Investigators continue searching for Rhonda Kitts Daugherty. On Day 30 of the search for the missing woman from Coolidge, a community continues waiting and hoping for news. WLAF’s Charlotte Underwood sat down with Daugherty’s mother on Tuesday. Family frustrated by lack of answers; prays for searchers to not give up By Charlotte Underwood A month without answers is taking its toll on family members and searchers alike in the case of missing Coolidge woman Rhonda Kitts Daugherty. The family continues to pray for the return of their loved one and answers in what has become a baffling mystery in our county. Daugherty’s mother Nancy Kitts continues to make pleas for the return of her daughter and information as to what happened on Dec. 2 when Rhonda disappeared. Rhonda Kitts Daugherty has been missing since December 2 “She was the type of person that would make you smile. She would help anyone and was just a joy to be around. She is missed so much and we need her back home,” Nancy Kitts said, adding that she could see no reason why someone would take her daughter. “She was a homebody –very family dedicated and church oriented; I just can’t understand why this has happened.” Frustrated and wearing thin by a lack of answers in the case, Nancy said she will not give up hope that searchers will find Rhonda and bring her home. “Even if it’s not good news; we need to know, we need to have her back and we need to know what happened to her and why,” Nancy said, adding that she knew in her heart that Rhonda did not leave of her own free will on Tuesday, Dec. 2. Nancy Kitts said the last time she spoke to her daughter was the day before she disappeared when Rhonda was visiting her at their Pleasant Ridge home. “She was always good to come help me and check on her father who has been sick and she came and spent several hours with us that Monday,” Kitts said. She also said that her daughter seemed to be her normal self. “Rhonda wasn’t depressed, she wasn’t on the verge of a nervous breakdown – there was nothing out of the ordinary.” Daugherty usually called to check in with her mom by noon each day and when Nancy had not heard from her by 2:30, she began calling her. Rhonda Daugherty and her husband Charles “I kept calling her. Around dusky-dark, her husband came home and he called me right away to see if she was here. He said he had looked everywhere and that the back door to the house had been partially open when he came home,” Nancy Kitts said, adding that was not like her daughter at all. There was no sign of forced entry or a struggle inside the home. All of Daugherty’s belongings were left at the home and so was her car. When Rhonda’s husband told Nancy that the door was open and that Rhonda’s car and belongings were still at home, she said her heart dropped. “I knew something had happened to her. She was the type of woman who always kept her door locked. Whoever came to that back door had to have been someone she knew or she would not have opened that door,” Nancy said. “I wake up every day and think that we will have an answer and that she will be found today.” On behalf of the family, Nancy said she wanted to thank everyone for all they have done and asked that the search continue and that Rhonda stay at the forefront of people’s thoughts. Investigators have been very reluctant to provide information about the case and whether or not there is a connection between Daugherty’s disappearance and the arrest of Lonnie Lee Vann, who after robbing a couple at gunpoint in Deerfield on Dec. 5, was added to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s Top Ten Most Wanted list and eventually apprehended in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. He has a February 20 court date scheduled in Horry County for armed robbery crimes he committed down there. According to the incident report, when Vann robbed the Deerfield couple, he told them he would not harm them, but that he needed money because he was “in big trouble.” TBI agents, sheriff’s department deputies, rescue squad members and divers continue to focus the search in the Sugar Hollow area of Norris Lake, which is where Vann has family and was previously known to frequent. Sugar Hollow is about three to four miles away from Daugherty’s home on Long Hollow Road. Investigators began looking in the Sugar Hollow area several weeks ago and were spotted searching houseboats with dogs. The question on everyone’s mind is why is the search concentrated there? Law enforcement is certainly not saying anything. A $10,000 reward is still active in this case and anyone with information is asked to please call the Campbell County Sheriff’s Office at (423) 562-7446. (12/21/2014 - 6:00 AM)
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 20:00:07 +0000
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