On the evening of March 6, 1986, in Newton County, Georgia, 11-year-old Lisa Renee Chapman was spending time with her aunt, Martha Ann Chapman Matich, at Chapman's Grocery, where Matich worked. Just after closing time, Melbert Ray Ford, a former boyfriend of Matich, arrived at the store. In the weeks following their breakup, Ford had been harassing Matich and had told friends of his plans to rob the store and kill her. He had enlisted the help of an unemployed man, Roger Turner, to drive him to the grocery store.
Upon arriving, Ford shot away the lower portion of the locked glass door to gain entry. While Turner waited in the car, he heard screams and gunshots from within the store. Ford then emerged carrying a bag of money and fled the scene with Turner. A Newton County sheriff's deputy responded to the store's burglar alarm at 10:27 p.m. and discovered a tragic scene.
Inside, Martha Matich was found deceased behind the counter, having been shot three times. Lisa Chapman was discovered in the bathroom, still alive but suffering from a gunshot wound to the head. According to Turner's later confession, Ford had found Lisa in the bathroom, and she was begging for her life before he shot her. Lisa was transported from the scene but later died from her injuries.
Melbert Ray Ford and Roger Turner were arrested the following day. Turner confessed to his involvement and was later sentenced to 20 years in prison, eventually being paroled in 1991. On October 24, 1986, a jury convicted Ford of the murders of both Martha Matich and Lisa Chapman, as well as armed robbery, burglary, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. He received a death sentence for each of the murders. Following years of appeals, Melbert Ray Ford was executed by lethal injection on June 10, 2010.
