Cold Justice - Season 6 Episode 21: A detailed case overview of Rhonda Richardson's death

Cold Justice returns to the Rhonda Richardson case in Season 6 Episode 21, Trail of Terror, focusing on a 2019 homicide investigation in rural Texas. Richardson, 59, was a corrections officer who went out to look for a missing dog and was found dead the next day in the Sam Houston National Forest.

The re-air on Oxygen is set for Friday, September 12, at 6:00 am ET. The episode originally ran on March 11, 2023, and revisits scene work, medical findings, and the steps that led to an arrest.

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A detailed case overview of Rhonda Richardson's death

Richardson left home to look for a missing dog before she disappeared. (Image via Unsplash)

The scene and the first questions

Rhonda Richardson, 59, left her home in rural San Jacinto County, Texas, to look for a missing dog on May 21, 2019. She was found the next day in a wooded area of the Sam Houston National Forest near a narrow trail, face down and clothed. Her boots had been removed.

According to Oxygen, former prosecutor Kelly Siegler and investigator Steve Spingola joined the San Jacinto County Sheriff’s Office to review the file.

Cause of death could not be determined because of advanced decomposition. Even so, head injuries raised alarms. A forensic pathologist consulted on the show said the pattern did not match typical animal activity, which kept foul play on the table, per Oxygen (2023).

From the start, investigators tracked who last saw Richardson, who searched with her, and who had access to an ATV near the trails. A registered sex offender who lived nearby, Robert Dale Clary, surfaced early. He told deputies he had helped look for the dog and later came upon the body.

Deputies documented ATV tracks near the discovery site. (Image via Unsplash)

Clary took photos of the scene on his phone, and an officer later told him to delete them.. That action drew scrutiny. Deputies also noted ATV tracks near where Richardson was found. These early details set the path for later phone records analysis, Oxygen reported.

Digital timelines, witness accounts, and an arrest

A digital forensics examiner working with the team reviewed phone data and cloud activity. Records showed Clary was in the trail area later than he first claimed. The same records showed the deleted body photos were later downloaded from cloud storage. Those facts, combined with the location history for Richardson’s phone, narrowed the window around the time she stopped moving, as reported by Oxygen.

Clary’s nephew, Jacen Clary, added context about contact with him near the discovery. Separately, a neighbor said he saw Richardson riding on the back of Clary’s four-wheeler headed toward the woods around midday on May 21. The account helped place both in the forest together that day.

With the cause of death still undetermined, prosecutors in Texas had the option to proceed under “unknown manner and means.” That legal path meant the case could move forward based on circumstantial proof built from devices, witness statements, and scene facts.

A grand jury issued an indictment in January 2023. (Image via Pexels)

On October 31, 2022, deputies arrested Clary for Richardson’s murder. A grand jury indicted him on January 20, 2023. Law&Crime reported the arrest and indictment details, including prior record notes and the cell-site findings that supported the warrant.

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Where to watch Cold Justice

Cold Justice Season 6, Episode 21, Trail of Terror, reairs on Oxygen on Friday, September 12 at 6:00 am ET. The episode traces Richardson’s last known movements, the forest search, and how phone records factored into the case file.

Full episodes of Cold Justice are available to stream on Peacock and the Oxygen app.

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