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Coroners inquest: Detective reveals staged “suicide” statement from Ronda Reynolds

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Barbara Thompson with her attorney, Royce Ferguson, during a break at the coroner's inquest into her daughter's death. / Courtesy photo by Bradd Reynolds

By Sharyn  L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – After hours of questioning, retired detective Sgt. Glade Austin volunteered information about a witness he had not previously testified about in the coroner’s inquest into Ronda Reynolds death.

Austin said he spoke to a woman friend of Reynolds who relayed a conversation that had taken place between the pair years before Reynolds death, during Reynolds’ previous marriage to Ron Liburdi.

The woman told him, he said, that Reynolds once told her: “If she were to get divorced, she would commit suicide, she would ‘do it right’, she would use a gun and make it look like someone else did it.”

Whether Reynolds, a 33-year-old former trooper killed herself or was shot by someone else 13 years ago in her Toledo home is a question Lewis County Coroner Warren McLeod is hoping can be answered during his inquest being held in Chehalis.

She was found on the floor of a small walk-in closet, with a bullet in her head and covered up by a turned-on electric blanket.

A panel of jurors seated on Monday are expected to hear some 40 witnesses throughout this week and part of next, from law enforcement officers and friends and family to experts who analyzed evidence.

Reynolds’ manner death is currently classified as undetermined, following repeated changes over the years by the Lewis County Coroner’s Office.

Austin, who supervised the sheriff’s detectives who investigated the Dec. 16, 1998 death, closed the case as a suicide, despite protests from the lead investigator detective Jerry Berry.

Austin also led the inquiry when the case was reopened almost three years later by the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.

He thought it was a suicide then, and he still does, Austin told the panel of jurors yesterday.

Coroner McLeod asked the former law enforcement officer about an interview with a different woman who indicated Reynolds opposed the idea of suicide.

So, McLeod asked, in the reports there are several people who thought Ronda could be suicidal and several people who did not?

Under questioning – which included primarily McLeod and Austin reading aloud various portions from reports a decade old – Austin related numerous details that Reynolds had troubles not widely known.

“I actually came to conclude she pulled the blanket over her head, had the gun in her right hand and pulled the trigger,” Austin said.

Austin had interviewed Reynolds’ husband, Toledo Elementary School Principal Ron Reynolds, an individual who won’t be testifying during the inquest.

He, and his three sons who were present at the Toledo home when the first deputies arrived have asserted the privilege against self incrimination and are excused by McLeod from appearing.

Austin interviewed Ron Reynolds years ago in his lawyers office.

“His answers did not seem rehearsed, and I came away from the interview with the feeling he was believable, not seeing any of the signs that would indicate someone was not being truthful,” Austin read from his early report.

Austin told McLeod yesterday the oldest son, Jonathan Reynolds, struck him similarly.

Austin noted in his report Ron Reynolds appeared neat and well-groomed, dressed in slacks, a tie and a jacket.

Following is some of what Austin said he learned from the interview:

There were a number of reasons Ron Reynolds didn’t hear a gunshot in the next room in his house, according to Austin.

He was tired, the doors were closed, the closet was carpeted and stuffed with materials that would soak up the sound, according to Austin.

Ron Reynolds told his wife that day he wanted her to leave, their marriage was over, the “trust” was broken over her dishonesty regarding her spending; he was going back to his ex-wife, Austin related.

Also testifying yesterday was former detective Dave Neiser.

He said he’d investigated as many as 600 death scenes in his 20 years as a detective.

Neiser said it was his mistake to move the gun from the body before any photographs were taken. He said he was told it had already been done.

“That was a lesson to me,” Neiser said.

Dr. Daniel Selove, who performed the autopsy, testified yesterday as well.

The cause of death was a contact gunshot wound, with a bullet that entered in the sideburn area of her right temple and lodged near the back of her skull, Selove said.

Selove concluded the manner – suicide, homicide or something else – could not be determined, he said.

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Pathologist Dr. Daniel Selove demonstrates a shooter could have been positioned in a variety of locations around where Ronda Reynolds lay. / Courtesy photo by Bradd Reynolds

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Read more about the inquest:

• “Inquest reveals confusion over Reynolds crime scene” from KOMOnews.com on Tuesday October 11, 2011 at 6:15 p.m., here [3]

• “Detective stands by Reynolds suicide conclusion” from The (Longview) Daily News on Tuesday Oct. 11, 1011 at 5:31 p.m., here [4]