The large black ribbon that hung on the mailbox of Kelli and Kenny White’s Louisville home for more than a year was cut down Monday afternoon. The couple had said they would leave the ribbon there until justice was served in the July 28, 2018, death of their 20-year-old daughter, Bethany.
The Whites, along with most of their other children, family members and friends, took up several rows of the gallery in Attala County Circuit Court Monday morning.
Winston County Sheriff Jason Pugh drove Kelli and Kenny to court and Christian Paris Clark, a lieutenant at the Winston Choctaw Regional Correctional Facility and longtime friend of Bethany’s, sat with the family in court.
They were all there to witness Richard Ford, Jr., of McCool plead guilty in Bethany’s death. Ford had allegedly hit White with his pickup truck in the parking lot of PeeWee’s convenience store, located on Highway 12 in Weir following an argument between the two.
When Ford, who had been out on bail, was brought into the courtroom behind the judge’s bench Monday, personnel from the Attala County Sheriff’s office and the Kosciusko police department moved into positions in areas between Ford and White’s family members.
Bethany’s father, Kenny White, and Ford had a verbal altercation in the halls of the courthouse following a previous hearing, an altercation that had been broken up by Sheriff’s deputies before anything physical occurred.
The plea deal avoided a trial in the case, which initially charged Ford with both manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death. The district attorney’s office dropped the manslaughter charge and allowed Ford to plead only to the leaving the scene charge.
Assistant District Attorney Mike Howie told the court Monday that the investigation showed that Ford did not actually hit White with his truck — but he also did not render aid to White following the accident that resulted in her death, as required by law.
In video obtained by the Attala County Sheriff’s Department, Ford and White are shown having an argument outside the convenience store, but the actual accident is not shown. According to Howie, the investigation revealed that White died following a fall from the vehicle, not from being hit by it.
“She tried to get into the vehicle and she fell out of the back of it, hit her head, and died,” Howie told the court. Ford left the scene without doing anything to help the young woman and attempted to hide his involvement, according to investigators.
“He (Ford) tried to do some things to cover up after the fact. In a letter, he blamed someone named Mark and he also changed his appearance,” Howie told the court.
Attala County Circuit Judge George Mitchell accepted the recommendation of the district attorney’s office and sentenced Ford to 20 years. Fifteen of those years will be served in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections and he will spend another five years on supervised release.
In a telephone interview following the plea and sentencing, Kenny White said the family is relieved that this phase of dealing with their loss is over.
“The D.A. had already told us this is what they thought was going to happen. We were pleased and proud to see him walk out of there in cuffs,” said White. “It’s not going to bring her back, but it is some justice. I felt like everybody who worked the case thought this was best.”
Asked about the increased police presence between Ford and the family when the accused was brought into court, White said he was not surprised given the earlier incident between the two men.
“I’m glad he was in back so we didn’t have to sit there and look at him,” White said about the couple of hours the family sat in court waiting for the case to be called.
“I guess they were scared something might happen,” he said.
White said the family is grateful to all those involved in bringing the man they believe is his daughter’s killer to justice.
“I really want to thank the D.A.’s office and the Sheriff and the detectives for all they did. They were diligent to find and arrest him,” he said. “They were also so nice and so good to help us.”
Asked if the family believes the sentence is appropriate, White said it is an acceptable outcome since it avoids a trial.
“We just figured the time he got was good enough. At his age, (in his 50s) with what he got, he probably won’t get out,” said White. “To be honest, we really didn’t want to have to go to court and hear it all and see it all again. We just wanted some closure.”
