October 25, 2021 | By Jessica Chrusch This story is part of a collaborative project between Project: Cold Case and a University of North Florida Journalism class. As a Marine recruiter stationed in Huntington Beach, California, Ronald Parkhurst was respected and well-mannered. His clothes were always formal with no tears or holes. Ron Parkhurst carried himself in a professional way. But his alter ego, Ronnie, was another story; he loved to smile and crack jokes. “When Ronnie was younger and would get in trouble, he would always smile,” his sister Diane Garrett said. Diane remembers her time growing up in Peoria, Illinois, with Ronnie and her two other siblings, Don and Tammy. “It just seemed like we were always together as kids,” she said. “We would always go through the woods to the trails.” Remembering now is just as painful as it was years ago when Ronnie’s body was found at Lake Mead in Nevada. He had left for Las Vegas on June 15, 1997, and, six days... Read More