Murder cold case solved: Man arrested in connection to 2019 prison guard death
SHEPHERD, Texas (KTRK) -- The man officials believe is responsible for killing a Texas prison guard three years ago in Shepherd was arrested this month.
Robert Dale Clary was arrested in connection to the murder of 59-year-old Rhonda Richardson.
In 2019, the San Jacinto County Sherrif's Office responded to a call about a woman found dead in the Sam Houston National Forest.
Authorities say Richardson's body was discovered near her home by two people riding an ATV on a trail in a wooded area of the National Forest on May 22, 2019.
One of those persons was Clary, but he never notified officials.
Officials say he told his family and asked his nephew to call it in saying that if he did it, he would be considered a suspect since he lived close by and knew her.
Clary even returned to the scene with his nephew and took photos of the body.
Authorities were finally notified of the dead body by his nephew.
Officials said Richardson had multiple slashes on her body and blunt-force trauma to her head and face and had been lying dead in the heat for several days.
What made detectives think it was a murder possibly connected to where she worked was that she still had her jewelry on.
Richardson worked at the Polunsky Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
TDCJ investigated the prison system to determine if she had been a target. They didn't find anything.
Officials said Richardson had been with TDCJ for 25 years and had already announced that she would be retiring in a few months.
Investigators say they were suspicious of Clary from the beginning.
Officials found out that a few days before Richardson was found dead, she asked neighbors to help look for her missing dogs.
Clary was one of her neighbors that volunteered to help. Authorities say he was the last person Richardson was seen alive with.
After talking to other persons in the area they learned that she was seen on his ATV with him.
Search warrants were obtained and a search was done of Clary's residence.
Items from the home including the ATV and a rug back were taken to a crime lab in Montgomery County for analysis.
Detective Gary Sharpen noted that Clary had been arrested multiple times in the past.
He had five prior DWI cases and had served criminal time at the TDCJ.
- June of 1990
- November of 1991
- June of 1992
- In 1994
- June of 2003
Officials say Clary had several assault charges in Harris County both in 1998 and 2004.
Even after the FBI and US Forest Service Investigative Unit got involved, the case still went cold.
Harris County Prosecutor Kelly Siegler, host of the "Cold Justice" television show joined in on the case.
With ongoing technological advancements, forensics experts wanted to review previous evidence.
They were able to take Richardson's cell phone coordinates and trace them to the last location which was almost where she was found. They then did the same for Clary's phone. His phone coordinates put him very close to where her last point was.
With this evidence, Detective Sharpen received the arrest warrant and escorted Clary into the San Jacinto County Jail.
Richardson's family members finally received justice.
"It was a needle in a haystack investigation," Sharpen said. "We didn't have any video surveillance. We didn't have any other eyewitness that came forward."
The next step in this case will be to present the case to a grand jury.
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