Over the years, since RDK was released from prison, I have found a few things on the internet regarding Rhonda and Donnie’s murder. Their case really came into public view after the Golden State Killer (Joseph Deangelo) was captured using genetic DNA. The DNA found in Rhonda and Donnie’s case was compared to that of Joseph Deangelo’s because his time in Ventura County, California coincided closely with the time of their murder. I wasn’t surprised when his DNA didn’t match but I’m glad they took the time to check.

The majority of the posts I found on the internet were at Reddit. There was a thread regarding the Golden State Killer and Rhonda and Donnie are talked about in that thread as well. Some of the posts were spot on but others were completely false. I don’t know where some of these people got their information from but a few of them were flat out lies and wildly untrue.

Please note that again I will be replacing certain names with their acronyms*.

Also note the italicized text is copied and pasted directly from the threads where they originated so any misspelled words or bad grammar belongs to the poster. I italicized the pasted text to distinguish the posters’ words from mine.

In 2018 this is a Reddit post from a user who posted the following:
JJD (Joseph J. Deangelo) did not commit these murders (Rhonda and Donnie’s murder). The DNA has been entered in CODIS and didn’t match anyone, let alone JJD. The main reason for this is that the DNA is likely from consensual sexual partners of Ms Wicht. RDK almost certainly DID commit these murders.
1.) She had recently broken up with him and he was depressed
2.) He went out drinking all night, his alibi ends at 4.30am when he FINALLY stopped drinking.
3.) Shortly after 4.30am someone arrives at Ms Wicht’s place, a lot of noise ensues, waking up the neighbors etc…
4.) At 5.30am witnesses see a man who looks very like RDK leave in a truck that looks very like RDK’s truck, which they know well as he had lived there until recently.
5.) When police go to his house that day they first a blood soaked t-shirt and towel (his attempt to clean up the crime scene and clean himself up before attempting to drive home)
6.) The ONLY evidence that supposedly ‘clears’ him is that DNA from other males was found. Ms Wicht was no longer with him and free to engage in a consensual relationship with whoever she chose to. The fact that she had completely moved on from him and was sleeping with someone else is probably what drove an insanely jealous and massively intoxicated RDK to kill his ex. The poor boy was killed simply for being a witness who could identify RDK.

I will address these one at a time.
1.) True, she had recently broke up with RDK and he was depressed.
2.) False. RDK had not been drinking all night. In fact I’m not sure if he was even a drinker. As for his alibi, he gave a ride to a busboy around 4:30 a.m. which couldn’t have taken more than 15 or 20 minutes. After that there are no witnesses as to his whereabouts.
3.) Somewhat true as to the noise waking up the neighbors but I believe the time was closer to 5 a.m. than 4:30 a.m.
4.) Partially true. A witness heard Rhonda’s apartment door close and by the time the witness got to her window she saw a truck resembling RDK’s but was unable to identify the driver. However untrue as to RDK living with Rhonda.
5.) False. There was no blood-soaked t-shirt but there was a towel with Rhonda’s blood on it.
6.) True as to DNA of another male (however only one male, not more). Although there was DNA from semen of three different men on a t-shirt belonging to Donnie, one was positively identified as a man the 1978 investigation already knew of, but the other two were unidentified males. It was explained to me that these could be castoff from in the lab. Also I should note that Rhonda had not “moved on” from RDK, she told me they had decided to see other people and that it was consensual; however she did say he was having a hard time with it and was seeing a “psychiatrist” (her word). And once again RDK was not “massively intoxicated.”
The last sentence is the truest and saddest thing the poster states.

In another Reddit post in 2019 under the topic specifically about why the City of Simi Valley paid RDK $21 Million and was there something unethical or illegal done during the investigation, a poster commented the following:

On the surface, the case seemed pretty straightforward. During the night of November 11, 1978, someone entered the apartment of Rhonda Wicht and stabbed her to death and strangled her 4 year old son. There was no sign of forced entry. A neighbor reported that he saw RDK, the former boyfriend of Rhonda, driving out of the apartment parking lot in his red pickup at approximately 5:30am. RDK denied any involvement and claimed that he was driving home from his late night restaurant job with a co-worker at 5:30am. The co-worker initially supported the alibi then wavered and said it may have been 4:30am, he wasn’t sure. The coroner gave a very broad time of death estimate that didn’t settle the issue. RDK was convicted.

Apparently there was at least one Simi Valley who had serious problems with the case and eventually brought his opinions to a legal group supporting convicts who have strong claims to wrongful convictions.
Eventually the evidence was tracked down and a a rag, covered with Rhonda’s blood, had spermatozoon on it that, based on DNA analysis did not belong to RDK. The doner is still unknown. Apparently additional investigation determined that the neighbor may have been able to see a red truck drive out but in the light conditions that occurred at the time, he would not have been able to identify the driver.

Based on the new DNA evidence, the state of California determined that he was factually innocent and was eligible for a $1.2 million settlement (that did not require evidence that the investigation or prosecution was improper). I don’t see how the DNA evidence is absolutely exonerating since the sperm on the rag could have occurred during a sexual encounter that occurred before the murder.

RDK then filed a civil suit against Simi Valley. In order to get a settlement he would have to establish that there was either misfeasance or malfeasance. Just because He was innocent wouldn’t be enough. The city made an out of court settlement of $21 million. So, what is the story? I suspect something pretty serious went down but the story has not come out.

Somewhere I read where someone had talked about a teardrop necklace being found in Rhonda’s mouth. I had never heard that, and knew it was untrue, but I did find an article from the Mirror in 78 or 79 where Glen Watkins had told someone that story.

I know this is a very lengthy post so I’ll try to address it one paragraph at a time.

The readers of this blog know without a doubt that Rhonda was not stabbed and Donnie was not strangled. Another odd point this poster makes is the color of RDK’s truck; it was not red. I vaguely remember his truck was a Ford Courier and the shell was white with blue trim. I’m not positive of that but it certainly wasn’t red. As for the person RDK gave a ride home, investigators knew in 1978 what time this worker left work because they had his time card, which was 4:30 a.m. Oh and he wasn’t a co-worker, just a busboy at the restaurant RDK was hanging out at and offered him a ride home.

In the second paragraph the poster says that eventually the evidence was tracked down. Let me clarify that the evidence was not “eventually” tracked down, it was found right after the murder when they searched RDK’s apartment. Also there was no “rag covered with Rhonda’s blood.” However there was a towel with Rhonda’s blood on it. To say it was “covered” in blood is a little dramatic and incorrect. I don’t know if the towel had spermatozoon on it because it was destroyed with all the other trial evidence back in the 1980’s. They certainly didn’t have it to test for DNA when the case was reopened in 2016.

I’m going to jump down to the last paragraph where the poster does address something that was correct and I don’t think I’ve addressed this in my blog. It’s really irrelevant to the crime but it was a far-fetched story that was printed in a local paper. This is the paragraph where the poster talks about where they read that a teardrop necklace was found in Rhonda’s mouth.

First let me say that no necklace was found in Rhonda’s mouth. However the story did come from Glen Watkins and was printed in a local tabloid trash-type newspaper at the time that was trying to pin the murder on Rhonda’s downstairs neighbor (Watkins), which is why they printed the story. The story came secondhand since he told one person and that person told the trashy newspaper. He claimed just what the poster stated, that a teardrop necklace was found in Rhonda’s mouth.

Interestingly though Rhonda did have that necklace. It was an opal necklace with a small diamond in it. RDK gave it to her for her birthday along with either a matching ring or earrings, (but I believe it was a ring). Strangely enough that necklace went missing before she was murdered. She told our mother that she thinks RDK had taken it. She said the last time she saw it was on her coffee table and realized later it was gone, and RDK had been the only person at her house. It was never found.

The next comment I am addressing was one I just recently heard. I received an email from someone who wanted to reach out to me to do an updated story on RDK since it has been five years since his release. They asked me this bizarre question: Is it true that your family supported clemency for RDK in 2009 if he would admit to the crime and tell you what happened but he declined?

Where do people come up with these things? I went on to explain to them that my family never supported clemency and that we in fact never heard about any request for clemency until the DA’s office reached out to us in 2016.

If you have heard or read any stories and are curious about the truth of that story, please drop me an email or add a comment. I would be glad to share what I know. I won’t share anything without your permission and you certainly would remain anonymous.

I hope this post was of interest to you, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for allowing me to share this story so near and dear to my heart. I wish all of you who read this could have known Rhonda and met our precious Donnie. I love them and miss them every single day of my life.

If you would like to know real names for the acronyms just email me, or just have any questions I will be more than happy to respond: RandDjustice@gmail.com

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