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A Florida killer discovered responsible of capturing and bludgeoning a newlywed couple to demise in entrance of their toddler was lastly executed on Thursday, practically three many years after his grotesque crimes.
James D. Ford, 64, was executed by way of deadly injection at Florida State Jail on Thursday for the murders of Greg Malnory, 25, and his spouse Kimberly, 26, after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed his demise warrant on Jan. 10.
“By no means surrender. All the time struggle in your kids,” Connie Ankney, mom of Greg Malnory, advised Fox Information Digital in an interview on the day of the execution, which she traveled hours to attend. “I by no means give up preventing for my son and Kimberly. I did not know if I’d be alive right this moment to see this as a result of Kimberly’s mom is not.”
“They all the time speak about… closure,” she added. “Nicely, no, it is justice. Simply justice.”
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Greg and Kimberly Malnory with their younger daughter. (Connie Ankney/Household Handout)
Ankney disclosed that all through this week, main as much as Ford’s execution, she was feeling a mixture of feelings.
“Remembering that day… what they should have went by means of, the phobia, the horror, the concern,” she stated.
On a Sunday morning within the spring of 1997, Greg and Kimberly Malnory made plans to go fishing at South Florida Sod Farm, together with Ford, Greg’s co-worker on the Charlotte County farm.
Their deceased our bodies have been found the next day, April 7, 1997, close to the couple’s pickup truck in the course of a area on the distant 7,000-acre farm. Authorities discovered their 22-month-old daughter Maranda strapped inside her automobile seat within the truck, having survived the assault, in response to court docket data.
“They did not get an opportunity to be mother and father…it was taken away so quickly,” Ankney stated.
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Greg and Kimberly Malnory at their wedding ceremony, simply six months earlier than they have been killed, Greg’s mom stated. (Connie Ankney/Household handout)
The younger couple met in highschool however started their romantic relationship in a while and have been collectively for a number of years, Greg’s mom defined. That they had married simply six months previous to their deaths.
“We had gone to Tennessee. They acquired a type of nation weddings within the mountains, they usually stayed in a type of huge cabins. Kimberly had her white boots,” Ankney recalled. “I can not even put it into phrases as a result of, , it was such a gorgeous factor …after which six months… such a horrific ending to that stunning, lovely household.”
On the day their stays have been found, Ankney was referred to as to the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Workplace, the place she realized the horrific information.
“I walked in there and Kimberly’s mom and stepdad have been there… sobbing,” she stated. “She advised me that they have been useless, and I simply could not imagine it…stated they’re useless however the child’s alive.”
Ankney initially believed the couple have been killed in a boating accident as a result of the 2 had advised her they have been going fishing, and she or he hadn’t heard from them since.
“They did not say homicide immediately…and once they did…I simply misplaced it,” she stated. “It would not hit you immediately…it is simply so unbelievable. Murders did not occur in Charlotte County… it was a small little city and everyone knew everyone.”
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James Ford was executed for murdering Greg and Kimberly Malnory. (Florida Division of Corrections)
Investigators found that Greg Malnory had been shot within the head and bludgeoned together with his throat slit and that Kimberly Malnory had been sexually assaulted, brutally crushed after which shot useless, paperwork present.
Maranda had been within the automobile for over 18 hours with the doorways extensive open, lined in her mom’s blood.
“It is simply past my comprehension… it is evil,” Ankney stated. “Poor Maranda, simply left there to die. It was truly divine intervention that she survived…the angels should have been together with her.”
Authorities stated that whereas Ford was attacking Greg, Kimberly was doing the whole lot she may to avoid wasting her daughter, which defined the presence of Kimberly’s blood on the kid’s clothes.
Defensive wounds have been discovered on the backs of Kim’s arms, which indicated that she put up a wrestle, in response to court docket data.
“The concern that Kimberly should have felt making an attempt to get Miranda in that automobile seat and making an attempt to get into that truck… she by no means drove a stick in her life,” Ankney stated. “Simply making an attempt to get the hell out of there and preventing him.”
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Greg and Kimberly Malnory’s 22-month-old daughter was discovered left in her automobile seat within the household’s pickup truck on the distant South Florida Sod Farm. (CHARLOTTE COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE)
Throughout their investigation, regulation enforcement realized that Ford had been seen with the victims within the space of the crime simply earlier than the killings, after which he was later seen the identical night “in a distracted state with blood on his face, palms, and garments,” in response to court docket paperwork. Ford was additionally noticed the day after the murders with scratches on his physique.
“I spent a while with him in a pickup truck going by means of the property, having him recount what their actions have been that day,” James Kenville, one of many responding deputies on the time and now a significant with the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Workplace, advised WFTX about Ford. “He was very cool, he was plausible once you talked to him, however the bodily proof was telling us that wasn’t the case.”
Greg Malnory’s DNA was found on a knife in Ford’s bed room, Kimberly’s DNA was positioned in Ford’s truck, and Ford’s DNA was discovered on Kimberly’s physique and clothes, court docket data present.
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James Ford was executed for the 1997 murders of Greg and Kimberly Malnory. (CHARLOTTE COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE)
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The our bodies of Greg and Kimberly Malnory have been found close to their pickup truck on the distant South Florida Sod Farm. (CHARLOTTE COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE)
Ankney described her son as a “enjoyable, loving child” with many pals, who “cherished to fish and cherished to hunt and drive his blue pickup truck by means of the mud,” including that Greg loved his time as an worker on the South Florida Sod Farm.
“He went to work day-after-day, and he advised me, ‘Mother…it is like heaven,’ and when he died there, I stated, ‘Oh my God… it was the place he was presupposed to go,'” she advised Fox Information Digital.
Ankney stated her daughter-in-law Kimberly was “bubbly, humorous,” and “she by no means had a toddler earlier than, however she took it very severe. She cherished Maranda.”
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A number of years after the killings, Ankney stumbled upon Dad and mom of Murdered Kids.
“Between them and my pastor and Jesus, I survived,” she stated. Since 1999, she’s labored with the group, serving to different grieving mother and father.
“I advised myself, if I can assist one particular person, then I’ve achieved my job,” Ankney stated. “It is a help group like no different.”
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Greg and Kimberly Malnory have been murdered at a South Florida Sod Farm in 1997. (CHARLOTTE COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE)
Ford was convicted of two counts of first-degree homicide, sexual battery with a firearm, and baby abuse, and he was sentenced to demise on June 3, 1999. His execution on Thursday was the primary in Florida this yr, after one within the state in 2024 and 6 in 2023.
“I simply wish to give him a giant hug and…inform him thanks, thanks,” Ankney stated about DeSantis and signing the demise warrant.
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“They’ll lastly relaxation in peace. This has been one thing that is been occurring for 27 years, and now they will have peace,” she added. “The heartache remains to be going to be there, however he is achieved. I’ve no mercy for him… it’s very in God’s palms.”
Florida newlyweds get justice after household fishing journey led to homicide
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