Do you know who murdered Andrea Ford in 1997?
On October 29, 1997, Andrea Ford, age 38, was found dead on the side of State Road 100 near County Road 302 in Flagler County, Florida. Her body was discovered by a passing bus driver, and it was later determined that she had been shot in the back of the head with a .25 caliber firearm. The circumstances surrounding her death remained mysterious, with no crime scene evidence nearby, and very little information available at the time of the initial investigation. This lack of evidence resulted in the case going cold for many years.
Andrea Ford's homicide bore striking similarities to another unsolved case in Flagler County. On September 9, 1999, Dawn Petterson was also found dead, shot in the back of the head and dumped at Seminole Woods Parkway. Ballistic evidence indicated that both women had been shot with the same .25 caliber gun. Despite these similarities, no suspects have been identified, and the connection between the two victims has yet to be definitively established, though investigators believe the two women may have crossed paths at some point. Both Ford and Petterson lived in the Daytona Beach and Holly Hill areas, and they were known to frequent similar local establishments, which has led to speculation that they might have shared acquaintances or environments.
In recent years, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office has established a dedicated Cold Case Unit to revisit unsolved homicides like that of Andrea Ford. Advances in forensic science and DNA testing have enabled law enforcement to re-evaluate biological evidence in hopes of identifying new leads. The Sheriff's Office continues to actively investigate these cases, calling on the public to provide any information that could help bring closure to the families of the victims and hold those responsible accountable for their actions. Detective Sarah Scalia, who has been working on both cases, believes that someone in the community has information and urges them to come forward, stressing that relationships change over time and that new information could be the key to solving these cases.
