Shot at party

Rhonda’s killer could still be on the loose

It was 22 December 1981 and the holiday festivities were in full swing.

The bustling little town of Hickory, North Carolina, was buzzing with excitement for Christmas.

And for 19-yearold Rhonda Hinson, there was every reason to celebrate.

She’d just graduated from high school and had landed herself a job as a clerical worker for a local steel company.

That night, she was looking forward to attending her company’s Christmas party.

She dressed in a new skirt and sweater that her mum Judy had bought her that day.

Kissing her parents goodbye, she drove to her friend’s house.

Then they made their way to the bash together.

After a night of partying, Rhonda left with two of her friends at midnight.

She dropped them home, then set off on the 10-mile journey to her parents’ house – but Rhonda never made it. Hours later, the teenager’s car was found less than a mile from her home.

The driver’s door was open and, just a few feet away, Rhonda’s body lay on the ground.

She was on her back and her arms appeared to have been deliberately placed at her sides.

Tests showed she’d been killed by a single bullet, fired from a high-powered rifle. It’d been so powerful, the bullet had passed through the boot of her car and through the car seat before piercing her heart and lung.

Her murder appeared to be a random act of violence or a case of mistaken identity.

But, as the police investigation unravelled, disturbing evidence began to surface.

It seemed to suggest Rhonda had been killed by someone who she knew. In high school, Rhonda had been popular, a keen tennis player. But, in the weeks leading up to the party, those closest to her noticed she was acting differently. Though normally happy to drive alone, according to her father Bobby, she’d begun asking him to accompany her. When he’d questioned her about it, she’d clammed up. Was she afraid something might happen to her if she was alone? Was she being threatened by someone? And mum Judy said Rhonda had been in two minds about going to the party that night. ‘Her boyfriend, who was in college

She’d been killed by a single bullet from a highpowered rifle

and at home at the time, didn’t want her to go,’ she recalled.

Apparently Rhonda had planned to stay overnight at her friend’s house after the party.

But, for some unknown reason, she’d changed her mind and decided to drive home instead.

It was a decision that cost Rhonda her life that night so close to Christmas.

When her body was found beside the open car door, the motor was still running and the car had rolled backwards, across the opposite lane into a ditch.

Witnesses reported seeing a man driving a blue car, speeding away from where Rhonda was killed.

Another apparently saw Rhonda slumped over the steering wheel and a man standing by the car door.

But they assumed it was just a drunken couple having a row and had driven on.

Medical experts determined it would’ve been impossible for Rhonda to have got out of the car on her own, given her injury.

So how did she get out of the car? Did someone pull her out? And who fired the fatal shot?

So many unanswered questions surrounded the murder case.

But the crime happened six years before DNA evidence was even used in a courtroom.

It meant that finding Rhonda’s killer was tough.

And, as the years passed, it became increasingly harder.

Apparently, the police conducting the investigation questioned over 100 suspects.

But, with witnesses naturally passing away over time, memories fading and evidence simply falling through the cracks, still they were no closer to finding Rhonda’s killer.

Since 1981, the team investigating the case have focused on two theories. The first was that Rhonda was targeted by someone who she knew. The second was that she was the victim of a random, perhaps accidental shooting. In 2007, after advances in DNA testing, investigators discovered DNA on the armpits of Rhonda’s sweater that didn’t match hers. Was it her killer’s? The DNA sample didn’t match anyone on the database, though. And, with little evidence with which to work, the case remains a mystery. Rhonda’s parents have now had 36 Christmases without their daughter. They want answers as to why their teenage girl went to a festive party and never came home…

So many unanswered questions surrounded the murder