Where Is James Ray Ward Now? Nikia Gilbreath Murder Case And Dateline
Jamie Ray Ward, 41, received the death penalty in Walker County in July 1991 for the murder of a pregnant 23-year-old woman. Investigators believe Jamie Ward was a vicious serial rapist before he abducted Nikia Gilbreath from her home on August 17, 1989.
The body of 23-year-old mother Nikia Gilbreath, who had been abducted from her house, murdered and thrown in an unauthorized landfill. At the same time, she was five months pregnant and was found in August 1989, shocking the Georgian town of Villanow.
When a lucky break forced the police to apprehend the offender, who was also discovered to be connected to other crimes, the case was slowly going cold.
Where Is James Ray Ward Now?
A Walker County jury sentenced James to death in July 1991 after convicting him of feticide, murder, and kidnapping with bodily damage. After the Georgia Supreme Court upheld the convictions and the sentence in June 1992, his request for review was denied in July 1992.
James’ multiple applications and habeas corpus motions were repeatedly rejected, which resulted in him spending over 20 years on death row. In January 2010, three judges from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the jury’s decision to execute him due to a miscommunication between the bailiff and the jurors.
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The Court did, however, uphold the convictions for the alleged murder, kidnapping, and feticide. Linda was upset as she declared, “If that does not call for the death penalty, no case I’ve ever heard of does,” as the possibility of her 5-month-old daughter’s killer receiving the death penalty was doubted. He must continue to be executed.
In November 2011, James Ward was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. According to official records, he is being held at the Macon State Prison in Macon County, Georgia.
Nikia Gilbreath Murder Case And Dateline
Gary Tucker and Linda (Anderson) Tucker had a daughter named Nikia Kay Tucker Gilbreath. Her birthday is July 12, 1966. As her friends and family called her, Niki was sensitive and caring. This weekend, a documentary news program will air a segment about a 28-year-old Walker County murderer.
Nikia had planned to go to Florida with Linda and Amber, who was then almost two years old so that her daughter could experience the beach for the first time. Nikia was five months pregnant with their second child at the time.
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So it was a surprise that Joe left for work at around 6 am on August 17, 1989, and came home in the evening to find Amber by herself at their home in Villanow, Georgia, and Nikia missing. She was supposed to sign Amber up for dance or fitness courses but missed the appointment. The family sensed trouble because her automobile was also missing.
On the route to LaFayette, several kilometers away in the woods, a ragpicker searching for cans came and uncovered Nikia’s body a few days after she vanished.
Family Of James Ray Ward Told He Had A Weird Fetis
According to their family, James Ray Ward was found guilty of robbing a different woman of her belongings while she slept on December 18, 1989, in Gordon County. According to court records, James drove her to an abandoned warehouse, made her wear underwear he had brought along, and repeatedly raped her.
The woman did not resist and was permitted to make it home safely when she discovered that some of her undergarments had also vanished.
James had been taken into custody by the Gordon County police from his incomplete home, which had no electricity or a water source outside the bedroom.
There were hundreds of boxes full of stolen lingerie and pornographic magazines. These well-kept notebooks meticulously indexed and labeled the magazines, lingerie catalogs, and scraps of paper with tag numbers and physical descriptions of women.
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