Cold case arrest: Man charged in 2019 murder of Polunsky corrections officer

Suspect is being held on $750K bond in San Jacinto County

A man has been charged with murder three-and-a-half years after his neighbor’s body was found near a trail at Sam Houston National Forest, the San Jacinto County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Tuesday.

Robert Clary, 65, is being held on a $750,000 bond in San Jacinto County after deputies arrested him on Oct. 31 at his home in Shepherd.

Clary has been accused of killing 59-year-old Rhonda Richardson in May 2019.

“He was last seen with her the day before her body was found and he was the one who found her body off the trail in the national forest,” said San Jacinto County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Gary Sharpen.

Investigators said Richardson, who lives near the forest, had been searching for dogs of hers that had gone missing. Clary, they said, volunteered to help her.

Investigators believe Clary killed Richardson, left her body in the woods, and didn’t call authorities. Instead, investigators allege Clary told relatives he had found a body in the forest. He was also accused of taking pictures of the body and bringing his nephew to the scene. Investigators said the nephew contacted them about their uncle back in 2019.

Forensic testing didn’t yield many clues, leaving Clary as a prime suspect, until new technology helped to bring in new leads.

“New information came up. New cellphone technology,” Sharpen said.

That technology allowed investigators to place Clary on the trail the day before he allegedly discovered Richardson’s body. Investigators were able to match that data, with data from Richardson’s phone, also placing her on the very trail, at the same time as Clary.

That, along with subsequent accounts from witnesses, helped to crack the case.

“We happened to come across a witness in this case that we knew was out there, but we had not been able to identify or locate. It was the last piece of the puzzle we needed,” Todd Dillon, Criminal District Attorney in San Jacinto County.

Deputies arrested Clary on Monday from his home in Shepherd, which is around the corner from where Rhonda Richardson once lived.

Clary is no stranger to the law, with a criminal record that stretches back to 1993.

DPS records confirmed he served time on three convictions for DWI. Clary also served time for assaulting a family member, and in 2007 was charged with indecency with a child.

Richardson was a mother of two as well as a grandmother. Up until her death, she worked as a prison guard at the Polunsky Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.


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