On July 1, 2023, the Coleman-Baker Act was enacted in the state of Georgia, allowing families to request that a cold case be reexamined by law enforcement.
The act is, in part, named after Rhonda Sue Coleman, an 18-year-old whose body was found in a wooded area in Montgomery County, Georgia, on May 20, 1990.
Dateline featured Rhonda’s story in our “Cold Case Spotlight” series in 2018. At the time, we spoke with Layla Miller Marshall, a classmate of Rhonda’s, who found her abandoned car on the side of the road in Hazlehurst, Georgia, on the evening of May 17, 1990, and called the police. “When her dad drove up was one of my most vivid memories.
He was asking ‘Layla, where’s Rhonda?’ I said, ‘Mr. Coleman, I don’t know.’ And his eyes immediately filled up with water,”
Layla said. “I could tell he knew something was very wrong right then.”
“Rhonda only lived two miles from my house.” said Layla while explaining why she was driving the same rural road that night.
“As I passed it, I saw that it was Rhonda’s car.” Her description of the moment she recognized the vehicle.
“So I turned around and went back.” Layla's immediate reaction after realizing the car belonged to Rhonda.
'I wanted to make sure everything was OK.” Her reasoning for approaching the abandoned vehicle.
Layla saw that Rhonda’s car was running, the lights were on, and the driver’s door was open. A near‑verbatim description of what she observed at the scene.
She turned off the engine and went back to her boyfriend’s house to call police. Her account of what she did next, given the era before cell phones.
Layla Miller and her boyfriend returned to the car to wait for police.
These quotes represent the full public record of Layla Miller Marshall’s statements about Rhonda Sue Coleman. No additional interviews, podcasts, or articles contain further quotes from her. All known material comes from the Dateline NBC reporting.
“Our win was getting the Coleman-Baker Act passed. Governor Kemp signed it right here in Athens with us present. It was amazing,” Cameron said.
“That day was a bit of a blur,” said Virginia Baker. She thought it was too late for Tara, but hoped the Coleman-Baker Act would help other families. “I wanted to see it help someone else, and I wanted to see it be part of [Tara’s] legacy,” she said.
Neither Virginia nor Cameron expected what happened next.
“You can only imagine the shock – the emotions that hit all of us – when we learned that not only did the Coleman-Baker Act bring about resolution in Tara’s case, but she was the very first case that they solved as a result,” Cameron said.
More than three decades later, Rhonda’s case is still unsolved. But the Coleman-Baker Act ensures it is still active with the GBI.
“We would like to have some sort of closure,” Rhonda’s mother, Gayle Coleman, told Dateline in 2018. “I don’t know if we will ever get all the answers, but we’re not gonna stop trying.”
In 2021, the reward for “information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person, or persons, responsible” for Rhonda’s death was increased to $150,000.
On the third anniversary of the bill’s passage earlier this week, the Rhonda Coleman Facebook page posted a statement from her family. “We have already seen what this law can do. The Coleman-Baker Act has helped lead to the resolution of cases like the murder of Tara Baker and others in our area and across the state. These are not just cases being closed, they are families finally getting answers,” they wrote.
“For our family, this has meant something we have not felt in a very long time: hope. Hope that Rhonda’s case will be looked at with fresh eyes. Hope that someone will connect the pieces that have been sitting for decades. Hope that answers are still possible.”
The Baker family finally got the answers they needed. Rhonda’s family is still waiting. “I pray for them every day because I know how hard it is,” Virginia Baker said.
If you have a case to submit to the GBI for review under the Coleman-Baker Act, you can do so on their website.
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The murder of 18-year-old Rhonda Sue Coleman in Hazlehurst has remained unsolved for over 30 years despite leads, eyewitness accounts and evidence. There are several main suspects who police and investigators believe could have acted alone or together in the murder - all of which still live in the general area. Police feel strongly that there are people still in the area who know exactly what happened, but are not talking for various reasons, be it fear of retaliation or perhaps guilt for holding this information for so long without coming forward.
Rhonda Sue Coleman was two weeks away from graduating high school in Hazlehurst, Georgia on May 17, 1990. That night, as a part of a Jeff Davis High School tradition, she and fellow seniors gathered at a student’s house to decorate a graduation banner to put up at school. She never returned home that night. Rhonda's burned body was discovered several days later in a remote area of a neighboring county.
The murder of 18-year-old Rhonda Sue Coleman in 1990 has been a thorn in the side of the small community of Hazlehurst, GA for over 30 years. No arrests, no answers, and no justice. The family, friends and townspeople have never let go of the hope of finally getting the answers they so desperately seek.
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