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Sister Iroz

Nun the worse for where
Bold Member!
A popular television reality series details the work of homicide detectives for two days, beginning with the minute those investigators arrive at the scene of a murder.

A local detective, who works crimes against persons, including homicides, said that critical time period is actually 48 to 72 hours.

"You've only got a small window to get hot on it," Bartow County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Robert Moultrie said. "Trying to find those that last had contact with the victim is important because they may have seen something and may not had known it, or they may be responsible."

[...]

The death of a local woman who was 28 years old when her body was found in a wooded area near the City of White involved similar circumstances.

This, the seventh in a series on local cold cases, details the death of Rhonda Elaine Lowe, a daughter and sister.

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The year was 1998; the day, Thanksgiving. Two people out for a stroll around 5 p.m. that Nov. 26 found Lowe's partially dressed body behind a well pump house off Old Tennessee Highway near its intersection with Richards Road.

"Her pants were pulled down around her legs," Moultrie said. "But I think [a rape] was staged because the person that killed her knew her."

Moultrie said he also believes the person responsible knew the area well.

"It had to have been somebody who knew that [remote] area existed," he said. "She was put there because you could see where a vehicle pulled up and you could see the drag marks where she was dragged out of the vehicle."

Although two days of subsequent neighborhood canvasses revealed that no one in the area saw anything unusual, Moultrie said he believes, based on body temperature, that Lowe had been "dumped there" between 1 and 6 a.m. that morning.

----

Investigators do not believe Lowe had been raped.

"She wasn't sexually assaulted, but yet it appeared that she had been sexually assaulted -- only because of the disarray in her clothing," Moultrie said.

----

The investigator said Lowe, who had a "risky lifestyle," had been in a fight with her boyfriend the previous night. He added that she had left their Hall Station Road home after the argument and had been drinking.

"She wanted to come to Cartersville and started thumbing a ride," Moultrie said. "She was picked up by a guy and brought to the Sports Page nightclub. There was a phone call made from the pay phone to a woman who lives in the city. Rhonda had called her about getting a ride."

Moultrie said in an interview with that woman, police learned she had not actually given Lowe that late-night lift.

"And that's where the mystery begins because somebody believes they seen her being picked up by a man in a green pickup truck and that was the last time she was seen [alive]," Moultrie said.

----

Investigators interviewed suspects in the case, according to Moultrie.

"There were some suspects, but it was all hearsay," he said. "They didn't quite come to the level of suspicion that would be required to get probable cause to issue an arrest warrant."

Among those was Lowe's then-boyfriend, who said he and Lowe had been in argument about money.

"I really believe it was missing dope and that's why she left the house, and that was the last time he saw her," Moultrie said, adding that Lowe had a substance abuse problem and prior run-ins with law enforcement.

He added that Lowe's boyfriend had "disappeared after he was interviewed by the police."

Moultrie said Lowe's brother, who subsequently was shot committing an armed robbery in North Carolina, had also been interviewed in connection with the case.

"The reason I say he would have been a good suspect is because of his association with his sister," the investigator said. "They were both using drugs and they hung out together ... They did hang out with each other a lot, they did fight with each other a lot and they both did drugs together. They had the same social circles."

----

Investigators believe Lowe's death may have been the result of "a heated argument," according to Moultrie.

"She could have gone there with someone willingly, they talked and maybe she got combative, and they tried restraining her," he said. "She could have been in an argument with somebody and they inadvertently killed her, panicked and then staged it to make it look like she had been kidnapped and raped."

Moultrie added that because of Lowe's "dangerous lifestyle," she could have been in a similar situation with a number of people.

"There is another scenario and that could be that somebody from that area picked her up, they went out there to have [sexual] intercourse and she changed her mind and got combative," he said. "There's a lot of possibilities there, but I think those two are probably the most likely."

----

In addition to the clothing Lowe had been wearing and other evidence, investigators collected hairs they believe had been transferred while the responsible person dragged Lowe's body. However, investigators would need a suspect to which to match that evidence.

"Because of such a risky lifestyle, you really are looking for a needle in a haystack," Moultrie said. "You could turn up every rock, and every time you lift up one rock, there's four rocks underneath that one. It's difficult."

----

Despite that obstacle, Moultrie said someone could provide information that could help solve the case.

"I know somebody knows who's responsible for it," he said. "And they're just afraid to come forward because they think they're going to get in trouble, but there's two sides to every story. And we only know one side."

He added that if the incident occurred as he theorized, it may not have been a malicious or negligent killing, and may not warrant a murder charge.

"If you did something to cause the death of another, and you weren't being reckless, per se, it's just an accident," he said. "But the crime isn't the death, the crime is concealing the death of another. I really believe this person concealed the death thinking they were going to get in trouble.

"If [someone] were to call me and point me to a reason or a source, it may not [be necessary to] pursue a prosecution if there's a plausible explanation."

----

Moultrie said investigators are looking for information "to fill in the blanks about how [Lowe] end up there and in that condition."

"I hope that their conscious would be their guide," he said. "If you have somebody that may have had a risky lifestyle, they still didn't deserve to die in that manner. They're somebody's sister, daughter, whatever the case may be.

"Somebody would have had to seen her that night, or know somebody who had picked her up. And whoever that was the last person to see her alive."

He added that he would be interested in any information on the incident.

"Nothing happens in a case until its fully analyzed and reviewed to determine the best outcome," he said. "If someone were to call me up and give me information, that doesn't mean that they're immediately going to be involved in the case and be required to testify in court.

"If someone did in fact kill her maliciously, then they need to be brought to justice for her sake."

----

Investigators are looking for the person involved in Lowe's death to bring closure to her family, according to Moultrie.

[...]

He said he would keep confidential the identities of anyone calling with information, as well as the conversation.

"Even its just something you heard, a rumor; if we take all these rumors off the streets, and get them coming in and everything else that comes in, after a while you start to see a picture, a common anomaly in that information and that's what you go after," he said. "If you think you know something or even heard something, call and give the information and let us decide whether or not it's credible and if it's true or untrue."

Moultrie can be reached at 404.... Cartersville-Bartow County Crime Stoppers takes anonymous tips at 770... (TIPS). The organization grants rewards for tips that lead to an arrest.
http://www.daily-tribune.com/index.cfm?event=news.view&id=5564F373-19B9-E2E2-67913B69BDDFF0CC
 
I hope if someone has information that they will come forward with it. No one deserves to be dumped by the side of the road like so much trash.
 
He added that if the incident occurred as he theorized, it may not have been a malicious or negligent killing, and may not warrant a murder charge.

"If you did something to cause the death of another, and you weren't being reckless, per se, it's just an accident," he said. "But the crime isn't the death, the crime is concealing the death of another. I really believe this person concealed the death thinking they were going to get in trouble.

"If [someone] were to call me and point me to a reason or a source, it may not [be necessary to] pursue a prosecution if there's a plausible explanation."



Wonder what the theory he is referring to is?
 
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