Man Accused Of Stabbing Girlfriend 83 Times In 1996 Cold-Case Murder

A man living in Delaware is accused of fatally stabbing his former girlfriend, who was found dead 28 years ago in a ditch along a highway in Florida, officials announced Wednesday.

Stephen L. Ford, 72, was charged with second-degree murder with a weapon in the death of his live-in girlfriend, Doris Korell, who was reported missing on Dec. 11, 1996. She was found dead four days later, lying face-down in a drainage canal in Palmetto, and had been stabbed 83 times, according to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office ― though it would be months before law enforcement identified her.

Korell’s daughter, who was living in Maryland at the time, reported her mother missing on Dec. 12 after Ford called her, claiming Korell had driven off after an argument to go shopping, state prosecutors said. Korell’s car was located on Dec. 18 at a nearby mall with no evidence that a struggle or attack had taken place inside, the sheriff’s office said.

St. Petersburg detectives investigating Korell’s disappearance interviewed Ford days after she was reported missing and noticed a decomposing smell inside his home, according to the press release. Authorities also found stains on the bedding and mattress that were not there during an earlier search, as well as a suicide note Ford had written to his sons, “describing how he wanted to be with [Korell] if she was dead,” according to the sheriff’s department.

Detectives said that when they questioned Ford about Korell’s death, he stated, “If I killed her, I should get the death penalty.”

Ford had also allegedly rented a storage unit a day after Korell went missing and moved her jewelry, clothing and photos there.

Ford’s ex-girlfriend told detectives that he had sent her a letter approximately two