Man Pleads Guilty to Killing Woman With Cleaver

ABILENE, TX – Nearly four years after committing a brutal murder 60-year-old Timothy Dwelle finally pled guilty on Thursday.

According to KTXS, on September 8, 2016, Dwelle murdered Patricia Ann Smith Ford, 52, with a cleaver. Ford was reported missing the day after she was murdered.

According to court documents the victim’s daughter, Carol Rolin, spoke with Ford on September 7. Ford had been known to stay at Dwelle’s residence, but according to her daughter, she had scheduled a meeting with HUD to find housing on September 9, 2016.

In 2018, authorities followed up on a tip that indicated Ford could be buried inside Dwelle’s home. According to detectives assigned to the case, investigators located several bones that belonged to a human foot.

In 2018, Rolin provided police with a recorded conversation where Dwelle confessed to killing Ford with a cleaver.

In the conversation, Dwelle also revealed he “made a notch in the rocking chair” that Ford was sitting in “when he hit her” with the cleaver. When authorities examined the house, they found the alleged rocking chair with a notch.

Dwelle could face up to 99 years or life in prison, but as of this time, a date for the punishment phase hasn’t been set.