A man convicted in a cold case murder in San Francisco from more than three decades ago was sentenced today to life in prison without the possibility of parole, a district attorney’s office spokesman said.
Lance Ford, 56, was sentenced to the life term in San Francisco Superior Court this afternoon after being convicted of first-degree murder last month for the rape and killing of Annie Barcelon in 1981, district attorney’s office spokesman Alex Bastian said.
Barcelon’s body was found in the basement of her apartment in the Parkmerced complex on Nov. 27, 1981, prosecutors said.
Investigators determined Barcelon, 24, had come home from a party and parked her car when she disappeared. Her roommate called security and Barcelon was eventually found strangled and raped, according to the district attorney’s office.
Ford was identified as the suspect in the case via DNA in 2004 and he was arrested in Oregon, where he was being held on unrelated sexual assault charges, police said.
The jury deliberated for two days before convicting Ford on Sept. 27 of first-degree murder and a special circumstance allegation that the murder was committed in the commission of a rape, prosecutors said.
Dan McMenamin, Bay City News
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