MASON CITY – A Hampton man accused of murdering his girlfriend will now stand trial in Osage in Mitchell county next month.
Ronald Lee Rand, age 61, faces a charge of murder in the first degree. Hampton police say that on Sunday December 13, 2015, at approximately 5:48 PM, Franklin County Dispatch received a call of a possible suicidal subject at 621 1st Street NE in Hampton. Upon further investigation, officers discovered that the victim, 51-year-old old Michelle Key of Waterloo, was deceased with a gunshot wound.
The Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation (DCI) appeared on the scene, and the Hampton Police Department was assisted in investigating the shooting death by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, Franklin County Medical Examiner, Franklin County Attorney’s Office, and Franklin General Ambulance.
Rand was soon arrested, jailed, and later moved to the Cerro Gordo county jail to await court proceedings. On January 12, Rand and his public defender, Susan Flander, filed a not-guilty plea. Bond was earlier set at a million dollars, and a request to lower that amount was denied.
Rand remains jailed in Mason City on $1 million bond as he awaits a jury trial now set for the morning of August 22. That trial was moved out of Franklin county to Mitchell county due to media coverage potentially tainting the jury pool.
