Philly Homicide is examining the murder of Rhonda Smith, who was gunned down by Mary Jane Fonder in the office of a church in Springfield Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
On January 23, 2008, 65-year-old Fonder entered the office of the Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church and shot church secretary 42-year-old Smith twice in the head.
The killer then drove to a hair appointment, tossing the murder weapon off an overpass into Lake Nockamixon. The police later recovered the firearm and were able to connect it to Fonder.
The case shocked this small-town community, where people believed they were safe from the violent murders that occurred in nearby Philadelphia. The murder was widely covered by the press and featured in multiple documentaries.
The investigators soon realized Fonder, an eccentric woman who was plagued with petty jealousies, was the killer. Her own attorney would later describe her as “the aunt you don’t want to sit next to at Thanksgiving.”
Fonder had become infatuated with the church pastor, and when he rebuffed her advances, she blamed Smith. The killer falsely assumed that Smith, a new secretary at the church, must be the true target for the pastor’s affections, and therefore, she had to die.
Mary Jane Fonder sentenced to life for killing Rhonda Smith
In October 2008, a jury found Fonder guilty of murder, and she was sentenced to life in prison.
Watch the Latest on our YouTube ChannelAt her sentencing, Fonder continued to claim she was innocent, stating, “I’m sorry, so very sorry this poor woman was murdered. But in the name of God … I did not kill Rhonda Smith.”
In prison interviews, Fonder did later admit that she was probably the killer, but she claimed she couldn’t remember shooting Smith.
Fonder was incarcerated in the State Correctional Institution at Muncy, PA. In June 2018, the killer suffered a cardiac arrest in the prison infirmary and passed away. She was 75.
Around the time of Fonder’s death, the police began reinvestigating the disappearance of her father. The 83-year-old Edward Fonder vanished without a trace in July 1993. At the time, he had been living with Fonder.
Mary Jane Fonder is a suspect in the disappearance of her father, Edward Fonder
Fonder is suspected of killing her father, but the police have been unable to prove it. After her death, the cops used ground-penetrating radar to search the backyard of the former family home, but unfortunately, they failed to find Edward Fonder’s remains.
District Attorney Matthew D. Weintraub said following Fonder’s death, “The search will continue because the District Attorney’s Office is still concerned about returning the remains to the family for closure and a proper burial.”
Philly Homicide airs Saturdays at 9/8c on Oxygen.