Suicide or Murder? County Court to Review Decade-Old Death Certificate

If this is a political move, who's benefitting from it? Obviously, it sounds like the case needs to be looked into more, and the husband is sounding awful suspicious.

But as said by Tiassa, even if the husband did it, it sounds unlikely that he'll be convicted.

 

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The Wheels of Justice

The Wheels of Justice ...

... may turn slowly, but turn they do.

I figure I should at least update this thread because last month a Lewis County, Washington inquest jury found that Ronda Reynolds death was not by suicide but, in fact, murder:

Ronda Reynolds was killed by someone else on Dec. 16, 1998, and the chief suspects in her death are her former husband and one of her stepsons, a Lewis County inquest jury ruled Wednesday afternoon.

Jurors found that Reynolds, 33, died of a close-contact gunshot to the right temple.

After deliberating further, jurors named Reynolds' former husband and stepson, Ron Reynolds and Jonathan Reynolds, as suspects. Both verdicts were unanimous.

Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod said he would issue an arrest warrant for them by the end of the day Thursday. Jonathan Reynolds was 17 at the time of his stepmother's death.

Ron Reynolds had been cleared of any wrongdoing in the Lewis County Sheriff's Office initial investigation into his wife's death. However, he and his three sons pleaded the Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination in refusing to testify during the inquest, which began Oct. 10.

(Slape, "Jury")​

In the immediate wake of the ruling, Barb Thompson, Ronda's mother, told reporters that she could accept that there might be no arrests "because I know what happened to my daughter".

While Thompson believes Ronda's killers will someday answer for the crime, that confidence must be left to faith; on October 27, Judge James Lawler released the primary suspects, Ronda's husband Ron and stepson Jonathan:

A Lewis County Judge late Friday morning freed Ronald and Jonathan Reynolds without charges, essentially ending the battle over who killed Ronda Reynolds on Dec. 16, 1998.

The hearing was the latest twist in the roller-coaster case, marked by a myriad of investigations and re-investigations, seesawing on the manner of death and flipflopping on whether to issue or yank arrest warrants.

"What a great morning," said Ronda Reynolds' mother, Barbara Thompson, after the hearing. "Crazy, but it was great. I got to see them come in, look really humble and sit before the judge."

Thompson, a Spokane woman, has waged a 13-year battle to get her daughter's death ruled a homicide.

The two Reynolds men turned themselves in to authorities Friday morning shortly after County Coroner Warren McLeod reversed himself a second time and issued warrants for their arrest, based on the findings of an inquest jury. The jury Oct. 19 unanimously ruled Ronda Reynolds' death a homicide and named her husband, Ron, and stepson Jonathan Reynolds as the suspects.

At Friday's hearing, Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer repeated his assertion that he would not charge the two men due to insufficient evidence for a conviction. Superior Court Judge James Lawler had no choice but to release them.

(Slape, "Freed")​

The question of justice, of course, is a difficult one. At the very least, people now know that somewhere a killer walks among them. Whether or not justice ever comes in the form of a conviction for the murder of Washington State Trooper Ronda Reynolds remains unclear; the scales hinge on the question of any new evidence that might someday arise to tip the balance.
____________________

Notes:

Slape, Leslie. "Jury: Reynolds' death a homicide; former husband and stepson are suspects". The Daily News. October 19, 2011. TDN.com. November 16, 2011. http://tdn.com/news/local/article_8bf36efa-faa8-11e0-85f7-001cc4c03286.html

—————. "Ron Reynolds, son freed after court appearance". The Daily News. October 28, 2011. TDN.com. November 16, 2011. http://tdn.com/news/local/article_10ae0598-0197-11e1-b268-001cc4c002e0.html

 

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