Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Fiance opening dog grooming biz vanishes from posh mall before wedding. Where's Rhonda Smith?

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Fiance opening dog grooming biz vanishes from posh mall before wedding. Where's Rhonda Smith? · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, a dancer manages from Lennix
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Square and has never seen again. Now, thirty five years later,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Ronda Smith's family is hoping a fresh plea will help
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: shed some new light on this cold case. And six
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: feet tall, the twenty one year old was known for
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: her smile and by her nickname Legs. Where is Ronda Smith?
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Joining me? Her parents Jack and Aileen, along with cousin Nancy,
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: who have never given up. I Nancy Grace, this is
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. Ronda Smith,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: absolutely gorgeous, ready for an exciting and happy future and
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: love said to be married. When suddenly everything goes sideways.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: Ronda disappears. Joining me right now, Jack Smith, Eileen Cornell,
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: and Nancy Cunningham from Rhonda's family also with me Winston Skinner,
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: the news editor at the Noonon Times, Harold Cheryl McCollum,
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: director of the Coal Case Research Institute, and Stephen Lampley,
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: detective at Stephen Lampley dot Com. I want to go
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: first to Eileen Cornell. This is Rohnda's mom. Tell me
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: about the moment you realized that Rhonda is gone? Oh my,
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: I think then probably the next day I realized Randa
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: had not run away, that was for sure. You know,
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: it was a coal you know, when we were looking
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: for her, when Tom had called and we started looking
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: for and then they found the truck. But I think
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: even the next day my faults, unfortunately was it something
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: bad had happened to Rhonda and we just needed to
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: try to find out where. Of course, at that time
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: we have a still a lot of hope that you know,
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: she was someplace to Jack Smith and us. Dad, Jack,
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: do you recall the moment that you realize that it
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: hit you. Ron is gone. Yes, of course it was
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: devastating news. But I m just left a bigger hole
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: in our lives. And you know, I, um, I'm sitting
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: here looking at a picture now my beautiful daughter, and
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: it's just you know, all I can do is think
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: of um, you know how much we love her and
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: just what happened to her. We were living in Tennessee
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: at the time and got the call, of course, drove
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: down immediately, and you know we're involving in the searches
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: and looking for and I just uh, we were just
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: looking for answers to Nancy Cunningham, relative of Ronda Smiths
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: you have devoted so much of your life gathering information
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: about Ronda's disappearance. How did it all start? Nancy? I
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: married into the Cunningham family, and when my husband told
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: me about his cousin that was missing, I was just devastated.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: Although I never knew her personally, I couldn't understand how
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: somebody could just just disappear from the face of the earth.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: You know, it just doesn't happen. It just shouldn't happen.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: And to hear Jack and Aileen talk about it, their
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: voice cracks, and to see them crying upset, it just
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: pulled it my heartstreatings, and I just felt like there
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: was an answer somewhere, and if God would give me
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: the strength, I would get out there and knock on
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: every door I could until we could get an answer.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: You know, Cheryl McCollum, Director of the Cold Case Research Institute, Cheryl,
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: this case starts in a place where so many cases go.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: And again, Cheryl, you know, I've been working so hard,
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: well over a year now on a book, Don't Be
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: a Victim, Fighting Back against America's crime ways, and a
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: whole chapter and a very tense chapter as well, is
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: devoted to shopping malls, strip malls, and how so many
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: people go missing under those circumstances. Let's start at the beginning, Cheryl,
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: what do we know happen the day Rhonda Smith, just
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: twenty one years old, just seemingly vanishes off the face
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: of the earth. Well, apparently leaves her home around six
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: thirty in the morning to go shopping Atlantic. You're right, Cheryl,
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: Ronda leaves home at about six thirty a m. Now,
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: possibly she stopped at a workout club in noon Noonan
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: is a bedroom a sleeper community outside the city of Atlanta.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: I would say maybe an hour away. It's rural, it's
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: beautiful and has a very quaint, lovely and vibrant downtown area,
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: and a lot of people live in Noonan and then
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: commute back and forth to Atlanta for their work. We
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: have reason to believe she stopped at a workout club
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: fitness center heading into Atlanta. It was in February, February
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: twenty seven. It was cold, it had snowed, and she
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: was wearing a light tan like a caramel colored rabbit coat.
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: We know she had on a silver blouse, ear rings,
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: and a gold necklace. We know she had that on.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: Now Cheryl McCullum, you rattled off that she went shopping,
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: we think at Lennox Mall. Why does so many things
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: go wrong at Lennox Mall? Why is that? Do you remember, Cheryl?
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: Do you remember the case of the woman who goes
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: missing at Lennox and she's never been found. Was little
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: her last name Mary shot little Little yes, making fist?
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: And then across the street from Lennox you have the
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: Hilton Garden in stabbing just before a wedding. Remember, it
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: never been solved. So what do we know about Lennox?
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: For people tuning in right now, what is Lennox Mall,
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: Cheryl McCollum. Lennox is a posh upscale mall in Atlanta.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: It's got you know. At the time it had Davidson's
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: which subsequently became Macy's. Later it had Region's department store.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: It had about one hundred and ninety eight different stores
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: on four levels. It's just the major mall for the
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: city of Atlanta. Wait a minute, Cheryl, this is not
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: my stomping grounds, okay, because you can find me a
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: Target and Walmart and the grocery store and the Dollar Tree. Okay,
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: until I get my children through grad school. I'm not
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: putting a toe in Lennox because I mean when you
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: said posh, that's a great word for it. It has
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: been and continues to be one of the most elite, fancy,
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: exclusive malls in the entire state of Georgia. That in Phips,
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: which is right across the street. So tell me about
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: the parking lots there, Cheryl, because it's my understanding. Is
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: this right, Winston Skinner Winsndes Skinner, joining me news editor
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: at the Noonon Times, Harold her vehicle was found in
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: the parking lot. Winston, that's right, that's right. It's uh.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: I haven't been there, but from what I remember from reporting,
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: it was undum in the parking deck near Davidsons. That
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: that's my recollection, which is now a Macy's. What do
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: you know, Cheryl? Is Winston Skinner correct? On that? She
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: is correct? And I'll tell you a little known fact
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: about me, Nancy. And when I was a freshman in college,
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: I was a store to take is it riches. So
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: I know Lynos very very well. Hello, I need that
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: I need that miss hot mask because I happen to
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: know you had that out. Didn't you have an outfit
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: you had to wear, Noah wore playing hard for it. Well,
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: then you just taught me something new. So you are
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: undercover at Richester part Okay, now what did you learns?
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: A lot is massive, so a lot of times like
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: you've got at that time in nineteen eighty four, there
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: was a Davidsons and a Riches. So what would happen
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: a lot of times is people would come in and
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: go to Riches. They would leave through Davidsons and couldn't
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: find their car. So a lot of times we would
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: take people around so they could locate their veshicle because
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: they would lose it because the parking lot is huge.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: And in nineteen eighty four is when MARTA came in.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: Hold on, hold on Marta Metro Atlanta Rapid Transit. Okay, no,
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: wait a minute, waitnute. Was Marta in existence at the
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: time Ronda went missing, not until December, but the construction
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: was going on. Okay, hold on, Cheryl, Okay, I'm taking notes.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: Just wait a minute, because you My mind is going
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: berserk on what you're telling me. Okay, So what you're
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: saying is very significant, Cheryl. Number one Marta Rapid Transit,
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: which now has a huge Lenox stop was not working yet.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: That's important because we don't have people not from the
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: neighborhood flying through. On the other hand, it's a shopping mecca.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: You actually have people coming and parking in their cars
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: from the entire southeastern area, the region. People would drive
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: up from Florida to go shopping Atlantox and still do so.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: While they can't get away rapidly on a Marta train
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: or bus. It's hard to filter who she's coming in contact.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: It's not like she's taken it from her home and
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: the only people there are the fiance, the pizza boy,
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: the milk delivery blah blah, the mailman. She is in
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: a meloeu of thousands of people that we can't connect
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: to her. That's a problem. So MARTA's not working yet.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: But construction, and that's what I always say about the
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: Jennifer Kessey case. Her condo, she's gone missing near Orlando,
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: never been seen again. There were a lot of construction
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: undocumented working there, and I think that's the connection. So
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: you're telling me, Cheryl Martin's under construction. It's literally at
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: the edge of the parking lot, Cheryl. It could be anybody. Absolutely,
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: they have people coming and going, electricians, plumbers, painters, people
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: putting down Kyle. There were literally thousands of people constructing
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: that station. For Mark Time Stories with Nancy Grace with Me,
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: Jack Smith, Eileen Cornell, Nancy Cunningham, Winston Skinner, Stephen Lampley,
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: and Cheryl McComb are trying to put the pieces back together.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: In the disappearance of a gorgeous girl, twenty one year
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: old Ronda Smith. And when I look at her picture,
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: her eyes are just like looking right at me, like
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: help me, help me so about her movements? Winston Skinner
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: joining me news editor at the noon in Times, Harold,
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: what do we know about her movements that morning? Okay?
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: From my story which I wrote in nineteen eighty four,
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: exactly what we've heard before she left there the home
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: she shared with Tom Shoemaker hown Spring Drive at six
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: thirty and from what we could tell, state didn't ema
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: until around noon. And it's supposed to have come into
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: the Nautilus Fitness Center before she left to go to Atlanta. Nick,
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: can I ask you a question, sure, how do we know?
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: I mean, and I know nothing about the fiance. I
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: wouldn't know him if he bit me on the neck
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: right now? But right, how do I know she really
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: ever even left that day? How do I know he
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: didn't just drive her car and go, oh, she was shopping,
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: She's gone. How do I know that? How do I
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: know she was ever at the workout club? Right? That's interesting?
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: I don't know. I do not know the answer to that.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: What my story says that mister Shoemaker's sister said that
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: Randa went to the Nautilus Club. The Nautilus was a
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: popular fitness club. We didn't have a lot of those
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: things here at that five, So that's that's logical that
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: she would have been a member there. But you're you're right,
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: we don't. I mean, we don't have any there's no
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: there's no visual. I've never had anybody tell me, oh, yeah,
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: I know she was there. I saw her. Let's back
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: it up. Let's back it up, Nancy Cunningham, what do
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: you know? How can we place her at Nautilus? Honestly,
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: I don't know anything. But something that strikes me as
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: being odd. It's why would she be dressed in street
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: clothes to go to the workout center. Well, I know
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: that she had on the coat, and I know she
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: had earrings and a necklace. But I don't know if
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: the coat was over a workout outfit or if she
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: brought clothes with her. But you're absolutely right, Cheryl, help
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: me out. Can you help me place her at Nautilus?
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: I cannot, Nancy, and I have also heard that she
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: was wearing dress clothes, and I will tell you, in
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: nineteen eighty four, people did not wear workout clothes Selenic small,
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: They dressed up. Still, well, what did you just say
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: about dressing up to go to a mall? Why you
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: don't nail. It's not unusual as people leave tennis and
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: go shop in or you know, have you sweatpants one
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: and a shirt. But in nineteen eighty four people still
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: dressed up to go to Lynch. I mean they've got
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: vallet tarting. It was a place to be seen. You
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: didn't go there plenty after working out, I can promise.
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: Oh dear, I'm in trouble. Okay, So we don't have
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: any visual placing her at Nautilus, but I've got reason
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: to believe. Stephen Lampley Detective Stephen Lampley dot Com that
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: at the time, I believe cops verified that she had
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: gone to Nautilus. First, she gets up at six thirty
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: in the morning. All right, the mall doesn't open until ten.
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: She's an hour away from the mall. That's two and
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: a half hours. I think she worked out early in
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: the morning, took a shower and put on dress clothes
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: to go to the mall. Stephen Lampley verifying her at
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: Nautilus workout. It would be an easy thing for a
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: cop to do explain who should be Dancy And again
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: I wasn't there, but it should have been. There should
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: have been more at that time of the morning. There
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: should have been more than the people that would people
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: to verify. I don't know if they had access card entry.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: I don't know at that time. They probably did not,
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: but that should be an easy and easy verification process
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: on that Well, let me tell you about my old
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: workout club. And as a matter of fact, I actually
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: had an almost a fist fight with two guys at
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: the workout club because every Sunday night I would watch
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: Murder She wrote with Jessica Fletcher Angela Landsbury, and they
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: actually tried to watch a sporting event while I was
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: on the treadmill. So I remember distinctly. Yeah, I know
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: you signed in Stephen. It was old school. You signed
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: your name, it showed your ID to get into the
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: workout club. That's how that worked, all right. So I've
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: got a very strong feeling Sheryl mccoumb that cops did
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: verify she worked out that morning in noon and at Nautilus.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: I would think that would be a easy, easy thing
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: for the tournament, no doubt about it. So what do
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: we know about her movements from there? Winston Skinner with
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: the Noon in Times Harold joining us, I would say,
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: we don't really know. Because the next the next sighting,
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: if you want to call it, that is, is that
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: there are reports that a person who worked at Wicks
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: and Stick at Lena said, oh, yes, I saw her.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: She was very upbeat. I was having a bad day.
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: She made me feel good. But my understanding is from
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: everything that I've been able to see that that's yet
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: there's nobody else who who verifies that they saw her,
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: And I think many of I've talked to Jack and Aileen,
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: I think many people have some question about whether that
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: person's recollection was correct. Did he see Ronda or did
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: he see someone who looked like Rnda? You know, don't
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: I don't know, and then really then did nothing. Now,
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: obviously her vehicle is there, so somehow her vehicle got there.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: And I think the question is did she actually go
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: to Lema? Okay, hold on, hold on to Jack Smith, Dad,
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: Eileen Cornell, mom, Nancy Cunningham, cousin Jack Smith? What do
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: you know? Can you help me out on this? This
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: is very very critical. Did anybody spot her at them all?
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: Did anybody spot her at the Nautilus workout Club? No? No,
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: as far as far as this fellow were the stick
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: says he saw her, I just I don't. I just
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: don't believe that. I just think it was a story
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: that part of an alibi. You don't think she ever
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: went to Lennox? Would and why would she part with
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: the truck as far away from the entrance as she did? Ohoh,
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: wait a minute, Wait a minute, Jack Smith, I did
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: not know that she was parked far away from the
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: entrance at that time of the morning. You're exactly correct.
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: I would part as close to the door as I could.
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: Why would she do that? Uh? As Cheryl McCollum, that's
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: a very significant fact. Very often you hear when people
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: dump cars or other nefarious crimes. Cars are part in
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: a big parking lot where they may get lost in
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: the sauce, like at a mall at an airport, and
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: then they're not found for days and days and days.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: Explain why this is so significant what Jack Smith just
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: told us, Well, it's so significant for two reasons. They see, one,
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: she's already worked out, there wouldn't be another soul there.
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: She could get prime parking right by the door. And
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: the second thing is, and this is significant to me,
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: it ain't her car. It's a truck that she baris,
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: So it's not like a brand new car. She wanted
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: to part far away so nobody would ing the door.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: This is just a work truck that it is letter
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: a Bari because work car was in the shop. Her
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: car in the shop, she was borrowing this truck. Jack Smith,
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: Ronda's dad has just really opened my eyes on something.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: He says that all along he has felt she did
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: not go shopping at Lenox. Do you have any idea?
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: Stephen Lampley explain how the wrong location and the long
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: start of a timeline can destroy an investigation. Well, Mancy,
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: if everything doesn't fit together, I mean, if you have
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: an incident and enskewed. You know, obviously you're your timeline
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: is just thrown out this gentleman who says he saw her.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: You know, did he did they do a lineup? Did
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: they do a photo lineup? And did he pick her out?
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: I don't know. But whenever you have something on the
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: timeline it doesn't fit, it throws your theory right out
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: the window. Okay, at that at that point, what did
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: you learn, Eileen Cornell? When that truck was found at
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: Lennox who called and told you Ronda's more friend time
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: shoemaker called and said that the truck had been found
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: by the security guard Atlantox Square and they had called
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: the police. And I left immediately to come up crime
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: stories with Nancy Grace. A dancer vanishes from Lennox Square
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: and it's never seen again. Now, thirty five years later,
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: Rhonde Smith's family is hoping a fresh plea will help
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: shed some new light on this cold case. And six
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: feet tall, the twenty one year old was known for
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: her smile and by her nickname Legs. Her fiance says
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: they planned to get married and started a dog grooming
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: business of breeding business as well. Where is Ronda Smith
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: joining me? Jack Smith? Eilan Cornell and Nancy Cunningham from
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: Rhonda's family. Also with me Winston Skinner, the news editor
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: at the Noon In Times, Harold Cheryl McCollum, director of
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: the Cold Case Research Is Institute, and Stephen Lampley, detective
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: at Stephen Lampley dot Com. To Nancy Cunningham, where do
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: you stand on Jack Smith's feeling his daughter was never
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: at Lenox Mall? I agree completely something that we've missed.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: If we can back up just a little bit, Nancy,
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: she had been supposedly so sick over the weekend that
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: she couldn't speak to her mother on the telephone. Whoa wait, wait, wait,
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: that's major. That's major, Eileen Cornell. I knew she had
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: been ill the previous weekend and wasn't going to go
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: to work one day, but I didn't know she couldn't
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: speak to you on the phone. I've never been so
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: sick I couldn't talk to my mom on the phone.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: So who told you she couldn't talk on the phone.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: Her boyfriend Tom so that she was laying down back
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: in the back, that she was still sick from having
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: two meeting drinks on Friday night. And so I want
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: to hit and talk to him, and I was inviting
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: them over for the next weekend, you know, to come
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: over and eat us. And he just said that he'd
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: have Runda call later, and I said, okay, you know,
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: so when he called, you know, the next night, I
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: was real surprised it was him and not Rhonda, because
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: Ronda called. Ronda called us a lot. How often did
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: you talk to her? Oh? From her fine bill even
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: we went back and looked, I think, I mean normally,
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: did you talk to her every day? No, Friday, once
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: a week at least, though, so he tells you she
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: doesn't feel well and she is lying down. Did she
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: call you back that weekend? It was Sunday that I
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: called the talk with Rhonda and she was still sick
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: from that. And then it was Monday evening that he
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: called me because that Rhonda had not come home. So
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: it was actually Sunday night that she was still fick.
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: What night did he first tell you that she was ill?
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: That was Sunday night, Okay, Jack Smith, what do you recall? Well,
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: her mother just knows all about that. There's just things
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: that I can tell you about the shower curtain that
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: she made for round. I know nothing about the shower curtain.
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: Tell me about it. I had just made her a
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: shower curtain for her for her bathroom, and she was
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: redoing I think they were taking wallpaper down in the
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: bathroom and the shower curtain was down. And at the
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: time that we finally came, the police and I and
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: his parents, I think we're there to the house and
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: went through some Abronda stuff, business cards and things like
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: that that had been left, probably when she was working
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: at the club. And we were sitting on the edge
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: of the bed and looking into the bathroom, actually talking,
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: and he said that they had taken a bath together.
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: I think Sunday morning or that morning. I want members
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: exactly which one. And in my notes I said that
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: the first time I wondered it's the police could have
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: been right about Tom because there was no shower curtain. Man,
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: Why would you take a shower with no curtain when
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: there was another bathroom just across the hall. What a
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: shower curtain? But I did not say anything to him
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: about that, though. So let me understand, Nancy Cunningham. Have
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: police been going on the theory all this time that
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: she disappeared from Lenox, Yes, and we have done everything
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: we can to get Cowie to County involved. Cowee to
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: County says it's not their case. They won't do anything,
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: and we all feel like Ronda disappeared from Cowie to
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: County not you know that truck was put at Lenox
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: Square just as a diversion. We all believe that too.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: Cheryl McCollum, director of the Coal Case Research Institute. Okay,
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: I accepted. This is a huge blow to finding out
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: what happened to Ronda Smith. But what can we do now? Well,
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: I think it goes. I've got a few questions. First,
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: here's the first question I need to know the answer
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: to to her mom. Did the boyfriend ever in their
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: entire relationship ever one time call you when she came
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: home or what wasn't home on Talente? No, that's what
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: I thought. So for him to call her mom at
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: seven o'clock at night, honey, that ain't even late yet.
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: I mean the MAM's not even closed, and I mean
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: Walt's been home late before. But the last person I'm
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: gonna call is his mama if I'm worried about him.
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: So for him to go to zero to her mamma,
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: he's building to me a potential, you know, alibi to say, oh,
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: I was worried I've did something was wrong, you know quickly.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: In other words, he's alerting people, but he's not alerting
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: the right people. He didn't call the police, he didn't
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: go out looking for he didn't drive to win it.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: He didn't drive up eighty five seen if she was wrecked.
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: He called her mama. So to me, it's a flag, Nancy.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: And I mean, I don't know what Stephen's theory would be,
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: but right there, I would stop until I got that
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: answer for me, and then I would want to know
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: from Sunday, When did the last timebody saw her? Was
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: it Saturday? When did they get that truck? Did he
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: use the truck to dispose of hers? That he used
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: the truck to move her? Who saw her drive that truck?
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: I'm also curious if they had ever had discord in
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: their relationship. Well, that's the next thing on my list, Nancy,
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: because that's my next question I've literally wrote down. You know,
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: we do that all the time, Cheryl, You and I
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: write down the next question. The other one just says,
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: it's so funny. What do we know? Eileen Cornell about
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: her relationship with the fiancee. Well, I know one time,
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: I mean Timeca could get really she had a little
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: temper and she could get, you know, really upset about things.
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: And one night late she called me. They were having
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: a dispute about something, and so I asked Time, I said,
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: time to do I really do I need to I'm
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: down there, you know, and get it wrong because it
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: was started about twelve thirty or so, and he said, no,
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: She'll be fine. We'll talk in the morning. And the
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: next day when I talked the Rona, she said that
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: Tom told her that she should not be calling me
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: every time they have a little spat, that that was
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: not right, that he didn't call his parents every time
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: they had a little fight. And you know, I understood that,
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: and that was all of the fight. You know. She
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: never said another word about it. Okay, wait a minute,
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: So the boyfriend tells her, don't call your parents every
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: time we have an argument. Yeah, I don't like that
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: at all. What were you saying, Jack Smith? I was
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: gonna ask didn't ron to call and say that she
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: that Tom had lied about what he did for a
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: living or something like that. Is that something that I
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: or did I know? It's no Actually that was not
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: that hung a thing. I had to look at the
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: notes that she had just said one afternoon that she
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: was questioned that he had lied about the business, and
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: the way she found out was through his sister, and
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: I just let her talk and she was that was
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: all her comment was, was it? You know, she was
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: a little up, said that he had lied about the business.
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: And after we looked into the business is a little bit.
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: Tom did not own any of that business, and I
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: think he might have told her that, But that's just
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: an assumption on my part, you know. To Stephen Lampley,
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: detective at Stephen Lampley dot com, that's never good when
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: you find out somebody is lying, a guy is lying
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: about something so fundamentalist, where they work and what they do.
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: You're right, Nancy, and everything about this, Like Cheryl said
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: a while ago, it seems to me, and it seems
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: to her as well, that this whole thing is a
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: lead into quote unquote that Beyonce's innocence. Now, I'm not
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: saying he's guilty by any means, but all of these indicators,
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: like she said, are there, and then of course later
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: on we find out he laggers up really really quick.
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: And then yeah, the polygraph. I think there were some
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: issues with the polygraph, some of the questions that indicated
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: he was not forthcoming with the truth. We have a problem,
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: then answer you know. And here's the thing. The fiance
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: has not been named suspect in this case. We are
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: just following the leads. But I can tell you to
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: Nancy Cunningham, relative of Ronda smiss now missing for years,
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: that doesn't look good feeling a polygraph if that is true.
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: Lawyering up when your fiance goes missing. No, what do
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: we know about him now? Nancy? Where is he now?
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: Or do we even know? I don't know, but I
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: can tell you this the business that his father owned
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: at the time, with a smeltering business, are you familiar
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: with Yes, they took X rays and melted them down
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: and extracted the filver where the plant was at. They
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: had the capability of burning a body beyond recognition. That
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: was never searched. None of that was ever looked into
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: crime stories with Nancy Grace gone Cole, the case of
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: a missing dancer disappearing from an upscale mall in Atlanta,
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: never seen again or did she? This case has haunted
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: her mom and dad Jack and Eileen since she disappeared,
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: she's absolutely beautiful. I'm talking about Rhonda Smithy goes missing
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: from Lenox Square, we think in Atlanta, but now we
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: believe she was never even there and leaving the truck
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: she was driving there was just a ruse to cover
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: up what really happened to Ronda smith What do we
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: know about security cameras at Lenox Small or at Nautilus
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: Cheryl McCollum, I know they have them, but I don't
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: know that she was ever spotted on anything. I don't
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: know that anybody ever corroborated her being at Lenox Mall.
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: But I have one more question. Nixt he was sure
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: boyfriend was his whereabouts for that fourteen hours ever documented
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: by anybody had checked out? I don't believe. So I
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: can't get a hold of anything of substance from APD
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: or Cowey to County. Okay. Well, I have one more question.
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: Was the business as they owned open on Sundays? Well,
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: I can't answer that, but I can tell you probably so,
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: because they would start the process of burning something and
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: it would literally take days to complete, like it would
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: have to burn hours and hours. I just didn't know
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: if they shut down Friday afternoon, started back up Monday. Yeah.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: I'm just listening to all of this, and I'm curious,
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: Jack Smith, what do police at Calita County tell you
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: about her case? I know, I feel like the police
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: on both sides, Atlanta and Calita County blew it thirty
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: five years ago. Uh, it's well known and can be
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: documented that Sargeant pain when when something was asking about
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: round and why something was not done about it, Oh well,
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: shoes just strepper in a nightclub. And I just always
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: felt in my heart that's that's the way law enforcement
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: at times. I know they worked on it, don't get
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: me wrong, but I just felt in my heart that
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: that's the way they felt about it. And a couple
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: of things that I can interject also about the uh
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: about the burned, about the smell tream and so forth. Uh,
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: it's uh hasn't been mentioned, but it's known and can
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: they proved. There's a fellow named Duke Blackburn, which is
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: I understand pretty well known in the law enforcement community. Uh.
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: He had cadaver dogs on that property in two thousand
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: and five. Those dogs struck on when the condapt on, uh,
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: you know remains and uh Calwita County was told about
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: it and they didn't even uh look into it. Another thing,
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: it bothers me about Tom. Uh not one time? Have
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: I even spoke to it? Not? You know, wouldn't wouldn't
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: a fiance safe call of dad and say hey, we're
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: doing everything we can to find Rhonda, and uh, you know,
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: press my condolences and and so or I mean, he
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: never even called, they even reached out to me one Pip, Nancy,
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: Can I ask the parents one more questions? Yeah? And
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: I want to find out about the wineglass and the
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: beer found in the truck if they were taken into evidence.
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: Let me ask that was your next question? Right now,
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: I'm starting to questions One if they've ever had any
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: contact with the person that owned the truck to find
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: out when and where you know they'd let them borrow that.
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: And number two the beer and the wine what about
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: that to Nancy Cunningham who own the truck? And what
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: about the beer bottle and the wine glass beer can?
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: The truck was actually owned by Tom's father, the business
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: Atlanta Smeltering or something. And I can tell you I've
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: done some research in that truck. It's still in Howie
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: to coll me. But to my knowledge, they didn't sing
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: or printed, They didn't search it, they didn't do anything.
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: And as far as the wine glass and the beer can,
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: who knows, APD won't tell. I don't know if they
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: have it, if they took singer prints. We don't know anything.
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: With me. Jack Smith, Eileen Cornell, Nancy Cunningham, Winston Skinner,
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: Stephen Lamplay and Cheryl McCollum were trying to put the
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: pieces back together in the disappearance of a gorgeous girl,
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: twenty one year old Ronda Smith. Nancy Cunningham, You've devoted
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: so much time trying to find Ronda. What have you learned?
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: I learned that you can't always trust what police tell you.
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: That if they think there's a cover up, they're just
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: going to keep covering it up. Something else that wasn't
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: brought up in the conversation earlier excuse me. Aleen made
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: a visit to Ronda's house to pick up Ronda's belonging,
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: and Tom Fother was in their yard with a back coach.
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: Stephen Lamplay. None of these signs are good because I
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: really believe if Ronda, then twenty one, had lived at
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: some point she would have let her parents, who were
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: so loving and supportive of her know that she was okay,
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: delight Nancy. And none of this adds up the whole
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: the whole thing. It just, uh, there's a lot to
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: go on at this point. I don't know what evidence
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: is left is in at any but obviously the cadaver
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: dogs is a good start. Uh. There's vords of this,
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: obviously than than what she's been told. And there's a
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: lot more needs to be done. This is Jack, May
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: I may I are Jack. One more interesting thing, Oh yes,
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: like a concrete slab was toward there after Ronda went missing. Um,
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: you know it had to do with the dog pins,
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: which was gonna, you know, gonna be her business that
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: she was going into. I just find it interesting that
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: he would have a concrete slab forward after she went missing. Well,
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: I can tell you this, We're gonna be out there
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: with some cadaver dogs as soon as I can get
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: it arranged, mister Smith and Miss Cornell and Miss Cunningham. Right,
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: you can count on that. You can count on that.
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: May I ask you a question, Please go ahead the
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: police reports. I mean, we can go and look at
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: the police reports, but we can't make copies and the
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: Atlanta police reports there's two files, probably three or four
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: inches thick. I mean, you can the detective did come
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: to Jack and Susan's house. Some of us, you know,
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: fun through it, but a lot of it is repeat
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: and all. I mean, it would take days to study it,
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: so you can't really do anything in a couple of hours,
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: you know, really get into this. You know what they
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: did do? Is it any and they say that since
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: it's still active, they can't release the report. You know,
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: we just covered a case where Jennifer Kessy's family sued
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: the police department in Orlando and got the files. Cheryl,
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: can you think of any way around that, any way
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: the cops might give that or Stephen Lampley detective, how
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: can we get those cop files? Well, if they're they're
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: going to let her sit down and take a look
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: at it. Number one, she can look at the evidence sheet.
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: That's it. I'm going to go from opening that file
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: right there, she can go to the witness lift. There's
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: saying she can do very quickly. That would answer a
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: ton of questions. If you have information about the disappearance
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: of this beautiful young girl, Ronda Smith Please call four
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: zero four five four six five six zero two four
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: zero four five four six five six zero two. Between Lamplet, McCollum, Skinner, Cunningham,
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: Cornell and Smith, We're not giving up Nancy Grace's crime story.
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: Signing off, goodbye friend,