Closings Made In Trial Of 1987 San Diego Rape Murder

SAN DIEGO — A medical transport worker raped and murdered a 79-year-old woman in her Normal Heights home more than three decades ago and was linked to the crime by DNA and fingerprint evidence, a prosecutor said Tuesday, while a defense attorney said the victim had consensual sex with her client and accused the prosecution of ignoring a second man's DNA left at the crime scene.

Kevin Thomas Ford, 63, is charged with murder and a special circumstance allegation of murder during a rape or burglary in the May 20, 1987, death of Grace Hayden. He faces life imprisonment without the possibility of parole if convicted on all counts.

Ford, who was living in North Carolina when he was arrested last year, was working as a driver for elderly medical patients in San Diego at the time of the victim's death. Hayden was one of the patients Ford drove to and from medical checkups, according to Deputy District Attorney Valerie Summers, who said a receipt collected by investigators showed he drove her two days before her body was found.

The prosecutor alleged in her closing argument that Ford strangled and smothered Hayden during the rape, leaving behind semen. Injuries to her face and the back of her head indicated a "horrible struggle," Summers said.

"The final moments of this woman's life, which should have been in peace, were violent, sexually violent, and just nothing but pure terror," the prosecutor said.

A knife and a flashlight that did not belong to Hayden were also left at the scene, according to Summers, who said Hayden's purse was found emptied out on her bed.

Ford was initially connected to the crime by identification of a single fingerprint left on Hayden's stovetop, which had two burners on when her body was found. According to trial testimony, the fingerprint did not yield results on a San Diego County database, but when submitted to a national database, a match was made to Ford, who had been arrested in 2015 on suspicion of making criminal threats.

Ford was also later connected to the murder scene via the semen samples, Summers said, and was arrested in 2018. The prosecutor said the defendant told investigators that he didn't know Hayden, then testified at trial that he had lied because he didn't want to get in trouble.

He also wrote a letter to his wife stating he thought he might be arrested someday, but "I didn't know how good their evidence was," according to Summers, who told the jury, "Well, now he knows, as do you."

Defense attorney Courtney Cutter conceded Ford had sex with the victim, but said the rest of the prosecution's case was based on assumptions.

In her closing argument, Cutter said the prosecution was conveniently ignoring the presence of a second man's DNA on vaginal swabs of the victim. The identity of the second DNA contributor remains unknown.

The attorney also noted that Ford's fingerprints were nowhere else to be found in Hayden's home, not even on the knife or flashlight allegedly utilized by the killer, nor any of the items the perpetrator allegedly rifled through to steal.

"We're left with guessing at what things mean, and no matter how much you want them to mean one thing, it doesn't make it proof that that's so," Cutter said.

Ford's trial began last week at the downtown San Diego courthouse. He's being held without bail.

By JASON KUROSU/City News Service