Was Vonnie Rickman Ever Found? Case Without a Body and Appeal

Vonnie Rickman was never found. More than four decades after the 48-year-old Brown County, Wisconsin mother vanished on August 14, 1981, her remains have not been recovered. Her husband, Ronald E. Rickman, was nevertheless convicted of her first-degree intentional homicide in 1991 and sentenced to life in prison, making the case one of Wisconsin’s notable murder convictions obtained without a body.¹

The Day She Vanished

Vonnie and Ronald had planned a shopping trip to Appleton on August 14, 1981. Their daughter, Kristina, was supposed to come along but was told the night before by her father that she could not. Vonnie was never seen or heard from again after that day.¹

Ronald did not report her missing. To family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers he offered a rotating set of explanations: she had taken a cab, started a new life in Fond du Lac, moved in with her sister, checked into a mental institution, developed amnesia, become a lesbian, or died. He also claimed she had called him in the weeks after she vanished.¹

Her Sister Filed the Missing-Person Report

Vonnie’s sister, Corinne Kaczmarek, went to the police on September 18, 1981, more than a month after the disappearance. The two had spoken every day, and the sudden silence alarmed her. Ronald was angry when he learned Corinne had contacted the authorities and called her to confront her about it.¹

The case then sat unresolved for nearly a decade.

How Prosecutors Built a Case Without a Body

The break came in 1990, when Ronald was being held in the Brown County jail on a separate offense. A fellow inmate, Jimmie Cline, later testified that Ronald had described what happened the day Vonnie vanished. According to Cline, Ronald said the couple argued in Appleton, that he slapped her, and that after she reached for a pistol he kept under the car seat, “the next thing he remembers he was home” without her.¹

Prosecutors charged Ronald with first-degree intentional homicide, and the case went to trial in June 1991. The state stacked several categories of circumstantial evidence:

Cline’s account of Ronald’s jailhouse statements about the argument, the slap, the struggle over the gun, and the memory blackout formed the closest thing to a confession.¹

Ronald’s shifting explanations for his wife’s absence were offered to the jury as consciousness of guilt. So was a letter he wrote to a teenage girl shortly after Vonnie’s disappearance: “During the next couple weeks I will be removing and changing a lot of things, sort of wiping away memories of the past… let me clean things up and destroy the past.”¹

Prosecutors also argued Vonnie could not have simply walked away. She had no driver’s license, no money of her own, no credit, and no checking account, and she left behind her wallet, social security card, insurance cards, cigarette case, toiletries, and bowling equipment. Corinne testified that her sister was “incapable of leaving Rickman and her family and living an independent life.”¹

For motive, the state introduced evidence that Ronald had been sexually involved with teenage members of a youth group called SCOPE that met at the Rickman home. He had fondled one girl in his car and tried twice in 1981 to have intercourse with her, and he had sent affectionate letters to another, asking her to help raise Kristina.¹

The trial court also permitted evidence of an earlier chapter of Ronald’s life. In 1962, he had been charged with killing two men described in one account as loggers, was found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, and was committed to a psychiatric facility rather than sentenced to prison. He was later released and went on to marry Vonnie, who knew about his history but apparently never told her family.²¹

The jury convicted. Judge Richard Greenwood imposed the mandatory life sentence.³

The Appeal

Ronald challenged his conviction on several grounds. He argued the 1962 killings and his sexual contact with minors were too prejudicial to be admitted, that the jury should have been told the law presumes a missing person is alive, that Brown County was not the proven scene of any element of the crime, and that the evidence was insufficient to prove either that Vonnie was dead or that he caused her death.¹

On June 29, 1993, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals rejected each argument. The 1962 evidence was properly admitted to show Ronald’s state of mind and to give context to what he told Cline. The evidence about the teenage girls established motive whether or not intercourse occurred. The jury instructions were found full and accurate, venue was adequately proved, and the circumstantial evidence was sufficient to sustain the verdict.¹

Where the Case Stands

Vonnie’s remains have never been recovered, and the available reporting does not describe any specific search that located them.³ Ronald Rickman died in prison, according to WBAY.²

The conviction sits alongside a small number of other Wisconsin homicide cases won without a body, including Gary Homberg’s 1989 conviction for the death of his wife Ruth, and James Prokopovitz’s 2021 conviction for the death of his wife Victoria.⁴

The story reached a wider audience in 1994, when CBS aired The Disappearance of Vonnie, written by Ellen Weston and directed by Graeme Campbell. Ann Jillian played Corinne, Joe Penny played the husband (renamed Ron Pickman), and Kim Zimmer played Vonnie. Because the real case left so many questions unanswered, a Variety review noted, the script left certain details deliberately unresolved.⁵

1
vLex. State v. Rickman
2
WBAY. Could Jacob Cayer Walk Free After Murdering Two Hobart Women
3
Orlando Sentinel. Husband Gets Life Term in 1981 Death of His Wife
4
Fox 11. Dead Man’s Appeal for Wife’s Cold Case Door County Murder Rejected by Judge
5
Variety. The Disappearance of Vonnie