Rhonda Holloman Crane

(Trigger Warning: This case contains elements of sexual assault)

Wednesday, July 23rd, 1986, began as a normal day for 24-year-old, Rhonda Crane. Normal except for the fact that the young woman had plans to travel from her home in Escatawpa, Mississippi, to Flint Creek Water Park in Wiggins, Mississippi to visit her parents who were camping there. She was likely excited to break up the monotony of the week and step away from her court-appointed special advocacy work with juveniles in the Jackson County Youth Court for a short while. She absolutely loved the work she did with the youth of Jackson County, but a day away in the company of her family and the peacefulness of nature would provide her with a short respite, which everyone could use every once in a while.

Rhonda loaded up her maroon 1983 Datsun, cranked up the tunes, and set out on the hour-long drive to her parents’ campsite. At around noon, Rhonda was halfway to her destination traveling down Highway 29 in New Augusta, Mississippi. She found herself traveling behind a white International tractor trailer transporting logs, which was a common sighting on Highway 29. The pulpwood and paper plant situated along the Leaf River, just off of Highway 29, brought many logging trucks to the area every day. As she got closer to the log truck, the driver came to a screeching stop, leaving roughly 50-feet of black marks on the road as it came to a halt. Rhonda stepped out of her car to check on the driver. She had no idea that she was stepping out of her car to meet her worst nightmare, face-to-face.

The driver met her with a gun and screamed at her to get into the cab of his truck. At gunpoint and afraid, Rhonda did as the man had instructed. Her car was left running and abandoned just behind the 50-foot marks left from the truck on the pavement. Twenty minutes later the car would be found by sheriff’s deputies who were phoned by a witness. All of Rhonda’s belongings remained in her vehicle, including her purse, which would provide identification of the woman who was now missing.

When she did not arrive at Flint Creek Water Park, Rhonda’s family became worried. Shortly after, they were told why she had not arrived. They traveled to New August immediately to begin looking for their daughter. Her family and law enforcement officials searched until 10:15 that evening, marked where they had left off, and planned to pick up their search at that spot the following morning.

On the morning of July 24th, 1986, Rhonda’s father started the search where he had reluctantly ended his efforts the night before. The woods were quiet except for the hopeful screams of his daughter’s name that echoed throughout the woods. At about 9:40 a.m. he discovered the lifeless body of his daughter about 100 yards from Moody’s Landing Road between Highway 29 and Brooklyn-Janice Road. She was about 385 feet off of the blacktop and just 6 miles away from where her car was left sitting the day prior. Her body, though fully clothed, was found beaten and sunscorched. Her broken beaded necklace was still grasped tightly in her hands.

Law enforcement carrying Rhonda Crane from crime scene

Later that afternoon, between 3:30 and 4 p.m., sheriff deputies pulled over a log truck matching the description of the one that Rhonda was seen being forced into. The driver, 38-year-old Paul Woodward, was inside. He was detained and transported back to the Perry County Sheriff’s Department.

Woodward had been in the New Augusta area delivering a load of logs to Leaf River Forest Products. His truck was the only white truck that checked into the facility for a delivery that day. He was determined to be a person of interest based off of the delivery log book and the description of an eye witness to the kidnapping of Rhonda Crane.

On the stretch of Highway 29, where the abduction occurred, the highway cut through a 20-foot bluff. A woman who lived at the top of that bluff, heard truck tires squealing that day and looked down the bluff and onto Highway 29 where she saw a man screaming at a woman “Get in, get in!” The woman was forced into the truck cab before the truck pulled off at a high rate of speed. She looked down and saw Rhonda’s car still parked on the highway. She ended up calling 911 that day and reported what she had seen. The sheriff’s department arrived shortly thereafter and began examining the scene and got a direction of travel for the log truck that left the area. Her description of the suspect matched that of Paul Woodward.

Skid marks on Highway 29 from the site of the kidnapping of Rhonda Crane

While at the Perry County Sheriff’s Department, Woodward made a written and recorded confession. He also signed a waiver allowing Mississippi Crime Lab specialists to search his truck. Nothing of evidentiary value that would have been of use during those times was found. At the crime scene, an ink pen was found near Rhonda’s body that matched ink pens found in Woodward’s pocket when he was detained and pens located inside of his truck.

On Friday, July 25th, 1986, Woodward made his first court appearance. He smiled as the charges of rape, murder, and kidnapping were read against him. He was arraigned on charges of capital murder, which under Mississippi law, no bond could be set for. Forrest and Perry County District Attorney Glenn White declared at the hearing that he would be pushing for the death penalty stating that this case was the most gruesome he had ever seen in his career.

An autopsy would ultimately conclude that Rhonda Crane was raped, beaten, and then shot once in the back of the head with a .38 caliber revolver. Woodward would later confess that he had thrown the pistol out somewhere along Highway 29.

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On Tuesday, September 9th, 1986, Woodward pleaded innocent in Perry County Circuit Court. He was represented by a court appointed attorney, Rex Jones, who stated that he planned to file 33 motions, including ones that questioned Woodward’s mental capacity to stand trial. He believed that Woodward was unable to mentally and emotionally control his actions. He blamed three .22 caliber bullets that Woodward’s ex-wife had fired at him that were still lodged in his head. He also planned to subpoena Woodward’s mental health records from Mississippi State Hospital where Woodward had spent a week just a few years prior. Other motions included requests for a change of venue due to the pretrial publicity involved in the case with it happening locally.

On Thursday, September 18th, 1986, a judge ordered a psychiatric examination of Woodward. His attorney stated that he had a history of blackouts, temper tantrums, and memory lapses according to the records from the state mental hospital at Whitfield. Woodward had spent three weeks there in 1971 after attempting to strangle a woman. They also requested that access to the media be restricted during trial and that Woodward’s confession not be admitted into court proceedings.

Following an evaluation completed by Hattiesburg clinical psychologist, Clarence Thurman, showed that Woodward suffered from a major mental disorder, asking that he be committed to a state mental hospital for long term treatment. Woodward’s attorneys then gave notice that they would be using the insanity defense for trial.

Woodward was eventually found to be legally competent to stand trial. A change of venue was granted based on a previous court case in which the defendant was given a retrial due to a change of venue being denied. Court proceedings were then set to be carried out on April 20th, 1987, in Hinds County Circuit Court.

The Trial

Ten women and two men would sit on the jury for the capital murder case. Prosecuting attorneys presented a ticket from Leaf River Forest Products to verify that Woodward had unloaded a truckful of logs at 11:22 a.m. shortly before the kidnapping transpired on Highway 29 on July 23rd, 1986. A witness who worked at Walley Timber Company in Brooklyn, Mississippi then took the stand. He stated that he was a yard manager on July 23rd and Woodward arrived at the timber company slightly late to drop off his load that day. He stated that Woodward was wet with sweat. He said he asked him why he was so hot that day. Woodward told him that the air conditioning had gone out in his truck. Woodward went on to haul two more loads before ending his day that day.

The next day, during trial, a pathologist would take the stand and explained her autopsy findings to the court. She stated that Rhonda died instantly from one gunshot wound to the back of the head which severed her brain stem.

On Friday, April 25th, 1987, Woodward told the court that he was coerced into signing the confession because he felt that if he didn’t sign it he would not live long enough to walk out of the interrogation room. Due to this statement by Woodward, the jury was sequestered outside of the courtroom for the day on both Friday and Saturday while the court decided on whether the videotaped confessions and other evidence were legally obtained before they would be presented to the jury.

On Saturday, April 26th, 1987, the judge viewed the confession tape. It was accepted. The jury was allowed in. They would view a 9 minute tape of Woodward’s confession. Woodward would describe how he ran Rhonda off of the road, forced her into the cab of his truck and took her two miles away to an area he frequently parked to eat lunch. He led her into the woods where he told her to remove her clothes, sexually assaulted her, and made her put her clothes back on. He then stated that he realized he was going to be in trouble and decided to shoot her. He describes shooting her and running away without looking back. He left the area and then went to a bridge and threw the revolver he had used into the water below.

Woodward later led investigators to the bridge where he had disposed of the revolver. They were able to locate it and add it to the evidence against him.

Susan Hargill, Woodward’s boss at the time of Rhonda’s murder, also took the stand. She stated that Woodward had confessed to her over the phone on the day of his arrest. He told her that he had been charged with capital murder and she asked him if he did it. He replied “yes, I did.” He also told her that he didn’t know why he had done it and that he wished he had not taken a gun with him to work that morning because then “the lady would still be alive.” Woodward had been hired to haul logs with her company just 18 days before he would go on to murder Rhonda.

On Tuesday, April 29th, 1987, the jury left the courtroom and deliberated for an hour and a half. When they returned to the courtroom, the judge read the jury’s verdict – GUILTY! Woodward showed no emotion or reaction when the guilty verdict was read. They were then sent back to decide what Woodward’s punishment would be.

The following day, Wednesday, April 30th, 1987, the jury again handed their decision over to Perry County Circuit Court Judge Dicky McKenzie who read “It is the decision of the jury that you suffer death.” Jurors cried openly as their sentence condemning him to death was read to the court. Again, Woodward stood silently and showed no sign of emotion whatsoever.

Attempted Appeals

October 1988 – The Mississippi Supreme Court upheld Woodward’s conviction

October 1993 - The state high court ordered a resentencing hearing for Woodward because of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that prohibited prosecutors from using the words “heinous,” “atrocious,” and “cruel” to describe a death.

September 1995 - A Perry County jury handed down another death sentence to Woodward.

December 18, 1997 - The Mississippi Supreme Court refused to grant Woodward a new sentencing

March 6, 2003 - Mississippi justices turned down Woodward’s post-conviction petition.

August 2009 - The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals denied Woodward’s request for habeas relief.

May 4, 2010 - The Mississippi Supreme Court set Woodward’s execution date.

Execution

On Wednesday, May 19th, 2010, Woodward was allowed visits with attorneys, his spiritual advisor, and family and friends from 1:00 p.m. until 3 p.m. He requested no visits from his family. He had been given access to a telephone to place an unlimited amount of calls to persons on his approved telephone list. He had access to the phone from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on both Tuesday and Wednesday. He did not choose to place a call on either of those days.

At 5:10 a.m. that morning, Woodward was offered 4 ounces of oatmeal, a roll, ham, milk, 2 eggs, and syrup. He ate the roll, syrup, and milk.

For lunch, he was offered a roll, 4 ounces of pork, 4 ounces of pinto beans, cake, 4 ounces of steamed cabbage, and milk. He ate half of the cabbage, half of the pork, and drank his milk.

His last meal request was: a hamburger (grilled, well done, and seasoned with salt and pepper) on a real bun with mustard, mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato, onion, and dill pickle. He also requested french fries with salt, fried onion rings, a bowl of chili without beans, a pint of vanilla ice cream, and two 20 oz. root beers.

Woodward requested that his body be released to the University of Mississippi Medical Center. He asked that his spiritual advisor and family not be present for his execution. Rhonda Crane’s sister, Woodward’s attorney, a Governor’s witness, Sheriff Jimmy Dale Smith of Perry County, and eight members of the media were present. Woodward asked that they join him in the Lord’s prayer. He never showed any remorse publicly for the murder of Rhonda Crane. He chose not to take a sedative and died by lethal injection on May 19th, 2010 at 6:39 p.m.

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Three weeks after her death, the Jackson County Board of Supervisors voted 4-0 to name the Jackson County Youth Shelter after Rhonda Crane. Youth Court Judge, Emily Baker-King, requested that the shelter, which housed abused, neglected, and abandoned children be named after Rhonda as she had volunteered and devoted much of her time and love to the youth shelter. That youth shelter remains operational today and carries on her mission to love on and advocate for children who need it most.

Rhonda Crane was laid to rest on Saturday, July 26th, 1986, at Four Mile Creek Cemetery under the direction of her church Escatawpa Assembly of God Church. Rhonda was a wife, daughter, and sister. She was a bright young woman, who was Valedictorian of her graduating class in 1979. A beautiful soul gone too soon.