Judge to review former trooper's death
LEWIS COUNTY, Wash. -- Questions about the mysterious death of a former state trooper are at the center of an unprecedented court hearing, and the trooper's mother may be one step closer to the justice she's been searching for.
One year ago, KOMO News broke the investigation into Ronda Reynold's death. Now the investigation is headed where no Washington court has ever been before. A coroner has already ruled Reynold's death as a suicide, but a Thurston County judge will soon review the coroner's ruling.
In essence, the court will answer the question: was it suicide, or was it murder?
In 1998, Reynolds was found curled up on the floor of her bedroom closet with a handgun nearby after her husband called 911 to report his wife had killed herself.
While some believed her death to be a suicide, the Lewis County Sheriff's lead detective found serious inconsistencies. But in the end, the county coroner ruled Reynold's death a suicide.
Reynold's mother, Barb Thompson, has been fighting ever since, searching for justice.
"I knew that I had a job to do, that I had to get to the bottom of it and find out what happened to my daughter," she said.
Last year KOMO News tested some of the theories from the initial investigation. We asked outside forensic experts to look at the evidence.
Now a judge will take a look at the evidence to see whether the corner should have reached a different conclusion.
During Friday's preliminary hearing, the judge will set the rules for the review.
At at last, Thomson is a step closer to peace.
'That's a staged scene'
Barb Thompson never believed her daughter killed herself; she believes something more sinister is at work.
And the heartbroken mother is not alone. KOMO News uncovered evidence and found experts who are convinced that what was ruled a suicide, was actually a heinous crime.
After so many 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," said former detective Jerry Berry. "It's a murder today."
Berry believes the murder was set to look like suicide.
"That's a rearranged scene," said forensic pathologist Dr. Jeffrey Reynolds. "That's a staged scene."
Reynolds had been a state trooper and firearms instructor. She left the patrol to work in private security.
In early 1998, she married Ron Reynolds, an elementary school principal in the small Lewis County town of Toledo. In less than a year, the marriage collapsed. Her mother and close friends talked to her hours before she died and say she was discouraged, but far from suicidal.
"She had watched it come to a head," said Thompson. "She was ready for it and she was ready to move forward and make the best of it."
That night, Ronda Reynolds 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."
After midnight, she called friend and veteran police officer Dave Bell, asking him to pick her up the next morning to take her to the airport. When asked if there was any hint or indication of suicide, Bell is firm: "Nothing. Nothing, not even an inkling."
Within hours, Ronda Reynolds was found dead on the floor of her closet, underneath an electric blanket. She was shot through a pillow that covered her head.
"I believe she was murdered," the woman'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."
Ron Reynolds said he'd tried to talk her out of it but eventually "fell asleep around 5" in the morning. He told police he woke at 6 when his "alarm went off" but that neither he, nor his three sons ever heard the gunshot.
Police reports at the time indicated Reynolds "did not appear upset."
"He was just very calm, very matter of fact," said Detective Berry, "not excited at all."
Ron Reynolds has refused KOMO's requests for an interview.
'Every piece of circumstantial evidence screamed murder'
In police reports, Ron Reynolds speculated he might not have heard the shot because "she had the door shut." But police reported they found the door wide open.
So we returned to the scene and did a test in the actual closet where Ronda Reynold's body was found. She was 5 feet 6½ inches tall. We stretched a tape measure from where her head would have been and marked the tape at five feet. The door wouldn't close without pushing our five-foot mark out of the way.
That's backed up by reports from one of the first officers on scene, who noted he didn't think the door could be closed due to, "Mrs. Reynolds' body being in the way of it."
Berry 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 Reynold's body was found, and the crime scene had already been disturbed. Even so, many inconsistencies caught his attention. Among them was the position of the gun.
"The first red flag was the gun being in her left hand," said Berry.
Ronda was shot just in front of her right ear. And she was right-handed. But the first officers on the scene reported the gun was in Ronda's left hand, inside a blanket.
"If Ronda was in fact right-handed, what was the gun doing in her left hand?" asked 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 their mother's death. But he still thought the case could be solved.
"Every piece of circumstantial evidence screamed murder," he said.
Investigation closed
Seven months after Ronda Reynold's death, Ron Reynolds' attorney wrote the department, insisting they remove the cloud of suspicion and close the case. "If you do not, then we will," he wrote.
Berry said 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.
There are also other key discrepancies that have never been explained. For instance, the gunshot -- how does a person miss that sound in a quiet, sleeping house?
Ron Reynolds and all three of his sons told police they never heard the gunshot that took Ronda Reynolds' life. Ron Reynolds said he was asleep in the master bedroom, about 12 feet away from the closet floor where his wife was found. So we asked firearms expert Marty Hayes to re-create decibel tests using the same type of gun.
While Hayes fires the gun inside a bathroom, behind a closed door, we're 15 feet away in a bedroom. A loud voice right next to the decibel meter hits first 75 then 87, and the gunshot hits 95 from 15 feet away, behind a closed door. Most of the gunshots averaged around 90 decibels.
When we used the decibel meter right next to a ringing phone, the meter never pegs above 75. And next to an alarm clock? Never over 62. Remember, Ron Reynolds claims he woke to his alarm clock, but no one inside that house heard the gunshot.
Ron Reynolds took two polygraphs. The first one, two days after his wife's death, was initially found inconclusive. Another expert later reviewed the test and found Ron Reynolds was being deceptive.
Seven months later, Ron Reynolds' attorney arranged a second polygraph. In this one, the examiner found he was not attempting deception and another expert agreed.
That polygraph, and pressure from Ron Reynolds' attorney to close the case, convinced the Sheriff's office to do just that. Ronda Reynold's death was officially ruled a suicide.
One year ago, KOMO News broke the investigation into Ronda Reynold's death. Now the investigation is headed where no Washington court has ever been before. A coroner has already ruled Reynold's death as a suicide, but a Thurston County judge will soon review the coroner's ruling.
In essence, the court will answer the question: was it suicide, or was it murder?
In 1998, Reynolds was found curled up on the floor of her bedroom closet with a handgun nearby after her husband called 911 to report his wife had killed herself.
While some believed her death to be a suicide, the Lewis County Sheriff's lead detective found serious inconsistencies. But in the end, the county coroner ruled Reynold's death a suicide.
Reynold's mother, Barb Thompson, has been fighting ever since, searching for justice.
"I knew that I had a job to do, that I had to get to the bottom of it and find out what happened to my daughter," she said.
Last year KOMO News tested some of the theories from the initial investigation. We asked outside forensic experts to look at the evidence.
Now a judge will take a look at the evidence to see whether the corner should have reached a different conclusion.
During Friday's preliminary hearing, the judge will set the rules for the review.
At at last, Thomson is a step closer to peace.
'That's a staged scene'
Barb Thompson never believed her daughter killed herself; she believes something more sinister is at work.
And the heartbroken mother is not alone. KOMO News uncovered evidence and found experts who are convinced that what was ruled a suicide, was actually a heinous crime.
After so many 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," said former detective Jerry Berry. "It's a murder today."
Berry believes the murder was set to look like suicide.
"That's a rearranged scene," said forensic pathologist Dr. Jeffrey Reynolds. "That's a staged scene."
Reynolds had been a state trooper and firearms instructor. She left the patrol to work in private security.
In early 1998, she married Ron Reynolds, an elementary school principal in the small Lewis County town of Toledo. In less than a year, the marriage collapsed. Her mother and close friends talked to her hours before she died and say she was discouraged, but far from suicidal.
"She had watched it come to a head," said Thompson. "She was ready for it and she was ready to move forward and make the best of it."
That night, Ronda Reynolds 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."
After midnight, she called friend and veteran police officer Dave Bell, asking him to pick her up the next morning to take her to the airport. When asked if there was any hint or indication of suicide, Bell is firm: "Nothing. Nothing, not even an inkling."
Within hours, Ronda Reynolds was found dead on the floor of her closet, underneath an electric blanket. She was shot through a pillow that covered her head.
"I believe she was murdered," the woman'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."
Ron Reynolds said he'd tried to talk her out of it but eventually "fell asleep around 5" in the morning. He told police he woke at 6 when his "alarm went off" but that neither he, nor his three sons ever heard the gunshot.
Police reports at the time indicated Reynolds "did not appear upset."
"He was just very calm, very matter of fact," said Detective Berry, "not excited at all."
Ron Reynolds has refused KOMO's requests for an interview.
'Every piece of circumstantial evidence screamed murder'
In police reports, Ron Reynolds speculated he might not have heard the shot because "she had the door shut." But police reported they found the door wide open.
So we returned to the scene and did a test in the actual closet where Ronda Reynold's body was found. She was 5 feet 6½ inches tall. We stretched a tape measure from where her head would have been and marked the tape at five feet. The door wouldn't close without pushing our five-foot mark out of the way.
That's backed up by reports from one of the first officers on scene, who noted he didn't think the door could be closed due to, "Mrs. Reynolds' body being in the way of it."
Berry 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 Reynold's body was found, and the crime scene had already been disturbed. Even so, many inconsistencies caught his attention. Among them was the position of the gun.
"The first red flag was the gun being in her left hand," said Berry.
Ronda was shot just in front of her right ear. And she was right-handed. But the first officers on the scene reported the gun was in Ronda's left hand, inside a blanket.
"If Ronda was in fact right-handed, what was the gun doing in her left hand?" asked 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 their mother's death. But he still thought the case could be solved.
"Every piece of circumstantial evidence screamed murder," he said.
Investigation closed
Seven months after Ronda Reynold's death, Ron Reynolds' attorney wrote the department, insisting they remove the cloud of suspicion and close the case. "If you do not, then we will," he wrote.
Berry said 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.
There are also other key discrepancies that have never been explained. For instance, the gunshot -- how does a person miss that sound in a quiet, sleeping house?
Ron Reynolds and all three of his sons told police they never heard the gunshot that took Ronda Reynolds' life. Ron Reynolds said he was asleep in the master bedroom, about 12 feet away from the closet floor where his wife was found. So we asked firearms expert Marty Hayes to re-create decibel tests using the same type of gun.
While Hayes fires the gun inside a bathroom, behind a closed door, we're 15 feet away in a bedroom. A loud voice right next to the decibel meter hits first 75 then 87, and the gunshot hits 95 from 15 feet away, behind a closed door. Most of the gunshots averaged around 90 decibels.
When we used the decibel meter right next to a ringing phone, the meter never pegs above 75. And next to an alarm clock? Never over 62. Remember, Ron Reynolds claims he woke to his alarm clock, but no one inside that house heard the gunshot.
Ron Reynolds took two polygraphs. The first one, two days after his wife's death, was initially found inconclusive. Another expert later reviewed the test and found Ron Reynolds was being deceptive.
Seven months later, Ron Reynolds' attorney arranged a second polygraph. In this one, the examiner found he was not attempting deception and another expert agreed.
That polygraph, and pressure from Ron Reynolds' attorney to close the case, convinced the Sheriff's office to do just that. Ronda Reynold's death was officially ruled a suicide.