1983 Rock Hill High School Choral Ensemble

Melinda Renee Synder was born to Jerry and Geretha Vest Snyder of Cincinnati and she had a brother Kevin. She had a promising life - she was Homecoming Queen, was particularly gifted vocally - making the All-State Honors Chorus -, was a Winthrop University graduate and worked as a teacher's aide at Northside Elementary School in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Melinda's death was the focus of an Investigative Discovery Channel's "Next Door" 2016 episode titled "The Key to Murder". She was assaulted and then murdered by Edward 'Ed' Cronell inside a home she had rented just a few days before in 1990. After a night of heavy drinking and attending a swingers party, the murderer used his key to Melinda's home at 1981 Pine Valley Road. As a real estate agent, he had a key to the house and easy access to perform the crime. Her body was found at 4 a.m in her bed, half-naked, by her housemate who called 911 after hearing a gunshot. Melinda had been shot in the head with a .22-caliber pistol. Detectives had a challenge identifying the perpetrator since only semen and a few eye witnesses' identification of the get-away vehicle that sped away after the gunshots were heard by neighbors, were available. The car proved to be the actual 'smoking gun' as it was recognized by the neighbors as being a local real estate agent's vehicle. While evidence was persuasive, Ed Cronell wasn't officially charged for the offense until 1992 when the South Carolina Supreme Court mandated that he willingly provide a DNA sample. This was the first time that the State made such a ruling in regards to DNA evidence. In 1994, Edward Cronell was found guilty and was sentenced to two life terms in prison + 30 years for the sex crime. He currently is incarcerated at the Broad River Correctional Institute in Columbia, South Carolina. This case received a significant amount of attention from the media - see: 1990 Rock Hill murder on national TV show, and various appeals have been denied. See Dad of murdered Rock Hill teacher to parole board: 'This guy will rape and kill again' and Parole denied for Rock Hill man in 1990 murder, rape case that spawned TV film. A copy of Melinda Synder's obituary can be found at Melinda Snyder: Obituary.