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Montco DA: ‘No evidence of a crime’ in deaths of elderly couple

A postal worker found Ross and Rhoda Woodward dead outside their home on Dec. 4.

Ross and Rhoda Woodward were found dead outside their home in Whitemarsh Township on Dec. 4.
Ross and Rhoda Woodward were found dead outside their home in Whitemarsh Township on Dec. 4.Read moreVinny Vella

The Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office has ruled there was no foul play in the sudden deaths of an elderly couple in Whitemarsh Township last month.

A postal worker found Ross and Rhoda Woodward dead outside their home on Washington Pike on Dec. 4.

After weeks of investigation, the country coroner ruled that Rhoda Woodward, 81, died of a blunt impact injury to her head and environmental hypothermia. The cause of Ross Woodward’s death was listed as “atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease”— a hardening of the arteries that is a common cause of heart attacks.

The manner of their deaths were listed as undetermined, but there was “no evidence of a crime," according to the district attorney’s office.

Law enforcement sources said Friday that Rhoda Woodward, who had a history of dementia and other illnesses, likely wandered outside at night and fell, hitting her head and exposing her to frigid weather.

Police believe her husband’s death may have been triggered by the shock of seeing her body.

The Woodwards were notable in their tiny neighborhood for the signs that Ross, 84, would hang on their house, railing against the nearby McNeil Consumer Healthcare. A longtime neighbor told the Inquirer and Daily News last month that Woodward believed the company’s equipment was causing the ground to shake, sending tremors over to his property that kept him up at night.

An obituary for the couple said Ross Woodward worked for years as the superintendent of Whitemarsh Valley Country Club and was a groundskeeper with the Audubon Nature Preserve in Audubon, Montgomery County. Rhoda Woodward was a longtime employee of the county, working for 30 years for the register of wills.