Cold case reopens family wounds

Siblings remember outgoing mother, loving child; relive trauma



UNSOLVED—Rhonda Wicht and her son, Donnie, in 1975. The two3180 were killed in 1978 in Simi Valley.Westlake The crime is unsolved. Courtesy of Shelley Hamilton

UNSOLVED—Rhonda Wicht and her son, Donnie, in 1975. The two3180 were killed in 1978 in Simi Valley.Westlake The crime is unsolved. Courtesy of Shelley Hamilton

The vision of the lifeless bodies of Rhonda Hamilton Wicht and her 4-year-old son, Donnie, lying in their bedrooms in a Simi Valley apartment are still burned in Rick Hamilton’s mind.

It was the morning of Nov. 11, 1978, and a then-17-year-old Hamilton had received a call from his sister Rachelle “Shelley” Hamilton indicating that something horrible had happened to their older sister and their nephew.

“I knew something was wrong, so I jumped in my car, and when I got there, no one stopped me; I just walked right into the crime scene,” Rick Hamilton, now 56 and a resident of Las Vegas, told the Acorn.

FOND MEMORIES— Above, Donnie Wicht spends quality time with his grandmother, Nora Pauline Hamilton. Donnie and his mother, Rhonda Wicht, at right, enjoyed a strong bond with each other and with their extended family. The mother and child were killed in 1978, and police are seeking the person responsible for their deaths.

FOND MEMORIES— Above, Donnie Wicht spends quality time with his grandmother, Nora Pauline Hamilton. Donnie and his mother, Rhonda Wicht, at right, enjoyed a strong bond with each other and with their extended family. The mother and child were killed in 1978, and police are seeking the person responsible for their deaths.

He recalled seeing Donnie’s face covered with a pillow and his arm hanging off the bed, while he could see Wicht only from the torso down.

Photos courtesy ofShelley Hamilton

Photos courtesy ofShelley Hamilton

“I don’t remember what I was thinking, but it was tunnel vision for the rest of my senior year at Royal (High), just trying to get to graduation,” Hamilton said.

Wicht, 24, and Donnie died 39 years ago, and until last month police believed the killer was behind bars. Craig Coley, Wicht’s ex-boyfriend and a local restaurant manager, had been convicted of the crime.

But on Nov. 22, Gov. Jerry Brown pardoned Coley due to the lack of his DNA on key evidence used to convict him. And a week later, on Nov. 29, a Ventura County Superior Court judge vacated the case, meaning Coley’s conviction no longer stands.

Shelley Hamilton said she was shocked to hear of Coley’s pending release because she believed he was guilty based on what police said nearly four decades ago.

“I had no reason to believe otherwise, and I never wavered from that,” the 60-year-old Chico, Calif., resident told the Acorn.

“But once he was released, it was harder than I thought it would be, and not because he got out (but) because if he was innocent, then he should’ve never been there (in prison).”

The most challenging part of the ordeal now is that the investigation is back to square one.

“We have no idea who might have done this or why, and it’s scary. I’m more upset that we’re back to where we started and have no more closure,” she said.

Opening old wounds

On Veterans Day morning 39 years ago, Shelley Hamilton and her now-ex-husband found Wicht and Donnie dead in their apartment in the 1800 block of Buyers Street.

The sisters were supposed to meet up so Wicht could take Shelley, then 21, to a cosmetology school to get her hair done for a friend’s wedding that evening.

But when Wicht didn’t answer the phone, her sister knew something was wrong. She drove to Wicht’s apartment, where she encountered the unimaginable.
“My ex had entered through a window because the door was locked, and when I got inside, I just stood in the living room. I couldn’t go any farther,” Hamilton said. “I went downstairs, called my parents (Ed and Nora Hamilton), and the rest was a blur.”

Wicht was in her bed, strangled by a macrame rope, and Donnie had been suffocated in his room down the hall.
Coley was arrested the same day and charged with the murders. He was convicted Jan. 3, 1980, and subsequently sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

In October 2016, Simi Valley Police Chief David Livingstone made an independent decision to reopen Coley’s case, and through the efforts of Detective Dan Swanson, it was discovered that Coley’s DNA was not on the evidence. But the DNA of others was present.

Rick Hamilton said Swanson came to his Las Vegas home recently to discuss the case and that “he’s been wonderful and very professional through all of this.”
Hamilton, a retired police officer who worked various assignments for 20-plus years, including crime scene investigation and crimes against children, said he’d to have some answers but understands why Swanson can’t provide any at this time.

“It’s a sad situation for us because we now have to live this all over again, and my only regret is that I didn’t read the case (years ago), but I had my reasons for it,” Hamilton said.

He explained those reasons as he spoke about Mike Bender, the former Simi detective who worked for three decades to prove Coley’s innocence.

Hamilton and Bender had met during a ride-along in 1979. A decade later, Bender contacted Hamilton to inform him he was looking into Coley’s case. Hamilton said he couldn’t bring himself to read a case involving his own family because it would be a constant reminder of that day.

“I feel bad now, and there’s no argument (that Coley is innocent), but I’m glad my parents aren’t around to deal with this,” he said.

‘Sweetheart of a girl’

Rhonda Hamilton Wicht was a “sweetheart of a girl,” her brother said. She was kind, caring and always looking to help someone in need, he said, and the two were extremely close.

Rick Hamilton, who was seven years younger, said Wicht was like a second mom. She took care of him during his early childhood when he was in and out of the hospital for various reasons. She once took him to a high school football game.

Shelley Hamilton said her sister was “an old soul beyond her years, selfless, outgoing, and she loved her family—Donnie was her whole world.”

“We were just starting our adult lives and looking forward to being moms together,” Hamilton said.

“I always wonder what it would’ve been like if she were still alive,” Hamilton said, “and I still have pictures of them up in my house because I want my kids to know about them. Not a day goes by I don’t think of Rhonda and Donnie.”