Murder Suspect Convicted Of Rape

A man awaiting trial in a capital murder case has been convicted of child rape and molestation in a separate case.

After hearing from two frightened girls who said he abused them in 1991, a Clark County jury on Tuesday convicted Joseph Kondro of first-degree child rape and first-degree child molestation within two hours and 20 minutes of retiring to eat lunch and deliberate.

Kondro, 38, of Longview, faces between 12 and 16 years in prison on those charges.

He also awaits trial on an aggravated first-degree murder charge in the Nov. 21 sex slaying of 12-year-old Kara Rudd. Cowlitz County prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty if he is convicted.

Kara’s body was found Jan. 4 under a stripped car hulk on Mount Solo, six weeks after she disappeared from outside Monticello Middle School.

Kondro has also been investigated, but not charged, in the 1985 disappearance of 8-year-old Rima Traxler. The Longview girl was last seen walking home from St. Helens Elementary School. xxxx