Serial Killer Confesses At Police Station With A Human Breast In His Pocket

[bloodrayne]

San Bernardino County's First Serial Killer?

Trucker suspected of killing 4 women, Serial killer mutilated victims

California - More than seven years have passed since Wayne Adam Ford walked into a sheriff's station in Northern California with a woman's severed breast in his pocket and a confession in his heart.

A truck driver from Arcata, Ford called authorities and asked if he could surrender because he had "hurt a lot of people.''

Humboldt County sheriff's deputies said they soon learned what a horrible understatement that was. By the end of their interview with Ford, he had confessed to killing four women -- including one from Fontana and another from Hesperia -- whose bodies were found in 1997 and 1998.

Prosecutors today are expected to begin laying out the evidence against Ford before San Bernardino Superior Court Judge Michael A. Smith. Ford faces the death penalty if he is convicted of four counts of first-degree murder and a special circumstance of multiple murders.

Similarities between the slayings compound and confound. Authorities said Ford told them the four women died during sex, and all were lost despite his efforts to revive them. The victims all were discarded nude into nearby waterways.

Two of the victims had been dismembered -- including Patricia Anne Tamez, of Hesperia, whose breast he cut off before dumping her body in the California Aqueduct, police said. Ford put the breast in a Ziploc plastic bag and tucked it in his pocket when he turned himself in to Humboldt County authorities.

Prosecutors fought, and succeeded, in having the cases consolidated into one in San Bernardino County under a new law that allows connected crimes to be prosecuted in a single trial.

Authored by state Sen. Richard Rainey, R-Walnut Creek, the law, sometimes called the serial-killer law, went into effect two months after Ford turned himself in.

After years of investigation, hearings and delays, a jury will begin hearing testimony today from 60 to 80 witnesses, detectives and experts about the four women who died and their connections to Ford.

"It's good to finally be in trial,'' said Deputy District Attorney David Mazurek. "It seems like you can see an end coming.''

That end is still several months away, however.

It took two months to compile a jury of 12 plus six alternates from a panel of 900 prospective jurors. The guilt phase of the trial is expected to last about four months.

If the jury convicts Ford, that same panel will spend another two to three weeks hearing evidence in a penalty phase and deciding whether to recommend capital punishment.

"It's been a major undertaking, I think for both sides, actually,'' said Deputy Public Defender Joseph Canty, who is representing Ford.

At the time of Ford's arrest, his unusual surrender catapulted the case into the national spotlight, became the subject of television shows and news broadcasts, and was even detailed in a paperback book by Carlton Smith.

The news media in Eureka, the seat in a 3,000-square-mile rural county, have begun publicizing the trial, but the circumstances surrounding the case remain in the minds of local law enforcement.

Like any community, homicides are not unusual in Humboldt County, said Brenda Godsey, a Sheriff's Department spokeswoman.

"What was so horrific about this case, perhaps, was the number of victims to find,'' Godsey said. To have an alleged serial killer that may have killed four women, she said, "that was certainly remarkable here in Humboldt County.''

To this day, she said, when people talk about so-called big cases in the area, they still return to Ford, whose family continues to live in his native Northern California.

Though he confessed to police, Ford eventually pleaded not guilty to charges against him on procedural grounds. He has blamed his behavior on a brain injury received in a 1984 traffic collision in Irvine. Prosecutors have expressed skepticism.

Ford said he suffered the injury during his years in the Marines when he stopped to help another motorist. He told media outlets he was in a coma for nine days.

Both Mazurek and Canty said they couldn't discuss the specifics of the case. Details have been released through investigative reports and court hearing transcripts.

The deaths attributed to Ford include:

• An unidentified woman whose torso was found in a slough near Eureka in October 1997 -- more than a year before Ford surrendered. The head, arms, legs and breasts had been cut off, and the torso had been stabbed 27 times and cut down the middle, according to authorities.

Ford told authorities he picked up the woman in Eureka and that she later died during sex in his trailer in Arcata.

• The nude body of Tina Renee Gibbs, 26, was found in an aqueduct near the town of Buttonwillow in Kern County in June 1998. A known prostitute in Las Vegas, Gibbs died from strangulation but was not dismembered.

Ford had sex with Gibbs at a Las Vegas motel and later in his truck at a truck stop, he told investigators.

• Lanett Deyon White, 25, of Fontana, was found nude and floating in an irrigation canal near Lodi in San Joaquin County in September 1998. The cause of death was "homicidal violence of unknown etiology.''

In interviews with detectives, Ford said he picked up White at an Ontario truck stop and that her death occurred in San Bernardino County, before he drove to Phoenix with her body tied up in his truck. He later drove to Lodi, where he dropped the body in a canal.

• Tamez's body was found in the California Aqueduct, near Hesperia, in October 1998. White picked up Tamez, 29, by a convenience store near Victorville, he told authorities.

Tamez's neck had been broken below her shoulders, and her cause of death was ruled strangulation, with a thoracic spine fracture and possible drowning.

While Canty would not discuss any of the evidence against his client, he did say that Ford had a conscience that led to turning himself in. Authorities have described Ford as a depressed and emotionally unstable man who cries at times.


Oct. 14, 1997 - Allegedly picked up his first victim, who was only identified as Jane Doe. She was estimated to be 18 to 25 years old, a nonsmoker and had given birth.

Oct. 26, 1997 - A human torso, later determined to belong to victim No. 1, was found in a slough at the end of Park Street in Eureka in Humboldt County.

February 1998 - Started driving a long-haul truck.

May 1998 - Allegedly picked up his second victim, Tina Renee Gibbs, a Las Vegas prostitute.

June 2, 1998 - Gibbs' naked body found in the California Aqueduct, near the town of Buttonwillow in Kern County. An autopsy determined she died of strangulation.

September 1998 - Allegedly picked up his third victim, Lanett Deyon White, 25, of Fontana, near an Ontario truck stop. Ford told detectives he paid her for sex, during which she died.

Sept. 25, 1998 - White's naked body was found in an irrigation canal near Lodi in San Joaquin County.

October 1998 - Allegedly picked up his fourth victim, Patricia Anne Tamez, 29, of Hesperia, by a convenience store. Ford told detectives he paid her for sex, during which she died.

Oct. 23, 1998 - Tamez's naked body was found in the California Aqueduct near Hesperia.

Nov. 2, 1998 - Ford reportedly called his brother, Rodney Calvin Ford, for help.

Nov. 3, 1998 - Ford walked into Humboldt County sheriff's station with his brother and told deputies that he had done "bad things.'' Over the next few days, Ford reportedly told detectives about the four dead victims.

[AUSTIN316426808]

I never understand this, he confessed, so kill him.

And it's not like they have to make sure it's the right guy, I mean come on, he had a fucking body part in his pocket.

[Despare]

You know, in some cases I can see where they would have to make sure he isn't falsely admitting guilt for one reason for another but like Austin said... he had a piece of another human being IN his pocket! Just fry him up now and don't waste tax dollars with the trial.

[bloodrayne]

Originally posted by Despare
Just fry him up now and don't waste tax dollars with the trial.

Or 7 years in jail...Who do you think was feeding his sorry ass all that time?...It makes me sick

[Despare]

Oh for sure, taxpayers pay his room and board and I'm sure prison is better than the dirty human flesh filled truck he lived in.

[horrifying]

my vote goes for firing squad.

[mothermold]

Originally posted by horrifying
my vote goes for firing squad.

Bullets cost money,I say they take him out to a cornfield and give him the "Casino" treatment.