u/AdUpbeat9561

[removed]

This story happened over 40 years ago near where I live. So bare with me. So on December 22, 1981, a 19 year old woman Rhonda Hinson was heading to a party at her work. She worked at Hickory steels which was approximately 10-15 minutes away from the Town of Valdese NC. She wasn't initially planning on going. But when her friend Sherry said she wasn't going either, she felt well you know what, if I don't go, I would've let my friends down. Now she said she was going with Shery. Not her boyfriend Greg at the time. Now at the time, her and Greg weren't doing well. He started acting controlling, overbearing, and disappointed that she wasn't spending time with him anymore. She was clearly wanting to focus on her career before a fully committed relationship and this created issues with their relationship. It got to the point where he started becoming possessive of her that she thought their relationship was already toxic. So she told him he wasn't invited and told him not to wait up for her since she was going to spend a night at shery's house.

So at 7:30 pm, Rhonda and Shery arrived. They were celebrating, getting gifts and drinking. Now they stayed for approximately 4 hours and after the party, they began driving back home. Now Shery drove because she drunk the least amount of alcohol. They made it back to her house safely at 10:40 pm. Shortly at some point around 12:30, Rhonda woke up and decided that drive to her mother's house. At some point, before she left, supposedly she called Greg and they got into a heated argument and after that, she said she couldn't do this anymore. She said she was breaking up with him and she'll be back to pick her stuff up later when he's not there. Then she hung up and after sobering up, began driving to her mother's house around 12:40.

Around 12:55, a couple were driving westbound on i-40 towards the town of Morganton. Right before the ramp exit of 112, they noticed a car in the ditch. I think she was driving a Biuwuk or something. Someone correct me on that. But they noticed the car. But more interesting they noticed it was still cranked. Now obviously their initial assumption was someone must had car problems and was looking to get help. But also another thing they noticed was the windows were rolled down and the could see the interior of the car. As the couple were shining their flashlights, one thing they noticed was there was a small hole in the back of the driver seat and it went all the way through and there was a red stain on the stirring wheel. Now at this point, approximately 5 minutes before that couple noticed the car, a nearby resident made a 911 call reporting he heard nearby gunfire. So Police that night were called about a disturbance after hearing gunfire approximately around 12:45. At about around that time, Police showed up to file a report and they were taking notes and seeing who was firing their weapons around that time. The officer investigating the Gun shots got another call about a car in the ditch heading westbound on i-40. So he wasn't too far away. So he decided to wrap up and go check out the car since it was way past his shift.

As he and a few patrols approached the abandoned car, they started investigating and noticed that the car was still running. They also noticed the windows were rolled down and there's blood on the stirring wheel and the same couple that discovered it reported it saying they suspect foul play. Now when the cops went to the other side of the car, the car's front was in the ditch just barely off the road, they saw a dead body on the right side of the car. The reason the couple didn't notice it was because they saw the left side and the body wasn't visible. So they taped off the car and reported as a Homicide. That night, Rhonda's mother who was waiting for her had this sinking feeling she didn't know why. But she suspected that something wasn't right. She had called to check on her daughter Rhonda. But Shery said she changed her mind and was heading to her house which shouldn't have been long. In fact it's practically a five minute drive if that since Shery lived on Minerals Springs Mountain road and it was her just merging on i-40 which means getting off the next exit, 112 to be exact was just a minute drive. However after getting that call and hearing potential gunfire, she couldn't shake this feeling that something's not right because she knew her daughter would let her know when she was heading home and her anxiety with the gunfire didn't put her at ease. About an hour later, local police arrived at Rhonda's mother's house and her fears were confirmed. Her daughter Rhonda Hinson was deceased. They found her body on the side of her car so her parents were obviously devastated.

The next day, (I don't know his name. Someone feel free to tell me). The private investigator was put in charge of finding out who killed Rhonda and at this time. Now it was clear he was going to have to talk to everyone She knew from her friends to her family. Now it was clear that her last interaction with anyone was her boyfriend Greg. But only Shery knows about that and their interaction was through the phone. Now the investigator asked Shery questions like how she described Rhonda. And Shery would say she was a true friend, sweet, very outgoing and very introverted. The investigator asked her is there someone that she knows would've wanted to hurt Rhonda. And Shery said well Greg might've. The investigator leaned in and asked Shery to explain. She said Greg and Rhonda were dating for a couple years before and after she graduated high-school and they were happy together in the first year. However round about year two, Greg did initially start pulling away and they weren't sure if they were compatible with each other anymore. In fact the second to last interaction she saw Rhonda had with Greg was when she was going to her work party. Now she initially didn't plan on going. She wanted to Spend some quality time with Greg. But after realizing that Rhonda might not go, Shery decided not to go. But she said this was her first Christmas party so she shouldn't waste time. She didn't really invite Greg to the party. He was going to go to support her. But because I said I wouldn't go, she changed her mind. Greg probably felt hurt and betrayed like that. But their relationship was on the rocks. So when they got back that evening, Rhonda got up called Greg and explained that she was coming back. But Greg had said he was disappointed because he felt like she wanted him out of her life. And even though they could work through it and Greg cursed her out, she felt like their relationship reached a point to where it was toxic and she decided that she was ending things with them and she'll be by there when he's gone to pick her stuff up. She said she was going to stay at her mom's house for the night.

The investigator now had a suspect and that was Greg Mcdough, Rhonda's boyfriend or soon to be ex boyfriend. He was brought into for questioning and the investigator asked where he was at 12:45 the morning hours of December 23 1981, Greg said he was at home and he had just gotten off the phone with Rhonda after a heated conversation. The investigator asked what their argument was about. Greg said he just needed time to think because he's not sure if he wants to be in a serious relationship with Rhonda and their exchange went as followed. Rhonda said fine, It was getting too toxic anyways. She'll be sleeping at her mom's place and be back to collect her clothes. After that, the investigator asked him if he left at some point. He said no. Greg said it's true our relationship was in the rockers. But he had no motive to kill her. Now the investigator obviously didn't believe that last part because When Shery told him that Greg is potentially the main suspect, he already heard about the Christmas party and how he wasn't invited at all. And this kinda hurt his feelings and when she said she was going to break up with him, that alone should be motive to kill her. The investigator wanted to investigate his house. He found nothing linking him to the murder other than the pink stuff toy snake and his jacket. But she took those and those were already in the car before she left to go to the party. So there was no gun, he owned so they had to let him go.

When the investigator talked to the parents, they mentioned mostly the same thing. That Greg is likely the main Suspect. The only thing new added was an odd conversation like with her mother she asked if it's wrong to go after a married man. Her mother said it is if you believe in vows. Her dad echoed that she wants to be in a relationship with a pastor. Now this did paint Greg Mcdough a suspect. But his father was also a suspect because he was a pastor.

They investigated both of them but came up empty handed. In fact not only were the Valdese police not competent enough to solve the case, they also had very little forensics tech and they were no closer to figuring out the truth of who killed Rhonda Hinson. But if that wasn't odd enough, there was no bullet casing. It's almost like the crime didn't happen. So even to this very day we may never know what happened to Rhonda Hinson because where I live is on the teetering line between Connelly Springs and Valdese. I live off exit 113. And this crime happened 45 years ago and on the very next exit heading westbound.

Anyways that's all I have. This is mainly for you Mrballen. Hopefully you can make the story seem credible. I would like to see you cover it despite the fact that there's no resolution. Anyways this is it.