By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
Jerry Berry, homicide. Gordon Spanski, suicide. David Bell, homicide. Laurie Hull, don’t know. Catherine Huttula, suicide.
Five witnesses during yesterday’s session of the coroner’s inquest were asked what their opinion is now about the December 1998 death of former trooper Ronda Reynolds.
Ronda Reynolds
They ranged from the lead investigator and the then-undersheriff to a longtime gentleman friend, a close girlfriend and the ex-wife of Ron Reynolds.
Yesterday, the inquest jury heard testimony about a Toledo teenager who gave his mother bloody clothing to launder about two weeks after the death.
He said it belonged to his friend, former detective Berry related to the jurors.
Berry, who was testifying by telephone from his home in Texas, recounted interviews he conducted in early 2010, long after he left the employ of the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, while he worked as a private investigator.
Berry spoke with the man, Joshua Williams, during a series of jail house meetings in which he was told Williams and others were at the Reynolds’ boys’ house, hanging out, playing video games and partying the night before Ronda Reynolds was found dead.
Jonathan Reynolds had asked Williams previously to kill Ronda Reynolds, Williams told Berry.
Williams said his best friend, Jason Collins, was the one who did it and showed up later at Williams travel trailer asking for clothes to wear.
“He stated when Jason came in, he stated quote, it is done, end quote,” Berry recounted.
Williams said he brought the bottle of Black Velvet whiskey to the Twin Peaks Drive home.
Belinda Rodriguez, Williams’ mother, testified yesterday her son was trying to strike a deal because he was going to prison and he couldn’t handle the burden of the secret any longer.
But both Williams and Collins were then interviewed by sheriff’s detectives and passed polygraph tests, Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod told the detective during yesterday’s proceedings.
McLeod asked Berry how he reconciled some of the inconsistencies, and Berry replied that most were chronological differences, which could be explained because the boys were using drugs.
Do you still believe this was a homicide? McLeod asked Berry.
As far as he’s concerned, beyond a reasonable doubt, it is, Berry replied.
“It is my opinion, it is absolutely murder,” Berry said.
Rodriguez, the mother and nearby neighbor of the Reynolds’, also related something she said she tried to report to the sheriff’s office days after the death, but couldn’t get her phone calls returned.
Early on the morning of Dec. 16, 1998 – about 6:30 a.m. – she was on her way to work when she saw a Ford Taurus and a small pickup peel out of the Reynolds’ driveway.
They stopped on the side of Drews Prairie Road and she heard yelling, she said. She saw Jonathan Reynolds being shaken by the shoulders by his older brother, Micah Reynolds, she said.
Also testifying yesterday was Catherine Huttula, Ron Reynolds’ ex-wife.
She confirmed her ex-husband had phoned her on Dec. 15, asking about possible reconciliation.
Huttula knew Ronda Reynolds previously, as they were in the same religious group, she said. They were friends when she was married to Ron Reynolds and when Ronda was married to Mark Liburdi, she said.
What do you believe happened to Ronda? McLeod asked.
“I believe she committed suicide,” she said.
Two close friends who spent time with Ronda Reynolds the day before her death spoke of her packing up belongings because Ron Reynolds had asked her to move out.
Laurie Hull helped drain the Reynolds’ waterbed, which apparently later was put back together when Ronda Reynolds’ decided not to leave that evening.
She didn’t see a broken fingernail on her friend’s otherwise manicured hands, Hull said.
Hull last spoke to Ronda Reynolds on the phone around 10:30 p.m. She sounded calm, not upset as she had been that afternoon, Hull said.
David Bell, a Des Moines police officer who had known Ronda Reynolds about 10 years, told the inquest jury yesterday of going to the Toledo house around 7 p.m., as she had asked him to help her move.
“She was all packed up when I arrived, she was crating her dogs up to put in my truck,” Bell said.
He was there about a half an hour before they drove to Winlock to drop off some keys and made a stop at Marys Corner, he said.
She had thought she’d come stay at his place, but he told her that wouldn’t work, Bell said. So about 9 p.m., he returned her to the Toledo house.
Ron Reynolds was just walking in, he said. Bell said he spoke to her on the phone twice after midnight. She wanted him to give her a ride to the airport the next day.
Ronda Reynolds had a ticket to fly home to Spokane.
More later
•••
Read more about the inquest:
• “No fingerprints found on gun, ammo in Reynolds’ death” from KOMOnews.com on Wednesday October 12, 2011 at 6:19 p.m., here
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
I just finished Ann Rule’s book on this case, In the Still of the Night and my judgment is that Ronda Reynolds offed herself. She had failed at marriage – twice – failed as a State Trooper, and failed as a would-be mother. So it’s a no brainer – she had no reason to live, had access to a hand gun, and popped a cap to end it all. So quit screaming murder. She’s dead, she’s gone, she’s forgotten. What’s for dinner tonight?
Hold Back This Day
The Towers of Eden
I have to read comments in disbelief at comments made. There is NO case here. None. She killed herself. It is very sad. Prosecutor can not bring charges as, there simply was not enough evidence EVER to bring charges. So , what some would like people to believe is that an entire police department must be corrupt, and what now a prosecutor too? who by the way was not the prosecutor at the time this crime was committed. So everyone in the entire world is wrong accept for this mother who can not get over three things Guilt, Greed and Gossip. So incredibly sad. She needs to allow her deceased daughter some peace in rest, obviously it was not allowed to her in life.
As to your last sentence kr…I thank those in our law enforcement who continue to serve with the ideals of truth, accountability, and honor, I second that.
Really Anon, THAT’S your conclusion? All the missing evidence, repeatedly changed death certificate, misconstrued recalling of the events and the “good ole boy attitude” of the Lewis County Sheriffs Office is more than overwhelming cause for this case NOT to be “let go.” If your attitude is “she’s dead, what’s the reason matter” I sure as hell hope you’re never ever called to be a juror (or pursue a career in criminal justice for that matter). It isn’t about money, it’s about the truth. Truth that we may never see or hear specifically because it took so long to get to this point. No matter the outcome this inquest is putting the obvious mishandling of the case out there for the public to see. Those were ELECTED officials, they must be held accountable for their mistakes. As a community we should pay far better attention to who we are electing and how they perform their job. Kudos to Coroner Mcleod for stepping up to the plate and addressing what his public had been questioning. As a tax payer in this county, I am more than willing to help fund the pursuit of true justice and I sincerely thank those in our law enforcement who continue to serve with the ideals of truth, accountability and honor.
not to mention police officers are twice as likely to commit suicide and DV.
of course the county is in need of money. With Lawler and other new judges, conviction happy prosecutors and a press that wont let it go; they might shove a murder conviction through. The lady is dead anyone can say anything after the fact, a trial will never bring her back. Murder is big money to the criminal justice system. As for her being a Trooper,… and other law enforcement officer vouching for her,… only seems more fishy. As law enforcement are experts at using their job title for lieing and deciving to get the results they desire.
WOW…MAYBE RON REYNOLDS IS PACKING HIS OWN BAGS AS WE SPEAK!!! AH, NO WONDER HE BOWED OUT OF THIS…WHILE EVERYBODY WAS BUSY HERE HE WAS BUYING TICKETS TO MEXICO…ADIOS M.F.