WEBVTT - Hell and Gone Murder Line: Rhonda Hinson 0:00:46.480 --> 0:00:51.961 School of Humans. Helen Got Murder Line actively investigates cold 0:00:52.040 --> 0:00:55.361 case murders in an effort to raise public awareness invite 0:00:55.401 --> 0:00:58.761 witnesses to come forward and present evidence that could potentially 0:00:58.840 --> 0:01:02.961 be further investigated by law enforcement. While we value insights 0:01:03.001 --> 0:01:06.160 from family and community members, their statements should not be 0:01:06.200 --> 0:01:09.961 considered evidence and point to the challenges of verifying facts 0:01:10.041 --> 0:01:14.000 inherent in cold cases. We remind listeners that everyone has 0:01:14.080 --> 0:01:17.160 presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. 0:01:17.961 --> 0:01:20.840 Nothing in the podcast is intended to state or imply 0:01:21.041 --> 0:01:23.601 that anyone who has not been convicted of a crime 0:01:24.121 --> 0:01:27.121 is guilty of any wrongdoing. Thanks for listening. 0:01:30.961 --> 0:01:34.361 On December twenty second, nineteen eighty one, around one to 0:01:34.401 --> 0:01:37.840 one fifteen am, a driver was going down a dark 0:01:37.920 --> 0:01:41.881 road Mineral Springs Mountain Road near the town of Valdez, 0:01:41.961 --> 0:01:46.280 North Carolina. It was a dark, snowy night and there 0:01:46.321 --> 0:01:48.401 was fresh snow on the ground from the night before. 0:01:49.401 --> 0:01:52.481 The driver saw beige dots in two ten parked on 0:01:52.520 --> 0:01:55.241 the side of the road. They slowed down to check 0:01:55.240 --> 0:01:58.601 out what was happening. They were thinking if another driver 0:01:58.761 --> 0:02:00.481 was stranded on the side of the road like that, 0:02:00.960 --> 0:02:04.241 they could be in big trouble. They saw that the 0:02:04.281 --> 0:02:07.241 car had run into an embankment and that the driver's 0:02:07.240 --> 0:02:11.121 door was open. As they approached the car, they realized 0:02:11.161 --> 0:02:14.761 that the car was still running. Next to the car 0:02:15.121 --> 0:02:17.761 in a ditch was the body of a young woman, 0:02:18.680 --> 0:02:23.240 nineteen year old Ronda Henson. She was lying on her 0:02:23.281 --> 0:02:27.000 back with her arms by her side. She looked peaceful, 0:02:27.800 --> 0:02:29.840 like she had been starting to make a snow angel, 0:02:31.281 --> 0:02:33.960 except for the bullet hole in her chest. 0:02:35.401 --> 0:02:36.560 I'm Catherine Townsend. 0:02:36.841 --> 0:02:39.841 Over the past seven years of making my true crime podcast, 0:02:39.921 --> 0:02:43.001 Helling Gone, I've learned that there's no such thing as 0:02:43.001 --> 0:02:46.921 a small town where murdered never happens. I have received 0:02:47.121 --> 0:02:50.441 hundreds of messages from people all around the country asking 0:02:50.481 --> 0:02:53.841 for help with an unsolved murder that's affected them, their families, 0:02:54.241 --> 0:02:55.241 and their communities. 0:02:56.161 --> 0:02:58.001 If you have a case you'd like me and my 0:02:58.041 --> 0:02:59.841 team to look into, you can. 0:02:59.721 --> 0:03:01.961 Reach out to us at our Helen Gone Murder Line 0:03:02.201 --> 0:03:05.721 at six seven eight seven four four six one four five. 0:03:06.641 --> 0:03:10.361 That's six seven eight seven four four six one four five, 0:03:11.241 --> 0:03:14.561 or you can send us a message on Instagram. 0:03:13.841 --> 0:03:15.361 At Helen Gonepod. 0:03:16.281 --> 0:04:02.921 This is Helen Gone Murder Line. The driver of the 0:04:03.001 --> 0:04:05.761 car called nine to one one and the police rushed 0:04:05.801 --> 0:04:09.361 to the saint. From the beginning, the whole town was 0:04:09.401 --> 0:04:12.641 trying to figure out what happened to Ronda Henson. This 0:04:12.841 --> 0:04:16.801 was a very strange set of circumstances. Ronda had been 0:04:16.841 --> 0:04:20.320 driving home from her company Christmas party at the American 0:04:20.401 --> 0:04:24.080 Legion Hall in Hickory, North Carolina. She headed west on 0:04:24.121 --> 0:04:27.241 Interstate forty and took the exit for her home, Mineral 0:04:27.281 --> 0:04:31.520 Springs Mountain Highway through fifty. Then she turned right and 0:04:31.640 --> 0:04:35.681 drove up the hill toward home. As she was climbing 0:04:35.721 --> 0:04:40.121 that hill, she was shot once through the chest, and 0:04:40.161 --> 0:04:44.361 the bullet had taken a long and kind of strange trajectory. 0:04:44.921 --> 0:04:47.241 It went through the trunk of her dots in two 0:04:47.281 --> 0:04:50.640 ten and then through the back seat, the front seat, 0:04:50.880 --> 0:04:54.520 and eventually through Ronda's chest, exiting through the front of 0:04:54.521 --> 0:04:58.840 her chest, nicking her heart and lump. The shot was 0:04:58.880 --> 0:05:03.361 fatal and would have killed Ronda almost instantly. Police were 0:05:03.401 --> 0:05:06.481 able to figure out the shot hit while she was driving. 0:05:06.881 --> 0:05:09.561 She was going around twenty five miles per hour at 0:05:09.641 --> 0:05:13.481 the time, and after she was shot, her car rolled 0:05:13.481 --> 0:05:17.121 into the embankment. The car had then rolled down the hill, 0:05:17.121 --> 0:05:20.601 a little bit across the highway and finally. 0:05:20.361 --> 0:05:23.721 Lodged in a ditch. She was only half a mile 0:05:23.801 --> 0:05:24.280 from home. 0:05:25.841 --> 0:05:30.521 Police wondered had her shooting been accidental, did a hunter 0:05:30.681 --> 0:05:33.401 fire off a stray bullet? And was she just a 0:05:33.481 --> 0:05:37.880 victim of a very unlucky circumstance, or was it someone 0:05:37.921 --> 0:05:43.481 she knew, someone who stalked and killed her. Investigators said 0:05:43.521 --> 0:05:46.921 that given her injury, Ronda could not have gotten out 0:05:46.921 --> 0:05:49.440 of the car on her own, so it's assumed that 0:05:49.521 --> 0:05:52.760 someone dragged her body out into the snow and placed 0:05:52.801 --> 0:05:56.121 her on her back with her arms at her side. 0:05:56.361 --> 0:05:57.121 But who. 0:05:59.121 --> 0:06:02.601 Ronda Henson was born on December thirteenth, nineteen sixty two 0:06:02.761 --> 0:06:05.481 and grew up in Valdez, so she had lived in 0:06:05.521 --> 0:06:09.161 that area pretty much her entire life. She was very 0:06:09.161 --> 0:06:11.961 close to her family and her parents, Judy and Bobby, 0:06:12.241 --> 0:06:16.481 and her brother Robbie. She still lived at home with them. 0:06:17.161 --> 0:06:20.801 Ronda had graduated from high school. Valdez didn't have a 0:06:20.881 --> 0:06:24.440 high school, so Ronda attended a consolidated school called East 0:06:24.441 --> 0:06:28.481 Burke High School. Ronda's mother, Judy, said that in high school, 0:06:28.721 --> 0:06:32.681 Ronda was very involved in sports, including basketball, track, in tennis, 0:06:33.001 --> 0:06:38.280 and that everyone loved her daughter. After graduation, Ronda worked 0:06:38.321 --> 0:06:42.001 as a clerical worker for a local steel company. In 0:06:42.081 --> 0:06:45.961 the weeks before Ronda's death, her parents were noticing that 0:06:46.081 --> 0:06:51.041 something seemed wrong. Ronda appeared distracted and uneasy, as though 0:06:51.081 --> 0:06:53.761 she were carrying a secret she didn't know how to share. 0:06:55.001 --> 0:06:58.440 Ronda Henson had a boyfriend named Greg McDowell. She started 0:06:58.521 --> 0:07:00.681 dating him during her junior year, and they seemed to 0:07:00.681 --> 0:07:01.961 get serious pretty fast. 0:07:03.041 --> 0:07:03.721 At first. 0:07:03.881 --> 0:07:07.361 The local Record newspaper said that they seemed like an 0:07:07.361 --> 0:07:12.521 ideal match, but Ronda's mom, Judy, told several media outlets, 0:07:12.601 --> 0:07:15.801 including Unsolved Mysteries, which did an episode about the case, 0:07:16.321 --> 0:07:19.881 that Greg would write Ronda notes, notes that she said 0:07:19.961 --> 0:07:24.001 became more and more irate, because she said Greg would 0:07:24.001 --> 0:07:27.521 get jealous and feel like Ronda wasn't giving him enough attention. 0:07:28.881 --> 0:07:31.441 Some of the notes from Greg were normal and sweet, 0:07:31.601 --> 0:07:35.001 like the one that read happy to your anniversary, thanks 0:07:35.001 --> 0:07:38.961 for making me so happy, but another reportedly read quote, 0:07:39.161 --> 0:07:42.441 I apologize for pushing you. I really lost my temper 0:07:42.481 --> 0:07:45.201 and I'm sorry for being so st stupid. Please forgive 0:07:45.241 --> 0:07:49.361 me end quote. Judy told the TV show that from 0:07:49.441 --> 0:07:54.081 her conversations with Ronda. She believed that Greg was stressing 0:07:54.121 --> 0:07:57.161 her daughter out. She said she had noticed in the 0:07:57.201 --> 0:08:00.361 past that while Ronda was dating Greg, she was not 0:08:00.521 --> 0:08:01.641 doing as well in school. 0:08:02.081 --> 0:08:03.201 Her grades were dropping. 0:08:04.161 --> 0:08:07.321 But then after high school, Greg went to college at 0:08:07.321 --> 0:08:11.681 North Carolina State University. After that, Ronda's mom said that 0:08:11.721 --> 0:08:14.841 her daughter's behavior went more or less back to normal. 0:08:15.961 --> 0:08:19.761 Then Ronda graduated, she got her first job, the clerical 0:08:19.841 --> 0:08:23.881 job at the steel company. Greg's mother, Betty, actually worked 0:08:23.881 --> 0:08:28.001 at the same steel company as Ronda. The Christmas party 0:08:28.041 --> 0:08:31.481 on Friday, December twenty second was a big deal to Ronda. 0:08:32.001 --> 0:08:33.160 She was looking forward to it. 0:08:33.641 --> 0:08:36.601 She'd only been working at the steel company for three months, 0:08:37.001 --> 0:08:40.001 so this was her first ever office Christmas party as 0:08:40.001 --> 0:08:44.920 a working woman. According to Unsolved Mysteries, Ronda had done 0:08:44.920 --> 0:08:47.921 a couple of things that raised red flags to Judy 0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:51.441 in the weeks before her disappearance. One thing was that 0:08:51.560 --> 0:08:55.440 Judy said Ronda started showering during the night, telling Judy 0:08:55.521 --> 0:08:59.481 she felt dirty. And two Judy remembered that Ronda was 0:08:59.521 --> 0:09:04.040 asking her mother's strange questions about relationships, including whether it 0:09:04.081 --> 0:09:08.281 was ever acceptable to date a married man. Judy told 0:09:08.321 --> 0:09:12.201 the program quote I said Ronda, There's never a time 0:09:12.201 --> 0:09:13.920 that it's all right to go with a married man. 0:09:14.321 --> 0:09:17.161 The only thing that comes from that is people getting hurt. 0:09:17.401 --> 0:09:19.121 End quote. 0:09:19.681 --> 0:09:23.481 Ronda's father, Bobby, worked nights at a bakery, and he 0:09:23.721 --> 0:09:27.281 also reportedly told law enforcement that when he would leave 0:09:27.321 --> 0:09:29.841 for work in the middle of the night, he saw 0:09:30.001 --> 0:09:33.601 Ronda's lights on in her room. He wondered what was 0:09:33.681 --> 0:09:37.481 keeping his daughter up at night. One day, Ronda said 0:09:37.521 --> 0:09:40.761 she had something to tell Bobby, he told the TV 0:09:40.841 --> 0:09:45.081 show quote, I said, what is it, Ronda? I said, 0:09:45.201 --> 0:09:48.001 no matter whether it's good or bad, tell me. And 0:09:48.081 --> 0:09:51.401 she said, I'll think about it. And she never did explain, 0:09:51.601 --> 0:09:54.481 never did tell me why what it was that she's 0:09:54.521 --> 0:09:55.281 afraid to tell me? 0:09:55.561 --> 0:09:59.401 End quote. Could Ronda have been dating a married man? 0:09:59.961 --> 0:10:02.121 Could that have been the reason why she was staying 0:10:02.201 --> 0:10:05.121 up nights and behaving in a strange manner and taking 0:10:05.161 --> 0:10:09.881 distance from her boyfriend, Or maybe Greg's jealousy was starting 0:10:09.921 --> 0:10:12.841 to take a toll on her. On the other hand, 0:10:12.881 --> 0:10:16.361 this could have all been a complete coincidence. Judy and 0:10:16.481 --> 0:10:20.481 Bobby have no way of knowing for sure. The teenage 0:10:20.561 --> 0:10:24.161 angst that Ronda experience could have been a clue. Then again, 0:10:24.361 --> 0:10:27.761 it could have been completely unrelated to her killing. And 0:10:27.801 --> 0:10:31.361 it's always hard in hindsight because the temptation can be 0:10:31.481 --> 0:10:34.961 there to find patterns or link events that aren't necessarily 0:10:35.001 --> 0:10:35.961 related to the murder. 0:10:36.641 --> 0:10:38.081 Everything felt like a clue. 0:10:39.321 --> 0:10:42.801 Police interviewed Ronda's friends and colleagues from the Christmas party. 0:10:43.401 --> 0:10:47.361 All them said Ronda was acting normally, nothing was amiss. 0:10:47.401 --> 0:10:50.641 She seemed to be having a really good time. Ronda 0:10:50.721 --> 0:10:53.841 left the party at around twelve thirty am with two 0:10:53.921 --> 0:10:57.801 of her friends. Now at this point there was another 0:10:57.961 --> 0:11:01.801 change in her routine, possibly something that could have been significant. 0:11:02.801 --> 0:11:05.241 Ronda was supposed to stay over with a female friend 0:11:05.321 --> 0:11:09.321 named Sherry Pittman, but instead she dropped her friends off 0:11:09.601 --> 0:11:13.961 and eventually decided to go home instead. No one really 0:11:14.001 --> 0:11:18.241 knows why she made that decision. So Ronda set out 0:11:18.280 --> 0:11:21.641 and drove her Dotson down Mineral Springs Road for the 0:11:21.681 --> 0:11:25.761 ten mile trip home. Around one o'clock in the morning, 0:11:26.280 --> 0:11:30.321 Ronda's mother woke up with a strange feeling. On December 0:11:30.361 --> 0:11:35.441 twenty second. Judy told Unsolved Mysteries that at exactly one am, quote, 0:11:35.881 --> 0:11:38.881 I woke up feeling panicky, scared because I felt like 0:11:39.041 --> 0:11:40.441 something had happened to Ronda. 0:11:40.961 --> 0:11:44.081 I felt like Ronda was dead. I felt like she 0:11:44.121 --> 0:11:46.560 had been in an automobile accident. End quote. 0:11:47.521 --> 0:11:50.721 She and her husband were so freaked out they started 0:11:50.721 --> 0:11:53.321 turning on their police scanner and listening to see if 0:11:53.321 --> 0:11:58.361 they could hear accident reports. Bobby, in desperation, called Jill Turner, 0:11:58.681 --> 0:12:01.841 Ronda's best friend, to see if maybe Ronda was with her. 0:12:02.561 --> 0:12:03.401 He had no luck. 0:12:04.401 --> 0:12:08.241 They didn't hear anything until police broke the news in person. 0:12:08.921 --> 0:12:12.401 Officers came to the family home at two thirty am 0:12:12.441 --> 0:12:14.201 to announce that Ronda had. 0:12:14.081 --> 0:12:14.761 Been found dead. 0:12:15.881 --> 0:12:18.521 Police started looking for witnesses who had been out on 0:12:18.561 --> 0:12:22.561 the highway at that time. Police talked to one witness 0:12:22.681 --> 0:12:25.881 who drove under the I forty bridge on the road 0:12:25.961 --> 0:12:29.681 where Ronda was murdered. The witness told police that she 0:12:29.841 --> 0:12:34.361 saw a car, a blue nineteen seventies model Chevrolet, facing 0:12:34.401 --> 0:12:37.801 in a northerly direction with two white males in the vehicle. 0:12:38.721 --> 0:12:41.721 The witness stated that the Chabelle had damage on the 0:12:41.721 --> 0:12:44.521 front part of the car. They described the driver as 0:12:44.561 --> 0:12:47.881 a dark haired man with a medium build. A second 0:12:47.921 --> 0:12:51.241 witness said later in the morning they passed a blue 0:12:51.441 --> 0:12:55.481 GM Chevrolet driving fast with one person at the wheel. 0:12:56.481 --> 0:12:59.281 That same witness saw Ronda's car pulled over on the 0:12:59.280 --> 0:12:59.921 side of the road. 0:13:00.401 --> 0:13:01.121 They said that. 0:13:01.081 --> 0:13:04.161 They saw a white man standing near the driver's door, 0:13:04.401 --> 0:13:07.481 leaning into a woman. They thought that maybe it was 0:13:07.521 --> 0:13:12.521 a drunk couple, so that witness drove on. Later under hypnosis, 0:13:12.881 --> 0:13:16.160 the witness described the man as white with dark brown hair, 0:13:16.401 --> 0:13:20.040 between five ten and six feet tall. They also remembered 0:13:20.121 --> 0:13:23.401 passing another car part further down the road from the scene. 0:13:23.601 --> 0:13:28.641 This was a black or blue transam. So who were 0:13:28.801 --> 0:13:31.881 the men on the road that night. To this day, 0:13:32.001 --> 0:13:38.961 police don't know. They have never found them. So the 0:13:39.001 --> 0:13:42.761 first theory that we have to explore is could this 0:13:42.881 --> 0:13:46.521 have been a random accident. Test showed that Ronda had 0:13:46.561 --> 0:13:50.641 been shot once with a high powered rifle. Police never 0:13:50.681 --> 0:13:53.401 found the weapon, but they were able to determine that 0:13:53.481 --> 0:13:56.441 it was a larger rifle and not, for example, a 0:13:56.481 --> 0:14:01.121 small handgun. Ronda was killed with only a single bullet, 0:14:01.481 --> 0:14:03.681 the one that passed through the trunk of her car, 0:14:04.001 --> 0:14:07.080 the back of her car seat, and into her heart. 0:14:08.241 --> 0:14:11.561 One scenario that I've considered is that someone could have 0:14:11.601 --> 0:14:14.441 been using high beams to shoot deer or some other 0:14:14.521 --> 0:14:17.521 kind of game, and then their stray bullet hit the car. 0:14:18.521 --> 0:14:20.761 Maybe they saw the car roll off the road and 0:14:20.841 --> 0:14:24.001 went to see if Ronda was alive. Then maybe they 0:14:24.121 --> 0:14:26.881 panicked and left the scene rather than call the police. 0:14:27.961 --> 0:14:30.521 Because the bullet came through the rear of the car, 0:14:31.081 --> 0:14:34.921 it was initially possible to imagine a random shot from 0:14:34.961 --> 0:14:39.041 someone near the road, or maybe from an overpass. However, 0:14:39.601 --> 0:14:43.041 several details at the scene raised serious doubts about the 0:14:43.041 --> 0:14:46.681 idea of an accident. The main thing was that Ronda's 0:14:46.681 --> 0:14:50.361 body was found outside the vehicle, placed neatly on the ground. 0:14:50.921 --> 0:14:55.041 Her arms were described as deliberately arranged or placed at 0:14:55.041 --> 0:14:58.401 her sides, meaning that she did not get into that 0:14:58.441 --> 0:15:02.161 position by herself, though police couldn't say for sure if 0:15:02.201 --> 0:15:05.121 she had been positioned that way on purpose, or if 0:15:05.161 --> 0:15:07.601 potentially someone dragged her out of the car and dropped 0:15:07.641 --> 0:15:10.881 her there in a more random fashion. Then there was 0:15:10.921 --> 0:15:14.561 the open driver's door. Police say it was opened after 0:15:14.641 --> 0:15:17.441 the shot was fired, and there were fingerprints that were 0:15:17.481 --> 0:15:20.841 not Ronda's found on the door handle. There was no 0:15:20.841 --> 0:15:23.601 sign of a struggle inside the car, and nothing appeared 0:15:23.601 --> 0:15:28.041 to have been stolen. Investigators began to suspect that the 0:15:28.081 --> 0:15:31.081 shooter was close enough to approach the car after firing, 0:15:31.441 --> 0:15:36.721 suggesting intent not randomness. If someone did target Ronda, judging 0:15:36.761 --> 0:15:39.441 by the bullet path, the shooter would have had to 0:15:39.481 --> 0:15:44.201 have been an excellent marksman. But police seemed to dropped 0:15:44.281 --> 0:15:47.681 the random act of violence theory pretty quickly because of 0:15:47.721 --> 0:15:51.001 the way Ronda's body was placed. They quickly moved on 0:15:51.121 --> 0:15:55.161 to another theory, the possibility that Ronda could have been targeted. 0:15:56.241 --> 0:16:00.401 This case is technically still open, so our foyer requests. 0:16:00.041 --> 0:16:01.641 Have unfortunately not come back. 0:16:02.321 --> 0:16:05.441 But over the years this case has had some prominent 0:16:05.481 --> 0:16:10.801 media coverage. The reporter Larry J. Griffin published a serialized investigation. 0:16:11.281 --> 0:16:15.081 He did a ton of research, He interviewed Ronda's family members, 0:16:15.121 --> 0:16:19.321 and got access to her autopsy report. He posted parts 0:16:19.321 --> 0:16:22.721 of it on The Wilkes Record, a local North Carolina newspaper. 0:16:23.401 --> 0:16:26.761 Most of it is no longer online, but parts of 0:16:26.801 --> 0:16:30.161 it are available on the Wayback Machine, and Larry has 0:16:30.201 --> 0:16:33.881 also posted a lot of the Wilkes Record content on Facebook. 0:16:38.321 --> 0:16:42.001 At first, police reportedly believed this had been some sort 0:16:42.041 --> 0:16:44.841 of an accident, that Rona had been the victim of 0:16:44.881 --> 0:16:49.041 a random stray bullet, but again, the apparent placement of 0:16:49.081 --> 0:16:51.841 the body and the fact that nothing was stolen made 0:16:51.921 --> 0:16:56.321 this less convincing over time, so police began to seriously 0:16:56.361 --> 0:17:00.681 consider the possibility that Ronda was being stalked by someone 0:17:00.721 --> 0:17:17.321 she knew. Investigators began to suspect the killer might have 0:17:17.400 --> 0:17:21.441 followed or intercepted Ronda, possibly someone familiar. 0:17:21.001 --> 0:17:23.161 With her routine and her route home. 0:17:24.441 --> 0:17:26.960 Larry Griffin was able to get a copy of Ronda's 0:17:27.001 --> 0:17:30.561 autopsy report and has posted part of that report online. 0:17:31.600 --> 0:17:35.480 According to the autopsy report, Ronda was fully clothed in 0:17:35.521 --> 0:17:38.801 the outfit she so carefully styled for the party, a 0:17:38.840 --> 0:17:43.561 sweater over a shirt, skirt, slip, braw underwear, panty, host 0:17:43.561 --> 0:17:47.680 and choose. The back of her sweater, shirt and slip 0:17:48.041 --> 0:17:53.001 were soaked with blood. Ronda had one small round bruise 0:17:53.080 --> 0:17:55.521 about the size of a dime on her left side 0:17:55.641 --> 0:17:58.840 under her breast. There was another area of bruising and 0:17:58.921 --> 0:18:01.640 a four to five inch patch toward the middle of 0:18:01.681 --> 0:18:06.321 the left breast. So her family wondered did that bruise 0:18:06.361 --> 0:18:09.080 happen as a result of the shooting or was it 0:18:09.121 --> 0:18:12.160 something that happened before. Could she have gotten into an 0:18:12.201 --> 0:18:16.961 altercation with someone earlier that night. The patch of bruising 0:18:17.001 --> 0:18:18.921 could have been a result of the impact when she 0:18:19.001 --> 0:18:21.681 hit the steering wheel. There was no mention in the 0:18:21.721 --> 0:18:24.921 report of whether or not she was wearing a seatbelt. 0:18:26.080 --> 0:18:29.481 Tears in Ronda's clothing matched the gunshot wounds, and the 0:18:29.561 --> 0:18:33.801 autopsy report found quote no other significant external injuries are 0:18:33.840 --> 0:18:38.121 appreciated end quote. The bullet had gone through the trunk lid, 0:18:38.361 --> 0:18:41.201 through the back seat, through the front seat, and then 0:18:41.481 --> 0:18:45.601 hit Ronda in the chest, which killed her. Police were 0:18:45.681 --> 0:18:48.601 able to determine she had been traveling uphill and going 0:18:48.601 --> 0:18:51.401 about twenty five miles per hour when she was shot. 0:18:52.201 --> 0:18:57.600 After being shot, Ronda's car crashed against the embankment. Judy 0:18:57.681 --> 0:19:00.361 Henson's former sister in law, Linda Price. 0:19:00.241 --> 0:19:01.321 Was an emt. 0:19:01.681 --> 0:19:05.401 She wrote some comments and questions for the police. One 0:19:05.441 --> 0:19:08.360 of the things she asked was whether the bruise that 0:19:08.441 --> 0:19:11.601 Ronda had could have been something that happened earlier that night, 0:19:11.801 --> 0:19:14.961 or whether it definitely happened either as a result of 0:19:14.961 --> 0:19:19.160 the car accident or the gunshot. Law enforcement said they 0:19:19.161 --> 0:19:22.281 couldn't be sure. It was likely in their opinion that 0:19:22.321 --> 0:19:25.241 the gunshot caused the bruising, but they couldn't rule out 0:19:25.241 --> 0:19:28.041 the possibility that Ronda might have gotten into some sort 0:19:28.080 --> 0:19:33.681 of physical altercation before that final fatal car ride. Either way, 0:19:33.961 --> 0:19:38.001 the gunshot was the cause of death. Now police were 0:19:38.041 --> 0:19:41.960 exploring the possibility that someone was stalking Ronda. They were 0:19:42.001 --> 0:19:45.401 putting together the timeline of event leading up to her shooting. 0:19:46.481 --> 0:19:50.721 On December twenty first, Ronda worked at Hickory Steele. During 0:19:50.801 --> 0:19:54.440 her lunch hour that day, Ronda reportedly went shopping with 0:19:54.441 --> 0:19:57.721 a guy named Mark. Now, Mark was the boyfriend of 0:19:57.840 --> 0:20:02.080 Ronda's best friend Jill, and the four of them, Jill, Mark, Ronda, 0:20:02.121 --> 0:20:05.041 and Greg often doubledated or went out as part of 0:20:05.080 --> 0:20:09.041 a group. They were all close friends. Mark wanted help 0:20:09.041 --> 0:20:12.001 picking out a present for Jill, so Ronda and Mark 0:20:12.080 --> 0:20:14.880 went together to the nearby mall. When he dropped her 0:20:14.921 --> 0:20:18.080 back home that day, Ronda left the gray hoodie she 0:20:18.080 --> 0:20:21.001 had been wearing in the back of Mark's car. Ronda 0:20:21.121 --> 0:20:23.880 was excited about the Christmas party that Hickory Steele was 0:20:23.881 --> 0:20:28.001 having on Friday night at the American Legion Hut. Again, 0:20:28.121 --> 0:20:31.241 this was her first office Christmas party ever. She had 0:20:31.281 --> 0:20:34.201 only been there a few months. Everything was new and exciting. 0:20:35.321 --> 0:20:38.201 Ronda's mother, Judy, kept a journal during this time. She 0:20:38.401 --> 0:20:41.561 shared a lot of her entries with Larry Griffin, the reporter. 0:20:42.761 --> 0:20:45.721 Judy remembered one of the things going on that week 0:20:45.921 --> 0:20:48.561 was that Ronda wasn't sure whether or not to invite 0:20:48.641 --> 0:20:52.640 Greg with her to the party. Judy said Ronda made 0:20:52.761 --> 0:20:56.761 many comments to her about Greg, saying, quote, Mom, if 0:20:56.761 --> 0:20:59.561 I invite him and every time I talk to anyone 0:20:59.561 --> 0:21:00.801 else there, he's going to. 0:21:00.801 --> 0:21:02.440 Be upset about it. End quote. 0:21:03.201 --> 0:21:05.880 Judy wrote in her journal, quote, I don't think that 0:21:06.001 --> 0:21:08.761 Ronda really wanted to deal with his jealousy. I think 0:21:08.840 --> 0:21:11.481 she had gotten tired of his demanding to know everything 0:21:11.561 --> 0:21:15.001 she did, where she went, who she talked to, everything. 0:21:15.321 --> 0:21:16.600 End quote. 0:21:16.840 --> 0:21:19.401 Judy Henson went shopping with her daughter at the Valley 0:21:19.481 --> 0:21:22.920 Hills Mall, where Ronda tried on some new outfits and 0:21:22.961 --> 0:21:26.681 they had lunch. Ronda didn't end up finding an outfit, 0:21:27.241 --> 0:21:31.241 but she and her mom had a great time. Greg 0:21:31.361 --> 0:21:35.080 continued to be a topic of conversation that day. Judy 0:21:35.241 --> 0:21:37.880 said Ronda was worried about the fact that Greg was 0:21:37.921 --> 0:21:42.321 coming home that day from college. She said Greg might 0:21:42.321 --> 0:21:44.961 have called she was worried she wouldn't be home to 0:21:45.001 --> 0:21:48.401 take his call and that he might get annoyed. They 0:21:48.441 --> 0:21:51.920 got home from shopping and Ronda's brother, Robbie, said Greg 0:21:52.080 --> 0:21:56.321 had been calling all day. Robbie told Ronda she needed 0:21:56.321 --> 0:21:59.961 to call Greg back. Greg picked Ronda up that night 0:22:00.080 --> 0:22:03.001 they went to a small Christmas party near Mineral Springs Mountain. 0:22:04.161 --> 0:22:07.161 Ronda and Greg left for the party, but they were 0:22:07.201 --> 0:22:09.681 away for less than an hour when Greg dropped her 0:22:09.681 --> 0:22:13.681 back home. Judy said she asked her daughter about why 0:22:13.721 --> 0:22:16.840 she came home so quickly, and that Ronda said something 0:22:16.840 --> 0:22:19.681 about Greg being annoyed with her about the shopping trip. 0:22:20.561 --> 0:22:24.600 On December thirteenth, the week before Ronda was killed, she 0:22:24.761 --> 0:22:28.401 had lunch with Greg and his family. Charles McDowell, Greg's 0:22:28.441 --> 0:22:31.721 father was the senior pastor at a nearby church, and 0:22:31.761 --> 0:22:35.841 Betty worked at the same steel company as Ronda. Ronda's 0:22:35.881 --> 0:22:38.920 birthday was December eleventh, so this was kind of a 0:22:38.961 --> 0:22:42.041 holiday lunch slash birthday celebration for Ronda. 0:22:42.801 --> 0:22:44.761 Greg gave her another necklace for her birthday. 0:22:45.721 --> 0:22:49.041 On Monday, December twenty first, nineteen eighty one, when Ronda 0:22:49.080 --> 0:22:52.001 came home from work, she had a potted plant with 0:22:52.080 --> 0:22:54.601 her as a gift from her boss at the steel company, 0:22:54.721 --> 0:22:59.401 Don Colson. On Tuesday, December twenty second, the last day 0:22:59.401 --> 0:23:02.921 of Ronda's life, there were some irregularities in her routine. 0:23:03.641 --> 0:23:06.561 First of all, it was snowing that morning, so normally 0:23:06.681 --> 0:23:09.361 Ronda drove her nineteen eighty one dots in two ten 0:23:09.481 --> 0:23:12.761 to work, but on that morning, because of the snow, 0:23:13.361 --> 0:23:16.041 she caught a ride with her coworker at Hickory Steele, 0:23:16.561 --> 0:23:18.521 a salesman named Wayne Chapman. 0:23:19.481 --> 0:23:21.161 But Wayne didn't pick her up at home. 0:23:21.881 --> 0:23:24.601 She walked to Exit one twelve to meet up with him, 0:23:24.801 --> 0:23:28.081 which was about half a mile from her house, and 0:23:28.561 --> 0:23:33.001 Ronda had no jacket. Apparently Greg had one of her jackets, 0:23:33.401 --> 0:23:36.121 and she had left her gray hoodie in Mark's car 0:23:36.241 --> 0:23:39.401 during the shopping trip, so on that day she wore 0:23:39.401 --> 0:23:43.121 a green and gold Green Bay Packer jacket. A neighbor 0:23:43.241 --> 0:23:48.481 saw Ron walk past his house wearing that jacket. While 0:23:48.561 --> 0:23:50.961 she was walking to the meet up point, she ran 0:23:51.001 --> 0:23:54.561 into a guy who lived nearby named Brian Lowman. She 0:23:54.840 --> 0:23:57.801 later told her mom that he asked her out, but 0:23:58.041 --> 0:24:01.281 that she told him she already had a boyfriend. Right 0:24:01.321 --> 0:24:03.921 after that, she ran into another man named Bill Gladden. 0:24:04.441 --> 0:24:06.761 Bill was riding by with his wife and their dog, 0:24:06.881 --> 0:24:10.441 a poodle inside the car. They gave Ronda a lift 0:24:10.521 --> 0:24:13.041 up the road to the exit on inter State BOARDY, 0:24:13.121 --> 0:24:17.081 where she met Wayne, her coworker. She later told her 0:24:17.121 --> 0:24:20.241 mother she made a split second decision to accept the 0:24:20.321 --> 0:24:23.681 ride because this wasn't just a single man. He had 0:24:23.681 --> 0:24:26.521 a woman in a poodle inside the car, and that 0:24:26.601 --> 0:24:30.001 made her feel more secure. She went to work at 0:24:30.080 --> 0:24:32.601 Hickory Steele and it seemed like just an average day 0:24:33.361 --> 0:24:33.921 at work. 0:24:34.241 --> 0:24:37.401 Ronda called her mom, Judy, which was typical for them. 0:24:37.761 --> 0:24:40.881 That's when Ronda told her about Brian asking her out 0:24:40.881 --> 0:24:44.921 that morning and her saying no. She mentioned that Greg 0:24:45.041 --> 0:24:48.481 was taking her at lunch to go shoe shopping. At noon, 0:24:48.681 --> 0:24:50.481 Ronda went on her lunch break with one of her 0:24:50.521 --> 0:24:54.921 coworkers who saw Greg parked in a blue Chevy. They 0:24:54.961 --> 0:24:58.401 went out and she came back after lunch. The rest 0:24:58.481 --> 0:25:01.041 of the day, from what we know, continued as normal, 0:25:01.481 --> 0:25:06.361 and then Wayne Chapman dropped Ronda off at five thirty PM. 0:25:06.921 --> 0:25:10.881 By now Ronda was in full party prep mode. According 0:25:10.881 --> 0:25:14.041 to phone records, She called Greg and that call lasted 0:25:14.121 --> 0:25:15.120 about three minutes. 0:25:15.881 --> 0:25:18.041