In the early morning hours of Labor Day, September 7, 1992, the quiet of rural Iowa was shattered by a brutal act of violence. Twenty-two-year-old Rhonda Anette Knutson, a female, was nearing the end of her overnight shift at the Phillips 66 convenience store and truck stop in Williamstown, a small community six miles south of New Hampton. She was a familiar and friendly face to the truckers, farmers, and locals who frequented the 24-hour establishment. Just before 5 a.m., the owner of the store arrived to relieve her and made a gruesome discovery. Rhonda was found in a back room, having been bludgeoned to death. An autopsy would later confirm she died from severe head injuries caused by a blunt object. There were no signs of sexual assault, and since no money was missing from the register, robbery was ruled out as a motive, leaving investigators puzzled and the community in fear.
The investigation into Rhonda's murder was extensive, involving the Chickasaw County Sheriff's Department and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation. Without surveillance cameras at the store and no murder weapon recovered from the scene, law enforcement had to rely on witness accounts and public tips. Investigators determined that Rhonda had been alive until at least 3 a.m. and had completed 63 sales during her shift. They were able to identify 32 of those customers, but 31 transactions remained a mystery. Witnesses reported seeing two men in the store that morning, described as heavy-set, white, and between 35 and 45 years old; composite sketches were distributed in the hopes of identifying them. One of the men, believed to be a trucker, was described as having dark hair and a beard and was seen with a semi-truck that had a white or silver trailer. Despite hundreds of interviews and following up on over 300 leads, the trail to Rhonda's killer grew cold.
Over the years, the unsolved murder has continued to haunt the community of New Hampton and Rhonda's family. The case has been revisited multiple times, with investigators exploring various leads and theories. One person of interest who emerged years later was Clark Perry Baldwin, a long-haul trucker from nearby Nashua, Iowa. In 2020, Baldwin was arrested and linked by DNA to the murders of three other women in the 1990s. While he was questioned about Rhonda's case, a definitive connection could not be established before his death in 2022. As of today, no arrests have been made and no one has been convicted for the murder of Rhonda Anette Knutson. The case remains an open and active cold case, a painful reminder of a young life cut short and a community still waiting for justice.
