News 9 1993
Transcript
An old Oklahoma City homicide case is being revisited thanks to a collaboration between a journalist and the daughter of the victim. As Gann Matthews reports, it’s a tale of murder and mystery, sorrow and serenity.
Linda Richards Potter is making up for lost time. Nine years ago, there was no time to visit her mother’s grave. The mother she lost suddenly, violently.
“Nobody told me about my mother’s death, how she died. It was just an acceptance that she passed away and that we were going to the funeral. And days later, I moved away.”
When Linda was 11, her mother, Ramona Rutledge, was raped and murdered at the apartment complex where she worked. The case remained unsolved for 19 months. Then a murder charge was filed against Jamie Ables, an employee at the same complex, a pallbearer at the funeral. Ables was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, mainly on the evidence of hair samples found at the scene.
“It was the only evidence we had in the case that made a direct association with the suspect.”
Until she was 16, Linda knew few details of her mother’s death and so had little chance to work out her grief. But then she contacted prosecutors in Oklahoma City and learned about the case in all its gruesomeness. It helped.
“I needed to know exactly what happened to myself. A child’s imagination is far worse than reality. And my imagination was worse than what had really happened.”
In the meantime, Jamie Ables’ conviction is overturned. But he finally admits he murdered Ramona Rutledge after DNA testing proves his guilt. He’s back in prison.
1993, and inter-journalist Rich Adams, a friend of Linda’s, who’s writing a book about her life and her mother’s death.
“It’s intriguing. You’ve got so many twists. You’ve got a friend of the family and a pallbearer at the victim’s funeral who kills her.”
Another twist. Prison inmate James Tavano claims Ables’ father tried to hire him to murder District Attorney Bob Macy and others who prosecuted his son. Tavano changes his story on the witness stand. The murder solicitation charge is dropped, but James Ables Sr. goes to prison for embezzlement.
Linda Richards Potter wants to tell her story, too. And wants adults to know what unresolved grief can do to children.
“They need to know what’s going on. They can’t be pushed aside because they’re people and they grow up with anger and hurt. And it adds on to their teenage years and it makes it worse.”
Ramona Rutledge is at rest. And after years of pain, tears, and confusion, her daughter is finally at peace. Gann Matthews, Newsline 9, Late Edition.
The book will be titled Mother’s Death, A Daughter’s Story. Rich Adams and Linda Richards Potter are hoping to publish it next July.