In 1998, Wayne Adam Ford walked into the sheriff’s office in Humboldt County, California with his brother. He confessed to being a serial killer. He had a plastic bag containing the breast of one of his victims when he turned himself in. 

Ford, an ex-Marine, told investigators he had murdered four women. 

One of the victim's torsos had been found in a stream known as Ryan Slough, in October 1997. 

More remains from that woman were discovered on Clam Beach in January 1998. And after Ford turned himself in, more of her body was found in his encampment.

Three of his victims were quickly identified.

Tina Gibbs, 26, was found dead in June 1998, Ford dumped her body near Buttonwillow.  He left 25-year-old Lanett White’s body in a ditch in Lodi. And the remains of Patricia Tamez, 29, were discovered in a San Bernardino aqueduct in October 1998. 

Ford underwent a drastic personality change after a catastrophic car accident. He was in a 9-day coma and suffered serious head trauma.

His friends and family claim he was never the same. He had become violent and he was never the same after his accident.

He was found guilty of killing the four women. And was sentenced to death in 2006. And has been in San Quentin on death row for 25 years.

One of his victims was unidentified

His first victim found in the Ryan Slough stream remained unidentified. She remained a “Jane Doe” for over 20 years.

Although police had her DNA and ran it through databases periodically, they never got the match to reveal her identity. But advances in DNA science changed everything in 2023.

California justice officials teamed up with the private lab Othram to see if they could use the emerging investigative technique of forensic genealogy to build a family tree for Jane Doe.

The company also offers law enforcement tools and programs to infer kinship among individuals, both closely and distantly related. The lab uses a combination of STR and SNP testing, and forensic genome sequencing of DNA.

This led to a potential close relative of the victim, who confirmed that a female family member had been missing since the mid-1990s. Her name was Kerry Ann Cummings.

Kerry Ann Cummings identified

Cummings was mentally ill and had left home to couch-surf in Eugene, Oregon, in 1997, when she was 25. The family lost touch with her, tried to report her missing, and even hired a private detective.

“Unfortunately, back then they were told that Kerry was an adult, that she had chosen the lifestyle, and that if she wasn’t a threat to herself or others, there was nothing that [law enforcement] could do,” her sister Kathie said in a statement released by the sheriff on Wednesday.

“As the internet expanded, I took to searching the NamUs National Missing and Unidentified Persons System website when I was missing her, scanning for mention of her tattoo and searching through the pictures of the Jane Does. She was dearly loved.”

The sheriff’s office said it is now working with the family to have Cummings’ remains released so she can finally come home.