Cold case solved: Man arrested for 1996 Manatee County murder

Arrest in 1996 murder case

Nearly 30 years after the death of Doris Korell in Manatee County, investigators arrested Stephen Ford. He has since been extradited to Florida to face murder charges.

PALMETTO, Fla. - After nearly three decades, Manatee County deputies say they've arrested the man responsible for the brutal death of a 45-year-old woman.

Stephen Ford was arrested in Delaware in the 1996 stabbing of Doris Korell, whose body was found along U.S. 41 in Palmetto.

"She was my best friend," said her daughter, Laura Gaddy. "We talked every day, twice a day. About everything."

Pictured: Doris Korell

In December 1996, Laura was pregnant with her first child, and knew something was wrong when Doris wasn't picking up her phone.

"The next day, I called twice. She did not answer her phone. So then I contacted the boyfriend."

Stephen Ford told Laura they had been arguing, and that she hadn't returned from a shopping trip.

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"I suspected (he was) the suspect," she said during an interview on Wednesday, "By the way he was acting, when he didn't call the police department to report her missing."

Doris' body was eventually found in a drainage ditch. She was 4 feet 11 inches tall, 100 pounds, partially blind, and stabbed more than 80 times.

For 28 years, Ford evaded arrest – that is, until DNA tests taken this year ruled out other suspects.

Mugshot courtesy: Manatee County Jail

"She would be proud," said Gaddy, "for me to keep pushing, to have this taken care of."

Deputies picked up Ford in Delaware, saying the scientific testing plus evidence of a "consciousness of guilt" now gave them a provable case.

They found no evidence she ever went shopping, plus they say Ford had written a letter to his ex-girlfriend saying, "I hope she gets the message that I don't want her anymore."

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"I don't know why anyone would stab somebody that many times," said Randy Warren of the Manatee County Sheriff's Office. "She had wounds all over her body. We can only hope that she died quickly."

For her family, the arrest brings to a close 28 years of waiting, and relief she can finally rest in peace.

"I did cry a little," said Gaddy. "Hopefully he will get what he deserves as a payback."