GA GA – Rhonda Ilean Smith, 21, Atlanta, Fulton Co., 27 Feb 1984

[folieadeuxnola]

Rhonda Ilean Smith

Last Seen: February 27th, 1984

Missing From: Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia






Physical/Clothing/Medical
Race: White
Sex: Female
Age: 21 Years Old
DOB: 11/30/1963
Height: 6’0” (72”)
Weight: 140 lbs.
Hair: Black, Short Cropped Style
Eye Color: Brown
Clothing: Camel colored rabbit fur coat, white or silver blouse, white shoes
Jewelry: (2) Earrings each ear, gold necklace
Characteristics/Medical/Scars: Pierced (2) each ear, tattoo rose on chest, olive skin tone, reportedly smoked cigarettes
Transportation: Blue 1981 Chevrolet Truck (Later located)
Fingerprint Status:
Dental Status:
DNA Status:

Circumstances:
Rhonda was last seen on February 27, 1984, her automobile was found abandoned and locked in a parking deck at Lenox Square in Atlanta. She had reportedly left her residence in Coweta County, Georgia to go shopping and has never been heard nor seen again.

Investigating Agency:
Atlanta Police Department
226 Peachtree Street, SW
Atlanta, GA. 30303
Tele: 404.546.5602
Tele: 404.546.4235 – Missing Persons Dept
MP Case # 42833587
Contact: Detective Joseph Golphin
Web: Atlanta Police Department : Home

Coweta County Sheriff’s Office
560 Greison Trail
Newnan, Georgia 30263
Tele: 678.423.6711
Contact: Lt Jason Fetner
Web: Coweta County Sheriff's Office | Coweta County, GA Website


Information Sources:
NAMUS
MP Case # 42235: Missing Person Case
Case Manager: Carrie Sutherland
Tele: 817.202.5931
E-Mail: [email protected]

 

[Hamish]

There was one woman that stated she had not seen Rhonda for 2-3 days before she was reported missing. This woman lived next door to Rhonda.

 

[Hamish]

The vehicle she was driving which was not hers was found on the Lenox Square parking deck. This is the same parking deck Mary Shotwell Little's vehicle was found when she went missing back in 1965. Rhonda's vehicle was in the body shop being repaired due to an accident. I do not believe Rhonda's case and Mary Shotwell Little's case are connected in any way.

 

[Bit of hope]

Rhonda Smith goes missing from Atlanta shopping center in 1984 · Missing Persons of America

She supposedly shopped at Wick and Sticks for two hours.
She has two earrings in each ear. On none of the pictures I can see that.

 

[Bit of hope]

She is not on the missing persons list of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) and I couldn't find her on The Charley Project site.

Here is her Namus file.Missing Person Case

 

[Hamish]

Bit of Hope: Rhonda is listed on the NamUs website for missing persons Her NamUs id number is MP 42 235. Her fiancee filed two separate missing person reports. One in Coweta County and one in Fulton County. The vehicle was found in Fulton County. If while you are checking NamUs out, look at the date they entered her on the site. They entered her on Feb. 15, 2018. It only took them a short 34 years to make the entry. Maybe I'm wrong but if I had waited, that long to make the entry I would have been ashamed to have made it then. When they located the vehicle she was driving the engine was cold, the doors were locked and there was a beer can and a wine glass on the console, and the keys were not in the vehicle. At the bottom of the incident report there was a block asking if a lab tech was requested and the officer had checked as NO.

 

[Hamish]

By a beer can and a wine glass being found in the vehicle that suggests to me, there was, two people in the vehicle when it was parked, a man and a woman.

 

[Bit of hope]

Bit of Hope: Rhonda is listed on the NamUs website for missing persons Her NamUs id number is MP 42 235. Her fiancee filed two separate missing person reports. One in Coweta County and one in Fulton County. The vehicle was found in Fulton County. If while you are checking NamUs out, look at the date they entered her on the site. They entered her on Feb. 15, 2018. It only took them a short 34 years to make the entry. Maybe I'm wrong but if I had waited, that long to make the entry I would have been ashamed to have made it then. When they located the vehicle she was driving the engine was cold, the doors were locked and there was a beer can and a wine glass on the console, and the keys were not in the vehicle. At the bottom of the incident report there was a block asking if a lab tech was requested and the officer had checked as NO.

Thank you for the additional info. The reason why I mentioned that she was not on other MP-sites is my worry about the lack of attention in GA for missing persons cases, like a lot of other MP-cases from GA, especially when there is more then one county involved. Also I was searching for additional information and The Charley Project and also The Doe network provide more details, more context, most of the time. As it turns out, like you explained, she fell between the cracks and was a missing, missing person for a very long time.

 

[Bit of hope]

By a beer can and a wine glass being found in the vehicle that suggests to me, there was, two people in the vehicle when it was parked, a man and a woman.

Yes, my guess is there were two people, but it could have been also two women.

 

[Bit of hope]

Just some thoughts:
- Rhonda's official missing date, per Namus, is 27 February 1984
- Who reported her missing and on what day? As said her fiancé reported her missing, even in two county's, but both of them didn't appear in "the system" until 2018. Who steered her missing case up again?
@ Hamish, where is this info coming from, can you share a source? Is this from the incident rapport? Very interesting, can you share this? Please.
- The next-door neighbor didn't see her for 2-3 days before she was reported missing. We all know that memory can trick us, also depending on when she was asked (by LE, why her and when?). Where is this information coming from? What did the fiancé say about all this.
- Was she actually seen in Wicks and Sticks? By whom and on what exact date and time? I don't know this shop is/was it very big? 2 hours shopping seems a long time in one shop. Where is this info about the two hours shopping coming from?
- The vehicle was located at the Lenox Square Parking deck in Atlanta, with an (empty?) can of beer and an (empty?) wine glass on the console. LE didn't check for fingerprints, didn't process the car. Is this correct? What did they investigate?
-Not a very romantic thing to do, sitting in a car on a parking deck, drinking....but maybe you do this so nobody sees you having an affair or they (for now two people in the vehicle seems to be the most likely) drove somewhere else (and she didn't go shopping, this was just an excuse for seeing someone) and this second person, after something ugly happened, parked the car on the parking deck.
- Maybe she was drugged, drinking the wine
- Maybe nothing bad happened and she "just" decided to leave, leaving her old life behind, with a new lover....not very likely though.

I could go on and on.....so many questions....

 

[Hamish]

Just some thoughts:
- Rhonda's official missing date, per Namus, is 27 February 1984
- Who reported her missing and on what day? As said her fiancé reported her missing, even in two county's, but both of them didn't appear in "the system" until 2018. Who steered her missing case up again?
@ Hamish, where is this info coming from, can you share a source? Is this from the incident rapport? Very interesting, can you share this? Please.
- The next-door neighbor didn't see her for 2-3 days before she was reported missing. We all know that memory can trick us, also depending on when she was asked (by LE, why her and when?). Where is this information coming from? What did the fiancé say about all this.
- Was she actually seen in Wicks and Sticks? By whom and on what exact date and time? I don't know this shop is/was it very big? 2 hours shopping seems a long time in one shop. Where is this info about the two hours shopping coming from?
- The vehicle was located at the Lenox Square Parking deck in Atlanta, with an (empty?) can of beer and an (empty?) wine glass on the console. LE didn't check for fingerprints, didn't process the car. Is this correct? What did they investigate?
-Not a very romantic thing to do, sitting in a car on a parking deck, drinking....but maybe you do this so nobody sees you having an affair or they (for now two people in the vehicle seems to be the most likely) drove somewhere else (and she didn't go shopping, this was just an excuse for seeing someone) and this second person, after something ugly happened, parked the car on the parking deck.
- Maybe she was drugged, drinking the wine
- Maybe nothing bad happened and she "just" decided to leave, leaving her old life behind, with a new lover....not very likely though.

I could go on and on.....so many questions....

 

[Hamish]

The family is what got the ball to rolling again. I don't think she was even alive when the car was driven to Lenox. I could ask questions on and on too. I don't want to release the incident report just yet. Jessica Noll is supposed to air something about this and have an interview with Rhonda's mom sometime this month. They did not try to check for prints they did not unlock the truck to take beer can and wine glass as evidence. It was just one mistake after another. There was a block on the bottom of the report that stated was a lab tech called to scene and the officer marked NO. This woman was doomed from the beginning.

 

[Bit of hope]

The family is what got the ball to rolling again. I don't think she was even alive when the car was driven to Lenox. I could ask questions on and on too. I don't want to release the incident report just yet. Jessica Noll is supposed to air something about this and have an interview with Rhonda's mom sometime this month. They did not try to check for prints they did not unlock the truck to take beer can and wine glass as evidence. It was just one mistake after another. There was a block on the bottom of the report that stated was a lab tech called to scene and the officer marked NO. This woman was doomed from the beginning.

Thanks...another, more recent, MP comes to mind. Very sad because of the lack off attention from LE from the beginning. Are you a family member?

 

[Hamish]

No, I am not. The neighbor that said she had not seen her for 2-3 days before she went missing made this statement within the first 14 days of Rhonda's disappearance. I hardly think that shop was large enough to spend a whole two hours shopping. As for the beer can and wine glass, I don't have any idea about the contents because they did not unlock the car and they didn't take these items into evidence. As I have stated before Rhonda's fate was sealed from the get-go.

 

[Bit of hope]

Could there be a relation with another missing person case in those days?

Helen Ann Morgan was last seen May 13, 1984, at her Lamar County home. Police found her car three days later at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Morgan's family told police she received a call and said she had to go to her office at the National Cash Register Co. in Fayetteville. She never returned. She was 27.

Georgia's missing persons: Unsolved cases

 

[Hamish]

I don't really believe Helen and Rhonda's cases are related. Helen had gone through a divorce. The divorce was finalized on April 27, 1984. She went missing on May 13, 1984. Sixteen days after the divorce was finalized. Imagine that. Lamar County, Barnesville is just south of Griffin, Ga. I don't know if this site is still up and running but you can try to view it The name of the site is--Justice for Donna Ogletree Johnson & Helen Ann Morgan. You will find them on Facebook. If it is up read both thoroughly and then give me your thoughts. Thanks. I just looked for it on Facebook it is not available. So try this site
After 26 years, murder still haunts community
The Pike County Journal-Reporter
This site is up and running

 

[Hamish]

Johnson probe leads to former drug house
Barnesville.com
Another source you can look over
Donna Johnson died hard
The Pike County Journal-Reporter

 

[Bit of hope]

No, I am not. The neighbor that said she had not seen her for 2-3 days before she went missing made this statement within the first 14 days of Rhonda's disappearance. I hardly think that shop was large enough to spend a whole two hours shopping. As for the beer can and wine glass, I don't have any idea about the contents because they did not unlock the car and they didn't take these items into evidence. As I have stated before Rhonda's fate was sealed from the get-go.

What happened to the car and contents?

 

[Hamish]

It was released back to the fiancee's dad I don't know exactly when

 

[Bit of hope]

I don't really believe Helen and Rhonda's cases are related. Helen had gone through a divorce. The divorce was finalized on April 27, 1984. She went missing on May 13, 1984. Sixteen days after the divorce was finalized. Imagine that. Lamar County, Barnesville is just south of Griffin, Ga. I don't know if this site is still up and running but you can try to view it The name of the site is--Justice for Donna Ogletree Johnson & Helen Ann Morgan. You will find them on Facebook. If it is up read both thoroughly and then give me your thoughts. Thanks. I just looked for it on Facebook it is not available. So try this site
After 26 years, murder still haunts community
The Pike County Journal-Reporter
This site is up and running

Reading about the missing case of Helen Ann Morgan, makes me think that it's not related to the missing case of Rhonda. Thinking more along the line of a wrathful ex-husband. The torture and murder of Donna Johnson is also not related to the missing of Helen Morgan and IMO also not to the missing case of Rhonda.