Jeffrey Wayne Gorton

Name

Jeffrey Wayne Gorton

Status

Jeffrey Wayne Gorton was sentenced to 40-80 years in prison on September 19, 2002. He was sentenced to life in prison on February 13, 2003.

Timeline

• November 9, 1986 — Jeffrey Wayne Gorton pleaded no contest to charges that he raped and murdered Margarette Eby, a professor and provost of the University of Michigan-Flint.
• February 17, 1997 — Nancy Ludwig was murdered and raped at the Hilton hotel in Romulus, Michigan.
• September 19, 2002 — He was sentenced to 40-80 years in prison.
• February 13, 2003 — He was sentenced to life in prison.

Background

Jeffrey Wayne Gorton (born November 1, 1962) was an American murderer and rapist.

The offence

Jeffrey Wayne Gorton was convicted in 2002 of the rape and murder of flight attendant Nancy Ludwig on February 17, 1997 at the Hilton hotel in Romulus, Michigan.

He later pleaded no contest to charges that he raped and murdered a professor and provost of the University of Michigan-Flint, Margarette Eby, on November 9, 1986.

The two rapes and murders were proved to be the work of one person by matching semen samples taken from the two crime scenes.

Gorton left a latent fingerprint at the Eby crime scene; when it was matched to him, the Michigan State Police learned the killer's identity.

Gorton was proven to be the rapist by matching the DNA of his semen with that of the samples taken from the two murder victims.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.

Investigation

Police detectives speculated that Nancy Ludwig turned to open the door with a key card and her killer stepped out of a stairwell, then pushed her into the room.

Defensive cuts on Nancy Ludwig’s hands showed she tried to fend him off, but he overpowered her, gagged her and tied her hands with rope.

Nancy Ludwig was tortured, raped and cut her throat.

The killer removed her clothes and placed her body on the bed and raped her again.

The killer turned on the television to CNN's coverage of the Persian Gulf War, cleaned up in the bathroom, wiped the body with a washcloth, untied the hands and packed everything in the blood-spattered room that might identify him, including the wastebasket trash bag.

The killer removed her earrings and rings, picked up her identification and luggage, hung a “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door and disappeared into the night.

Police found enough material for DNA samples in the bathroom.

Romulus police detectives speculated about two possible suspects seen in the area of the hotel the night of her death: one rode the shuttle bus to the hotel with Ludwig and her friend and reportedly stared at Ludwig; the other was seen loading what looked like Northwest Airlines burgundy luggage into a 1978-80 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, light brown or bronze with a white license plate.

Neither man had been found.

Nancy Ludwig’s picture appeared at the top of the department's Web page and remained until the case was solved.

The case information included sketches of two possible suspects.

Tips poured in and filled two file cabinets at the Romulus police station.

Rewards totaling $80,000 were being offered.

One person said the killing was an Arab spy plot to get Nancy Ludwig's passport.

Another person said a professional bowler had committed the heinous crime.

The Romulus police checked thousands of tips and eliminated hundreds of men as suspects.

Every time a killer was caught with a similar pattern of activity, DNA was run against the Romulus samples.

Hundreds of men nationwide had been checked.

People

Defendant

• Jeffrey Wayne Gorton — convicted of the rape and murder of Nancy Ludwig; pleaded no contest to charges involving the rape and murder of Margarette Eby.

Victims

• Nancy Ludwig — flight attendant; murdered and raped at the Hilton hotel in Romulus, Michigan on February 17, 1997.
• Margarette Eby — professor and provost of the University of Michigan-Flint; raped and murdered on November 9, 1986.

Relatives and associates mentioned

• Art Ludwig — Nancy Ludwig's husband.
• Linda Ludwig — Nancy Ludwig's daughter.
• Sandy Ludwig — Nancy Ludwig's daughter.
• Laura Ludwig — Nancy Ludwig's daughter.
• Executive Lt. David Early — involved in describing the ongoing search efforts.
• Nancy Ludwig’s stepmother’s killing — referred to in the context of Art Ludwig’s family seeking answers.
• the other attendant who was with her at the hotel that night — described as sleeping with a light on in her room when on the road for Northwest.

Other details

Art Ludwig flew to Detroit the next day to identify his wife's body.

Art Ludwig later stated that his life was over.

“He killed two people that night,” Ludwig said. “He killed Nancy, and he killed me. My life was over as I knew it.”

Art Ludwig said:

“I think about her every day,” Art Ludwig said last week.

He added:

“Sometimes I see a woman from the back and it's the spitting image. 'It's Nancy,' I think. But of course it isn't. I am totally frustrated. But now they have the national DNA matching system up -- and someday, someday, they might find a match.”

He also said:

“They told me I'd be the first to know. But I've stopped bugging the police. They don't have anything to tell me.”

He was described as “now 67.”

The hotel room referenced was Room 354.

Nancy Ludwig was described as “sick in bed with a cold the night his wife died,” and the narrative described she “rode the elevator to the third floor” and walked down a long hall, past an alcove with a noisy ice machine.

Linda Ludwig moved to a different address and did not give out her home phone number.

Linda Ludwig said:

“We know that we are never safe.”

Legal citations mentioned

State of Michigan Supreme Court opinion 128579.

State of Michigan Court of Appeals opinion 244719.