The Oregonian/Oregon Historical Society

Mysterious death on treacherous trail

In the strange but true category: a pot-smoking grandma has admitted stealing death benefits intended for her granddaughter after the child’s mother died in mysterious Columbia River Gorge fall.

Let’s go back to the very beginning: The bizarre death in 2009 that set this chain of events in motion.

Rhonda Casto, 23, of Portland died during a hike with her boyfriend along the beautiful but precarious Eagle Creek trail. As these historical photos show, the trail has a steep cliff to one side with drops of 100 feet or more.

According to official records, her family recalled she had joked about the hike, saying, "He will either give me my ring or push me off a cliff."

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Hood River County sheriff

The boyfriend comes under immediate suspicion

Rhonda Casto's boyfriend, Steven P. Nichols (above left), was originally charged with murder. Prosecutors believed he pushed her off the Eagle Creek trail cliff, causing her to fall 100 feet to her death.

The lead detective investigating the death destroyed evidence on his computer, complicating prosecution, court records indicate. He said he preserved them as he prepared to retire but an Oregon State Police report said: "A former detective deleted files pertinent to the case from this hard drive upon retirement."

The blunder was just one of the plot twists in the ripped-from-the-headlines case.

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Courtesy of Arnold Law Firm/CBS News-48 Hours)

Years later, a guilty plea to criminally negligent homicide

The couple's daughter was 9 months old at the time of her mother's death. Nichols tried to collect on a $1 million life insurance policy, which set off a court fight.

Ultimately, the father, Nichols, received 40 percent of the life insurance money and the little girl will get 60 percent, according to statements in court.

Years later, in May 2017, Nichols pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide and coercion and prosecutors dropped the murder charge. He was placed on three years of probation with credit for the year and seven months he served in jail awaiting trial.

The plea came after the Oregon Supreme Court ruled that Nichols had "unequivocally" invoked his right against compelled self-incrimination after he was arrested at San Francisco International Airport, returning to the country in February 2015, but San Mateo County detectives continued to illegally interrogate him.

Here, Nichols' defense attorney Mike Arnold, lying on the ground, and defense expert David Karlin of Talbott Associates reviewed the Eagle Creek Trail in May 2015 as part of preparing a defense.

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The Associated Press

Death benefits for the little girl left behind

Casto’s mother applied for Social Security survivor benefits on behalf of the infant girl, who was less than a year old when her mother fell and died.

Julia Simmons claimed her granddaughter lived with her and she promised to use the benefits solely for the child's care.

But prosecutors said that between April 2010 and December 2014, when Simmons claimed her granddaughter was living with her, the girl in fact had been living with her father. They charged her with theft of government funds, nearly $40,000 over almost five years.

Simmons' defense lawyer argued Simmons was struggling with unbearable grief with the death of her daughter and believed her daughter's boyfriend was responsible.

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The Associated Press

Thinking clouded by marijuana, defense argues

Simmons fought to keep Nichols from having custody of her granddaughter and didn't want Nichols collecting on her daughter's $1 million life insurance policy, the defense argued.

Simmons used marijuana to self-medicate and deal with her depression, the defense argued: "She's used it as a crutch. It's clouded her mind. It's impaired her thinking.''

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Doug Beghtel/The Oregonian

Guilty grandmother: She admits taking benefits meant for granddaughter

A federal judge sentenced Julia Simmons, 53, to 30 days in a halfway house and three years of probation. Simmons, who pleaded guilty to theft of government funds, also must pay back the stolen benefits, a total of $39,124.

The granddaughter had been in foster care since the state Department of Human Services took custody of her in October 2015.