Delaware
Delaware man arrested almost 30 years after Florida homicide of girlfriend
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A Delaware man has been charged with murder in a decades-old cold case outside of Tampa, Florida.
Delaware State Police arrested 72-year-old Stephen Ford on Aug. 16 during a traffic stop near his home in Georgetown.
Ford has been charged with second-degree murder with a weapon in the death of 45-year-old Doris A. Korell in December 1996 in Palmetto, Florida, according to Manatee County police. Korell, who was Ford’s girlfriend at the time, was found in a ditch off of U.S. Route 41 and was stabbed 83 times, Manatee County police said.
Ford was extradited and booked into Manatee County Jail on Aug. 30.
Ford and Korell had lived together in St. Petersburg, and Korell had a daughter in Maryland who had reported her missing in December 1996. Later that month, Ford attempted suicide by ingesting bleach, and he continually denied any involvement, Manatee County police said.
“An eye for an eye,” Ford said to Manatee County police in 1997 when detectives asked him what should happen to the person who killed Korell. “If I killed her, I should get the death penalty.”
Soon after, a letter from him to an ex-girlfriend said, “He has no time for you know who, and hopes she’ll leave soon. … I hope she gets the message that I don’t want her here anymore.”
Other than that letter, physical evidence and leads from both St. Petersburg and Manatee County police became sporadic and the case became cold in 1997.
In 2017, the case was reopened by cold case detectives, and six years of investigations found enough evidence to produce probable cause to arrest Ford on charges in Korell’s homicide. During the investigation, people who knew Korell said she feared Ford, and they had financial troubles and common arguments, according to Manatee County police.
Those details and other evidence led Manatee County police to believe Ford was acting on the consciousness of guilt, they said.
More on the investigation: ‘If I killed her, I should get the death penalty’: Man arrested in 1997 Manatee cold case
Shane Brennan covers New Castle County with a focus on Newark and surrounding communities. Reach out with ideas, tips or feedback at slbrennan@delawareonline.com. Follow @shanebrennan36 on X, formerly Twitter, for the latest news and updates.