UPDATE, MAY 5, 11:28 A.M.: The Orange County District Attorney's office (OCDA) just announced that Robert Allan Lehmann will be arraigned today for the murders of his ex-wife Emily Ford and her father Russell Ford.
The 36-year-old Costa Mesa resident has been charged with two felony counts of special circumstances
murder with sentencing enhancements for the personal use of a deadly
weapon, multiple murders, and lying in wait.
He could get double life prison sentences if convicted.
]
New details that have emerged from the OCDA arraignment statement below:
- The couple's 7-year-old daughter was not in the home. Lehmann is accused of sending her out of the home with his current
wife for ice cream and arming himself with a firearm to wait for his ex-wife and ex-father-in-law.
- When the Fords went to the door, Lehmann is accused
of immediately shooting them. The pair tried to run away, but Lehmann allegedly chased them outside and continued firing at them. Both were shot several times in the
back and fell to the ground.
- Bullets hit two cars parked directly across the street in front of a childcare center. One
bullet hit the passenger door of a vehicle driven by someone picking up their child and another penetrated the
driver's door of a second parent's car.
- Shots also whizzed past the vehicle with Emily Ford's baby strapped inside. The baby was unharmed.
- As the Fords lay bleeding on the ground, Lehmann allegedly reloaded his firearm and executed them by shooting
them repeatedly in the back and backs of their heads.
- Lehmann's child and Ford's baby are now in the custody of relatives.
Here is that statement:
May 5, 2011
MAN TO BE ARRAIGNED FOR EXECUTION-STYLE MURDER OF EX-WIFE AND HER FATHER
AFTER BECOMING ANGRY OVER CUSTODY OF 7-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER
SANTA ANA – A disgruntled man will be arraigned today for murdering his
ex-wife and her father by waiting in his home with a firearm and
shooting them when they arrived to take court-ordered custody of the
former couple's 7-year-old daughter. Robert Allan Lehmann, 36, Costa
Mesa, has been charged with two felony counts of special circumstances
murder with sentencing enhancements for the personal use of a deadly
weapon, multiple murders, and lying in wait. If convicted, he faces a
maximum sentence of two terms of life in state prison without the
possibility of parole. Lehmann is being held without bail and is
expected to be arraigned today, May 5, 2011, in Department CJ-1, Central
Jail, Santa Ana. The time is to be determined.
On May 3, 2011, a family court judge ruled in favor of Lehmann's
ex-wife, 32-year-old Emily Ford, regarding custody of their 7-year-old
daughter, who has special needs. Emily Ford was to pick up the little
girl from Lehmann's Costa Mesa home that evening. She arranged for her
62-year-old father Russell Ford to go with her.
Shortly before the victims' arrival to pick up the 7-year-old girl,
Lehmann is accused of sending the child out of the home with his current
wife for ice cream and arming himself with a firearm to wait for the
victims.
At approximately 5:30 p.m., Emily Ford and Russell Ford arrived at
Lehmann's home for the custody pick-up. Emily Ford left her new baby,
who is not Lehmann's child, in a car seat in her car and did not bring
the baby to the door. When the defendant opened the door, he is accused
of immediately shooting at the victims. Emily and Russell Ford attempted
to turn and run away, and Lehmann is accused of pursuing them outside
and continuing to shoot. Both victims were shot several times in the
back and fell to the ground.
As Lehmann was shooting, he is accused of hitting two cars that were
parked directly across the street in front of a childcare center. One
bullet hit the passenger door of a vehicle and another penetrated the
driver's door of a second car. The vehicles' drivers were picking up
children from the center and were not injured. Shots were also fired
past the vehicle where Emily Ford's baby was still inside.
As Emily Ford and Russell Ford lay bleeding on the ground, Lehmann is
accused of reloading his firearm and executing the victims by shooting
them repeatedly in the back and back of the head.
The Costa Mesa Police Department, who investigated this case, responded to the scene and arrested Lehmann.
Emily Ford's baby and the 7-year-old daughter she shared with Lehmann are in the custody of other family members.
Senior Deputy District Attorney
Matt Murphy of the Homicide Unit is prosecuting this case.
UPDATE, MAY 5, 10:37 A.M.: The victims and suspect in Tuesday evening's double homicide in Costa Mesa have been identified. Shot to death were Emily Ford, 32, and her father, Russell Ford, 62. Being held for their murders is the woman's former husband, Robert Lehmann, 36.
The
father and daughter came to Lehmann's house in the 3400 block of Santa
Clara Circle to pick up her 7-year-old daughter, whose custody a court
had just awarded to her now late mother.
The girl was in the Emily Ford's baby with her current husband was strapped in the
house and
car when Lehmann allegedly opened fire on the Fords with a
semiautomatic handgun. The 10 to 15 bullets fired hit cars and
whizzed past employees and parents picking up their children from a nearby day care facility. Needless to say, there are many witnesses to this crime. Lehmann was among those who called 9-1-1 reporting the shootings.
The former couple had been in a dispute over custody, attorney fees and choice of school concerning their 7-year-old daughter, a special needs student. The shooting before 6 p.m. Tuesday was about two hours after Lehmann blew off a custody hearing. The court had rescheduled to that time because Lehmann had already missed the original hearing that same morning.
Emily Ford had been an instructional aide with the Newport-Mesa Unified School District since 2007. Having previously worked at Anderson. Mariners, Harper and Sonora elementary schools, she was attached to the preschool program at Paularino Elementary School at the time of her death. District officials have reportedly sent crisis counselors to Paularino and Sonora.
ORIGINAL POST, MAY 4, 7:20 A.M.: Costa Mesa police officers responding to a call of shots fired just
before 6 p.m. in the 3400 block of Santa Clara Circle near South Coast
Plaza found the bodies of a 32-year-old Costa Mesa woman and her father.
Police
later arrested the home's occupant, the woman's former husband, on
suspicion of double-murder. The names of the suspect and victims have
yet to be released to the public.
The woman's baby was found unharmed in a car parked nearby. She is not related to the alleged shooter. But his 7-year-old daughter with the dead woman was at the home at the time of the incident. The couple had been embroiled in a custody dispute over their 7-year-old daughter, according to police.
The dead woman's current husband later arrived at the scene to take custody of his baby.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.