Mary Jane Fonder (July 5, 1942[1] – June 4, 2018[2]) was an American criminal who murdered Rhonda Smith, a fellow congregant, inside their church in Delaware County, Pennsylvania in 2008.
Her family purchased a second home in Springfield Township, a small rural town in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, when she was twelve.
[1] Fonder attended John Bartram High School in Philadelphia, but had difficulty with her schoolwork due to emotional issues, and was institutionalized for one month at age sixteen after attempting to commit suicide by overdosing on chloral hydrate.
Mary Jane Fonder claimed she had heard the front door open while lying in bed that morning and believed her father was stepping outside to get the newspaper.
Township police were suspicious of Fonder's claims that her father had wandered off, partially because the elderly man had trouble moving by himself and had no money or access to his medication.
She also found the corpse of a dog wrapped in plastic inside Fonder's freezer; it had been given a lethal dose of diabetes medication.
[4] On January 23, 2008, 42-year-old Rhonda Smith was shot as she did temporary work in the office of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Springfield Township.
[8] On April 1, 2008, Fonder was arrested for Smith's murder, some weeks after fishermen found a .38 caliber revolver on the shore of Lake Nockamixon.
[12] Fonder's defense attorney told the court that his client was not present at the scene of the crime and did not shoot Rhonda Smith.
[17] On June 4, 2018, Fonder died of cardiac arrest at State Correctional Institution – Muncy in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania.