Going West: True Crime - Cathy Ford // 113

Episode Date: March 24, 2021

In 1988, a 19-year-old woman in Maryland went missing after a last-minute meeting with an unknown man. When her car was found burned and an anonymous letter was sent to her parents, the police seriously began investigating a particular person in their small town. But were they the one responsible for this young woman’s mysterious vanishing, or someone else right under law enforcement’s nose? This is the story of Cathy Ford. *BONUS EPISODES* patreon.com/goingwestpodcast ( patreon.com/goingwestpodcast ) *CASE SOURCES* https://www.websleuths.com/forums/threads/wv-catherine-ford-19-gormania-feb-1988-p-ferrell-guilty.132052/ http://vots.altervista.org/news/Ferrell.htm https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/cmxuxv/who_really_killed_cathy_ford_in_1988_was_her_real/ https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Cathy_Ford https://law.justia.com/cases/west-virginia/supreme-court/1990/19401-5.html https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/175308764/rosalie-roberta-ford https://obituaries.times-news.com/obituary/rosalie-ford-865117532 Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on True Crime fans, I'm your host Heath, and I'm your other host, Daphne, and you're listening to Going West. This is apparently known as one of the most controversial cases in Maryland's history. So buckle up because I was audibly only godding to myself while I was researching. I'm very excited for this one. It's really interesting. I'm surprised no one else has covered it, at least as far as I could find. And then I had never heard of it.

I actually found this case on some really obscure random website. And other than that, I've never heard of it. So I hope you guys have indeed there, and you can get a little, little frustrated with us. And, Daphne, why don't you tell everybody about the new merch that you're working on? Yes, so I'm working on a spring and summer collection. I actually just asked everyone over on Instagram what you guys wanted for that collection. So I'm taking everything into account, going gonna make a bunch of awesome new stuff. That'll be up in a couple weeks on our website,

goingwestpod.com. And I'll let you guys know when it is, just so you know when to check it out. Also, if you guys are loving going west and you want some more episodes, make sure you head over to patreon.com slash going west podcast. We have over what, 36 bonus episodes now for you guys to dive into.

Yeah, we got a lot. And they're full length ad free as we always say. So that's a great place to be able to binge. Lots of great stuff over there. International cases, it's really fun. All right guys, this is episode 113 of going west. So let's get into it. In 1988, a 19-year-old woman in Maryland went missing after a last-minute meeting with an unknown man. When our car was found burned and an anonymous letter was sent to her parents,

the police seriously began investigating a particular person in their small town. But were they the one responsible for this woman's mysterious vanishing? Or someone else right under law enforcement's nose? This is the story of Kathy Ford. Catherine Denise Ford, who went by Kathy, was born on July 20, 1968 in Oakland, Maryland, to parents Rosalie and Carl Ford, who was a World War II veteran, along with her brothers Rich, Gary, and Kevin.

Let me describe this area a bit. Oakland only hosts under a couple thousand residents, and it's right next to the even smaller town of Gorman, Maryland, which is where the story takes place. only hosts under a couple thousand residents and it's right next to the even smaller town of Gorman, Maryland, which is where the story takes place. Both are located in Garrett County, which hosts about 29,000 people, so still super small. Gorman, Maryland directly borders Gormania, West Virginia, which is another very small town of just over a hundred people. This is an interesting name, Gormania. Gorman and Gormania. So we're going to discuss both of those places, so just remember they're

right next to each other and both have low population, so definitely know your neighbors kind of place. I just don't want anyone to get confused since these are two different states, but they're just on the other side of a bridge from each other, so right on next to each other. And growing up, Kathy's parents owned a very homie diner called the Old Mill in Gorman, Maryland, and she worked there in her teen years. But after graduating high school, she continued to work there as a waitress. And this definitely made her family extremely close because all the kids work there at one point or another and even the parents were both cooks and her mom Rosalie was a waitress as well.

Kathy was known as a very loving and wonderful young woman and she was not the type to ever get into trouble and she was quite responsible. When Kathy was 19 years old in early 1988, she was dating a 24-year-old man named Darvin Moon, and they'd been in a pretty steady relationship for a little while. On February 17, 1988, beautiful and tall Kathy Ford was working at the Old Mill restaurant, taking local's orders and making customers happy with their American-style food, which was typical for her on most days of the week. She was great at her job because she was extremely personable and outgoing, so the customers

really loved her. The old mill doesn't exist today, but it was a standalone building back into a bunch of beautiful trees and located directly off the highway. So if you were on the highway, you could pop off and be at the restaurant right away. So it's a pretty good place to put a restaurant since amongst the locals, you'd probably get some travelers as well. Yeah, and there's really not much around here.

I think there's some houses up the street, but it's on a highway like he said, surrounded by a bunch of trees, so not a ton of else over here. Yeah, and if you guys want some visuals, you can check out our social medias, Instagram, at Going West Podcast, and Twitter, at Going West Pod.

So on that chilly February day, which again, was Wednesday, February 17, 1988, Kathy was working at the diner when a phone call came in at 1 p.m. from someone claiming to be a local magistrate. And for those of you who don't know, a magistrate is a judicial officer who administers the law. So this person was telling Kathy

that the local Sheriff's Department was cracking down on restaurants and bars in the area that were selling alcohol to minors. So to make sure that they were checking everyone's ID before serving them alcohol. It's unknown to us if the old mill had an issue with this before or if this was just a general FYI type of phone call. Pat Parker, who was one of Kathy's co-workers, had gone to grab the phone when Kathy quickly picked it up instead, even though her shift had

just ended. It was kind of almost as if she was expecting the call Pat later explained. And Pat didn't really hear the whole conversation because she really wasn't paying attention since she was working, but she did hear Kathy tell the magistrate that she would be there for a 3pm meeting. Another co-worker also heard part of the phone call and there was another waitress named Dottie Reel who was putting salad away in the fridge when Kathy picked up the phone. It being a small restaurant, Dottie heard some of the conversation and remembers Kathy saying, my checks.

And then Kathy said, well who is this? Shortly after this, Kathy said, three o'clock. And then hung up the phone. Kathy didn't seem too happy after this call, so Dottie asked, Kathy, what's the matter? To which Kathy replied, oh, that just screws up my afternoon. Dottie then said,

well, what's wrong? And Kathy responded with, that was the magistrate's office in Oakland. He wants to see me at three o'clock to discuss some checks. Just a few minutes later, Kathy smoked a Marborough cigarette before leaving and snuffed it out somewhat angrily. Pat Parker saw this happen and Pat had been working at the old mill for a while and pretty

much considered Kathy a daughter of hers. So she asked Kathy who called and Kathy said, it was an undercover cop. If anyone comes to buy beer, be sure to card them. They're sending someone young around, so if you don't know them, don't sell them any beer without asking for an ID. I've got to meet him to find out more." Then Pat asked Kathy where she was meeting this man, and eerily enough Kathy said, I can't tell you.

Pat thought this was very suspicious, so she said, who is this guy? Knowing that Kathy had more information than she was letting on, Kathy then said, I can't tell you, he said he'd get fired if I told anyone. So this definitely indicates that someone was giving Kathy a heads up to save the old mill from getting finder shut down when an undercover cop had planned to come in and order beer without getting carted. And Kathy's mom Rose, who was working at the old mill that day too, also wanted to know more, but without giving any more details, Kathy left the restaurant to get ready to meet this unknown man. Kathy lived in an apartment nearby that was owned by her parents, and she didn't live alone, and she actually lived with her longtime boyfriend, Darvin.

And Darvin was a red-headed local sawmill worker and a parent drug dealer, and he was pretty possessive of Kathy. But he was at work at his family's sawmill when Kathy got home, so he didn't know about this meeting, so she went ahead and showered, and then she got dressed. And she put on an open black blouse, some blue stonewashed jeans and black flats topped with a black leather coat and a pink purse. This really wasn't a typical outfit for her as she usually looked a lot more casual in her work or dress boots.

When she got back to the restaurant at about 2pm, she asked Pat how she looked. It seemed very odd that she was dressed up just to see an undercover cop, so Pat said that she looked stupid. And at this moment, Pat was pretty unhappy with Kathy for a couple reasons, so she wasn't being the nicest. First of all, she had just found out that her own teenage daughter had smoked cigarettes in Kathy's apartment with Kathy's permission, so this upset Pat. And on top of that, Pat was annoyed at Kathy for being so evasive about what this meeting was and who it was with. Kathy being annoyed at this comment headed for the door, and Pat stopped her to ask her to at least tell her when she would be back

so she wouldn't have to worry about her. Kathy said, I'll be back in an hour. Not having any details. Pat was not pleased with this response, so she said, yeah, and what do I do if you don't come back in an hour? What am I supposed to do then? She wasn't seriously worried and kinda said this more playfully, but hoped for more information nonetheless.

Then Kathy sarcastically replied with, come look for me. And then got into her father Silver Bronco and drove off. An hour passed and Kathy didn't return. As the afternoon went on, none of her co-workers or family heard anything from her, and at 4 p.m. when Darvin got off work, he stopped by the restaurant to hear the concerns about Kathy's whereabouts. And when the sun sat around 5.30 p.m. that day, everyone really started to worry, and within a few more hours, Kathy's parents called the local police to report her missing.

The following day, Kathy's family, along with her boyfriend, Darvin, put together a search party and even began posting missing person's flyers offering a $1,000 reward. They knew something had to have happened to her and were incredibly frustrated knowing that she had gone to meet up with someone, yet they had no idea who this person was, since she had hit it from them. Before we get more into this story though, there's a very important character that we have to tell you about, and it's a local man named Paul Farrell. He was a rookie grant county sheriff's deputy, who had literally just been sworn into his

position a few weeks prior, and here's where Gormania West Virginia comes into play. Because that's where he lived, and that very small town is in Grant County. Not to be confused with Garrett County, which is where Gorman is. So Gorman is in Garrett, Gormania is in Grant. Grant, Gorman, Gormania. Way too small. Yeah, it's a lot. But again, even though these are two different states, for the sake of this story, you can kind of think of Gorman Maryland and Gormania West Virginia as the same town since they

kind of melt into each other. At this time, Paul Farrell was 32 years old and dating a woman named Kathy Bernard, who was a mother of two. He had grown up in the area with six brothers, one being his identical twin David, in a very nice Catholic family who valued education. All of his brothers received bachelor's degrees and moved on to do other things, but Paul and his twin brother David didn't, and they remained in the area to help their parents with the general store that they owned. According to David, Paul was definitely a lady's man and attracted them with his handsome exterior along with his gentle personality. In his 20s, Paul had served in the military, but upon returning to Gormania, he helped run the family business

at his parents' local general store, which was called Farrell's Mart, by the way. Paul got into boxing as a hobby and then started working for the Grant County Sheriff's Department. Although Paul was dating another woman, he was having an affair with a 19-year-old Kathy Ford. They had apparently been a secret thing since the fall of 1987, so for about five months leading up to Kathy's disappearance. Of course, Kathy was then also having an affair since she was still with her longtime boyfriend, Darvin Moon. But in the late summer of 1987, Darvin's drinking and drug abuse had gotten very bad, so he entered rehab in Cumberland, Maryland, which is about an hour's drive from Gorman. During his time away, Kathy and Paul began their affair and

spent a lot of time together at his trailer until Darwin got out of rehab in October. But even after Darwin returned home, Kathy continued to see Paul, just a bit less frequently. But Paul went into the Old Mill restaurant almost every day for his usual breakfast tradition, so they definitely saw each other quite a bit since Kathy worked mornings. Why does this remind me of like a drama TV show? Like you know the small town like cop goes to the small town. Yeah, goes to the diner. Yeah, it goes to the diner where his, you know, his hot younger mistress. Yeah, it works. Yeah, I totally see that. But I should mention that while Darvin was away at rehab, they had kind of broken up, but he wasn't happy about this, so they were definitely still talking while he was

in rehab, but Kathy was trying to get away from that relationship, and her and Paul really got along. And really, they bonded over the fact that they both ran their family's businesses, and were heavily depended on by their parents to help them do so. Paul later stated that Kathy had a lot of plans in her life, but she felt stuck and like she couldn't abandon the restaurant and pursue her own dreams. She hadn't done much traveling, and Paul says that he once brought up moving to Yellowstone and getting a job there. And she seemed interested in possibly joining him, so she could kind of see something else

and break the cycle of waking up at 4 a.m. every morning just to work at her family's diner. So she did have other dreams. She just didn't know how to get out of Gorman. Paul was actually at the old mill at around 4 p.m. that day when Darvin showed up after a shift at the sawmill. He was picking up a hamburger to go when he overheard

Pat Parker tell Darwin that she didn't know where Kathy was. Since Kathy wasn't technically missing at this point, Paul apparently didn't think much of it since he had a lot going on himself. So he grabbed his burger and then just kind of carried on with his day. His mother was getting a mammogram that day in Virginia, so he was worried about what the results would be for that. And his girlfriend Kathy Bernard, who had been living with him since December, was taking her son to the doctor that day, so it seemed as if Paul had too many concerns about his family, so he kinda wasn't really worried about Kathy at that point. After leaving the old mill that day, Paul says he went to the family's general store

just a few minutes away, ate his hamburger while he did some chores, and then headed to his parents' house to wait for his mom to come home from the doctor and make sure she was okay. His parents returned home at 6 p.m. to find Paul in the backyard playing fetch with their dog, and they all went inside to chat. His mother Bev said that it went fine, but she wouldn't know the results for a little while. Paul played outside with the dog for a little bit longer before heading to the par-mat

lanes in Oakland, Maryland, which is a bowling alley, to play with his league at 8.30pm as he always did. Meanwhile, Bev and Joe, Paul's parents, went out to Ash Wednesday dinner, which was grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. When Paul arrived at the bowling alley, his friends were already there, and one of the employees came up to him explaining that a woman had called for him, and that she sounded very upset. The employee told the woman on the phone that Paul hadn't arrived to the bowling alley yet, and she asked him to have Paul call her as soon as he did. The woman didn't give a name but she did give a number. According to multiple

witnesses, Paul went to the pay phone and made a call to this phone number and Paul said that the woman on the other line was Kathy Ford. She said, I've got to see you. Darvin's found out about us and we're in trouble. I always want to stay on track and eat healthy, but that's really hard in these unpredictable times when all I want to do is get takeout, but not anymore now that I found gobble. Gobble is a meal kit delivery service designed for real life. It's an incredibly easy and delicious way to make healthy meals at home in just 15 minutes, and definitely and I have found this service to be so helpful and amazing. Gobble has everything already set and prepared for you, which is done by an awesome team of sous chefs

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It was so satisfying and delicious you guys have to try it. Right now they're offering six meals for just $36 plus free shipping. So that's dinner for two people for three nights for just 36 bucks. Get this special offer now go to gobble.com slash going west. That's gobble.com slash going west for six meals for just $36. When you rely on the internet for everything, you need speed that can handle anything. And now, Exfinity delivers Wi-Fi speed faster than a gig. Check out our amazing offers on internet and learn about the latest breakthrough from Xfinity. WiFi Speed Faster Than A Gig.

That's more than enough speed to power all your devices and then some. Go online, call 1-800-Xfinity or visit a store today to learn more. Restrictions apply, Gig WiFi requires Gig Speed and compatible X-Fi Gateway. Actual Speed Verror not guaranteed. When Paul picked up the bowling alley phone to call the number that the employee gave him, Kathy Ford was allegedly on the other line. Paul states that she said, I've got to see you. Darvin's found out about us, and we're in trouble. Paul panicked immediately since he, quote, hates confrontations, and then Kathy told him that she

had picked up four ounces of cocaine and needed to get rid of it. Paul says that Kathy was slurring her words a lot and not really acting like herself, so his feeling was that she may have used some of that cocaine. He then says that Kathy asked him to meet her at his trailer so they could hide the cocaine, which reportedly made Paul extremely uncomfortable, obviously because he was a newly sworn in deputy. So he told her that he didn't want to do that, but he did actually want to help her out. She said that she was using a pay phone nearby, so he asked her to meet

him at a nearby high school, and she agreed. Upon hanging up the phone, he told the employee who had taken the message that he wouldn't be able to play in the league that night, and he quickly found a replacement. With that, he left and drove over to the high school. Paul says he waited 20 minutes for Kathy to show up, but she never did. He didn't know what was going on or where she was, so he eventually left and went back to his home to his girlfriend Kathy Bernard, who was pissed when Paul walked through the door. She had been trying to call him all afternoon to no avail to tell him how her son's

doctor's appointment went, and on top of that, a woman had left a message at their house saying she was going to meet him at his trailer instead. And to clarify his trailer and his home are two separate places. So he had a house and then he had a trailer. And this is obviously really bad news for Paul, because now Kathy Bernard knows something's up. Exactly. So now Paul can't go to the trailer because Kathy Bernard kind of knows what's up. Exactly, so now Paul can't go to the trailer because Kathy Bernard kind of knows what's up, and he decides against going and stays at home for the night. By this time, little did Paul know, Kathy's parents had already reported Kathy missing. Worried about what was going on with Kathy Ford, Paul stated that he hardly slept that night at all, and just tossed and turned in bed until finally at 5 a.m. he went out to the trailer

to see if Kathy was there. When he arrived, he didn't see her dad silver Bronco, so he knew she wasn't there but went inside anyway. And this confirmed that she indeed was not inside, and everything appeared to be normal. But Paul did notice that the back door was slightly cracked open. This was a little strange yet not completely out of the ordinary since the door's latch wasn't very strong. When Paul was getting ready to leave, he noticed something in the field behind his trailer. It was a foggy February morning, so he couldn't really make out what it was at first, but he could tell that it was a vehicle.

The sun hadn't rose yet, and wouldn't do so until about 7 a.m., but there were lights on outside that Paul says slightly illuminated this vehicle, and he smelled smoke. He says that he didn't look into it any further because he was kind of scared. He started wondering if something bad had happened to Kathy and felt sick that she could have been in danger due to him not meeting her the night before. So Paul called out sick to work because he quote, couldn't face being a deputy, a job he realized he wasn't cut out for, with something potentially serious going on in his personal life.

Paul says that he spent much of the day at the Ferrell Mart, and later that morning, Kathy's brother Gary, along with her boyfriend, Darvin Moon, walked into the Ferrell Mart and Darvin said to one of the employees, is the one who's a deputy here? The employee, a woman named Sharon, called up to Paul and he came down. Remember this for later. As the three men walked outside, Sharon heard Darvin tell Paul they wanted to report

a missing vehicle. Darvin then went on to tell Paul, quote, I know someone's been screwing Kathy out on Bismarck Road. And I think something bad happened out there last night. To be clear, Paul's trailer out on Bismarck Road. And I think something bad happened out there last night. To be clear, Paul's trailer was off Bismarck Road, so this was a very specific detail for Darwin to point out. And then to go to say he thinks something bad happened out there last night. Remember, he came to Paul specifically to say this, not the police department. So did Darwin know about Kathy and Paul's affair? I would think so, yeah.

Yeah, it just seems way too specific to me. And Paul was worried that he did know from the way he said this. So later that afternoon, Paul headed to the old mill to talk to Darwin who was there when he pulled up. Darwin apparently looked very angry, but Paul assured him that he didn't want any trouble. He just wanted to help find Kathy. Darvin then said once again that whoever was screwing Kathy, quote, was going to get this.

And then showed Paul a semi-automatic weapon that looked like an oozy. The following day, which was Friday, February 19, 1988, Garrett County Sheriff Van Evans, took over the investigation for Kathy Ford. According to him, the call that Kathy received was similar to calls that came into other women in the area that day that seemed to try and lure these women to a remote area. But the magistrate's office in Oakland definitely wasn't a remote location. It was at the Courthouse in downtown Oakland, which remember, is the small town that Kathy

grew up in, amongst a bunch of shops and about a block from the Oakland Police Department. The other women had gotten calls trying to lure them to Mount Storm, which is right outside of Gormania and West Virginia. So about a 25-minute drive from Oakland, Maryland in the opposite direction of where the old mill is. So this means that whoever called the girls that morning likely wasn't the same person that called Kathy, and maybe this really was a magistrate. But please believe it must have been the same guy, even though Kathy's family did not

agree. Rose Ford and her sister Anna, Kathy's mom and aunt, wondered if the call had come from Detective Donald Tucker, because he had apparently given tips to them before about this kind of thing, to which Sheriff Van Evans laughed and scoffed at them in disbelief. In an interview with Darwin Moon, he suggested the same thing, quote, the guy on the phone could have told Kathy any name. If he's the one that made all those calls Moon, he suggested the same thing. Quote, the guy on the phone could have told Kathy any name. If he's the one that made all those calls around, he could have told them that it was you, Donnie Tucker,

or anyone that wanted to give her some tips. Unquote. Darwin also never mentioned Paul or suggested that he was involved. Strangely, Detective Donald Tucker was the one to take a statement from Dottie Reale, the other waitress who had overheard Kathy's phone conversation the day she disappeared. She had told Detective Tucker that Kathy said she was meeting at the Magistrate's office in

Oakland. But in the written statement, the word Oakland had been blocked out. And Detective Tucker instead put emphasis on Mount Storm, which was the location the other women had attempted to be lured by a man on the phone. And this is very odd that he would block this out, not to mention that Tucker didn't have the best reputation. In fact, someone from another law enforcement agency who wanted to remain anonymous was quoted saying, it's well known that Tucker can't be trusted. You know how he mentioned that Paul had previously smelled smoke and he thought he saw a vehicle behind his trailer and then got scared, left and called out to work?

So later that day, after Darwin said that someone saw smoke coming from an unknown area off Bismarck Road. He went back to his trailer and checked the field again. That's when he found Kathy's silver Ford Bronco completely burned, less than 200 yards from his trailer. Paul says he panicked in that moment because he knew that if he reported it, they would blame him for it. And what if Kathy's body was inside?

He would surely be suspected of her murder. The road where her car was found was up a road that was rarely used by anyone. Which is why no one else had come upon it. So he kept it a secret. And as the days went on, her family as well as all the surrounding towns looked for any trace of Kathy Ford. On February 29th, so about a week and a half after Kathy went missing, Paul called his girlfriend Kathy Bernard and told her to call the Ford family and say that Kathy Ford was alright.

He had called her collect from Union Town, Pennsylvania, which is nearly an hour and a half north of Gormania, and stated that he asked her to do this and pose his Kathy Ford so the family wouldn't look for her. So it would look like she ran away, and they wouldn't find her car behind his trailer. This is completely insane, because he drove an hour and a half to a town up north, and then he told his actual girlfriend to pose as the girl that he's been sleeping with behind his actual girlfriend's back and say that she's alright and tell her family not to go looking for her. Yeah, it's really really questionable and we're going to go into this a little bit later

too but it's definitely like, oh and I read that I, I was like, oh, man, like that just made me really disappointed. Right. So we have some key players in this case. We have Paul, we have Darwin, and we have Detective Donald Tucker. Then on March 2, 1988, Kathy's parents Rose and Carl received a letter postmarked from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, three days earlier that read, The only crime here was we had to get rid of the old man's bronco right away.

Kathy's 19, an adult, and we had to leave fast. We came into some dangerous money. So here's some money on the bronco, more to follow. So call you when she feels it's safe to do so. We're heading where I can get some work. Kathy made me write you so you wouldn't worry. She had to get away from Darwin, the restaurant, and certain people. Tell Darwin to leave us alone.

And along with the letter was $200 in $20 bills. It was later determined that a week before this letter was sent, It was later determined that a week before this letter was sent, Paul Farrell took $200 out of his personal savings account. One week later, on March 8, 1988, Darwin Moon and Kathy's brother Rich were searching for any sign of Kathy or her car on Bismarck Road when they came across her burned Bronco behind Paul's trailer and they immediately reported it. The fire was ruled in Arsene, but Kathy's body wasn't found in the car, nor anywhere

in the area surrounding the car, and there weren't any signs that proved that she had been there at all. Because the car had been set on fire, any evidence of how her car got there was destroyed. But the FBI wondered if that was even the spot where the car had been burned in the first place, because the surrounding area didn't have very much fire damage at all. So it appeared to many that Kathy's car had been burned elsewhere, and then somehow moved to that spot. But where? And by who?

And this is when Paul Farrell became a suspect in this case. They hadn't suspected him before for the letter or for any of this, but now that the car was found nearest trailer, he became the focus of this investigation. When our car was found, it was missing its license plates, and interestingly enough, at the time Kathy went missing, police apparently failed to follow up on several leads that could have helped her case. One in particular being a caller who reported seeing two women acting very suspiciously

in a Ford Bronco that had the exact license plate as Kathy's, except the caller couldn't remember the last digit. Police never followed up on this call. The following week, Paul's trailer was searched with his permission, as investigators looked for any evidence linking to Kathy Ford. They noticed that the master bedroom in the trailer had fresh carpet. Oh, no, that's never a good sign. I was so pissed when I read that. And when the question Paul about this, he said that he replaced it because it had dark stains and dead animal odor.

Oh God, then that's like the last thing you wanna say too. Yeah, that's like, yeah, that's like real suspicious. But they discovered that Paul had replaced them on February 18th, the day after Cathy went missing and the day he called out to work. So obviously that does not look good for him. Kathy Bernard, remember who is Paul's girlfriend, later stated that she had been to the trailer four days before this on Valentine's Day, before he replaced the carpets, and she hadn't

noticed any stains or bad odors. And Paul's landlord had even been inside the trailer about a month before Kathy's disappearance and didn't notice anything either. So this sudden, like, dark stain, bad animal odor thing is really, really fresh, really recent occurrence, which of course is, are you sure that's what it was, you know? Yeah, and I can understand if like the carpet been in there for years, and there was stains, and like- Yeah, but they would have seen that.

Yeah, but then being like, oh yeah, there's dead animal odor. Suddenly, I got like some animal stuff, like animal body. What? Yeah. At the stone, even no. No, no. So while police were inspecting Paul's trailer, they discovered tiny spatters of blood on the walls, mirrors, and the ceiling of his master bedroom.

The very same room where the carpet was replaced. Oh God. Yeah, and some of the drops of blood had even dripped through some of the cracks into the floor. It being 1988, they couldn't conclusively determine if the blood belonged to Kathy, but they could say that it was human blood. And after comparing it to Kathy's parents' DNA, it wasn't NOT Kathy's blood, if that makes sense. Like they were able to determine that the blood could have been from one of the Ford family members. There was also a Marboros cigarette found in the trailer, which we know, Kathy smoked.

It was known that Kathy visited Paul's trailer on occasion anyway, so this could have been from another time, but the FBI concluded that this cigarette also could have been smoked by Kathy. After all these wild discoveries were made, police arrested Paul Farrell on March 20, 1988 for the murder of 19-year-old Kathy Ford. And five days later, police found a wristwatch that belonged to Kathy in a small burned area near Paul's trailer. Paul Farrell's trial began on January 25, 1989, so almost one year from when Kathy went missing.

Regarding those calls we discussed earlier where a man had tried to lure women to a secluded area, well, it gets weirder. From September 14, 1987 to February 1988, numerous women reported receiving strange calls from a man posing as a police officer, a doctor, and a magistrate. Ooh. All of the recipients were attractive women between ages 19-39, and one of the young women named Tamala testified in court that she believed the man was Paul Farrell.

When this man called Tamala, he'd asked her for her sister's phone number, which Tamela provided. And this phone number was later found written in a phone book that was found in the living quarters above Farrell's mark. So there's a little connection. And Paul's trailer, by the way, was located in the Mount Storm area, which is where the women were all directed. And some apparently were even directed to Paul's exact trailer. So this is like a okay holy shit. Yeah, it had to be an M, you know. And it was confirmed that Paul had a habit of making prank sex phone calls, so this again was not looking good for him.

So at this point, everything's pointing to Paul being behind whatever happened to Kathy because now we're like, okay, maybe he posed as a magistrate and called her to get her to a specific area, which to me I'm still like, well, why did she say she was going to the courthouse in Oakland

because that's not the area where he lives? So to me, I'm like, I don't even know, and when she recognizes his voice, I don't know if I'm on the fence. What do you think? I think that it all points at Paul. And by the way, not to get hung up on this, but I mean, dude, you're 32.

Why are you making prank sex calls to people? Like, that's just fucking weird. I don't know. I don't know. That's a very good point. He should get something better to you know Go bowling do something else But you know at this point we still don't have Kathy's body

So he is being charged for her murder, but there's no body So that's obviously still a question here and what's weird to me is You know, why did Paul make this call to the diner or Paul supposedly make this call to have Kathy meet him? Like why not just call her and say, Hey, you want to hang out? Like they had a relationship. So why pose as someone else? The only reason that I can think of is maybe so that her, she wouldn't tell her co-workers. But if she was having an affair, she wouldn't have said anyway, Oh yeah, I'm going to go meet my, my side piece, Paul Farrell, you know? Yeah, and but also at the same time, maybe, yeah, that's what I'm thinking.

Maybe it's because he didn't want Kathy to tell her co-workers who it was because he was gonna fucking kill her. I mean, maybe that's why. Yes. But wouldn't you be like, oh I know that's Paul's voice. Well, exactly. Like, I don't know. That's so weird to me. A Y director to go to Oakland. I know he was going to Oakland that night to go bowling, but his parents live in West Virginia.

So why say to him, you know, I'm just, this whole part doesn't really make sense that he would have made that phone call. But also, you know, the fact that Kathy told her coworker, hey, I can't tell you who this is because he told me he'll lose his job if he does, that to me indicates that it could be Paul. Or it could be someone else who, here's the thing, at the end of it, whoever's on the phone does not want Kathy to tell anyone who he is.

And here's another thing I will mention. This person, the magistrate never came forward. So if this magistrate was real, you would think that they would have said, oh yeah, that was me, I called and, you know, we had a meeting and then I didn't see her after that. Of course, then part of me does say, well, obviously this person is telling her this

in confidence and would have been fired, so maybe he would have kept himself hidden anyway, you know? But- I don't know. I mean, I feel like... I know. Yeah, if you work at the Oakland Magistrate, wouldn't you ask all of your employees if they had made a call to this diner? Well, right, but what I'm saying is, if this was a secret call anyway, even if this person

didn't have anything to do with what happened to Kathy, then maybe they wouldn't have wanted to come forward anyway. But of course, it's suspicious that she went missing and she had this meeting, so your head just goes too well, whoever she met with is the one who killed her or has something to do with her disappearance. The prosecution tried to show that Paul likely had a split personality, and they presented evidence that, on over 200 occasions, Paul called different bookshops around different cities, posing as a doctor and having female clerks read sexually explicit content in certain books. Oh, so this is something that he...

Okay, I didn't- This is a thing. This goes beyond like sexual pranks, like maybe he had some mental stuff going on. Although with this case, a lot of the women they spoke to were told that Paul was the caller, making the women believe it was him just for this fact. And some of the women were even told that Paul had murdered women in Yellowstone Park, making them believe that he was a killer. But this is completely unconfirmed and there's no evidence that he ever murdered anyone, nor has he ever been connected to any cases in Yellowstone. So it's, it sucks because these women are like, oh yeah, it was Paul Farrow who called me.

And then later they're like, well, they told me it was Paul. So that's why I said it was Paul. So that just really muddies the waters because we're like, okay, so what do you know and what were you told? It makes such a difference, but you know, that was a screw up in this case. Right. One of the biggest pieces to this puzzle in this case came from Paul's neighbor, Kim Nelson. She lived in the trailer nearest to him, which she could see from her trailer, and she testified in court that she had heard a gunshot banging and a woman's scream coming from his trailer on the night of February 17, 1988. But after the trial ended, she said that words were put into her mouth.

She said gunshots and screaming was actually quite common in that particular area, and she signed a written statement by the prosecutor without reading it, and that she never specified when she heard these sounds. So it kinda seems like a lot of people were possibly told what to say to make Paul look guilty, which makes you really question the evidence found in his trailer. And that's why this case is so frustrating because a lot of things seem to be messed with. Yeah, it kind of seems like some things were pointing towards Paul, but other things were pointing away and it's just all very confusing. So handwriting experts with the FBI determined that the letter sent to Kathy's parents was a match for Paul Farrell's handwriting.

And as we know, he had called his girlfriend Kathy Bernard from Union Town, Pennsylvania, and it was determined that if you sent a letter from Union Town, it would be postmarked as coming from Pittsburgh, which is where that letter came from. So this pretty much confirms that Paul did write this letter. So did he drive an hour and a half just to get the police office tail for a crime he didn't commit? I mean, he originally denied writing this letter, but when the FBI proved that he did, he admitted to it and said it was a stupid mistake.

As was finding her car and not reporting it out of fear, he would be wrongfully blamed. And let's just stop for just a second and think about this. The fact that you're going so far to cover up a crime that you didn't commit is very, very suspicious. It's just like we were saying in the suitcase murder last week, how Melanie was doing the same thing. She was kind of like, oh, before you find this out, this is why I was there. Just in case you get suspicious of it later. It's like, why are you covering up for something that has not been, you know, you've not been blamed for yet.

You know what I mean? Yeah, it just seems weird. And I mean, come on, dude, you're a deputy. Like, I know you're new at being a deputy, but this is kind of just common sense. Yeah, part of me is like, okay, understand, you don't wanna be blamed, but. Do you think that it's gonna look like,

do you think people are gonna understand that, oh well, I didn't report it because I didn't wanna be blamed but do you think that it's gonna look like do you think people are gonna understand that oh well I didn't report it because I didn't want to be blamed no they're gonna be like you didn't report it that's weird that suspicious you did this the true definition of digging your own grave yes regarding the call to the bowling alley and the call to Kathy Bernard the night of Kathy Ford's disappearance we can't confirm for sure that it was Kathy because where's that evidence? We do know the woman wasn't Kathy Bernard because she later testified that she had attempted

to call Farrell's Mart multiple times that day to reach Paul but stopped before 6 p.m. So this makes you think that it really was Kathy who called, especially since both Kathy Bernard as well as the bowling alley employee had spoken to her. So did Kathy Ford really meet up with someone else, claiming to be an undercover cop, get herself into trouble and then call Paul for help? Or did he arrange this whole thing to make it look like Kathy was alive and needed his help that night when she wasn't. See that's the thing is if this wasn't Kathy calling that night, then that means that

Paul set this whole thing up. And to call the bowling alley and then to call his girlfriend, that's a lot of thought and who is this other woman then that's posing as Kathy Ford. You know what's another thing? Is that she never said her name was Kathy Ford on the phone So if this was a setup wouldn't you want it to be like this is Kathy Ford to so that the bowling alley employed Be like yeah Kathy Ford called and she was alive at 8.30 p.m. Right as kind of like in Alibis if you will yeah, exactly so that's a little bit lower to me

So Paul Farrell never testified to explain his side of things, but on February 4, 1989, so just days after the trial began, 33-year-old Paul Farrell was convicted of kidnapping, third degree arson for the car, and for the second degree murder of 19-year-old Kathy Ford. Paul was sentenced to a minimum of 15 years in prison and has since maintained his innocence in the case. He appealed as soon as he was able, claiming there was not sufficient evidence that Kathy was even dead, since her body has not been found to this day, and the blood they found could have belonged to Kathy wasn't enough to prove she was murdered. And the jury

actually wasn't informed of how much blood was found anyway, meaning they could have assumed it was a lot more than there really was in the trailer. Because there was just a few, you know, various drops of blood. It wasn't enough to say, okay, whoever's blood this is is dead. Right. Right. Alas, Paul's appeal was rejected by the West Virginia Supreme Court. There are, however, a good number of people out there who believe Paul was framed and that someone else murdered Kathy, or perhaps she's still alive. And to go along with this theory, there's actually a number of witnesses that have actually claimed to see Kathy after the trial occurred,

working as a waitress in another state. In December of 1989, so 10 months after Paul's conviction, a couple from Gorman, Maryland, was traveling through the state of Tennessee and happened to visit a restaurant where they were briefly waited on by a woman who was the spitting image of Kathy Ford. When they stared at her, the couple said the woman looked very nervous and ran into the kitchen and never came back out, and then another waitress took over for her. But Kathy's family doesn't believe she's alive out there because they truly feel like she would have contacted them if she was safe.

I always think this still alive. Angle is interesting, but I usually don't believe it. And Heath and I actually watched this fantastic French thriller recently where, spoiler alert, the wife who was supposedly murdered was actually alive and had to flee for her own safety from someone in their town. And her husband was thought to have murdered her, yet even then, she didn't show herself in fear that the people that were after her would murder her, which even then, she didn't show herself in fear that the people that were after her would murder her,

which they were trying to do. So here's her husband being blamed for her murder, and she's not actually dead, and she knows that he's being blamed, but she can't do anything about it. Yeah, it's kind of one of those ones where she has to like, like years and years later has to subtly try to reach out to her husband to let him know that she's still alive, which is really interesting.

Yeah, it was a really good one. So in part, I wonder if Kathy really did stay trone murder or disappearance, so she could finally get away from Darwin Moon. But I also think it kind of seems like a stretch. Well, we have to consider that there are a lot of cases out there of missing persons and disappearance, but you know, it's a very very slim percentage that those people are still alive out there. I mean, yes, have there been cases where people have been found later on? Absolutely, but it's just not very common. Since there's a lot of people who believe in Paul's innocence, I want to talk about other suspects.

And suspicion and speculation has fallen on Darwin Moon numerous times. We know he was at work until just after 3pm the day that Kathy disappeared, and although he DID go to the restaurant at around 4pm, this could have possibly given him enough time to kill Kathy and then go to the old mill to set up his alibi. The reason he's suspected is because Paul Farrell, along with numerous regular morning customers at the diner, told police that Kathy had mentioned that she worried that Darvin Moon might kill her someday and that she wanted to leave town and do something different with her life, but she worried that Darvin would track her down, and there were some letters to prove this as well. In a letter that Kathy wrote to a friend on October 14, 1987, so around the time that

Darwin returned from rehab, she said, quote, �All me and Darv do is argue about stupid things, and I don't know what to do. When we were broke up, all he did was torture me. He would come to my house at 4 in the morning and get me all upset just to see me cry. We only got into one fist fight, though. Thank God. He knew everything I did and who I did it with. So I thought the best thing to do was to go back with the son of a bitch. Just maybe so I could live my life peacefully without being followed everywhere I went.

He even had my phone tapped. So this is obviously very concerning. It points out that they had a scary relationship and it also points to the fact that Darwin possibly knew that Kathy had been with Paul while he was in rehab. It's also interesting to me that she said that he had her phone tapped because this was 1988 so I'm not sure what exactly she means by this and what kind of connections this would leave him to have. But we know he was an admitted drug dealer so he could have definitely been involved with some sketchy people who could have helped him get rid of Kathy, possibly because of her fair with Paul.

Because we know he's abusive and possessive and we also know that Kathy wanted to leave Gorman Maryland and follow her dreams. And even more suspicious, Paul Farrell was quoted saying that when Kathy disappeared, she was very confused. She wanted out of the restaurant and wanted out of her relationship with Darwin, but she knew too much about Darwin's drug operation for him to ever let her leave. And Kathy apparently told Paul that the only way she could see herself getting out of this relationship was if she blew the whistle on Darvin's drug operation.

And with this comment, Paul encouraged Kathy to visit his girlfriend Kathy Bernard's brother Doug Tressler because he was an undercover agent for the Garrett County Sheriff's Department. As a reminder, Kathy stated that she headed to the small town of Oakland to meet with an undercover cop, and the Garrett County Sheriff's Department is in downtown Oakland, so this definitely makes sense. Yeah, since police didn't look into this, we can't confirm with Doug whether or not he had planned to meet with Kathy for that day or not, but it's definitely an interesting angle that points more to Darwin because if Kathy really was trying to bust his drug off so she could end the relationship, he could have found out and done away with

her. Also, as we mentioned earlier, I think it's interesting that Darwin specifically mentioned a Paul that whoever Kathy was seeing was going to get this while referencing his gun. And then also that he specifically showed up to Paul's family's general store to ask for the one that's the deputy to report a missing vehicle. And then while reporting said missing vehicle, he mentioned that Kathy was screwing someone. So I think this hints that Darwin really did know that Kathy and Paul were seeing each other. And I also think it's bizarre that he wanted to report the missing vehicle versus his

missing girlfriend. I know she was already reported missing, but like you're gonna go to his place of work and report a vehicle missing and say, oh she's been screwing someone on Bismarck Road, which is where the car ended up being. Yeah, I would think that the human is a lot more important than a car. Well, I mean it in, like I agree, but I mean it in the sense of, like, Darwin could have been the one who planted the Bronco behind Paul's trailer, because him bringing up the Bismarck Road thing twice is weird. It's like, you know that him bringing up the Bismarck Road thing twice

is weird, it's like you know that there's something on Bismarck Road, and also mentioning that he thinks that something bad happened over there. It's just strange to me. Like that's an awfully specific thought to have. Another thing is that Darwin refused to discuss the case and wouldn't be interviewed other than the one time that police interviewed him when Kathy first went missing. But I will say that when Paul originally became a suspect, Darwin reportedly defended him. In 2001, so about 12 years after Paul was convicted for Kathy Ford's murder, his case was

reviewed by the governor of Maryland, and he was released from prison in 2004 at the age of 45. Something I just can't get past is the motive. Why on earth would Paul kill Kathy? Yeah, that's my thought, too. I honestly can't think of any motive that would be good enough to murder her. And if investigators believe the car was set on fire elsewhere and then moved behind Paul's trailer.

Why would Paul do this? Yeah, that would just implicate him committing this murder. Right, which to me points more to someone else committing this and then framing Paul. But then there's the whole replacing the carpet thing that was just very disappointing for me to read because I really wanted to believe in his innocence and I just kind of threw my hands up when I found that out. I was like, oh no, that's not good. Yeah, and then there's the moronic letter that he wrote to Kathy's parents that just was such a bad move.

Yeah, that's a lot. I do think it's interesting that he included the $200 for the Ford. It almost made me sad to read that because if he really didn't do this and he was trying to help pay for the car I was like that's kind of that's kind of nice, you know, but I don't know I go so back and forth I just I don't know why he would do this unless he's just like a sick fuck, you know Which maybe he is if we know he does these weird phone calls, maybe maybe that's a little peak inside his creepy brain. Yeah, we do know that something's a little off with him if he's, you know, making these weird sexual phone calls.

Yeah, that would just lead me to say there's no real motive. He's just sick. Darvin Moon went on to be a pretty big amateur poker player and there's a bunch of information about him online for his playing skills and participation in the 2009 World Series of Poker. His phrase was, if I win, I win. If I lose, I lose, which is the most basic of phrases I've think I've ever heard. But he did pass away just last year on September 19th, 2020 due to complications from surgery at the age of 56. So, some believe that Darwin was responsible for Cathy's murder. Others, another person in their town, and of course, many believe that Paul Farrell truly was behind it all. But unfortunately,

we may never know what really happened that fateful night in February of 1988. To 19 year old, Kathy Ford. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode, and next week we'll have an all new case for you guys to dive into. Man, I'm really surprised that no one has covered that case. Thank you everybody for listening to it.

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