Florida Murderer Deadly shot a newlywed couple In front of a toddler almost 30 years ago, he finally faced justice last week with the state's first execution. The couple's surviving daughter spoke as an adult about childhood memories related to a horrifying crime.
James D. Ford, 64, was executed via a fatal injection Florida State Prison For his wife, Kimberly, 26, after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed his death warrant on January 10 for the murder of 25-year-old Greg Marnolly.
“I feel like I missed so much love …That love from my mother and father,” Maranda Marnolly, who witnessed the murder of her parents for 22 months, told Fox News Digital in an interview after the execution.
“I don't want to say it's closed because it's not closure, but it's a relief to know that he'll never leave and come and find me… I'm the only survivor.”
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Greg and Kimberly Marnolly survived the murder along with their young daughter, Maranda, and told Fox News Digital about her survival story. The family photos were taken the weekend before Greg and Kimberly were killed, Malanda said. (Connie Annie/Family Handouts)
On a Sunday morning in the spring of 1997, Greg and Kimberly Marnolly went fishing at South Florida Sod FarmGreg was working with Malanda, who was 22 months old at the time.
The couple's dead bodies were found the following day, April 7, 1997. Authorities found that Malanda was tied up inside the car seat of a truck and survived the attack, according to court records.
“Poor Maranda, she stayed there to die. It was actually a godly intervention that she survived,” Greg's mother, Connie Anna, told Fox News Digital previously. “The angels must have been with her.”
Malanda, now 29, has no memory of the attack itself, but he remembers the moment she first learned the tragic details of the incident.
During her early childhood, raised by her grandparents, Malanda was unaware of the circumstances surrounding her parents' death until she decided to take the problems into her own hands.
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Greg and Kimberly Marnolly at their wedding were only six months before they were killed. (Connie Annie/Family Handouts)
“I was 13 years old…it was around the anniversary of their murder. I was on my computer…and I Googled it. “I had a way to ask I didn't know so…it was heartbreaking.”
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Malanda had been in the car for over 18 hours, with the doors wide open and covered in mother's blood.
“I didn't understand the extent of it until I read it,” Malanda said of studying crime as a teenager. “I broke down because I came from two fighters. My mother fought, and my dad did.”
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Authorities say Kimberly was doing everything he could to save his daughter while Ford attacked Greg.
Defensive wounds Court records show that she was found on the back of Kim's arm, indicating that she had a struggle.
“To be honest, if she could find the key to my dad's truck, she would have gone to get help,” Malanda said. “That's why I was in the car seat…she was trying to see what happened to my dad and get help.”
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Greg and Kimberly Marnolly during their honeymoon, according to their daughter, Maranda. They were killed at a grass farm in South Florida in 1997, six months after their wedding. (Maranda Marnolly)
At the time, 22 months old, Malanda Marnolly remained in the seat of a family pickup truck on a remote location at Florida Sodd Farm. (Charlotte County Sheriff's Office)
During their investigation, law enforcement learned that Ford was seen along with the victim in the area of crime just before the murder, and he was later seen the same night,” “according to court documents Ford was also observed the day after the murder, which wounded his body.
Maranda explained that Ford, a colleague of Greg on the Charlotte County Farm, invited the family out that day.
“It makes me speechless,” she said.
Greg Marnolly's DNA was found on a knife in Ford's bedroom, Kimberly's DNA was found in Ford's truck, and Ford's DNA was found in Kimberly's body and clothing, court records show.
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“As an adult, it's become a bit easier to ask questions, and then I asked about the day it happened,” Malanda said.
When she began to learn more about the incident, she realized that her “close” community was the reason why she and her parents were quickly discovered to be in the middle of the field on a remote farm.
“In itself, when you ask me, it's… I don't want to call it a miracle, but that's true,” Malanda said.
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Authorities said in April 1997, an employee at Sodd Farm in South Florida was the first to make “a horrifying discovery,” according to court records.
As an adult, Malanda had the opportunity to connect with a man who had found her as a toddler and chose to talk to him in person.
“Thank you for finding us,” she shared. “And he said, “I'm grateful that he's such a strong and resilient girl I could have found.”
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James Ford was executed for the murders of Greg and Kimberly Marnolly. (Florida Department of Corrections)
James Ford was executed for killing Greg and Kimberly Marnolly. (Charlotte County Sheriff's Office)
Greg and Kimberly Marnolly met in high school, and they were married just six months before their deaths. Greg's mother previously said that his chances to become parents were taken away soon.
“I think about them every day. My name is tattooed on my wrist,” Malanda said. “They're my heroes… I honestly don't think I would be here if it wasn't for them.”
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The 29-year-old said she was holding a photo of her holding her like a baby.
“You lament people that they are,” Malanda told her grandparents, “I lament what happened.”
“It's that lacking piece,” she added. “I wish I could get to know them…I love hearing about them.
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The gravestones of Greg and Kimberly Marnolly, killed in 1997. (Maranda Marnolly)
Today, Malanda has a special education with her children and strives to give back to her community.
“I can do my part for what's done for me,” she explained. “Our community has gathered around us even with the execution. Even today, we are still here for you… we will never forget you… we are still here There is.”
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Ford was sentenced to death on June 3, 1999, after being convicted of two counts of first-degree murder, sexual assault with a firearm and child abuse. 2023.
“It affects me in a few big ways and a few ways,” Malanda said of the incident. “I'm afraid of the dark and loud noises…but I think it makes me fight a little harder… I fight every day to show him that he can't win. ”
