Slain Chicago girl detailed abuse in diary; grandmother convicted
CHICAGO - A Chicago woman has been convicted in the 2013 torture and abuse killing of her 8-year-old granddaughter.
The Chicago Sun-Times reports a Cook County judge convicted 55-year-old Helen Ford of first-degree murder in Gizzell Ford’s death Thursday after finding overwhelming evidence she had tortured and killed the youngster.
Journals the girl had kept were made public during her grandmother’s trial and they document her darkening mood as the abuse worsened.
Gizzell Ford had written in one July 2013 entry, “I hate this life.” She was found dead two days later in her family’s apartment on Chicago’s west side after being strangled and beaten.
Her father, Andre Ford, was also charged in her murder, but he died in jail of an apparent heart attack in August 2014 while awaiting trial.