On December 19, 1991, I was arrested and taken to the police station, where I would later find out that I was to be charged with capital murder, against Armando Murillo, and two counts of attempted capital murder (later three) against his mother, Myra Murillo and his two sisters, Myra and Lisa Murillo; at the initial arrest, I was not informed of what I was being arrested for, so in good faith, I accompanied the police of the El Paso Police Department to the station house. Whereby, I was photographed, paraded around the Department and placed in a room, alone, which had a long mirror spanning the length of one wall, hand cuffed to a chair. Later, I was informed that I was being charged with capital murder and two counts of attempted capital murder that took place the previous evening, on December 18, 1991.
The detectives in charge of the case, Tabullo and Lowe (now Munoz, she having since married), said that I SHOULD CONFESS to the murder and that a statement had been written against me by Van Nash Belton. They also said that I had been identified as “the shooter”, the person responsible for the murder. I denied this, as any knowledge of the murder, and INSISTED UPON MY INNOCENCE. But the detectives would not hear this, and they repeatedly, while verbally abusing me, demanded that I confess to the murder that had taken place. Detectives Tabullo and Lowe continued to verbally abuse me and try and intimidate me into confessing, threatening me with the death penalty (and what would happen to me if I was to go to jail). I asked over and over to be allowed to call my mother and to speak to an attorney. When these requests were denied, I then refused to speak to the detectives. This only angered them further, and brought about more threats, intimidation, and verbal abuse! I DID NOT and I WILL NOT confess to a murder that I did not do. I AM INNOCENT!
The state did not count on me fighting back. So many people here do not. They wait to die, letting a process, that they know, if they are not actively involved in it, will make it that much easier for the state to kill them. And please understand, many of the people here do not have facts such as I do, yet some of them scream their innocence for all to hear, only to have their scream fall on deaf ears! Please don’t think that I am one person amongst many who is only innocent. I am innocent, and there are many others here who are too. This injustice against me… against US here must be ended, and it can only be ended with the help of you, the people. So, please carefully view the information that I have presented, and please, after viewing it, join those who have already decided that they would try and help me gain my freedom. Without your help, the state of Texas, in it’s blood lust to murder me, will add to the many others that it have ground up in its murder machine!
Please HELP ME SAVE MY LIFE!
Always, in Strength and in Spirit!
Tony Egbuna Ford