James Ray Ward: Where is he now? Dateline and the Murder of Nikia Gilbreath
In July 1991, Walker County executed 41-year-old Jamie Ray Ward for the murder of a 23-year-old pregnant woman. Investigators believe that before kidnapping Nikia Gilbreath from her home on August 17, 1989, Jamie Ward was a mean serial rapist.
Nikia Gilbreath, a 23-year-old mother, was abducted from her home, murdered and her body dumped in an illegal dump. She was discovered in August 1989 when she was five months pregnant, surprising the Georgian village of Villanow.
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James Ray Ward: Where is he now?
In July 1991, a Walker County jury found James guilty of feticide, murder, and kidnapping with bodily harm and sentenced him to death. His appeal motion was denied in July 1992 after the Georgia Supreme Court upheld the verdicts and sentence in June 1992.
James spent more than 20 years on death row as a result of his numerous requests and persistently denied habeas corpus proceedings. Due to a misunderstanding between the bailiff and the jurors, three judges of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the jury’s decision to have him put to death in January 2010.
James Ward was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in November 2011. He is being held at Macon State Prison in Macon County, Georgia, according to government records.
Dateline and the Murder of Nikia Gilbreath
Nikia Kay Tucker Gilbreath is the daughter of Gary Tucker and Linda (Anderson) Tucker. She was born on July 12, 1966. Niki, as her friends and family called her, was compassionate and empathetic. This weekend, a feature film about a 28-year-old Walker County murderer will air on a documentary news program.
In order for her daughter, Amber, then almost two years old, to discover the beach for the first time, Nikia had planned to go to Florida with Linda and Amber. At the time, Nikia was five months pregnant with their second child.
So it came as a shock when Joe, who had left for work around 6 a.m. on August 17, 1989, returned home in the late afternoon to find Amber alone at their Villanow, Georgia home and Nikia missing. . She was supposed to enroll Amber in dance or fitness classes, but she was late. His car was also missing, so his family anticipated trouble.
James Ray Ward’s family have been told he has a strange fetus.
James Ray Ward was convicted in Gordon County on December 18, 1989 of robbing a separate woman of her belongings while she slept, according to their relatives. James allegedly drove her to an abandoned warehouse, forced her to wear underwear he brought and repeatedly raped her, according to court documents.
When the woman noticed that some of her underwear was also missing, she didn’t protest and was allowed to go home safely.
There were countless boxes full of stolen magazines and underwear. Magazines, lingerie catalogs, and scraps of paper were neatly filed and labeled in these neat notebooks with tag numbers and physical descriptions of the ladies.
