Jury Convicts Former Trucker Wayne Adam Ford of Murdering Four Women, Eight Years After He Surrendered
Ford walked into a Humboldt County sheriff's station in 1998 and confessed. His lawyers argued his surrender should spare him, but prosecutors sought death.
Published
Wayne Adam Ford turned himself in and confessed in 1998, but no jury had ruled on his guilt. On June 27, 2006, a San Bernardino County jury convicted the former long-haul trucker of murdering four women.
The jury of seven women and five men found Ford, 44, guilty of first-degree murder in the deaths of Tina Renee Gibbs, 26, of Las Vegas; Lanett Deyon White, 25, of Fontana; Patricia Tamez, 29, of Hesperia; and a woman found near Eureka who has never been identified and is known as Humboldt County Jane Doe. The women were killed in 1997 and 1998 and their bodies left in waterways across California. Prosecutors said blood and sperm evidence linked Ford to the killings. "It's what we were seeking in this particular phase of the trial but we have a lot of work left," said Deputy District Attorney Dave Mazurek, who sought the death penalty.
Ford walked into the Humboldt County sheriff's station on November 3, 1998, and confessed. His brother had urged him to surrender. The defense, led by Deputy Public Defender Steven Mapes, pointed to a failed marriage, a difficult childhood and a head injury from a 1984 traffic collision, and argued that his confession was reason to spare his life. "He turned himself in. He expressed to me a number of times he didn't want to hurt people anymore," his brother testified at the penalty phase. "I love him. I don't want to see him die." Ford was sentenced to death on March 16, 2007.
Sources
- Condemned Inmate List, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
- Former Trucker Convicted of Murdering Four California Women, Fox News (Associated Press)
- Seeking Mercy for Serial Killer, Brother Details Steps to Confession, Los Angeles Times