GEORGETOWN, Del. — A nearly 28-year-old cold case came to a close when Stephen L. Ford, 72, was arrested in Delaware for the 1996 murder of Doris A. Korell, a 45-year-old woman from St. Petersburg, Florida.
According to the Manatee County Sheriff's Office, Ford was taken into custody on August 16 in Georgetown on a warrant for second-degree murder with a weapon.
Sheriff's deputies say Korell’s body was found on December 15, 1996, floating in a ditch along U.S. 41 in Manatee County, Florida. She had been stabbed 83 times, and investigators determined she had been killed elsewhere before her body was dumped.
According to law enforcement, at the time, Ford, Korell’s boyfriend, had denied involvement, even after suspicious behavior and evidence, such as stains on his bedding and a suicide attempt, were discovered. However, the case went cold due to a lack of physical evidence.
In 2017, Manatee County cold case detectives reopened the investigation. Over several years, new information surfaced, including DNA analysis, which further implicated Ford. He was arrested with the assistance of Delaware State Police and extradited to Florida on August 30, 2024.
Ford is now in the Manatee County Jail, awaiting trial.