The search for a missing Georgetown woman ends with the discovery of her car and body. 49 year old Rhonda Cheesman was found in a field in Brown County on Wednesday by some someone who was out searching for deer antlers.
Cheesman was reported missing by her boyfriend on December 19, 2012. (see story below) She and her car had not been seen since December 9th, and no one associated with her had heard from her since that date. Her phone and banking records were subpoenaed and monitored but there was no reported activity.
Then in the afternoon hours on Wednesday, January 30th, Brown County Communications received a phone call from an individual who was out looking for deer antlers. He came across a vehicle in a field outside of Russellville and got close enough to get the license plate number. It was the license listed on Rhonda' s car.
Officers found Cheesman dead. The Brown County Coroner is investigating the death.
Story filed on January 3, 2012
Friends and family are asking for help to find a missing Georgetown woman. Rhonda Cheesman has been missing for three weeks. Investigators now hope someone can tell them where to find her.
Local 12 News Reporter Adam Clements talked with friends of Cheesman, who say this isn't the first time she disappeared for a significant amount of time but they say it's never been for this long.. and she's always called to let someone know where she was. This time, they say it's different. Ronda Yeager is a friend of Cheesman's and says, "That's all we need to know is if she's okay. It's been horrible. I've been looking for her, driving around, trying to find anybody who knows her or has seen her."
Missing now for weeks, Cheesman hasn't contacted anyone. Those close to her say that's not like Rhonda at all. "She was looking forward to the holidays. She was doing her Christmas cards. They never were never mailed. So..they were ready to be mailed."
Buddy Coburn is the Georgetown police chief and says, "She basically seems like a pretty good person. A pretty nice person." Chief Coburn says Cheesman was reported missing on December 19th by her boyfriend Gary King. He told police she left the couple's home nine days earlier.. and never returned. "We're hoping that's what the situation is she's just decided to go somewhere and she didn't want to tell anybody."
The chief also says Rhonda is known to carry large amounts of cash on her- upwards of $10,000. While he hopes she wasn't targeted by someone for her money, he says right now no possible scenario s being ignored. "We're not ruling anybody out on anything. We don't really know what we have. What we do have is a lady who we can't figure out where she's at and no one seems to know where she's at."
Georgetown Police are still waiting on Cheesman's cell phone records-they're hoping they can figure out when she last used her phone and somehow trace it to her current whereabouts.