Southeast
Florida woman who survived parents' murders as toddler reveals 'missing piece' after killer's execution
A Florida killer who fatally shot a newlywed couple in front of their toddler nearly three decades ago finally faced justice last week in the state’s first execution of the year. The couple’s surviving daughter has spoken out as an adult about her childhood memories connected to the horrific crimes.
James D. Ford, 64, was executed via lethal injection at Florida State Prison on Feb. 13 for the murders of Greg Malnory, 25, and his wife Kimberly, 26, after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed his death warrant on Jan. 10.
“I feel like I missed out on a lot of love …that love from my mom and dad,” Maranda Malnory, who witnessed her parents’ murders as a 22-month-old, told Fox News Digital in an interview after the execution.
“I don’t want to say it was closure because it’s not closure, but it’s peace of mind knowing that he could never, ever get out and come find me… I’m the sole survivor.”
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Greg and Kimberly Malnory with their young daughter Maranda, who survived the killings and spoke to Fox News Digital about her story of survival. The family photo was taken the weekend before Greg and Kimberly were murdered, Maranda said. (Connie Ankney/Family Handout)
On a Sunday morning in the spring of 1997, Greg and Kimberly Malnory set out to go fishing at South Florida Sod Farm, where Greg worked, along with Maranda, who was 22 months old at the time.
The couple’s deceased bodies were discovered the following day, April 7, 1997, near their pickup truck in the middle of a field on the remote 7,000-acre farm. Authorities found Maranda strapped inside her car seat in the truck, having survived the attack, according to court records.
“Poor Maranda, just left there to die. It was actually divine intervention that she survived,” Greg’s mother, Connie Ankney, previously told Fox News Digital. “The angels must have been with her.”
Now 29 years old, Maranda does not have any memory of the attack itself, but she remembers the exact moment she first learned the harrowing details of the case.
During her early years of childhood being raised by her grandparents, Maranda was unaware of the circumstances surrounding her parents’ deaths until she decided to take matters into her own hands.
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Greg and Kimberly Malnory at their wedding, just six months before they were killed. (Connie Ankney/Family handout)
“I was 13 years old…it was around the time of the anniversary of their murders. I was on my computer…and I Googled it. I Googled every detail I could find,” she said. “Because I didn’t know how to ask…it was heartbreaking.”
Investigators on the case discovered that Greg Malnory had been shot in the head and bludgeoned with his throat slit, and Kimberly Malnory had been sexually assaulted, brutally beaten and then shot dead, according to court records.
Maranda had been in the vehicle for over 18 hours with the doors wide open and covered in her mother’s blood.
“I didn’t realize the extent of it until I read it,” Maranda said about researching the crimes as a teenager. “I broke down because I came from two fighters. My mom put up a fight, and so did my dad.”
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Authorities said that while Ford was attacking Greg, Kimberly was doing everything she could to save her daughter, which explained the presence of Kimberly’s blood on the child’s clothing.
Defensive wounds were found on the backs of Kim’s arms, which indicated that she put up a struggle, according to court records.
“I honestly think had she been able to find my dad’s truck keys, she would have went to get help,” Maranda said. “That’s why I was in my car seat… she was going to get help having seen what happened to my dad.”
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Greg and Kimberly Malnory while on their honeymoon, according to their daughter Maranda. They were killed at a South Florida Sod Farm in 1997, six months after their wedding. (Maranda Malnory)
Maranda Malnory, 22 months old at the time, was found left in her car seat in the family’s pickup truck at the remote Southwest Florida Sod Farm. (CHARLOTTE COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE)
During their investigation, law enforcement learned that Ford had been seen with the victims in the area of the crime just before the killings, and then he was later seen the same evening “in a distracted state with blood on his face, hands, and clothes,” according to court documents. Ford was also observed the day after the murders with scratches on his body.
Maranda explained that Ford, who had been Greg’s co-worker at the Charlotte County farm, invited himself to their family outing that day.
“It kind of leaves me speechless,” she said. “That much hatred… for people that you had worked with and people that you know.”
Greg Malnory’s DNA was discovered on a knife in Ford’s bedroom, Kimberly’s DNA was located in Ford’s truck, and Ford’s DNA was found on Kimberly’s body and clothing, court records show.
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“It wasn’t until I was an adult that it got a little easier for me to ask questions…and ask about the day it happened,” Maranda said.
As she began to learn more about the case, she recognized that her “close-knit” community was the reason she and her parents were found as soon as they were in the middle of the field on the remote farm.
“That in of itself, if you ask me, is… I don’t want to call it a miracle, but it is,” Maranda said.
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Authorities said that an employee of the South Florida Sod Farm had been the one to initially make the “gruesome discovery” in April 1997, according to court records.
As an adult, Maranda had the opportunity to connect with the man who found her as a toddler and chose to speak with him directly.
“I said, ‘Thank you for finding us,’” she shared. “And he was like, ‘Thank you for being such a strong, resilient little girl that I was able to find.’”
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James Ford was executed for the murders of Greg and Kimberly Malnory. (Florida Department of Corrections)
James Ford was executed for killing Greg and Kimberly Malnory. (CHARLOTTE COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE)
Greg and Kimberly Malnory met in high school, and they had married just six months prior to their deaths. Greg’s mother previously said that their chance to be parents had been taken away too soon.
“I think about them every day. I have their names tattooed on my wrist,” Maranda said. “They’re my heroes… I honestly think that I wouldn’t be here had it not been for them.”
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The 29-year-old said she keeps a picture of her parents holding her as a baby, which was taken the weekend before the killings, on her desk to this day.
“You mourn the people that they were,” Maranda recalled telling her grandparents, “I mourn what could have been.”
“It’s that missing piece” she added. “I so wish I could have gotten to know them… I love hearing stories about them because, in my way, it is getting to know them.”
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The gravestone of Greg and Kimberly Malnory, who were killed in 1997. (Maranda Malnory)
Maranda today works in special education with children and strives to give back to her community.
“I can do my part because of things that were done for me,” she explained. “Our community rallied around us, even with the execution. Even now, it’s still, ‘We’re here for you…we never forgot you…we’re still here.’”
Ford was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder, sexual battery with a firearm, and child abuse, and he was sentenced to death on June 3, 1999. His execution in Florida in 2025 followed one in the state in 2024 and six in 2023.
“It impacts me in some big ways and some little ways,” Maranda said about the case. “I’m terrified of the dark and loud noises…but I also think it makes me fight a little harder… I fight every day to show him that he doesn’t get to win.”
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Southeast
Disgraced teacher accused of using Google Docs to groom underage student before alleged sex crimes
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A Palm Beach County, Florida, science teacher is behind bars after investigators say he used a shared Google Doc to secretly communicate with a student before engaging in sexual acts with her at school and inside his apartment, according to an arrest affidavit.
Elias Gordon Farley, 26, a former teacher at Donna Klein Jewish Academy in Boca Raton, was arrested after the student reported the alleged abuse on Nov. 18.
The teen told detectives the interactions began as casual conversations during the previous school year, but over the summer, Farley allegedly created a shared Google Doc in which the two wrote messages back and forth.
Investigators said the file later contained explicit entries describing sexual activity and planning when they would meet privately.
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Elias Gordon Farley, a former teacher at the Donna Klein Jewish Academy in Boca Raton, is facing felony charges after police say he engaged in a months-long sexual relationship with a student. (Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office)
According to the affidavit, the student said the relationship became physical in mid-September inside Farley’s office, where he touched her beneath her clothing. She told detectives the encounters continued for weeks in both his office and a classroom.
By late September and into October, she said the pair were engaging in sexual acts, including oral sex and, at one point, intercourse inside a classroom on campus.
The student also described visiting Farley’s apartment twice in early November after recognizing details he had mentioned about its location and layout. She told deputies that several sexual encounters occurred during those visits.
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A teacher was accused of using Google Docs to talk to an underage student before sexual encounters. (Google Maps)
Detectives later executed a search warrant and said they found bedding, condom wrappers and furniture matching her description. Farley’s roommate confirmed he had not been home on the dates the teen said she visited.
School surveillance video reviewed by deputies also appeared to support her account, showing Farley and the student entering his office together on Nov. 7 and later entering a classroom for about an hour.
The situation came to light after the student confided in an art teacher on Nov. 14 and showed her bruises and bite marks she said came from Farley. Administrators were informed the next day, suspended Farley immediately and reported the matter to child welfare authorities.
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A former science teacher at Donna Klein Jewish Academy in Palm Beach County was arrested after allegations of an inappropriate sexual relationship with a student, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. (iStock)
Farley refused to speak with detectives after being read his Miranda rights, according to the affidavit.
Farley was booked into the Palm Beach County Main Detention Center Dec. 4 and is being held on $500,000 bond, jail records show. He faces charges of unlawful sexual activity with a minor and offense against a student by an authority figure.
In a statement provided to Fox News Digital, Donna Klein Jewish Academy said it is cooperating fully with the investigation and called the situation “a difficult time for all of us at Donna Klein.”
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“We are approaching this serious situation with the utmost care, keeping the well-being of our students, faculty and families at the forefront,” a spokesperson said.
The school said it is working closely with families, teachers and staff to ensure they have the support they need, adding that its priority is maintaining “a safe, compassionate and educational environment for all.”
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The spokesperson said no additional details would be released “out of respect for the privacy of our community” but that Farley is no longer employed at the school.
The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office at 561-688-3000.
Stepheny Price covers crime, including missing persons, homicides and migrant crime. Send story tips to stepheny.price@fox.com.
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Two teen boys in Florida are accused of fatally shooting a 14-year-old girl and setting her on fire along a wooded walking trail last week in what authorities are calling a “horrific” killing.
Santa Rosa County Sheriff Bob Johnson told reporters Thursday that the body has been identified as Danika Troy. He said Danika’s mother reported her as a runaway on Monday.
“Unbeknownst to the mother, Danika was murdered the previous night,” Johnson said.
A passerby discovered Danika’s body along a wooded area off Kimberly Road in Pace, a town about 16 miles northeast of Pensacola, and called 911, Johnson said.
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Santa Rosa County Sheriff Bob Johnson told reporters that the suspects were supposedly friends with the victim from school. He said investigators were still working to determine a motive. (Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office)
Investigators quickly identified the suspects as 14-year-old Kimahri Blevins and 16-year-old Gabriel Williams and took them into custody.
“This is where it gets really horrific,” Johnson said.
Kimahri Blevins, 14, is facing premeditated first-degree murder charges. Authorities are seeking to charge him as an adult. (Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office)
Williams allegedly stole his mother’s handgun and shot Danika.
“It’s bad enough you kill a 14-year-old. You’re 14. You’re 16,” Johnson said. “Shoot her multiple times, and then they set her on fire.”
Gabriel Williams, 16, is facing premeditated first-degree murder charges. Authorities are seeking to charge him as an adult. (Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office)
Johnson said investigators are still working to determine a motive.
“They have been interviewed, but the motive that they’re giving doesn’t fit the forensics or any facts of the case, so we don’t have a legit motive,” he told reporters.
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Blevins and Williams supposedly knew the victim from school, according to Johnson. He believed the two teens have had previous “run-ins” with law enforcement, though he could not immediately say if they had earlier arrests.
Blevins and Williams are being held at the Department of Juvenile Justice on premeditated first-degree murder charges.
“You don’t want to go out and see a burnt child with bullet holes,” Johnson said. “That’s not something you sign up for.”
Johnson said no parents have been charged at this time, though investigators are “looking into it.”
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The sheriff’s office is working with the State Attorney to charge both teens as adults.
“If you do an adult crime, you gotta do adult time,” Johnson said.
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Southeast
Florida college student who allegedly shipped 1,500 rounds of ammo to dorm had AR-15 under bed
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A Florida college student who allegedly ordered 1,500 rounds of ammunition to his dorm room also had a semi-automatic rifle under his bed, according to authorities.
Constantine Demetriades, a 21-year-old senior at Rollins College, was arrested by Winter Park police on Wednesday and charged with possession of a weapon on school property after the ammunition order was reported to police by the school’s assistant campus safety director, according to an arrest affidavit, WKMG reported.
After the purchase was flagged, the assistant safety director searched Demetriades’ dorm and allegedly discovered an unloaded AR-15 under his bed inside an unsecured black carrying case with one loaded magazine and five empty magazines, as well as a tactical vest, knives, a black security vest and ear protection.
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Constantine Demetriades, 21, was charged with possession of a weapon on school property. (Winter Park Police Department)
Demetriades, who said he likes to shoot as a hobby, told police he had the rifle on school property because he had recently returned from a Thanksgiving trip to New Jersey, where he said the guns were purchased and registered legally, according to the affidavit.
He said he did not have ill intentions and that he usually stores the firearm at a friend’s home off school property, the affidavit stated. He also said he only brought the gun to campus on one other occasion.
Constantine Demetriades said he did not have ill intentions. (Getty Images)
While Florida allows open carry, Rollins College bans all weapons on campus. Demetriades allegedly said he is aware that weapons are not allowed on campus and that his New Jersey concealed carry permit does not apply in Florida.
The college said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital that he is banned from campus until the situation is resolved, adding that an internal investigation has been opened.
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While Florida allows open carry, Rollins College bans all weapons on campus. (Getty Images)
“On Wednesday, the College received a report indicating a violation of our weapons policy,” Rollins College said in a statement. “After receiving this information, we immediately initiated an investigation.”
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“We quickly identified and contacted the student, who cooperated fully with College officials and local law enforcement as we investigated the matter further,” the statement continued. “The student was arrested and is not permitted to be on campus while the College proceeds with the student conduct process.”
The school said Demetriades was additionally charged with a violation of the college’s weapons policy, and will go through the on-campus conduct process.
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