‘If I killed her, I should get the death penalty’: Man charged with murder of girlfriend 28 years later

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A Delaware man is accused of murdering his girlfriend and dumping her body in a ditch in Manatee County 28 years ago.

Stephen Ford, 72, lived in St. Petersburg with the victim, Doris Korell, 45 at the time of her disappearance, according to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.

A body, identified one year later as Korell, was discovered face-down in a drainage canal along US-41. Her body had 83 stab wounds and trauma to the neck and face.

“I reported her missing, and I mean, because of her and I talked every day, twice a day. He, you know, never called to say, hey, your mom didn’t come home or anything,” the victim’s daughter Laura Gaddy said.

The remains were found on Dec. 15, 1996, just days after her daughter reported her missing. Ford claimed Korell drove away from their home to go shopping after an argument and hadn’t been seen since.

The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office was not aware that St. Pete police were searching for a missing woman at the time. The agencies discovered they were working on the same case when Korell’s remains were identified in 1997.

Korell’s car was found at the Pinellas Square Mall on Dec. 18, but detectives believe it was placed there by Ford and “wiped down.” Her belongings were discovered in a storage unit that was kept secret from her daughter.

St. Pete detectives said Ford attempted suicide at least once during their investigation. They believe “Ford’s behavior showed a clear pattern of consciousness of guilt.”

When asked what should happen to Korell’s killer, detectives reported Ford saying, “An eye for an eye.” He went on to say, “If I killed her, I should get the death penalty,” according to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.

A former girlfriend told law enforcement she received a letter from Ford in October that said, “He has no time for you know who, and hopes she’ll leave soon,” and “I hope she gets the message that I don’t want her here anymore.”

Ford moved to Delaware as the case went cold. It was reopened in 2017, and in the years that followed, Korell’s acquaintances reported domestic and financial problems between the couple.

“Cold case detectives noted Ford’s behavior showed a clear pattern of consciousness of guilt,” a Manatee County Sheriff’s Office news release stated. “The evidence obtained in this investigation, including Ford’s deliberate actions and statements to mislead law enforcement and ultimately his attempts to commit suicide, provide in their totality, probable cause to believe that Stephen Ford murdered Doris Korell and disposed of her body in Manatee County, just minutes South of Pinellas County.

Ford was arrested on August 16 during a traffic stop near his home in Georgetown, Delaware and was booked into the Manatee County Jail on August 30. He was charged with second degree murder with a weapon.

Korell’s daughter has spent decades seeking justice, and while the arrest brings some relief, the fight for justice continues.

“I never game up, you know kept fighting for this case, I miss her,” Gaddy said.

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