sheriff’s department arbitrarily closed a suspicious death as a suicide... I could get on with my life if Ronda had been killed in an accident. I could even have accepted suicide, if it truly was suicide. But having to deal every day with a police cover-up – reading and rereading the case file, finding investigative mistakes and reading the blatant lies that have been manufactured to conceal those blunders, keeps the wound of my loss open with no chance of healing. To live without closure is unbearable... [MORE]
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal fatality fatalities murder state politics alleged said suicide]
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal fatality fatalities murder alleged-suicide washington state patrol politics unsolved unresolved]

[WA] Mother of former Trooper Ronda Reynolds never gave up

From today's news:
...The Problem Solvers learned of a mother's long struggle to prove her daughter didn't kill herself. She believes something more sinister is at work, and we have uncovered evidence and found experts who are convinced that what was ruled a suicide, was actually a heinous crime...

Ronda Reynolds
RealCrimes
My daughter, Ronda Reynolds, 33, was discovered dead of a gunshot wound to her head, in Toledo, Washington, on December 16, 1998. She died on the floor of her master bedroom walk-in closet, following a heated argument with her husband... That evening, Ronda phoned to tell me that her marriage was over, and she was coming to visit me in eastern Washington, where she would sort things out and form a game plan. She had made plane reservations for the next day, and David Bell would take her to the airport. When deputies arrived at the house, they found her bags and makeup kit packed and ready to go and a phonebook open to airline listings...

From Justice For Ronda
...I could get on with my life if Ronda had been killed in an accident. I could even have accepted suicide, if it truly was suicide. But having to deal every day with a police cover-up – reading and rereading the case file, finding investigative mistakes and reading the blatant lies that have been manufactured to conceal those blunders, keeps the wound of my loss open with no chance of healing. To live without closure is unbearable. To let a politically corrupt law enforcement agency lie, cover up, and disregard a human life to benefit their self-image is unacceptable. The Lewis County Sheriff's Department and all other law enforcement agencies in our country need to be held accountable for their actions, so that no other parent, ever, will have to experience this type of indescribable nightmare.
Barbara Thompson -- Ronda's mother

[For copyright reasons I'm only posting excerpts of the following article, but the original article will likely remain online. If it becomes unavailable and you want it, email me.]
Experts: Investigation botched; former trooper was murdered
Story Published: Apr 29, 2008 at 11:09 PM PDT
KOMO, WA
By Tracy Vedder
Apr 29, 2008
Who pulled the trigger that took the life of former state trooper Ronda Reynolds? Was it suicide? Or was it murder? The Problem Solvers learned of a mother's long struggle to prove her daughter didn't kill herself. She believes something more sinister is at work, and we have uncovered evidence and found experts who are convinced that what was ruled a suicide, was actually a heinous crime. After 10 years, much of the original evidence in Ronda Reynolds' death investigation has been lost or destroyed. So to understand what happened we returned to the scene of her death. We talked to new experts and the original detective on the case. All believe authorities botched the investigation in calling it a suicide. "It was a murder in 1998," says former detective Jerry Berry, "it's a murder today." They believe it's murder set to look like suicide. "That's a rearranged scene," says forensic pathologist Dr. Jeffrey Reynolds, "that's a staged scene." Ronda had been a state trooper and firearms instructor. She left the patrol to work in private security... That night, Ronda booked a flight to her mom's in Spokane. 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, Ronda was found dead... "I believe she was murdered," Ronda's mother said. However, quoting from police reports, Ron Reynolds told investigators the day and night before her death, they "were talking about separating" and she'd been "talking about committing suicide"... We tried to talk to Ron Reynolds, but he didn't return phone calls, and his attorney says he will not do an interview... "The first red flag was the gun being in her left hand," says Berry... Another oddity: No fingerprints on the weapon. "There should have been at least smudges somewhere on the gun, but there was nothing," said Berry. "It was clean." Berry admits he and the department made mistakes which caused them to lose critical evidence. For instance, he wasn't allowed to interview the three Reynolds boys until two months after Ronda's death. But he still thought the case could be solved. "Every piece of circumstantial evidence screamed murder," he said. But seven months after Ronda's death, Ron Reynolds' attorney wrote the department insisting they remove the cloud of suspicion and close the case... 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"... Early this year, Ronda's mother asked forensic pathologist Dr. Jeffrey Reynolds - who's no relation - to review the case. With 2,000 autopsies and 30 years of practice to his credit, the Problem Solvers asked him to review it again - for us. "This is not a self-inflicted wound," says Dr. Reynolds... Ronda's mother Barb Thompson has given up expecting anyone will ever face charges. Now, she just wants Ronda's death certificate changed from suicide to homicide. "She definitely deserves that," she said. We've asked the Lewis County Sheriff to explain their reasons for closing the case as a suicide. They've refused. They did ask two outside organizations to review their investigation of Ronda's death. The Washington State Attorney General's homicide team agreed with Lewis County, calling it suicide. The former commander of the New York Police Homicide Task Force found this was a staged crime scene and murder.
http://www.komotv.com/news/local/18394794.html

Justice for Rhonda
http://justiceforronda.com/bio.htm
http://justiceforronda.com/trooper1.htm

Excerpt from Chapter 5 of the book, Justice for Ronda, by Ronda's mother, Barbara Thompson
http://www.realcrimes.com/Reynolds/excerpt_Ronda.htm

[WA] CHANGE EX-STATE TROOPER RONDA REYNOLDS' DEATH RULING FROM SUICIDE - OR ELSE!

A judge has given the Lewis County coroner 10 days to remove the word "suicide" from the death certificate of former Washington state trooper - or else. "Fail not to obey at your own peril," says a court order issued Friday by Thurston County Superior Court Judge Richard Hicks... Jury forewoman Angel Hubbard said everyone on the jury thought the cause of death was homicide...

Previous posts:

• [WA] Mother of former Trooper Ronda Reynolds never gave up
• [WA] Newschannel continues to push for truth on ex-trooper Reynolds' death 
• [WA] UNPRECEDENTED LEGAL MOVE IN THE SO-CALLED SUICIDE OF EX TROOPER RONDA REYNOLDS

CORONER ORDERED TO FIND DIFFERENT CAUSE OF DEATH FOR STATE TROOPER
A Thurston County judge Friday ordered Lewis County Coroner Terry Wilson to come up with another cause of death for Ronda Reynolds, a state trooper who was found dead of a gunshot wound in her home in 1998.
Seattle Times
By Nancy Bartley
January 29, 2010 at 8:13 PM
[Excerpts] A Thurston County judge Friday ordered Lewis County Coroner Terry Wilson to come up with another cause of death for Ronda Reynolds, a state trooper who was found dead of a gunshot wound in her home in 1998. Reynolds' mother, Barb Thompson, has argued that her daughter's death was not a suicide and sued to have Wilson's cause-of-death determination overruled. In November, a Lewis County jury agreed. Friday's hearing was at Wilson's request. John Justice, his attorney, asked that Judge Richard Hicks strike from an earlier ruling his wording that Reynolds' death was "definitely not suicide," as well as written comments by a juror who speculated on the case being a homicide. Hicks agreed to strike the juror's comments but refused to change his own earlier wording. Hicks again ordered Wilson to come up with another cause of death for Reynolds within 10 days, saying the coroner had been "arbitrary and capricious" in ruling her death to be a suicide... Hicks' order Friday does not force Wilson to find Reynolds' death was a homicide, as Thompson hoped... Thompson said she was disappointed but vowed to continue to fight for a homicide designation on Reynolds' death certificate. "Her death certainly wasn't natural or accidental and it's not a suicide or undetermined. So what do you have?" Thompson said... If the coroner "comes up with 'undetermined' (a finding most often used for badly decomposed bodies) we'll be back in court all over again," said Royce Ferguson, Thompson's attorney... Reynolds had been married less than a year to a Toledo elementary-school teacher and was preparing to leave him the next day and fly home to her mother in Spokane when she was found shot, curled up in the closet, wrapped in an electric blanket... Reynolds' husband, Ron Reynolds, told police his wife had threatened suicide and had shot herself. He has never been considered a suspect in the case... [Full article here]

JUDGE ORDERS CORONER TO CHANGE RULING ON STATE TROOPER'S DEATH
seattlepi.com, KOMO-TV STAFF
Last updated 9:48 a.m. PT
[Excerpts] A judge has given the Lewis County coroner 10 days to remove the word "suicide" from the death certificate of former Washington state trooper - or else. "Fail not to obey at your own peril," says a court order issued Friday by Thurston County Superior Court Judge Richard Hicks. In 1998, trooper Ronda E. Reynolds was found dead in her home of a single gunshot to the head. Lewis County Coroner Terry Wilson ruled her death as a suicide at the time. But in 2008, a KOMO investigation highlighted evidence and opinions from experts who believed that Reynolds did not take her own life. In November 2009, after reviewing the evidence, a jury unanimously decided that coroner Wilson was wrong when he called the death a suicide... The judge's latest order requires Wilson to "reconsider all of the information and evidence available" and issue a new cause of death within 10 days."The jury found that your determination of 'suicide' is inaccurate," the judge's order says... Jury forewoman Angel Hubbard said everyone on the jury thought the cause of death was homicide. "I can say unanimously for all of us - we even talked about that - that we definitely felt it would not, it should not be undetermined, but (move) more towards homicide," said Hubbard... [Full article here]

[WA] Former Washington State Trooper Ronda Reynolds' cause of death will be decided by a coroner's inquest

Previous posts:

• [WA] Mother of former Trooper Ronda Reynolds never gave up
• [WA] Newschannel continues to push for truth on ex-trooper Reynolds' death
• [WA] UNPRECEDENTED LEGAL MOVE IN THE SO-CALLED SUICIDE OF EX TROOPER RONDA REYNOLDS
• [WA] CHANGE EX-STATE TROOPER RONDA REYNOLDS' DEATH RULING FROM SUICIDE - OR ELSE!
  

INQUEST ORDERED INTO THE 1998 DEATH OF STATE TROOPER RONDA REYNOLDS
Seattle Times
By Nancy Bartley
Thursday, January 20, 2011
[Excerpts] The cause of death of former Washington State Trooper Ronda Reynolds will be decided by a coroner's inquest, Lewis County's newly elected Coroner Warren McLeod has decided... He decided to appoint Franklin County Coroner Dan Blasdel to preside over the inquest... While the date hasn't been set yet, the inquest will be held in another county, McLeod said, because he fears the Lewis County jury pool might have been tainted by 12 years of publicity about the case. Recently, the case was the subject of an Ann Rule book, "In the Still of the Night: The Strange Death of Ronda Reynolds and Her Mother's Unceasing Quest for the Truth." Reynolds was found shot in the head in her closet at her home in Toledo, Lewis County, on the morning she was going to leave her husband, Ron Reynolds... Barb Thompson, her mother, spent years — and many legal steps — arguing that Reynolds didn't kill herself... [Full article here]
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence (IPV) abuse law enforcement public safety fatality fatalities unsolved unresolved washington state courage persistence officer as vitims state]

[WA] UNPRECEDENTED LEGAL MOVE IN THE SO-CALLED SUICIDE OF EX TROOPER RONDA REYNOLDS

...It's such an unprecedented legal move that the judge has to make up the rules. For Thompson, it's her last opportunity to make her case...

BLOGTALKRADIO INTERVIEW AUDIO:

Previous posts:

• [WA] Mother of former Trooper Ronda Reynolds never gave up
• [WA] Newschannel continues to push for truth on ex-trooper Reynolds' death

Court to review 10-year-old suicide ruling
The Seattle Times
By Ian Ith
Monday, April 20, 2009
[EXCERPTS] 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. So Thompson has been on a single-minded mission to prove her daughter was slain. She has publicly battled the Lewis County sheriff's office and the local coroner for 10 years, demanding they investigate the case as a murder. She believes they are covering up their ineptitude by refusing to face facts. She has surrounded herself with allies and experts, including the former lead sheriff's detective who quit over the case. She has shown anyone who will take the time reams of documents and piles of grisly photos. She now will get her day in court. Under a never-before-used state law, Thompson has won the right to have a Thurston County judge evaluate the case and, if Thompson has her way, possibly change Reynolds' death certificate. It's such an unprecedented legal move that the judge has to make up the rules. For Thompson, it's her last opportunity to make her case... 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... Barb Thompson says all she ever wanted were believable answers, but they never came. "That's all I've ever asked: Show me the evidence that shows suicide," she said. "Does anyone think I've enjoyed the torture I've gone through for the last 10 years? I just want the truth"... In 2006, the state attorney general's office was asked to look at the case. The resulting report listed nearly a dozen mistakes that the sheriff's office had made. Nonetheless, it determined that the evidence pointed to suicide. Thompson vehemently disputes that conclusion as inconsistent with the physical evidence. She alleges the sheriff's office gave the attorney general's investigators limited information designed to steer them toward agreeing with the initial investigation. So she's pinning her last hope on the Thurston County judge. In 1987, a state law was changed to make coroner's rulings subject to "judicial review." Thurston County Superior Court Judge Richard Hicks, who received the case because all Lewis County judges recused themselves, now will decide whether to overturn the coroner and classify Ronda Reynolds' death as a homicide. No one has ever pressed such a case before. In a court hearing scheduled for Friday, Hicks could announce how he plans to proceed. What he decides probably will make all the difference. Thompson wants Hicks to call a jury to look at all the evidence she has assembled and call witnesses, including the coroner. "We need him to tell the judge in his own words how he came to this conclusion"... Justice noted, even if Hicks determines the death was homicide, it doesn't obligate the sheriff's office to pursue an arrest. Thompson is the first to acknowledge that. In fact, all these years later, she admits she has come to her own conclusion, as much as she hates to admit it: No one will be punished. Too much time has gone by; too much has been lost. What jury would convict someone of murder when even the sheriff and coroner won't say the death was homicide? Despite her thick binders of evidence, and her years of work, Thompson said she has to be honest with herself: "I can tell you beyond a reasonable doubt my daughter was murdered, but I cannot tell you beyond a reasonable doubt who killed her." But she said she believes that, if she can succeed in court this time, at least the public will know she was right. "I think once I get the death certificate changed, I have to say my job is done," she said. "And God will give me justice."... [FULL ARTICLE HERE]

ON REALCRIMES.COM:

Ronda Reynolds

My daughter, Ronda Reynolds, 33, was discovered dead of a gunshot wound to her head, in Toledo, Washington, on December 16, 1998. She died on the floor of her master bedroom walk-in closet, following a heated argument with her husband. The scene was contaminated by the Lewis County Sheriff’s Department before the lead detective, Jerry Berry, ever got there... I could get on with my life if Ronda had been killed in an accident. I could even have accepted suicide, if it truly was suicide. But having to deal every day with a police cover-up – reading and rereading the case file, finding investigative mistakes and reading the blatant lies that have been manufactured to conceal those blunders, keeps the wound of my loss open with no chance of healing. To live without closure is unbearable... [Full text here]

[WA] Newschannel continues to push for truth on ex-trooper Reynolds' death

Previous post:
[WA] Mother of former Trooper Ronda Reynolds never gave up


KOMO reveals new evidence in trooper's death
KOMO News, WA
By Tracy Vedder
Dec 31, 2008
SEATTLE -- New evidence revealed in a KOMO 4 Problem Solver investigation could be critical in determining how a former Washington State Trooper died. Ronda Reynold's death was labeled a suicide. But our investigation raised questions about the cause of death, and the evidence we revealed from gunfire tests and a new forensic pathologist may be instrumental in officially changing Reynold's cause of death from a suicide to a homicide. Ultimately, it will be up to a court to decide... "It was a murder in 1998 - it's a murder today," former detective Jerry Berry said... [Read the full article here - and I have a saved copy if it becomes unavailable]