BY JANET C. WETZEL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
MIDDLETOWN - A Middletown man told police he strangled Sandra Ronto with her purse straps and then stuffed her into his closet after a sexual tryst in his apartment, a detective testified in court Monday.
Richard Bainum, 25, who is charged with murdering Ms. Ronto about Nov. 6, was bound over to the Butler County grand jury after a preliminary hearing Monday in Middletown Municipal Court. Judge Mark W. Wall continued the man's bail at $1 million.
Middletown Police Detective John Magill testified that in a statement to police Mr. Bainum said, "You may as well lock me up now because I did it."
He also said Ms. Ronto "was dead as soon as she walked into the door," the detective testified.
During his testimony, the detective said Mr. Bainum told authorities that Ms. Ronto had told him she was not married. However, Mr. Bainum believed a mark on her finger indicated she had removed a wedding band.
And because she was married and still had sex with him, Mr. Bainum told authorities, "It was OK to kill her," Detective Magill said. Police said Ms. Ronto was not married, but had lived with a man for about nine years.
Ms. Ronto, 51, whose death was ruled homicide by strangulation, was found Nov. 8 at the bottom of a stairway in Mr. Bainum's apartment building in the 1700 block of Central Avenue.
Her boyfriend, Thomas Hounshell, reported her missing Nov. 7 when she did not return to their Park Lane apartment.
During questioning Monday, Detective Magill said Mr. Bainum told police that he ran into Ms. Ronto at a bar on Nov. 6. They became amorous there before moving to his nearby apartment, where they had sex.
At one point in the evening, Mr. Bainum told police, Ms. Ronto asked him to perform a specific sex act. When he refused, she threatened to accuse him of rape.
Detective Magill testified that Mr. Bainum said he then grabbed her purse and strangled her with the straps. Police believe her body was put in the staircase the next day.
Mr. Bainum, his hands cuffed and ankles chained, sat staring straight ahead at the court hearing. A slight frown creased his brow, but he showed no emotion during the graphic testimony.
His lawyer said Mr. Bainum has suffered near-lifelong emotional and mental problems and has been institutionalized. He is mentally disabled and draws a federal pension, lawyer Craig Hedric said. He added that an insanity plea is a "distinct possibility."
Charles McGuire, one of Ms. Ronto's three sons, said his mother's death was "simple, cold-blooded murder."
"He needs to be punished," he said.
