Ronald James Ward

Ronald James Ward, Jr. (1966 – April 11, 2014) was an American serial killer who murdered at least three women and one man in the span of several months in 2000. Initially convicted for the murder of Craig Petrich in Montana, he was later linked by DNA evidence to three other murders, which had occurred in Arkansas and California. Ward died serving his sentence in the Montana State Prison in 2014, but the cause of his death was not disclosed.

On April 11, 2014, Ronald James Ward was found unresponsive in his high-security cell. He was transported to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Medical personnel didn't report the exact cause of death, but said that no foul play was involved in his death.

After fleeing Montana, Ward was arrested three months later in Merced in connection with Polly's murder. He was extradited back to Montana, where he was tried for the Petrich murder, to which he readily confessed. Ward would not be conclusively connected to the other murders until 2007, when he was linked by DNA to the Laurite killing. Until then, her family had searched for answers, putting up a billboard on the highway with Kristin's image, with the plea "Do you know who murdered me?".

The 25-year-old Laurite, from Scotch Plains, New Jersey, left her home for Eureka, California, as she planned to take a job at a daycare in the city. On August 25, 2000, Laurite stopped her 1972 Volkswagen van along a secluded Interstate 40 rest stop outside of Morrilton, Arkansas, so she could splash some water on her face and let her two dogs run down to a nearby pond and play. The following day, truckers found one of Laurite's dogs running loose and called the number on the dog tag, which got them in contact with Kristin's mother, Lynn DiBenedetto. The dogs later led authorities from the Arkansas Highway Patrol to Laurite's body, which was dumped behind the rest stop. Her sundress had been tossed aside, and it was evident that Laurite had been sexually assaulted before suffering at least 10 stab wounds to the neck.

A 32-year-old homeless divorcee with three children, Polly was taking exams in Las Vegas to become a nursing assistant. She had planned to return to her home in Modesto, California, where she would share custody with her former husband, Tim Polly. Most details regarding her murder are kept secret, it is known that she was beaten, stabbed and sexually assaulted, with her body then dumped and covered with leaves in Modesto's Dry Creek in December 2000. Witnesses claimed that they had seen Polly accompanied by Ward sometime before her murder.

After spending some time on a boat in Alaska for fishing season, Ronald met Hattie Ann Baker at the Poverello Center in Missoula, Montana, in 1999. Baker was an impoverished divorcee with three children, whose husband Henry had left her to fend for herself. The couple then moved to West Virginia so Baker could be with relatives, and Ward started driving a garbage truck.

A 49-year-old cocaine addict from Jonesboro, Arkansas, Travis, who had a prosthetic leg as a result from a car accident, had just recently moved to Merced, California, after a period of being homeless. It is thought they knew each other from a local homeless shelter. Not even after a month had passed her apartment which was allegedly frequented by Ward. Travis was found beaten, raped, strangled, carved on, burnt, stabbed and sexually assaulted in her apartment on December 7th, in an eerily similar fashion to the Arkansas and Modesto killings.