The state of Florida has executed James Dennis Ford, 64, for the 1997 murders of Gregory and Kimberly Malnory, who were brutally slain on a fishing trip in front of their young daughter, the first of two executions that occurred on Thursday.
James Dennis Ford killed a couple in front of 23-month-old daughter; Richard Lee Tabler was convicted of two murders and suspected of having carried out two more.
Two days later, Tabler allegedly killed two teen dancers at the club, Tiffany Loraine Dotson and Amanda Benefield, when they began asking questions about the murders.
Maranda Malnory was 23 months old when, according to prosecutors, Ford shot Gregory Malnory in the head with a .22-caliber rifle, bludgeoned him, and slit his throat, then raped, beat, and shot Kimberly Malnory.
The couple’s daughter, Maranda Malnory, was left behind as Ford fled the scene, and found nearly a day later dehydrated and covered in insect bites by an employee of a nearby sod farm.
