From time to time, we've been bringing you updates on the single greatest lawsuit ever filed in Dallas County: the Liberty County couple suing "Angel," a self-proclaimed psychic (as if there's any other kind) and a host of media outlets over reports they had a bunch of bodies buried at their rural farmhouse. As a reminder: The actual number of bodies at the farmhouse was zero, with none of the dozens of missing children or "stuff written all over the walls in blood" that Angel predicted, and that dozens of cops and news outlets flocked to the house to find.
Since the couple, Joe Bankson and Gena Charlton, filed the case last June, a number of the defendants have been dismissed. Off the hook are Liberty County; a TV station, KPRC; ABC News; The New York Times; CNN America; Reuters America; and Belo (KHOU-TV out of Houston is now apparently being sued in its place).
Still very much not off the hook: the woman investigators from the law firm have identified as Angel, real name Presley Gridley. She likes to go by "Rhonda," and apparently resides these days in Lago Vista, a small town some 35 miles northwest of Austin.
Rhonda/Angel/Gridley recently offered further proof that she should maybe consider a different career path. In a letter to the court, she claimed that she has "no knowledge of" any circumstance that might compel her to come to Dallas and be deposed by the Liberty County couple's lawyer. This despite the fact that she was served with the lawsuit at her home not long ago. There's a picture of it happening.
According to court documents, Gridley was served on February 19 at her home in Lago Vista, a spacious-looking ranch house. The process server snapped that photo of her being served you see up top.
The lawyer for the Liberty County couple, Andrew Sommerman of Dallas law firm Sommerman & Quesada, scheduled Gridley for a deposition on March 5. On February 25, though, six days after being served, Gridley wrote the letter to the court, claiming confusion. Here's a picture of that letter:
In case you're unable to make it out, it reads:
To whom it may concern, I have no knowledge and I am not aware of any situation or circumstance that would require me to appear, or give a deposition.Can you please explain why? Can you give me an explanation concerning the matter?
As everyone could have probably predicted (except Rhonda, we guess), she didn't show up for her deposition. The lawyer waited for an hour before giving up; he's now filed a motion to compel her to come and be deposed, as well as to respond to discovery, which she's also failed to do.
Not to take a cheap shot, Ms. Gridley, but you really, really should have seen at least some of this coming. Really.
