Jury deliberating on former state trooper's cause of death
»Play Video
CHEHALIS, Wash. -- The inquest into the death of former state trooper Ronda Reynolds is now in the hands of the jury.
Jurors began deliberating around 11 a.m. Tuesday. The jury was asked to determine whether Reynolds' cause of death was a murder, a suicide or undetermined. If jurors decides Reynolds' death was a murder, they will be asked to name a suspect.
Reynolds' death was originally ruled a suicide, but the Lewis County coroner launched a new investigation following a KOMO News investigation.
Before deliberation began, jurors heard why the sheriff's office has not reopened the case despite conflicting evidence.
"We've got these missing pieces. I can't fill in those piece. They're missing unless more information comes forward," said Lewis County Det. Sgt. Dustin Breen.
More than 13 years have passed since Reynolds was found shot to death in her bedroom closet. Reynolds' mother, Barb Thompson, has continuously challenged the original finding of suicide as the cause of her daughter's death.
"No, there's no doubt in my mind my daughter was murdered," said Thompson.
During the seven days of testimony, inquest jurors learned Reynolds' brief marriage to her husband, Ron Reynolds, was coming to an end when she died.
"When he made the statement, 'When my wife just died suddenly and my ex-wife moved into the house,' that was unsettling to me just as a female and a wife myself," said former debt collector Sherri Murphy. "And I thought, 'Yeah, I bet she died suddenly.' That was just my opinion" )
But no one has been arrested in this case, and the sheriff's office says it still does not have enough hard evidence yet to prove homicide.
"Yes, a lot of these theories could be plausible, but there's no support," Breen said. "There's no supporting evidence that I see for them, and that's a problem. Could they exist? Yes. But has anybody shown us proof that we believe that it would be homicide? No."
Last week, Thompson's mother told jurors she believed a young family member killed Reynolds. But after hearing more testimony and doing more investigating, she's not saying who was involved.
"You know, I'm going to have to - because of things we've gathered recently - I'm going to have to refrain from answering that right now," she said.
Ron Reynolds and his three sons have all chosen not to testify.
Jurors began deliberating around 11 a.m. Tuesday. The jury was asked to determine whether Reynolds' cause of death was a murder, a suicide or undetermined. If jurors decides Reynolds' death was a murder, they will be asked to name a suspect.
Reynolds' death was originally ruled a suicide, but the Lewis County coroner launched a new investigation following a KOMO News investigation.
Before deliberation began, jurors heard why the sheriff's office has not reopened the case despite conflicting evidence.
"We've got these missing pieces. I can't fill in those piece. They're missing unless more information comes forward," said Lewis County Det. Sgt. Dustin Breen.
More than 13 years have passed since Reynolds was found shot to death in her bedroom closet. Reynolds' mother, Barb Thompson, has continuously challenged the original finding of suicide as the cause of her daughter's death.
"No, there's no doubt in my mind my daughter was murdered," said Thompson.
During the seven days of testimony, inquest jurors learned Reynolds' brief marriage to her husband, Ron Reynolds, was coming to an end when she died.
"When he made the statement, 'When my wife just died suddenly and my ex-wife moved into the house,' that was unsettling to me just as a female and a wife myself," said former debt collector Sherri Murphy. "And I thought, 'Yeah, I bet she died suddenly.' That was just my opinion" )
But no one has been arrested in this case, and the sheriff's office says it still does not have enough hard evidence yet to prove homicide.
"Yes, a lot of these theories could be plausible, but there's no support," Breen said. "There's no supporting evidence that I see for them, and that's a problem. Could they exist? Yes. But has anybody shown us proof that we believe that it would be homicide? No."
Last week, Thompson's mother told jurors she believed a young family member killed Reynolds. But after hearing more testimony and doing more investigating, she's not saying who was involved.
"You know, I'm going to have to - because of things we've gathered recently - I'm going to have to refrain from answering that right now," she said.
Ron Reynolds and his three sons have all chosen not to testify.
