King was never charged with murder. Investigators with the Jackson County Sheriff's Department determined hours after the crime that John Wayne Lincoln had killed Mrs. Ford of his own volition. Sherman was with Lincoln and the two had planned to burglarize homes. Both Sherman and Lincoln  cooperated with law enforcement personnel who had solved the case so quickly and who had gathered all the evidence they needed for convictions. Sherman's convictions actually came from an incident at another home in Malone, the home of Dorothy Collie, in which a burglary occurred and a television was stolen.

Lincoln, who faced overwhelming evidence including his confession just after the crime, eventually plead guilty in a plea bargain to avoid the death penalty. At his sentencing, Mrs. Ford's husband Larry said that the family did not desire the death penalty. On Sept. 22 of this year, 22-year-old John Wayne Lincoln of Marianna was sentenced by Wright to three consecutive life terms in state prison. For first degree murder, Lincoln received a sentence of life without parole. For robbery with a deadly weapon and burglary of a dwelling while armed, he received the other two life sentences.

Hopefully, this last piece of this horrible tragedy will mark closure for the grieving Ford family. Two cruel, violent men have been removed from our midst, and, sadly, at the cost of one of our angels.