Rhonda, 34 of Chester, went missing January 26th after calling her mother at 1:30 in the morning to say she was sick and heading home from her job as a certified nursing assistant at a county nursing home in Lima. That's the last time anyone heard from her.
Her body was discovered Friday night in her car at the bottom of an embankment off Route 352 in Brookhaven. An autopsy shows she died of a broken neck.
"It's not easy. It hurts. My heart aches. But some things are just out of your control," Rhonda's mother Linda said.
With her car hidden under snow at the bottom of the ravine, the week and a half that Rhonda was missing was torture for her family. They didn't get the answer they hoped for, but say at least now they know where she is.
"I'm glad that we have closure. I'm glad we found her body because I would not be able to rest," Rhonda's aunt Lynn Dale said.
"It is closure because you want to know, especially your loved ones. Me and my daughter were so close, we were friends...She was a good person, she was an absolute wonderful woman," Linda said.
Rhonda Garnett was a single mother and leaves behind two girls, Josiah and Tywaydra, and a little boy, Rondell.
"Rondell had a hard night last night, but Tywaydra, she doesn't really understand. She calls for her mother. Josiah, she's doing real good under the circumstances," Linda said.
With help from her family and relying heavily on her faith, Linda Garnett is now caring for her grandchildren who've lost their mother as she plans her daughter's funeral.
