The unsolved murder of Rhonda Hinson

[TheCars1986]

Originally Posted by hostedbyrobertstack

Wow, that is a close area from where Mark was dropping off his GF to the off-ramp. I really wonder if he and Greg were both involved. The only thing that confuses me, is there were no cell phones or way of communication for them to know where one another were at that point. Unless, as mentioned above, Mark saw Greg waiting under the overpass, and got out to talk to him. From there, Greg may have told him that he was waiting for Rhonda because they had an argument, etc..., who knows. Just very strange, but I definitely think they were both involved. Very odd that Mark refuses to talk to any reporters...why? You would think this happened so long ago and is unsolved, that if you had nothing to do w/ this, you would have no issue speaking to someone.

If Mark saw Greg sitting near the off ramp and pulled over to give him Rhonda's jacket back, why wouldn't Mark have simply told the police that? I can't fathom how, in the span of less than 10 minutes or so, Greg could have coerced (or coaxed) Mark into helping him murder and/or intimidate Rhonda. Plus I don't know how pleased Greg would have been after Mark gave him Rhonda's jacket, knowing how jealous Greg was.

[hostedbyrobertstack]

Originally Posted by TheCars1986

If Mark saw Greg sitting near the off ramp and pulled over to give him Rhonda's jacket back, why wouldn't Mark have simply told the police that? I can't fathom how, in the span of less than 10 minutes or so, Greg could have coerced (or coaxed) Mark into helping him murder and/or intimidate Rhonda. Plus I don't know how pleased Greg would have been after Mark gave him Rhonda's jacket, knowing how jealous Greg was.

Hard to say. But either man doesn't seem willing to cooperate w/ police, so makes sense as to why he wouldn't report that. And, if Greg did have a gun on him, he could have threatened Mark as well, as we know from the article he threatened to beat the a** of someone that Rhonda was excited to play tennis w/ over the summer. I also don't trust any "immediate family" of the boyfriend as far as an alibi goes. If it was a completely unrelated third party verifying an alibi, it's more legitimate, but family I always take with a grain of salt.

[MegtheEgg86]

Was thinking about this driving home from work last night: could it possible that one of the two witnesses in the Trans Am in fact did attempt to provide aid to Rhonda after seeing her slumped over her steering wheel, ran to get the police upon noticing she was dead, and fudged the story to the cops about the scene, i.e., they saw only a running vehicle with its driver's door open rolled partway into the ditch? I could see a couple of dudes panicking they might be pinned as suspects if they mentioned chancing upon a body instead of merely a car.

Significantly, it would explain the man seen with Rhonda at her car at virtually the same moment the parked Trans Am was spotted a short distance down the road.

On another point, I agree Rhonda most likely stopped for someone she knew before being shot. That's the best reason I can surmise for her driver's window being rolled down in the middle of what was by all accounts an icy period of weather.

[MegtheEgg86]

I don't have a lot of time to comb through the articles at the moment, but I thought I read something about the two in the Trans Am pulling into some kind of dirt driveway not far from where Rhonda's car was found. If that's true and things haven't changed significantly since 1981, I think I know exactly where that is because I remember visiting back in 2009 and considering pulling into it myself just to get my car off the road. It's just north of the I-40 on-ramp and I felt like at the time it was at least graveled, if not paved. It would've been perhaps not even a hundred feet from where the Datsun would've been.

Also, just to clear any confusion, Mineral Springs Mountain Rd turns into Eldred St about as the road passes north under the I-40 bridge.

The garden center turned antique store mentioned a few times was also still there. It would've been just north of the scene as the hill crests on the right side of the road.

[TheCars1986]

Originally Posted by MegtheEgg86

Was thinking about this driving home from work last night: could it possible that one of the two witnesses in the Trans Am in fact did attempt to provide aid to Rhonda after seeing her slumped over her steering wheel, ran to get the police upon noticing she was dead, and fudged the story to the cops about the scene, i.e., they saw only a running vehicle with its driver's door open rolled partway into the ditch? I could see a couple of dudes panicking they might be pinned as suspects if they mentioned chancing upon a body instead of merely a car.

I think this is possible and was what the one eyewitness saw. He says he saw a car speeding out of the area and another car parked on the side of the road near Rhonda's car with the man standing at the driver's side of Rhonda's car. That matches up with what the 2 guys in the Trans Am said happened. They said they stopped, went to Rhonda's car, and 2 other guys pulled up to see what was going on. The 2 Trans Am guys left and tried to get a police officer.

[MegtheEgg86]

https://the-record-newspaper.tumblr....hinson-part-10

Just a bit of detail-sorting from the article:

1. Reggie Smart is the name of the eyewitness who provided the information under hypnosis featured in the UM segment. He is the only witness to have seen Rhonda in her vehicle. He had been working on his truck in a garage located at 1975 Laurel St NE in Valdese prior to driving by the scene.

2. Tim Pons and Mark Micol are the "Trans Am" guys; the blue Trans Am was Micol's.

3. Jerry Baker and Todd Garrou are friends of Pons and Micol that allegedly passed by the scene as Pons and Micol were preparing to leave. Baker and Garrou stopped at Valdese Home and Garden Center (1201 E Eldred St SE, Valdese), got out of their vehicle, and called out to Pons and Micol to ask what happened. Micol says he told the two that they didn't know, and that they were on their way to get the police. According to Pons, Baker and Garrou then left.

4. Lt. Harry Feimster was the first responding officer, having been flagged down somewhere in downtown Valdese by Pons and Micol. Micol claims it took Feimster "a long time" to get back to the scene. Feimster ran the license plate check on the Datsun at 1:14 AM.

[TheCars1986]

Originally Posted by MegtheEgg86

2. Tim Pons and Mark Micol are the "Trans Am" guys; the blue Trans Am was Micol's.

3. Jerry Baker and Todd Garrou are friends of Pons and Micol that allegedly passed by the scene as Pons and Micol were preparing to leave. Baker and Garrou stopped at Valdese Home and Garden Center (1201 E Eldred St SE, Valdese), got out of their vehicle, and called out to Pons and Micol to ask what happened. Micol says he told the two that they didn't know, and that they were on their way to get the police. According to Pons, Baker and Garrou then left.

Reggie Smart, the hypnotized witness, says he saw a dark blue or black Trans-Am parked "down the road" from Rhonda's car. This was also during the time that he saw the man standing near Rhonda's driver side. If this information provided under hypnosis is accurate, that means that either Pons or Micol was the man seen standing near Rhonda's car. Because if it wasn't them, they would have had to have seen a strange man standing around and not mention it to anyone. It's also possible that the car he saw speeding away was that of Baker and Garrou.

[MegtheEgg86]

Originally Posted by TheCars1986

Reggie Smart, the hypnotized witness, says he saw a dark blue or black Trans-Am parked "down the road" from Rhonda's car. This was also during the time that he saw the man standing near Rhonda's driver side. If this information provided under hypnosis is accurate, that means that either Pons or Micol was the man seen standing near Rhonda's car. Because if it wasn't them, they would have had to have seen a strange man standing around and not mention it to anyone. It's also possible that the car he saw speeding away was that of Baker and Garrou.

This is exactly what I think happened.

[MegtheEgg86]

What I'm leaning toward based on the new information is this:

1. Greg McDowell was a clingy, controlling young man who was apparently upset that Rhonda went to that Christmas party on the night of December 23, 1981. If he was responsible for her death, I do not think he premeditated it. I think it's more likely he made contact with her somewhere along the drive from Sherry Pittman's house. Rhonda may have pulled over for him, and the two may have had an argument from which she opted to drive away. What I don't know, if McDowell "did it", is when he would've presented the rifle. Did he walk up to her car with it in hand? Did he become angry when she drove off, and he grabbed for it in the car and shot at the back of Rhonda's car in a fit of rage? Whatever the case, I don't get the impression that he actively sought to murder her that night. I think it's more likely he became angry and acted irrationally, resulting in her death.

As McDowell's father was a hunter, Greg may have had access to such a weapon as the one used to kill Rhonda.

Furthermore, although Reggie Smart recounted a 1970 Chevelle with a "messed up" front end and single male at the wheel speeding north in the opposite direction from the crime scene on Eldred St the night of the murder, Greg McDowell was driving a blue 1976 Nova with a damaged front end at the time. The two vehicles aren't especially dissimilar from one another when viewed from the front, and with damage it may have been even more difficult to discern the two within the span of several seconds, passing in the night.

2. I think Rhonda was raped, otherwise sexually, and/or physically assaulted during the summer trip to Myrtle Beach and that this is the reason for her late night showers, reluctance to run errands alone, telling her father she had a concern "but was afraid to tell him", insomnia, and hesitation to sleep in her own room. There isn't really a shadow of a doubt in my mind that something happened to her on that trip. However, it may or may not be related to her murder.

3. Clearly, Pons and Micol were in the Trans Am described by Reggie Smart. I think the man seen at Rhonda's car was either Pons or Micol, and that one of these men removed Rhonda from the car. It was then that they discovered she was dead, panicked, and ran off to find a police officer. I think they did not tell Lt. Feimster that they'd seen or moved anyone in the vehicle, only that they'd seen blood on the front seat. They allowed Feimster to discover Rhonda by the car for himself, perhaps worried that they'd be implicated if they mentioned anything about a dead woman.

[TheCars1986]

What I can't come to terms with in the theory that Greg killed Rhonda would be his father's and mother's involvement in either helping him by lying about an alibi, or in the active cover up of the murder. It just doesn't make any sense to me. I know that people say that Greg's father was a creep towards Rhonda, but I don't see why Greg's mother (especially after her husband left her) would willingly continue to lie and help cover up the murder of her son's girlfriend. Now if the theory was that Greg's father was the one who murdered Rhonda, and that Greg being fearful/intimidated of/by his father kept quiet after all of these years, I could see that being plausible.

It just seems like there is a ton of focus being placed on setting up Greg as the killer and his parents as accessories after the fact. I do agree with Meg in that I think whoever killed Rhonda did not plan to do so. I also think they became enraged after conversing with her and shot at her car (to either scare her or to get her to stop from driving away) and that they didn't intend on killing her. I still want to know more about Mark Turner. His proximity to the murder site within the time frame of Rhonda's murder has, Greg's controlling and sometimes abusive behavior aside, been the most suspicious thing about the case to me thus far.

[dynoguy88]

Originally Posted by TheCars1986

What I can't come to terms with in the theory that Greg killed Rhonda would be his father's and mother's involvement in either helping him by lying about an alibi, or in the active cover up of the murder. It just doesn't make any sense to me.

It is believed by many that the Ramseys covered for Burke murdering JonBenet.

It is believed by the majority of Frederick, Maryland that Don Barnes Jr.'s father and ex-girlfriend covered for him murdering Tracey Kirkpatrick.

It is believed by the residents of Belen, New Mexico and one of the lead investigators that four teenage boys, who have all been named online, were responsible for the abduction, rape and murder of Tara Calico. The investigator going so far as to claim that all four sets of parents covered up the crime including burying the bicycle.

Parents and/or loved ones cover for their kids when it comes to murder a lot more often than our minds can probably comprehend. And they get away with it a lot. It just happens. I struggle with it, like you do.

[TheCars1986]

Originally Posted by dynoguy88

Parents and/or loved ones cover for their kids when it comes to murder a lot more often than our minds can probably comprehend. And they get away with it a lot. It just happens. I struggle with it, like you do.

Rhonda's parents called Greg McDowell's house at roughly 2:19 a.m. to ask if he knew where Rhonda was. Shortly after that phone call, according to Greg's mother, Greg's father (Charles McDowell) left to go look for Rhonda. Charles came across the crime scene and spoke to the police officers present. When the police officers wouldn't answer his questions about what happened to Rhonda (her body was already taken from the scene at that point), Charles accompanied 2 detectives back to the Hinson family home to find out what was going on. According to Charles, this was when he found out that Rhonda was dead and how she had been killed. Roughly 30 minutes later, one of the detectives called Greg to tell him that Rhonda had been killed. About 10 minutes later, Charles called his family and said that Greg and his mother should come up to the Hinson home.

All of these actions do not strike me as a person who was trying to cover something up. If he was, he wouldn't have introduced himself at the crime scene full of police officers (almost immediately after he got the phone call from Rhonda's father asking if they had seen or heard from Rhonda), nor would he have agreed to accompany the detectives back to the Hinson home. And to top it all off, I doubt he would have invited the killer, Greg, over to the Hinson home. I'm not saying that Greg isn't suspicious, or that his family and their actions leading up to the murder aren't either. But I don't find their immediate response after finding out about Rhonda's death suspicious. If anything, Charles's story about going to look for Rhonda after getting the phone call and finding her car and the crime scene are actually believable, IMO.

[MegtheEgg86]

Next part is out:

https://the-record-newspaper.tumblr....hinson-part-11

[hostedbyrobertstack]

Originally Posted by MegtheEgg86

Next part is out:

https://the-record-newspaper.tumblr....hinson-part-11

This part seems more of like a build-up and getting us facts for future parts...so it made me more anxious for the next part to come out to get to more meat.

[yourhomiebrian]

Originally Posted by MegtheEgg86

What I'm leaning toward based on the new information is this:

1. Greg McDowell was a clingy, controlling young man who was apparently upset that Rhonda went to that Christmas party on the night of December 23, 1981. If he was responsible for her death, I do not think he premeditated it. I think it's more likely he made contact with her somewhere along the drive from Sherry Pittman's house. Rhonda may have pulled over for him, and the two may have had an argument from which she opted to drive away. What I don't know, if McDowell "did it", is when he would've presented the rifle. Did he walk up to her car with it in hand? Did he become angry when she drove off, and he grabbed for it in the car and shot at the back of Rhonda's car in a fit of rage? Whatever the case, I don't get the impression that he actively sought to murder her that night. I think it's more likely he became angry and acted irrationally, resulting in her death.

As McDowell's father was a hunter, Greg may have had access to such a weapon as the one used to kill Rhonda.

Furthermore, although Reggie Smart recounted a 1970 Chevelle with a "messed up" front end and single male at the wheel speeding north in the opposite direction from the crime scene on Eldred St the night of the murder, Greg McDowell was driving a blue 1976 Nova with a damaged front end at the time. The two vehicles aren't especially dissimilar from one another when viewed from the front, and with damage it may have been even more difficult to discern the two within the span of several seconds, passing in the night.

2. I think Rhonda was raped, otherwise sexually, and/or physically assaulted during the summer trip to Myrtle Beach and that this is the reason for her late night showers, reluctance to run errands alone, telling her father she had a concern "but was afraid to tell him", insomnia, and hesitation to sleep in her own room. There isn't really a shadow of a doubt in my mind that something happened to her on that trip. However, it may or may not be related to her murder.

3. Clearly, Pons and Micol were in the Trans Am described by Reggie Smart. I think the man seen at Rhonda's car was either Pons or Micol, and that one of these men removed Rhonda from the car. It was then that they discovered she was dead, panicked, and ran off to find a police officer. I think they did not tell Lt. Feimster that they'd seen or moved anyone in the vehicle, only that they'd seen blood on the front seat. They allowed Feimster to discover Rhonda by the car for himself, perhaps worried that they'd be implicated if they mentioned anything about a dead woman.