Florida newlyweds get justice after household fishing journey resulted in homicide

A Florida killer discovered responsible of capturing and bludgeoning a newlywed couple to dying in entrance of their toddler was lastly executed on Thursday, practically three a long time after his ugly crimes. 

James D. Ford, 64, was executed through deadly injection at Florida State Jail on Thursday for the murders of Greg Malnory, 25, and his spouse Kimberly, 26, after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed his dying warrant on Jan. 10. 

“By no means hand over. All the time struggle to your kids,” Connie Ankney, mom of Greg Malnory, advised Fox Information Digital in an interview on the day of the execution, which she traveled hours to attend. “I by no means stop combating for my son and Kimberly. I did not know if I might be alive as we speak to see this as a result of Kimberly’s mom is not.”

“They all the time discuss… closure,” she added. “Properly, no, it is justice. Simply justice.” 

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Greg and Kimberly Malnory with their younger daughter. (Connie Ankney/Household Handout)

Ankney disclosed that all through this week, main as much as Ford’s execution, she was feeling a mixture of feelings. 

“Remembering that day… what they will need to have went via, the fear, the horror, the concern,” she mentioned. 

On a Sunday morning within the spring of 1997, Greg and Kimberly Malnory made plans to go fishing at South Florida Sod Farm, together with Ford, Greg’s co-worker on the Charlotte County farm.

Their deceased our bodies have been found the next day, April 7, 1997, close to the couple’s pickup truck in the course of a discipline on the distant 7,000-acre farm. Authorities discovered their 22-month-old daughter Maranda strapped inside her automobile seat within the truck, having survived the assault, based on court docket data. 

“They did not get an opportunity to be mother and father…it was taken away so quickly,” Ankney mentioned. 

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Greg and Kimberly Malnory at their wedding ceremony, simply six months earlier than they have been killed, Greg’s mom mentioned. (Connie Ankney/Household handout)

The younger couple met in highschool however started their romantic relationship afterward and have been collectively for a number of years, Greg’s mom defined. They’d married simply six months previous to their deaths. 

“We had gone to Tennessee. They received a type of nation weddings within the mountains, and so they stayed in a type of massive cabins. Kimberly had her white boots,” Ankney recalled. “I am unable to even put it into phrases as a result of, , it was such an exquisite factor …after which six months… such a horrific ending to that lovely, lovely household.” 

On the day their stays have been found, Ankney was known as to the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Workplace, the place she realized the horrific information. 

“I walked in there and Kimberly’s mom and stepdad have been there… sobbing,” she mentioned. “She advised me that they have been useless, and I simply could not imagine it…mentioned they’re useless however the child’s alive.”

Ankney initially believed the couple have been killed in a boating accident as a result of the 2 had advised her they have been going fishing, and he or she hadn’t heard from them since.  

“They did not say homicide instantly…and once they did…I simply misplaced it,” she mentioned. “It would not hit you instantly…it is simply so unbelievable. Murders did not occur in Charlotte County… it was a small little city and all people knew all people.” 

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James Ford was executed for murdering Greg and Kimberly Malnory. (Florida Division of Corrections)

Investigators found that Greg Malnory had been shot within the head and bludgeoned along with his throat slit and that Kimberly Malnory had been sexually assaulted, brutally overwhelmed after which shot useless, paperwork present.  

Maranda had been within the automobile for over 18 hours with the doorways broad open, lined in her mom’s blood. 

“It is simply past my comprehension… it is evil,” Ankney mentioned. “Poor Maranda, simply left there to die. It was really divine intervention that she survived…the angels will need to have been together with her.”

Authorities mentioned that whereas Ford was attacking Greg, Kimberly was doing the whole lot she might to avoid wasting her daughter, which defined the presence of Kimberly’s blood on the kid’s clothes. 

Defensive wounds have been discovered on the backs of Kim’s arms, which indicated that she put up a battle, based on court docket data. 

“The concern that Kimberly will need to have felt making an attempt to get Miranda in that automobile seat and making an attempt to get into that truck… she by no means drove a stick in her life,” Ankney mentioned. “Simply making an attempt to get the hell out of there and combating him.” 

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Greg and Kimberly Malnory’s 22-month-old daughter was discovered left in her automobile seat within the household’s pickup truck on the distant South Florida Sod Farm. (CHARLOTTE COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE)

Throughout their investigation, legislation enforcement realized that Ford had been seen with the victims within the space of the crime simply earlier than the killings, after which he was later seen the identical night “in a distracted state with blood on his face, fingers, and garments,” based on court docket paperwork. Ford was additionally noticed the day after the murders with scratches on his physique. 

“I spent a while with him in a pickup truck going via the property, having him recount what their actions have been that day,” James Kenville, one of many responding deputies on the time and now a serious with the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Workplace, advised WFTX about Ford. “He was very cool, he was plausible while you talked to him, however the bodily proof was telling us that wasn’t the case.” 

Greg Malnory’s DNA was found on a knife in Ford’s bed room, Kimberly’s DNA was positioned in Ford’s truck, and Ford’s DNA was discovered on Kimberly’s physique and clothes, court docket data present. 

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James Ford was executed for the 1997 murders of Greg and Kimberly Malnory. (CHARLOTTE COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE)

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The our bodies of Greg and Kimberly Malnory have been found close to their pickup truck on the distant South Florida Sod Farm. (CHARLOTTE COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE)

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Ankney described her son as a “enjoyable, loving child” with many buddies, who “liked to fish and liked to hunt and drive his blue pickup truck via the mud,” including that Greg loved his time as an worker on the South Florida Sod Farm. 

“He went to work each day, and he advised me, ‘Mother…it is like heaven,’ and when he died there, I mentioned, ‘Oh my God… it was the place he was presupposed to go,'” she advised Fox Information Digital. 

Ankney mentioned her daughter-in-law Kimberly was “bubbly, humorous,” and “she by no means had a baby earlier than, however she took it very severe. She liked Maranda.” 

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A number of years after the killings, Ankney stumbled upon Dad and mom of Murdered Kids.

“Between them and my pastor and Jesus, I survived,” she mentioned. Since 1999, she’s labored with the group, serving to different grieving mother and father. 

“I advised myself, if I will help one particular person, then I’ve performed my job,” Ankney mentioned. “It is a assist group like no different.”

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Greg and Kimberly Malnory have been murdered at a South Florida Sod Farm in 1997. (CHARLOTTE COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE)

Ford was convicted of two counts of first-degree homicide, sexual battery with a firearm, and youngster abuse, and he was sentenced to dying on June 3, 1999. His execution on Thursday was the primary in Florida this 12 months, after one within the state in 2024 and 6 in 2023. 

“I simply need to give him a giant hug and…inform him thanks, thanks,” Ankney mentioned about DeSantis and signing the dying warrant. 

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“They’ll lastly relaxation in peace. This has been one thing that is been occurring for 27 years, and now they will have peace,” she added. “The heartache remains to be going to be there, however he is performed. I’ve no mercy for him… it’s very in God’s fingers.”