Opinion ID: 1910615
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Ford Homicide: August 31, 1984

Text: Deborah Ford was a 25-year-old single mother who lived at 315 East 74th Street in the Cedar Grove area of Shreveport with her two daughters, Nicki (then 9 years old) and Shawn (then 5 years old). The house they lived in was a small shotgun-style home. Because she had been burglarized, Ford had her father nail the back door shut and nail outside screens over all the windows. On August 30, 1984, Ford took her daughters shopping for school clothes with Shawn's father, Danny Ware. They returned to 315 East 74th Street at approximately 9:30 p.m. While Danny Ware and Ford spoke outside, Nicki retrieved a stuffed animal to take to her grandmother's house, where the girls were going to spend the night. Leaving the house, Nicki noticed the bathroom window was open and closed it, placing a wooden stick vertically above the frame to keep it shut. The window had no lock other than a nailed screen. The stick could be dislodged by jiggling the window. Danny Ware drove the two girls to their grandmother's house. Ford spoke briefly to her friends who lived across the street, Gussy Bell and her daughter, Juanita Parks, but returned home sometime before 10:00 p.m. Michael Bell, Gussy Bell's brother, visited Ford in her home until sometime after 11:00 p.m. Ford talked to a friend, Gregory Bell, three times between 8:00 p.m. and 12:30 a.m. Following her usual routine, she slept in the living room on the couch. Sometime between 12:30 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. on August 31, 1984, an intruder pried the screen loose from the bathroom window and pulled it away from the house. The intruder raised the window and blocked it open with a piece of metal. In entering the house, the intruder left a smudged partial footprint in the bathtub immediately beneath the window and knocked paint debris and dirt into the bathroom and outside the window. During the intruder's assault on Deborah Ford, furniture was knocked over and the couch cushions were disarranged. Ford bruised her hands defending herself. The intruder had cut electrical cord from a box fan in the kitchen and used it to tie Ford's hands behind her back. The cord was anchored firmly around her left wrist and then looped around her right wrist, leaving a space in between, like a handcuff. The loose end was tied to the cord on the left wrist. Ford was gagged with clothing. While she was bound and gagged, the intruder stabbed Ford on the couch, then dragged her body to the floor where she was stabbed again. Ford was stabbed nine times in the chest, two times on the left side and seven times on the right side. Some of the wounds were deep enough to enter her lungs. Finally, moving her body to the middle of the room, the intruder cut her throat six times from right to left, cutting through her jugular vein, carotid artery, larynx and esophagus, almost to the spinal column. Despite her chest injuries, Ford was still alive when her throat was cut. She died from cumulative loss of blood. Forensic investigation established that the entire attack lasted from fifteen to thirty minutes. Ford's body was discovered at 8:00 a.m. the next morning by her friend, Brenda Greggs. Greggs had walked over to use the telephone and discovered the front door ajar and the stereo playing. When her body was discovered, Ford was wearing only her nightgown turned inside out. When police arrived at the Ford residence that morning, a small crowd gathered. Nathaniel Code, who lived in the neighborhood, was part of the crowd and talked to others about the murder. Dr. George McCormick, the Caddo Parish Coroner, testified the crime was the work of one person and was clearly a signature crime. McCormick informed police the crime was the work of a serial killer who would kill again. McCormick noted four signature elements: the perpetrator's total control over the victim; the perpetrator's use of a knife to both stab and cut; the binding of the victim with an electrical cord; and the unique ligature used by the perpetrator. McCormick stated the killer was right-handed. Investigation of the crime scene revealed three latent palm prints and a thumbprint on the bathroom window, window sill and inside wall below the window. The position of the recent prints was consistent with someone opening the window from the outside. All three palm prints and the thumbprint were later identified as matching those of Nathaniel Code.