Many of the names on the witness list belong to the same people who testified in the November 2009 civil hearing that found former Coroner Terry Wilson had been “arbitrary and capricious” when he last ruled Reynolds’ death a suicide.
But there are a few surprises, among them Reynolds’ husband, Ron Reynolds, who did not testify at the civil hearing, and his three sons, David, Joshua and Jonathan.
Ronda Reynolds had been married to Ron for almost a year and was expected to leave him the morning she was found dead in their Toledo home’s bedroom closet with a fatal gunshot wound to her head. She was 33.
Ron Reynolds, principal of Toledo Elementary School, had his children from a previous marriage. His first wife, Kathryn Hatulla, is also on the witness list.
McLeod noted not all subpoenas have been returned and more names could be added to the inquest’s witness list.
Reynolds’ case is perhaps Lewis County’s most notorious. In 2010, true crime-author Ann Rule brought it to national attention with her publication of “In the Still of the Night: The Strange Death of Ronda Reynolds and Her Mother’s Unceasing Quest for the Truth.”
Barb Thompson, Reynolds’ mother, spurred the civil hearing that later compelled a judge to order former coroner Wilson to officially review her manner of death, which at that time had four rulings: undetermined, suicide, undetermined and suicide.
Wilson appealed the judge’s order and did not seek re-election.
Enter McLeod, who spoke of plans to have an inquest when he campaigned for coroner in 2010 and changed Reynolds’ manner of death to undetermined when he took office in January.
If it will ever be ruled a homicide, it will be up to a five-person jury to begin deciding so in the second week of October.
In an inquest, the jury’s decision doesn’t have to be unanimous – it can be a decision by majority.
An inquest is narrower in scope than a police investigation, McLeod said. In the event that it rules Reynolds’ death a homicide, it will be asked if it can identify a killer. If it can do so, a suspect will be named in court.
The coroner also asks anyone with knowledge of Reynolds’ death to write or email his counsel, David Fine of the Lewis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
To write to Fine, email him at j.david.fine@lewiscountywa.gov or write him at Civil Division, Lewis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, 345 W. Main St., Chehalis, WA 98532.
