Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
A murderer from Florida who Fatally fired a newly married couple In front of his little boy almost three decades ago, he finally faced justice last week in the first execution of the state of the State. The surviving daughter of the couple has spoken as an adult about the memories of her childhood related to the horrible crimes.
James D. Ford, 64, was executed by lethal injection in Florida State Prison On February 13 for the murders of Greg Malnory, 25, and his wife Kimberly, 26, after Governor Ron Desantis signed his death order on January 10.
“I feel that I missed a lot of love …That love of my mother and dad, “Maranda Malnory, who witnessed the murders of her parents as a 22 -month -old boy, told Fox News Digital in an interview after the execution.
“I do not want to say that it was the closure because it is not a closure, but it is peace of mind to know that I could never go out to look for me … I am the only survivor.”
Florida’s newlyweds get justice after the family fishing trip ended up in murder
Greg and Kimberly Malnory with their little daughter Maranda, who survived the murders and spoke with Fox News Digital about their survival history. The family’s photo was taken over the weekend before Greg and Kimberly were killed, Maranda said. (Connie Ankney/Family Follet)
On Sunday morning in the spring of 1997, Greg and Kimberly Malnory set out to fish in Florida Florida grass farmWhere Greg worked, along with Maranda, who was 22 months old at that time.
The deceased bodies of the couple were discovered the next day, on April 7, 1997, near their truck in the middle of a field in the remote 7,000 acres farm. The authorities found Maranda tied inside their car seat in the truck, since it survived the attack, according to judicial records.
“Poor Maranda, just left there to die. Actually, it was a divine intervention that she survived,” said Greg’s mother, Connie Ankney, Fox News Digital. “Los Angeles must have been with her.”
Now 29 years old, Maranda does not remember the attack itself, but remember the exact moment in which he first learned the heartbreaking details of the case.
During his first years of childhood raised by his grandparents, Maranda did not know the circumstances surrounding the death of his parents until he decided to take the matter in his own hands.
Greg and Kimberly Malnory at their wedding, only six months before they were killed. (Connie Ankney/Family Follet)
“I was 13 years old … It was at the time of the anniversary of his murders. I was on my computer … and I looked for it on Google. I looked on Google every detail I could find,” he said. “Because I didn’t know how to ask … it was heartbreaking.”
Researchers in the case He discovered that Greg Malnory had been shot in the head and beaten with the grocery cleft, and Kimberly Malnory had been sexually attacked, beaten brutally and then shot dead, according to judicial records.
Maranda had been in the vehicle for more than 18 hours with open and blood covered doors.
“I didn’t realize its reach until I read it,” Maranda said about the investigation of crimes when I was a teenager. “I broke because I came from two combatants. My mother fought, and my dad too.”
Get real -time updates directly in the True criminal center
The authorities said that while Ford was attacking Greg, Kimberly was doing everything possible to save his daughter, which explained the presence of Kimberly’s blood in the child’s clothes.
Defensive wounds They were found in the back of Kim’s Arms, which indicated that she put a fight, according to judicial records.
“Honestly, I think that if I could find my father’s keys, she would have gone to get help,” Maranda said. “That’s why I was in the seat of my car … she was going to receive help by having seen what happened to my dad.”
The Florida Mall’s luxury murder and kidnapping series has one thing in common: FBI retired agent
Greg and Kimberly Malnory while they were on their honeymoon, according to their daughter Maranda. They were killed in a grass of grass of southern Florida in 1997, six months after their wedding. (Malnory Maranda)
Male Malnory, 22 months at that time, was found left in the seat of his car in the family truck in the remote grass of grass of southwest Florida. (Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office)
During his investigation, the police learned that Ford had been seen with the victims in the area of the crime just before the murders, and then the same night was seen “in a state distracted with blood on the face, hands and the clothing, “according to judicial documents. Ford was also observed the day after the murders with scratches in his body.
Maranda explained that Ford, who had been Greg’s co -worker on the Charlotte County farm, invited his family excursion that day.
“He leaves me speechless, “he said.” That hatred … for the people you had worked with and the people you know. “
Greg Malnory DNA It was discovered in a knife in Ford’s room, Kimberly’s DNA was located in Ford’s truck, and Ford’s DNA was found in Kimberly’s body and clothes, as shown by the judicial records.
“It wasn’t until I was an adult who made me a little easier to ask questions … and ask about the day it happened,” Maranda said.
When she began to learn more about the case, she acknowledged that her “united” community was the reason why she and her parents were found as soon as they were in the middle of the field in the great farm.
“That in itself, if you ask me, is … I don’t want to call it a miracle, but it is,” Maranda said.
Follow the Fox True Crime team in X
The authorities said that an employee of the Florida grass farm had been the one initially made by the “Horrible discovery“In April 1997, according to judicial records.
As an adult, Maranda had the opportunity to connect with the man who found her as a young child and chose to speak with him directly.
“I said: ‘Thank you for finding us,” he shared. “And he said: ‘Thank you for being such a strong and resistant girl that I could find.”
James Ford was executed by the murders of Greg and Kimberly Malnory. (Florida Corrections Department)
James Ford was executed for killing Greg and Kimberly Malnory. (Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office)
Greg and Kimberly Malnory met at high school, and had married only six months before their death. Greg’s mother said previously that her opportunity to be parents had been taken too soon.
“I think of them every day. I have their names tattooed on my wrist,” Maranda said. “They are my heroes … Honestly, I think I would not be here if it hadn’t been for them.”
Register to get TRUE CRIME BULLETIN
The 29 -year -old said he maintains a photo of her parents holding her when she was a baby, who was taken over the weekend before the murders, on her desk to this day.
“Rain to the people who were,” Maranda recalled told his grandparents, “I cried what could have been.”
“It’s that missing piece,” he added. “I wish I could have known them … I love hearing stories about them because, in my way, he knows them.”
The mysterious disappearance of the news presenter was the crime of “jealousy”: private researcher
The tombstone of Greg and Kimberly Malnory, which were killed in 1997. (Malnory Maranda)
Maranda Today works in special education with children and strives to give back to her community.
“I can do my part due to the things that were done for me,” he explained. “Our community recovered around us, even with the execution. Even now, it is still, ‘we are here for you … we never forget you … we are still here.'”
Click here to get the Fox News application
Ford was convicted by Two first degree murder positionsSexual aggression with firearm and child abuse, and was sentenced to death on June 3, 1999. Its execution in Florida in 2025 followed one in the state in 2024 and six in 2023.
“It impacts me in some ways and small forms,” Maranda said on the case. “I am terrified of the dark and strong noises … but I also think it makes me fight a little harder … I fight every day to show you that you can’t win. “
