The Voices of Serial Killers

by Christopher Berry-Dee

  Detective Freeman hightailed it down to the police station, but extracting the truth from Ford would not be easy. While Ford easily coughed up some answers, he flat-out refused to respond to others.

  Wayne Ford seemed to be a man with a heavy heart, and at this point in time he had no attorney to look after his legal interests. Apparently, he told Freeman several times that he wanted to help the authorities and provide resolution to the victims’ families, and Freeman, Wayne claimed, responded that having an attorney would hinder that.

  Convinced that Freeman was a straight cop—and the officer most certainly is just that—Wayne fell into that time-honored trap set by a seasoned investigator doesn’t want a smart-assed defense attorney blowing smoke in his yard. Ford was now a surefire bet for the killer who had recently killed at least four— maybe more—prostitutes, and at that moment in time the law actually had jack shit to prove most of it. If Wayne suddenly zipped up, even a half-wit public defender could have his client back walking the streets within hours.

  Detective Freeman knew that even if the judicial train did manage to haul itself into the right station, they would find Ford’s scrambled brains had been left behind and, at the very least, it would take a fistful of psychiatrists a decade to agree on his state of mind. Then it would be a merry-go-round of appeals, a trip to the state mental institution for more evaluation, back to jail, back to the nut house, and on and on. With the justice system unraveling at the seams, Freeman knew that by the time of sentencing, civilization would be eating at a Wendy’s on Mars. Freeman was dead right, too.

  And, Detective Freeman didn’t need to be cynical, for he knew that every homicide cop in the country had worked on cases that meant years of red-eyeballing overtime, court time, and domestic stress, just to get some asshole free meals, dental treatment, and a warm bed—even if TV “dicks” solve such cases within an hour, including time for commercials. What Freeman didn’t need was a somnolent judge along with a jury composed of twelve citizens of average ignorance who might sentence Mr. Ford to death, only for an appellate court to commute the sentence because of a technical foul-up. Then, for some godforsaken reason, they might release Wayne Ford back into society. Freeman had his man. His gut told him that he was on the money; he knew he had to play it careful, yet he still pushed his luck. Partway down the track, he would prove to be successful. Partway along the rails, he would also come unstuck.

  Wayne soon confessed to murdering Patricia Tamez, Tina Gibbs, Lanette White, and the unidentified Jane Doe whose torso had been found on the banks of Ryan Slough. He gave investigators a detailed account of how he murdered each victim, why he did it, and where he put the missing body parts. He revealed the location of some of Jane Doe, saying that he had buried the woman’s head and arms near the aptly named Mad River, close to a cement works. The remaining human artifacts, including the victim’s thighs, were temporarily kept in his freezer before being buried at a Trinidad campsite.

  With District Attorney Investigator Jim Dawson now sitting in on the interviews, Wayne said:It’s hard. I’m fighting the fact that I deserve probably to die for what I have done, and there is this guy right here [Detective Freeman] who’s gonna do the best to put me there. I know that in a courtroom they’ll give a death sentence. And I know that I am risking a lot by doing what I am doing without an attorney. A lot of advantage that I might have to weasel out of something, in some way, shape or form . . . I know that. Okay. And I know talking to you is legally a very dangerous thing.

  Dawson responded with: “It is the right thing, Wayne.That’s what we are talking about here.”

  “It is the right thing, and I wanna do the right thing.” Wayne whined. “I didn’t wanna kill anybody. I just feel certain, certain things, ya know. It just makes me freeze up. I just want everything to stop.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Dawson replied.

  The cops visited the campsite. Then they continued on to the Mad River to investigate Wayne’s story. They found nothing at the riverbank, but at the campsite they managed to locate six or seven body parts that were linked to Jane Doe.

  Wayne confessed that he had picked up Jane Doe, who was hitchhiking near Eureka. He was initially attracted to her large breasts, something for which Wayne had a fixation. He told police that he took her back to his trailer, they had rough sex, and then he strangled her. It was a process he repeated on three other occasions. However, unlike what he did with the other victims, he dismembered this corpse in his bathtub using a saw and knives. He said he did this because it “made it easier to dispose of her body.”

  A search of Wayne Ford’s trailer revealed even more critical evidence. In a coffee can, of all places, investigators found the rendered fat from Jane Doe’s breasts. Moreover, a plastic bag bearing the FlyingJ logo was also discovered. This find matched the bag discovered earlier near Lanette White’s remains. Furthermore, they found the freezer in which Wayne stored other body parts.

  All the evidence from the trailer and campsite was taken to a police crime lab to be examined. Wayne had explained that at the time of the murders he had worked as a long-haul truck driver, carrying lumber throughout Oregon, California, Nevada, and Arizona. It was during these road trips that Wayne’s killing rampage was sparked by anger at his ex-wife, Elizabeth, whom he claimed withheld their son from him.

  Quoting from a 1998 Daily News article written by Bhavna Mistrys: “Wayne Ford turned himself in because he was afraid he would kill his ex-wife and he didn’t want his son to be an orphan.”

  Wayne’s semi-tractor truck and his personal Jeep were examined. The vehicles were of particular importance because Wayne had explained that he had driven for days on end with the dead Lanette White in the cab. Indeed, at one point he was pulled over by a California Highway Patrol officer while White’s decomposing corpse was in the sleeper section of the truck. The trooper’s olfactory senses were not aroused by the smell of rotting flesh, so Ford was allowed to drive on.

  The police also hoped that remnants of bodies might be found in the vehicles, and they inspected the two vehicles thoroughly. They ripped them apart, looking for anything: human hair, fiber, a bloodstain, anything at all that could be used to strengthen their case. For even though Wayne had presented himself on a silver platter to the authorities, investigators wanted to be 110 percent sure that there was enough supporting evidence. They didn’t want to take any chances on a mistrial.

  On Friday, November 6, 1998, Wayne Ford was arraigned at the Humboldt County Superior Court, Judge W. Bruce Watson presiding. He was charged with only one count of first-degree murder, that of Jane Doe. The other murders were not committed in the court’s jurisdiction, so Wayne could only be tried in the counties where those bodies were found.

  During the proceedings, Wayne complained to the judge that he didn’t have a lawyer, even though he had repeatedly requested one. The court then appointed attorney Kevin Robinson to defend Wayne. Robinson immediately entered a plea of not guilty on behalf of his new client.

  One of the most contentious issues that Robinson wanted to address was the fact that his client was allegedly prevented from having contact with a lawyer from the moment of his arrest to his arraignment. The implication, if true, was that Wayne’s confessions might be rendered inadmissible as evidence against him. It would prove to be a difficult obstacle for the prosecution to overcome.

  In fact, the bottom line was this: If the court found that Wayne had been denied his legal rights when he was arrested, there was a strong possibility that any physical evidence seized by police, including body parts, would be ruled inadmissible. It seemed that he might walk, despite the odds stacked against him.

  Another issue raised by defender Robinson was a new serial killer law. It had been enacted about two months after Wayne’s arrest. This law allowed prosecutors the right to combine all of the murders into a single trial if they could prove that they were related. Thus, instead of Wayne being tried for each murder separately in different counties, he would h
ave just the one trial for all four murders. Whether the law was constitutionally applicable to Wayne’s case was a controversial matter because it was enacted after the crimes were actually committed.

  Nevertheless, on Tuesday, April 6, 1999, Wayne was indicted by a Humboldt County grand jury on a single count of murder. The jury found more than sufficient evidence to move the case to a full trial, but much to the relief of the local taxpayers, he would not be tried in Humboldt County because that June a final decision was made to have Wayne arrested and charged in San Bernardino County for the murder of all four victims. The citizens of San Bernardino would have to foot the bill.

  The defense team had lost their first battle, for they now faced the prospect of Wayne getting the death penalty. That August, he was transferred to West Valley Detention Center in San Bernardino to await his upcoming trial.

  With the wheels of justice now grinding painfully slowly, in November 2003 a hearing was held at the San Bernardino County Superior Court to determine whether Wayne’s confessions to police were admissible in court. This was a cliff-hanger. The defense, now led by attorney Joseph D. Canty, argued that the confessions were the result of unreasonable police actions in the hours and days after Ford surrendered. However, the prosecution maintained that the confessions were legally obtained—that Ford had initially asked for an attorney but later changed his mind.

  Superior Court Judge Michael Smith ruled in January 2005 that most of Wayne’s confessions would be admissible at trial, but those made after November 5, 1998, two days after Wayne turned himself in, could not be used by the prosecution because the police should have allowed him legal counsel by then. The judge’s ruling meant that Wayne’s confessions regarding Lanette White were jeopardized. Nevertheless, the prosecution decided that they would likely include the murder charge concerning White at trial because there was adequate evidence linking Wayne to her death.

  Almost six years after Wayne’s arrest, the murder trial had still not begun because of delays in the legal system. The trial had been moved up on several occasions and was finally scheduled to commence on Monday, March 1, 2004. However, it was stalled once again in mid-January 2004 because the lead prosecutor handling the case, Deputy District Attorney David Whitney, retired from his position. Deputy DA Dave Mazurek was selected to replace Whitney, and it would take some time for the new kid on the block to become familiar with the case against Wayne Ford.

  When the case eventually came to trial, with Wayne Ford admitting that he was a serial killer, all that his defense team could do was try to save their client from execution by presenting mitigation for his crimes.

  With Judge Michael A. Smith presiding, prosecutor David Mazurek fired off his broadside, determined to shock the jurors with the gravity of the crimes the self-confessed serial killer was accused of committing.

  “Mr. Ford gave himself up with a woman’s severed breast in his pocket,” explained Mazurek, adding, “and this was just the tip of the iceberg.”

  For their part, the defense team described Ford as a man who knew he had mental problems and sought help when he surrendered to police. “Mr. Ford has a conscience,” Canty said, “and he turned himself in because he decided the killings had to stop.”

  The jury of six men and six women listened intently as Canty explained the root of Ford’s problems, complicated by a failed marriage and dwindling chances to see his son, Max. Canty played every card he had, showing the jury a photograph of a pleasant time being had between father and son when they visited a pumpkin patch in October 1997.

  “And in fact, this is the last time that Wayne Ford saw his son, Max,” Canty said.

  The prosecution responded with photographs—colorful and gory crime scene photos of dead bodies, mutilated bodies, white, rotting flesh, the glutinous fat from a victim’s breast contained in a coffee jar found in Wayne Ford’s possession. They showed the jury indelible images of Lanette Deyon White, whose nude body with blackened head was found floating in an irrigation canal off Highway 12 near Lodi, in San Joaquin County, on September 25, 1998.

  “Mr. Ford had killed her a couple of days before,” asserted Mazurek, “and he had driven around with her in his truck for a while. Ms. White’s head turned black because, lying against the truck’s hot floorboards, it decomposed faster.”

  Canty said that his client cried. “Mr. Ford felt shame and showed moral courage when he turned himself in to sheriff’s deputies and gave up details about the deaths of four victims. At the time,” added Canty, “the detectives had not solved the deaths, and Ford was not even a suspect”—which implied that his client was doing everyone a favor.

  The defense also spoke of Ford’s rough upbringing, with photos and descriptions of his mother as “cold” and his father, Gene Ford, as always away from home and striking fear into young Wayne when he did return.

  Despite the mental problems, Canty made it clear that Ford was not seeking an insanity defense because he knew the difference between right and wrong. “He was crippled inside,” pleaded the attorney. “He was, and he is, a broken man who turned himself in because he wanted to do the right thing.”

  However, the prosecutor pointed to the deeply depraved way the four women were killed. “Each was raped. Each was tortured. Each was used solely for the defendant’s own sexual gratification. Each of the victims was then coldly discarded with no identification, no way to inform police and loved ones of their deaths.... Wayne Ford knows what he has done,” Mazurek told the jury. “He knows what he is. Despite what he says, not one of these women died accidentally.”

  On Tuesday, June 27, 2006, Wayne Ford was found guilty of four counts of first-degree murder. Wearing green coveralls and a white T-shirt, the heavily shackled prisoner was sentenced to death in August of that same year. Judge Smith, passing sentence, said:Mr. Ford. It is now the judgment and sentence of this court, hereby ordered by judgment and decree for the first degree murders of Jane Doe, Tina Renee Gibbs, Lanette Deyon White, and Patricia Anne Tamez, you are to be put to death by lethal injection, or by any other means which maybe deemed proper, and for it to occur within the walls of San Quentin State Prison.

  You are hereby remanded into the custody and control of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office, to be delivered by the sheriff within ten days to the warden of the state prison for the execution of this sentence, which of course will not take place anytime soon, and until you have appealed your sentence according to state law.

  Good luck to you Mr. Ford.

  Being a condemned man does not seem to faze Wayne Ford at all:You know, death row doesn’t even bother me. I don’t even think about it. If I’m executed, you know it’s actually more than what’s supposed to be given to me. But if they kill me, they’ll be doing me a favor. I’m not really concerned about it, you know. I don’t know what to really say. I don’t know what anybody would say under these circumstances. An apology is almost an insult. It’s so useless under these circumstances, and if I were them I’d just want to spit in my face. I wish there was just something I could do, and if my death would make them happy, then fine!

  When asked by Victoria Redstall, “If you were out right now . . . a free man, would you kill again?” Wayne Ford sighed and responded, “Well, of course I’m going to tell you no, aren’t I?”

  He was also asked what he had learned in his lifetime. He gave the following, somewhat rambling answer:Well, I mean that’s kind of a broad and vague question. Um, I think mental health is far more important than we give attention to, and it’s a lot easier than I think we think it is . . . to take care of. I don’t think that people realize how very, very important it is for a father to have his son with him, and his son to have his father. It’s a . . . a lot of guys, who are in jail, are in here for that primary reason . . . that they never had a man in their life, and, eh, I think that the stability of a family and not taking the father-son relationship so much for granted is what really needs to be looked at.

  I just couldn’t handle my b
aby, Max, going through the same thing that I went through . . . that is wanting my father desperately as a child when I really needed him, and he wasn’t there. Unless we change things in our society the way we are going, we’re just going to continue to have to lock up more and more people, and mental illness is going to be more and more prevalent.

  When Wayne Ford was asked about his thoughts on the afterlife, he came up with this:You mean whether I go to heaven or hell? You know, there are lots of possibilities. I tend to believe that we are more than the sum of our parts. I think, me personally . . . I’m going to be an Energy Being when I am released from this body. If the Bible’s accurate, and there is monotheist God who created the earth as it states in the Bible, I think I am going to heaven, and the reason being because according to the Bible, Jesus died for our sins and that means if we ask for forgiveness that gift is given to us, and God forgives, and I have [asked for forgiveness] and that entitles me already to the promise in the Bible that says I will be forgiven.

  I believe the essence of a person . . . the soul of a person goes to another place after our physical death, and I think that we’re in another dimension . . . I think that we’re probably back were we started.

  This was perhaps the right moment for him to be asked exactly why he killed for the first time. The reply from Ford was an emotional and tearful one, although a little disingenuous. He had the clear intention of snatching Max away from his wife, Elizabeth, as the following reveals:I had planned on taking Max the day before [he killed for the first time], actually, and I didn’t think that it would be legally kidnapping. And I had planned on taking him and fighting from there for custody of Max. And, what happened was . . . just a minute ...just a minute . . . [now uncontrollably sobbing]. My ex brought Max and she came and spent the day with us, which kind of ruined Max’s and my day together, and also it kind of ruined my plan.