Ronda Mechelle Blaylock was only 14 years old when she was found murdered on Friday, August 29, 1980, on a rural road in the Pilot Mountain area of Surry County in North Carolina. Blaylock was a ninth-grade student at Atkins High School in Winston-Salem when she disappeared on Tuesday, August 26, 1980, from Rural Hall. Rural Hall is just north of Winston-Salem, and just three days later, she would be found deceased in a heavily wooded area near Sechrist Loop Road.
Ronda was walking a friend home after school near the Rural Hall Bowling Lanes when the pair was approached by a stranger. She and the friend accepted the ride, and shortly after, Ronda’s friend was dropped off unharmed at the railroad tracks near the intersection of Tuddle and Priddy Road. That would be the last time that Ronda Blaylock would be seen alive again.
Later that evening, Blaylock’s parents became concerned when she never returned home. That evening, Ronda was reported to the Forsythe County Sheriff’s Office as missing.
A passerby found her body only 18 miles from where numerous witnesses had seen Ronda and her friend get into a blue Chevrolet truck driven by a white man.
The case would remain cold as ice for 39 years, until Robert James Adkins was arrested in connection with Blaylock’s murder. Adkins was 62 years old at the time of the arrest and was sentenced in December to 21 to 25 years in prison for the crime.
In early 2021, Adkins’ sentencing was cut in half to 10 years. He will be eligible for parole at the time of this article.
Written By: John G. Clark Jr.