Pastor remembers ‘beloved member’ of church family, woman killed in Macon homicide

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – We are learning more about the woman who was shot and killed in Macon Monday night.

Ida Mae Ford, 49, was found dead just yards away from her home on Winship Street just before 10:00 p.m. Investigators are trying to determine who shot and killed her.

Ford worked as a custodian at First Baptist church in Downtown Macon. Scott Dickison, a pastor at the church says he got the tragic news Tuesday morning. He’s in disbelief because she had just been at the church hours before she killed. He says the community wants to remember her as more than just Macon’s first homicide of 2018.

“I can’t imagine someone wanting to do something like this,” said Dickison. “Ida Ford was a beloved member of our church family, who cared for our congregation, more than just our building.”

Ford worked at First Baptist Church for three years.

“She had a personality that kind of drew you in,” said Dickison. “She was a person that took care of her family and I know provided for them in a lot of different ways and did excellent work for us up here at the church.”

Monday would be the last time she cleaned the halls of the church’s nursery.

“I’m disappointed in the community,” said Bibb County’s Sheriff David Davis. “I’m disappointed that here we are having to investigate yet another senseless homicide.”

Sheriff Davis says investigators are trying to determine who shot Ford multiple times and why.

“This is tragic as a community, we’re better than this,” said Sheriff Davis.

Sheriff Davis, being a member of First Baptist, also knew Ford.

“Certainly this strikes as someone I knew through my house of worship,” said Sheriff Davis. “But all of these homicides, there are families attached to them.”

“Today I’ve been reflecting on the ways we should perhaps let those horrific news stories affect us a little more and to bring them a little more closer in,” said Dickison. “To know there are people’s families involved in this and that this is something that our community, I think, needs to address.”

Ford wasn’t just another number on the list of homicides. She was a mother, grandmother and a friend.

“We’re so grateful that we had a chance to know her and for her life to be a part of our life for that brief time,” said Dickison.

If you have any information on this shooting, call the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office at (478) 751-7500.