Philipsburg man pleads guilty to 2013 murder
A Philipsburg man will spend up to 40 years in prison for the 2013 murder of a San Diego man in Clearfield County.
Ryan Michael Gaines, 30, pleaded guilty Friday in Clearfield County Court to murder in the third degree, robbery, manufacture/delivery/possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance and abuse of a corpse. Judge Paul E. Cherry handed down a sentence of 20 to 40 years in state prison.
Cherry rejected Gaines’ original plea for a minimum 15-year sentence, but Gaines decided to accept the 20-year minimum ordered by Cherry.
When asked if he wanted to say anything in court, Gaines said, “I am sorry for what I did.”
The charges stem from an incident in Morrisdale in Febuary 2013. Court documents show that Ronald Bruce Ford Jr., 40, was visiting Centre County when he was reported missing by his family.
Police learned that the last person seen with Ford was Gaines, who was living in Morrisdale at the time. In an interview with police, Gaines admitted he picked up Ford on Feb. 21, 2013, and took him to his home to spend the night.
In early March 2013, officers searched the Gaines residence, where they found a blood-stained mattress on a bed that was covered by bath towels. Lab tests on the blood confirmed that it matched Ford’s DNA.
Gaines was in the Clearfield County Jail for unrelated charges when he was interviewed again in June 2013. At that time, he said he would show investigators where he put Ford’s body. After Gaines was released into police custody the next day, he took officers to a wooded area in Covington Township where they found Ford’s remains.
Ford’s body was positively identified through dental records. An autopsy concluded that he was shot under the chin; a small projectile was found in his skull.
Gaines told investigators in November 2014 that once they were at his home, he and Ford took drugs with a woman. Gaines said he and this woman later went into a bedroom and Ford retired to another room.
The woman has not been charged with anything in relation to this incident.
Gaines admitted he was still doing drugs when he decided to kill Ford. Several times he said he took a shotgun and walked to the bedroom where Ford was located. The last time, he opened the door and shot Ford, who was on the bed. Gaines then took possession of a lock box, which had drugs and Ford’s money in it. The couple used some of the drugs and sold the rest to others.
Gaines told police they left the home but later he returned alone to remove the body.
He said he dragged the body to his truck and took it to a wooded area along Gray Hampton Road. The next night he moved it to the location in Covington Township.
He disposed of the victim’s clothing and the bedding by burning it, he admitted. He threw the lock box, Ford’s watch and a cell phone in the Susquehanna River.
This story was originally published December 19, 2015 at 1:52 AM with the headline "Philipsburg man pleads guilty to 2013 murder."