Brutal murder of Dana Clair Edwards shocks tony Texas town

Thomas Ford, who didn't say a word during his trial, was about to learn why suspects get the warning: "Anything you say can and will be used against you in court."

Thomas Ford (police interview): I want you all to know that I will do everything to help out.

Detective: OK.

Detective: Did anybody else use your phone that night?

Thomas Ford No that would have been impossible.

Detective: Once you went home from the party, you went straight home?

Thomas Ford: Yeah. ... I go straight home.

Prosecutors used almost everything he told police against him. They argue, the interrogation locks Ford into a story that is a lie.

"'I was home, I was asleep, I didn't leave the bed until 7:00 a.m. the next day,'" said Kirsta Melton.

They say surveillance images prove he wasn't sleeping ... he was driving his SUV to Dana Clair's house.

"If you just looked at that tape not knowing anything, and you saw a white SUV come in, two minutes later come out, head south, come back, come in, come out, head north, your first thought is, 'What's that guy doin'? I mean, are they casin' the joint? What's goin' on here?" Catherine Babbitt told Richard Schlesinger. "When you put that with the time he says he left the party, that's when you sort of start to build that timeline."

But Ford's attorney, Dick DeGuerin says as blurry as the pictures are, nobody can tell anything about that car.

"You know, you cannot identify this car as being Thomas Ford's car," he told Schlesinger.

Prosecutors knew they needed more than that surveillance tape to make their case. And they think they found it just before trial in a pile of Ford's cell phone records, which police subpoenaed but never fully analyzed.

"When we did that, I still have chills thinking about it," said prosecutor Kathy Cunningham.

Cunningham realized what she was looking at could change everything.

Cell records have the latitude and longitude for the towers the phone is using. Prosecutors used Google Maps to locate the towers and believed they could now say where Ford went -- and when.

They called an AT&T engineer named Ken Doll.

"If you tell somebody that you were home all night long and -- and you really weren't, then -- if you took your cell phone with you -- we're liable to find that out," Doll explained.

Doll created a map showing the towers that picked up Ford's cell phone signals throughout the night.

"... we tracked the defendant's activities from 8:30 that evening until 9:00 a.m. the next morning," Babbitt explained.

Remember, Ford told police he went home from the party and was in bed before midnight and turned his phone off. But the records seem to tell a different story. At 11:45 p.m., he received a call that went straight to voice mail. Prosecutors say the signal should have bounced off the tower that serves Ford's home.

But it didn't. According to prosecutors, it bounced off a tower that serves Dana Clair's apartment in Gallery Court.

"It showed that his phone was near her apartment?" Schlesinger asked.

"Correct," Babbitt replied.

One hour later, Dana Clair's car arrives. And then a half hour after that, a text goes to Thomas Ford's phone. Once again, say prosecutors, the signal bounces off the cell tower that serves Dana Clair's condo. That means, they say, Ford's own cell phone records place him near Dana Clair's condo for 90 minutes.

"So you now know that the person that is walking into Gallery Court is John Thomas Ford," Babbitt tells the court.

"How long do you think it took to kill her?" Schlesinger asked.

"I think it took 15 to 20 minutes," said Babbitt.

Prosecutors say the cell phone records even provide evidence about what happened to Dana Clair's dog, Grit. At 1:32 a.m., Ford's phone is communicating with a tower that serves the area where Grit's body was found -- the dam, near Dana Clair's condo.

Catherine Babbitt: What would be the only reason it is pinging near the dam?

Ken Doll: That device would have had to have been near the Olmos Dam.

Prosecutors believe it was Ford who brought Grit there. But how did he get there? That same camera that showed a figure walking into the condo complex shows no one walking out before that 1:32 a.m. call.

Prosecutors have a theory. They say Ford didn't walk out of the entrance, but that he came out of the condo and jumped over a wall with Grit's body. Then he drove to the dam, disposed of Grit, drove back, and returned to the condo, jumping back over the wall.

"Think about how ridiculous that is," DeGuerin told the court.

"Thomas weighed 250 pounds at least -- when this happened," DeGuerin told Schlesinger. "... even someone ... in good physical condition would have a tough time getting over that high wall."

"-- maybe he wasn't at the Olmos Dam," Schlesinger remarked to Babbitt.

"Well, his phone sure was," she replied.

"Historical cell phone tower usage is voodoo, it's junk science," DeGuerin told Schlesinger.

"Voodoo?"

"Yes."

The defense has found experts who insist it is not possible to pinpoint a phone's location, based on what tower it used. But DeGuerin has to get Ken Doll to concede that the cell phone records can be unreliable.

Dick DeGuerin: You cannot say to a certainty that it was actually in that sector, can you?

Ken Doll: I think you have an extremely, very high degree of accuracy on that. ... We make multibillion-dollar decisions based on what this tool tells us.

Dick DeGuerin: Sure...

Prosecutors argue jurors can believe Thomas Ford or they can believe the cell phone records, but they can't believe both.

"He had an alibi," Babbitt told Schlesinger. "The cell phone records pierced that alibi."

It's been a tough four weeks of trial. DeGuerin's last word to the jury is that the evidence leaves more than enough reasonable doubt.

Catherine Babbitt tells jurors that Ford snapped after being rejected by Dana Clair and asks them to focus on the lives that were ended that night.

"And how did he describe her? 'Full of life. Full of energy, full of joy'. And if that isn't a picture of that, I don't know what is. And so is this little guy. And how dare he," Babbitt told jurors, holding up a photo of Dana Clair and Grit.

The lawyers have done what they can do. It's all in the jury's hands now.

• « Previous Page
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• Next Page »

[cicissll]

Dumb ass had to carry his cell with him. So what?
"Ring...Ding".
"Happy new year. What are you doing, pal?"
"Happy new year. I'm killing my ex and her dog."

[canpotex]

He's guilty.

[Tobi86]

What a amazingly wonderful way to make this lady's death a reason to rejoice. Dana and Grit are angels forever together watching the hearts of all those homeless puppies glow in happiness. How blessed are the individual friends who adopted those puppies out of reverance to Dana and Grit. They are my heroes, real life heroes who are actually will be blest with happiness from four legged angels of God. God bless DJ for such a wonder idea.

[BigBlivefromny]

What needs to happen here is a real investigation on how these seemingly poor policeman lost so much evidence! Really!? Just lost it? More like you were all PAID to lose it by Ford's rich family. Disgusting! Money almost bought him freedom. Glad these prosecutors were on the ball. If i am right about you crooked policeman...hope you see that womans bloody face at night when you try to sleep.

[hifi44]

Yeah I got that impression as well

[eddiethekid]

The one thing that bothers me about this case is how Thomas Ford managed to kill both Dana and the dog without any of the neighbors hearing anything, and which one he killed first. If he had attacked Dana first, that dog would have been going crazy, barking and trying to bite Thomas Ford. If he attacked the dog first, Dana would have been yelling and trying to pull him off the dog. Either way there would have a lot of commotion and noise and somebody should have heard it. Also, I would think Mr. Ford might have gotten bitten, which doesn't seem to have occurred here.

[hifi44]

I thought they said he killed the dog someplace else

[caljack430]

remember that it was new year's eve... very few people were probably even home at 1am let alone in any state of hear or care a loud commotion in the condo next to them.

[commentor456]

He was at her place before she was. He probably killed the dog before she even got home. They theorized he killed the dog because she loved the dog more than him. I think he killed the dog so the dog wouldn't draw attention to the condo while he was killing the woman. Sick man!

[Wildwood1966]

very good point Eddiethekid - if he indeed carried the dog over the fence (he is no little man) the dog must have already een dead becuse he would be going crazy - dogs sense bad peeps

[chris_bray]

Ford clearly did it. Had I been a juror, the cell records would have clearly convicted him. He had motive and lied about his whereabouts. This was an odd couple. This fat slob of a guy with a gal that is pretty good looking. An odd couple. Small wonder he felt jealous and rejected when he lost her. She could easily do better. He killed her becuase she ultimately rejected him, plain and simple. I live in Texas and I recall the bumbling by the investigators. Sad that they were so stupid and incompetent, but at least justice was done. I'm glad the parents got some closure and sorry that a sweet lady was taken from the rest of us.

[judymar14]

If he didn't do it, who did? No one had a grudge against Dana Clair. If there was anyone who didn't like her it wasn't worth a mention. I didn't see the end so wonder if he is still in custody or out while appealing? He'll have lots of time to work-out in prison so should lose some weight. They were so mis-matched in looks I find it hard to believe she even gave him a second look. She had her own money so it couldn't have been for that.

[bobnjersey]

[Cell records have the latitude and longitude for the towers the phone is using. Prosecutors used Google Maps to locate the towers and believed they could now say where Ford went -- and when.]
---------------------------------------------
so ... if he had just left the phone where he said he was all night (his alibi) ... he likely would have been acquitted of the crime.

whether it's john mcafee ... general petraeus ... or this fat b@st@rd ... they all seem to be clueless that using electronic means of communication leaves behind a trail ... one that can be used to tell the real truth about your actions and/or whereabouts.

[kckirkpatrick]

I'm glad he wasn't smart enough to leave the phone behind! A huge :THANKS: to the att/tower expert for his multi-billion dollar answer!

[jrt3310]

I too thought that was the most incriminating piece of evidence.
By his own admission during police questioning he stated that it would have been impossible for anyone else to have used his phone. Without those phone records placing that phone in the location of the crimes, there could have been some doubt of his guilt.

[stormy456]

They never said how Grit died? This story is haunting...my heart goes out to the family. At least they have some kind of closure-but you don't get over the loss of a child. I'm so glad they honored her memory
and her love of animals at her memorial service. I'm a firm believer
that Grit and her are together again. Only a monster could do something like this! Thank you to the persistent prosecutors.

[judymar14]

If I remember correctly, he beat Grit to death. That alone should have sent him to prison.

[kegan50]

There's no doubt in my mind, it was his car going in and out of Dana Clare's condo complex. I don't think it was him they showed walking into the bushes, to the condo. I think he took Grit, put him in his car,and killed him, where the Police found him.

What really bothered me, was the lost evidence. Did someone pay the police to dispose of it? I'm very suspicious about that. There was a lot of evidence to just disappear.

Did anyone see HIS parent's at trial? Mr. Ford, evidently had low self esteem about himself, all his life and didn't like getting ridiculed in front of his friends. You just don't know what makes a person snap.

The Prosecutors did a great job. I would have found him guilty on the cell phone records, also. They don't lie.

As a juror, I would have given him 2 concurrent life terms. One for Dana & one for Grit.