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Sheriff's department re-opening cold case
Published Saturday, February 21, 2009
Linda Ford was murder more than 20 years ago. The Dallas County Sheriff's Department's Investigation Unit is looking into the case again.
The Dallas County Sheriff’s Department Investigation Unit is looking into a murder case that has been dormant for more than 20 years.
Though several talented agencies worked on the case, no one was ever arrested for the murder of Linda Ford.
The sheriff’s department is trying to change that. They are looking into the 1987 murder of the then-21-year-old mother of three.
“No case is closed until someone is convicted,” Chief Deputy Randy Pugh said. “We are looking into this case again for two reasons. First is we have received more information about the murder. Second is now we are full staffed in the investigation unit, and we can start looking back to unsolved murders.”
Looking back through field notes, newspapers, reports and photos, investigators are piecing the night back together again and placing themselves in the investigation.
“On Nov. 11, 1987, a call came into the sheriff’s department that there was a woman’s body on County Road 58,” Pugh said. “We didn’t find the body that night because the caller had the wrong road number.”
Deputies believed the same person called back Nov. 28 to correct the information and said the body was on County Road 189 in Marion Junction.
The call came at night, and the deputies did not locate Ford until Nov. 29.
“Deputy Wayne Odom found Linda Ford on the county road,” Pugh said. “We couldn’t tell if she was killed there or murdered in the city.”
Sgt. John Hatfield, who has been reading the box of evidence, said Ford had two gunshot wounds.
“She was shot in the hand, which is consistent with a defensive wound, and then once in the chest,” he said. “Several people worked on the case then — the [Alabama Bureau of Investigation], Investigator John Hardy with the sheriff’s department and three people from the police department. The team investigating this case was top-notch.”
Dr. Allan Stilwell, the state medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Ford, said she “died rapidly,” and there was no evidence at that time that she had been dragged.
Officers interviewed several suspects in 1987, but never had enough evidence to make an arrest.
The investigation into the murder case is a challenge due to uncontrolled circumstances.
“Some of the people interviewed by officers in 1987 are now deceased,” Pugh said. “We have their interview transcripts, but that’s all the information we’ll get from them.”
Hatfield, who began working with the sheriff’s department after the murder, said the filing system used in the 1980s differs from the style he learned, and that can provide an extra piece to decipher.
“I’ll have to ask Chief Pugh what a code or a certain type of report is because they did things differently then,” Hatfield said. “Thankfully, he has a good memory and can tell me everything.”
Friday afternoon the sheriff’s department received more information from the Alabama Bureau of Investigation in the form of their field notes, the information or leads officers jot down during an investigation.
“We hope there is something in the ABI’s field notes that helps us connect the dots,” Pugh said. “We really want to find the murderer and give the family some closure.”
Anyone with information about Ford’s murder can call the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department at 874-2530 or 874-2578 or Crime Stoppers at 1-866-442-7463.
Crime Stoppers pays up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest.
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Comments
Posted by catchem (anonymous) on February 22, 2009 at 1:21 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The reason for using this media as a means of offering information is that unsuccessfull attempts to give this information to the present investigators of this Cold Case have not gained their interest. Crime Stoppers is a great instrument for solving crimes, but should not to be the only source. SPD worked a case where hundreds of welfare checks were taken out of mail boxes and cashed at local business the year of her death. Ms. Ford was part of the persons of interest in these investigations and cooperated fully with City Investigators and the External Investagtion Unit of the U. S. Postal Service to help put a number of these criminals in prison. It was suspected at the time that the person calling the Sheriff's Department about the found body was the chief suspect. The problem with identifying the voice was that the Sheriff's Office telephone system at that time did not record telephone calls. From all indications the voice was that of the chief suspect who was dating the mother of Ms. Ford and also having interest in Ms. Ford. SPD being familiar with this case, started working on the case, since it could have been associated with the theft of check cases. The SPD Investigators wired an informant and an acquantance of the #1 suspect, but the conversations were not adequate enough to make an arrest. Attempts to retrieve the suspect's gun in a search came up empty, even though it was common knowledge this subject was known to carry it with him at all time and threaten people with it. The SPD's case was immediately stopped, when a rookie Alabama Bureau of Investigation Investigator, working his first homicide case, asked that his Department be in charge of the case on the grounds that the body was found in the County and outside the Selma Police Jurisdiction. Dallas Co. Investigator John Hardy was an excellent Investigator, but without all of the inside information and the calculated stubbornness of the suspect and because of the jealousy and naiveness of the ABI Investigators this case died and so did the chief suspect. Records pertaining to Ms. Ford and her associates during that time should be in the files @ SPD and most likely with the Investigators of the US Postal Service, unless the Investigators just want to rely on "Crime Stoppers" to solve the case.
Posted by Newswatcher (anonymous) on February 23, 2009 at 11:09 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Catchem sure seems to know alot about this case.....especially since it's that old. I just hope the right person(s) is listening....or reading.
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