Woman pleads guilty in mother's murder

BY ALEXANDRIA RANDOLPH/HIGHLAND LAKES NEWSPAPERS

A Burnet County woman pled guilty Tuesday in the murder of her mother, Pamela Ross of Burnet, last year.

Rhonda Gayle Carrell, 40, pled guilty to strangling her 63-year-old mother in Ross' fifth wheel trailer home in the Inks Lake RV Park in Deer Springs. District Judge Allan Garrett sentenced Carrell to 35 years imprisonment, with confinement to commence immediately.

Ross was found dead on the floor of her trailer on Friday, April 3, 2015 by Burnet Fire Department and EMS responders after Johnson City Police, who had picked up Carrell on driving while intoxicated charges, asked local authorities to do a welfare check on Ross.

Johnson City Police Chief Randy Holland said Officer Chad Wiggins arrested Carrell following the incident on Thursday,
“Some of the statements she made, made him suspicious, so he had the fortitude and wherewithal to contact Burnet County deputies for a welfare check for Carrell’s mother,” Holland said during the investigation. 

For the full story, see Friday's Highlander.