Bucks woman held in death of congregant

"Rhonda. Murdered. Hairdresser."

Those three words were found by police in Mary Jane Fonder's day planner for Jan. 23.

To Bucks County prosecutor David Zellis, they are "important evidence" that Fonder drove that day to an Upper Bucks church and killed Rhonda Lynn Smith, 42, of Hellertown, whom Fonder allegedly considered her rival for their minister's affection.

Based on the calendar entries - along with testimony that a bullet removed from Smith's head at autopsy matched a snub-nosed revolver belonging to Fonder - District Judge M. Kay DuBree yesterday ordered Fonder held for trial on charges of first-degree murder and possession of a firearm.

At the end of the preliminary hearing, DuBree ordered the Kintnersville woman back to the Bucks County prison without bail to await an arraignment on May 30 in County Court.

Authorities say Fonder, 65, went to Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Springfield Township on the morning of Jan. 23 and, finding Smith at work in the office, twice fired a .38-caliber revolver into her head. Afterward, according to police, she had her hair done at a Quakertown salon.

During 90 minutes of testimony by four state troopers, Fonder sat calmly in DuBree's court in Ottsville. Seven feet behind the defense table sat Jim and Dorothy Smith, the victim's parents.

During cross-examination by Michael Applebaum, Fonder's attorney, the troopers acknowledged that the gun registered to Fonder had not been dusted for fingerprints or firing residue when it was recovered more than two months after Smith's death. The gun and a box of ammunition were discovered in shallow water near the Lake Nockamixon shore by a Quakertown boy fishing with his father.

In urging DuBree to dismiss the charges against Fonder, Applebaum suggested that the prosecution's case was "mere conjecture."

"There's nothing to connect Mary Jane Fonder to the killing of Rhonda Smith," he said.

Zellis disagreed, describing Fonder's arrest as "common sense."

What defies common sense, he said, was the defense's story: that Fonder had disposed of her Rossi .38-caliber revolver, possibly in Lake Nockamixon in 1993 or 1994; that somehow the gun surfaced 14 years later as a murder weapon used against a member of Fonder's church; and that it then wound up again in the same lake.

"That's just a preposterous story," Zellis told reporters after the hearing.

Of the unexplained disappearance in 1993 of Fonder's 80-year-old father, Edward Fonder III, Zellis would say only: "We're still investigating."

In a separate session with reporters, Applebaum attacked the quality of the crime scene investigation, saying state police had done "a really poor job" preserving evidence. He also downplayed his client's calendar entries, suggesting she had recorded "scuttlebutt" at the church.

Only on April 1 did authorities announce that they considered Smith's death a murder. However, Applebaum said that from the day of the shooting, "it's clear the people at the church thought Rhonda Smith had been murdered."

Applebaum did not suggest alternative suspects but said, "I think that at trial, we'll be able to prove that she's not guilty of this killing."

According to the prosecution, Fonder was jealous of Smith, who struggled with mental illness and was receiving counseling and spiritual support from the Rev. Gregory Shreaves as well as financial assistance from the church.

Trooper Gregory Stumpo testified yesterday that Fonder told him in a Feb. 6 interview that "she was upset when she found out the church was helping Rhonda Smith."

Stumpo said Fonder also told him she had only learned that Smith was working at the church office when she called there on Jan. 21 and Smith answered the phone. Two days later, a church member arriving about 1 p.m. to begin her cleaning duties found the mortally wounded Smith. She was behind the desk in the office, lying on her back, her legs bent under her, according to testimony.

One bullet had grazed her forehead, and the other had entered the right side of her head. She died several hours later.