{"id":100443,"date":"2024-09-10T09:12:10","date_gmt":"2024-09-10T13:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=100443"},"modified":"2024-09-24T11:43:35","modified_gmt":"2024-09-24T15:43:35","slug":"spoiled-to-death-the-rhonda-martin-case-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/spoiled-to-death-the-rhonda-martin-case-part-2.html","title":{"rendered":"Spoiled to Death: The Rhonda Martin Case (part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/em><\/strong> In this article, James Pylant concludes his story about Rhonda Belle Martin, a seemingly normal Alabama wife and mother with a dark secret. James is an editor at GenealogyMagazine.com and author for JacobusBooks.com, is an award-winning historical true-crime writer, and authorized celebrity biographer.<\/em><\/p>\n

In late 1955, four years into Ronald Martin\u2019s marriage to his stepmother Rhonda, he began suffering severe abdominal pain, diarrhea, and vomiting. He was admitted to the VA Hospital in Biloxi, Mississippi. Doctors couldn\u2019t make a diagnosis; they ruled out stomach ulcers, among other possible causes. Finally, they sent hair samples to a Washington, D.C., lab for analysis. The results revealed the origin of the problem: arsenic. And it was no accident.<\/p>\n

\u201cArsenic deposited at the roots of the hair keeps moving with the natural hair growth,\u201d said Van Pruitt Jr., Alabama\u2019s chief criminal investigator. \u201cIn Martin\u2019s case, the stuff must have been ingested over a considerable period of time \u2013 two or three months.\u201d Pruitt surmised someone fed the young man regular non-lethal doses of the poison; however, in time, the cumulative effect would\u2019ve killed him. (1)<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: Rhonda Belle Martin. Credit: \u201cTrue Detective\u201d (June 1956); University of Pennsylvania.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Pattern Discovered<\/strong><\/p>\n

Backtracking the last few months of Ronald Martin\u2019s life, investigators learned he became ill while living in Mobile, Alabama. They began to focus their attention on the tragedies surrounding his much-married wife. Investigators discovered that six of Rhonda\u2019s family members had died within a short span. Different doctors treated each \u2013 none being aware of the series of tragedies. Alarmingly, the physicians reported acute diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal pain in each case.<\/p>\n

In March 1956, Claude Martin\u2019s grave was exhumed. A toxicology report revealed the corpse\u2019s organs, hair, and fingernails contained enough arsenic to kill several people. Rhonda Martin was served with a murder warrant and sent to the Montgomery County Jail, her face showing no sign of fear or surprise. \u201cI don\u2019t know why you\u2019re doing this,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing to it at all. It\u2019s just a lot of nonsense.\u201d (2) Rhonda professed her love for her husband, saying that her biggest regret was that they couldn\u2019t have children.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody always said I spoiled my husbands and children,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s the way I am. I always spoil anybody I love.\u201d (3) Unimpressed, investigators made plans to exhume the graves of Rhonda\u2019s spoiled loved ones, all buried in the same Montgomery cemetery.<\/p>\n

I found many details of Rhonda\u2019s case from articles in GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Her Confession<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Birmingham Post-Herald (Birmingham, Alabama), 14 March 1956, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As this article reports, on 12 March 1956 \u2013 with several exhumations looming \u2013 Rhonda confessed to killing her mother, two husbands, and three daughters with ant poison purchased \u201cfrom time to time\u201d at grocery and drug stores. It began when her daughter Emogene asked her mother for a glass of water. Annoyed, Rhonda, on impulse, poured a dose of poison into a glass of milk and gave it to the toddler.<\/p>\n

For her second victim, husband George, Rhonda served ant poison and whiskey cocktails for several days \u2013 giving a final dose when he came home from work ill. For six-year-old Carolyn, it was the same one-dose serving of poisoned milk as given to Emogene. For a year, Rhonda simultaneously laced her mother\u2019s coffee cups and daughter Ellyn\u2019s milk glasses with the same poison, watching the two writhing in agony as they lost the use of their limbs.<\/p>\n

Fourth husband Claude Martin sipped on coffee his wife served with two poisonous tablespoons for three months. Finally, Rhonda admitted to attempting to kill her last husband. Like his father, Ronald unknowingly drank ant-poisoned coffee.<\/p>\n

What about Rhonda\u2019s other daughters, Mary Adelaide and Judith? She insisted both died of natural causes. (4) She also denied profiting financially from any of the deaths except for $2,000 collected for Claude Martin. \u201cOn Mr. Garrett and the children, there wasn\u2019t any insurance payment, just burial policies.\u201d (5)<\/p>\n

The body of Rhonda\u2019s mother, Mary Frances Gibbons \u2013 the sixth and final exhumation \u2013 was tested on March 29, as reported in this article.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Decatur Daily (Decatur, Alabama), 29 March 1956, page 9<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Her Trial<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Martin case went to trial in Montgomery on 4 June 1956. The accused entered an insanity plea after a judge denied the defense\u2019s motion for a change of venue.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Birmingham News (Birmingham, Alabama), 4 June 1956, page 15<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Two psychiatrists testified. One for the defense told the courtroom that the accused had schizophrenia, whereas the prosecution witness stated for the prosecution that he found \u201cnothing wrong\u201d with Rhonda Martin. The following day, the Birmingham News<\/em> announced the verdict.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Birmingham News (Birmingham, Alabama), 5 June 1956, page 6<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, her death sentence was appealed to the State Supreme Court, a formality required by Alabama law. She awaited that decision in the Jefferson County Jail in Birmingham, as the Montgomery City Jail was deemed unsafe for prisoners under a death sentence.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Birmingham Post-Herald (Birmingham, Alabama), 9 June 1956, page 25<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rhonda Martin\u2019s own words don\u2019t help explain why she did what she did, killing six members of her family. This article reports:<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope they\u2019ll let me live,\u201d she said wistfully. \u201cI\u2019ll be mighty thankful to them if they do. I\u2019ll try to do some good and make up for the bad things. I think I could do good even in prison.\u201d<\/p>\n

She referred to the charges against her only as \u201cthis mess I\u2019m in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know why I done what I done,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve been studying it, trying to figure out and I just can\u2019t say why I done it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Her Execution<\/strong><\/p>\n

In June 1957, the Alabama Supreme Court refused a rehearing for the Martin case and scheduled the convicted killer\u2019s execution for September 27. However, Governor James E. Folsom granted a two-week reprieve on September 26, as Rhonda\u2019s defense attorney requested a sanity test.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the Alabama governor refused to grant clemency, and she was transferred back to Montgomery. During the noon hour of 11 October 1957, Rhonda Belle Thomley Alderman Garrett Gipson Martin Martin, strapped in the Kilby Prison electric chair, clutched her Bible as 2,200 volts of electricity charged through her body. She was pronounced dead six minutes later.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Birmingham News (Birmingham, Alabama), 11 October 1957, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In Rhonda Martin\u2019s Bible, prison officials found a note she wrote and signed on 14 October 1956 in which she donated her body to science. The Birmingham News<\/em> published her note:<\/p>\n

\u201cAt my death, whether it be a natural death or otherwise, I want my body to be given to some scientific institution to be used as they see fit, but especially to see if someone can find out why I committed the crimes I have committed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t understand it, for I had no reason whatsoever. There is definitely something wrong. Can\u2019t someone find it and save someone else the agony I have been through.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Third husband Talmadge Gibson survived his homicidal ex-wife by more than three decades, dying in 1993 at 93. Ronald Martin, her last husband \u2013 the only victim to survive her poison \u2013 died in 1999 in Louisiana.<\/p>\n

Explore over 330 years of newspapers and historical records in GenealogyBank. Discover your family story! Start a 7-Day Free Trial<\/a><\/p>\n

Note on the header image:<\/em><\/strong> \u201cInvestigating a Mystery.\u201d Designed by Freepik (www.freepik.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n

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