We live in a very dark world. From stories of
murderers walking free to killers boasting
about their crimes on Facebook to terrorists
targeting innocent civilians, experience
shows time and again that a real-life “happy
ending” is more than most victims can
expect. However, sometimes a flicker of
humanity can be found in even the most
hardened killer’s soul.
By any sane measure, the story of Wayne
Adam Ford is a disturbing one. An ex-Marine
and trucker, Ford was responsible for the
sadistic murder of four prostitutes—raping,
beating, torturing, and dismembering them.
By 1998, it looked like Ford was gearing up
to become a prolific serial killer, potentially
destroying the lives of dozens more women
and their families. Then, on November 3 of
that year, an odd thing happened, something
so out of character for a violent, sexually
sadistic killer that it almost defies logic:
Ford walked into a California police station
and turned himself in.
For a serial killer, this was an almost
unprecedented move. Most serial killers are
sociopaths, missing the part of their brain
responsible for empathy. They wouldn’t be
able to commit such awful crimes otherwise.
But Ford not only confessed to the killings,
he wept while doing so, showed remorse,
and claimed he wanted nothing more than to
die and no longer be a threat to other
people. In other words, against all logic, this
perverted killer had had a change of heart.
Now, this story needs some qualifiers: The
fact he turned himself in doesn’t excuse
what Ford had already done. Nor does his
remorseful confession mean anything more
than there was still a flickering of humanity
somewhere in his soul, buried under layers
of ugliness. But it does show how even the
worst killers can sometimes come back from
the brink, even when it seems too late.
Do you think a criminal can change?
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We live in a very dark world. From stories of
murderers walking free to killers boasting
about their crimes on Facebook to terrorists
targeting innocent civilians, experience
shows time and again that a real-life “happy
ending” is more than most victims can
expect. However, sometimes a flicker of
humanity can be found in even the most
hardened killer’s soul.
By any sane measure, the story of Wayne
Adam Ford is a disturbing one. An ex-Marine
and trucker, Ford was responsible for the
sadistic murder of four prostitutes—raping,
beating, torturing, and dismembering them.
By 1998, it looked like Ford was gearing up
to become a prolific serial killer, potentially
destroying the lives of dozens more women
and their families. Then, on November 3 of
that year, an odd thing happened, something
so out of character for a violent, sexually
sadistic killer that it almost defies logic:
Ford walked into a California police station
and turned himself in.
For a serial killer, this was an almost
unprecedented move. Most serial killers are
sociopaths, missing the part of their brain
responsible for empathy. They wouldn’t be
able to commit such awful crimes otherwise.
But Ford not only confessed to the killings,
he wept while doing so, showed remorse,
and claimed he wanted nothing more than to
die and no longer be a threat to other
people. In other words, against all logic, this
perverted killer had had a change of heart.
Now, this story needs some qualifiers: The
fact he turned himself in doesn’t excuse
what Ford had already done. Nor does his
remorseful confession mean anything more
than there was still a flickering of humanity
somewhere in his soul, buried under layers
of ugliness. But it does show how even the
worst killers can sometimes come back from
the brink, even when it seems too late.