Wayne Adam Ford was born on December 3, 1961, in Petaluma, California, the second son of a German immigrant mother and an American father. His childhood was shaped by instability and emotional disconnection. When he was ten years old, his parents divorced, a separation that reportedly had a lasting effect on him. Ford was described as quiet, withdrawn, and emotionally fragile in his youth.

He dropped out of high school in the late 1970s and soon enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, where he served honorably for six years, from 1979 until his discharge in 1985. During his time in the military, Ford was generally regarded as disciplined and capable. However, his mental health began to deteriorate following a traumatic car accident in November 1980, when he was struck by a drunk driver and left in a coma for nine days. His family claimed his behavior and personality changed significantly after the crash. He reportedly suffered mood swings, episodes of confusion, and emotional instability.

Over the years, Ford struggled with mental health issues and was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. He underwent multiple psychiatric hospitalizations throughout the 1980s and 1990s. His personal relationships also suffered. He married twice—both marriages ended in divorce. His first wife, Kelly Pletcher, later publicly described his increasingly violent and coercive behavior, including forcing her to undergo an abortion in 1981.

Ford's criminal record began accumulating in the mid-1980s. In 1986, he was accused of beating and robbing a sex worker in Garden Grove, California. In 1990, he was convicted of animal cruelty in San Clemente, further reflecting a disturbing pattern of violence and control. These early crimes, paired with signs of psychological deterioration, foreshadowed the far more serious offenses that would later surface.

By the late 1990s, Ford had become a long-haul truck driver, living out of a trailer park in Arcata, California. His job allowed him to travel widely across state lines, providing both the freedom and the cover to carry out his crimes. Over a period of just over a year, Ford murdered at least four women, most of whom he picked up during his routes.

Wayne Adam Ford murdered at least four women between 1997 and 1998. At the time, he lived in a trailer park in Arcata, California, and worked as a long-haul truck driver. His first known victim was Kerry Ann Cummings, who was 25 years old when she was killed in 1997. Her body was found in the Ryan Slough near Eureka, California, on October 17, 1997.

Ford killed Tina Renee Gibbs on May 16, 1998, near Las Vegas. Her body was discovered on June 2, 1998, near Buttonwillow, California. Another victim was Lanette Deyon White, who was also 25 years old. She was killed on September 25, 1998, in Ontario, California, and her body was dumped near Lodi, California. The last confirmed victim was Patricia Anne Tamez, age 29, who was killed in Hesperia, California. Her body was found in an aqueduct in San Bernardino, California, on October 23, 1998.

On November 2, 1998, Ford turned himself in to the Humboldt County Sheriff's Department. He walked in with his brother and had a woman's severed breast in his pocket. Ford confessed to killing the four women and is suspected of having killed more.

He was tried and found guilty on June 27, 2006, for four counts of first-degree murder. In August 2006, he was sentenced to death. Ford is currently on death row at San Quentin State Prison in California.