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Girlfriend’s betrayal proves deadly

Ford gets 25 years in Wainwright murder

By TERENCE CORRIGAN - Special to the T-G
Posted 8/23/22

Cristalia Dawn Ford was sentenced in criminal court last Thursday to 25 years in prison. She betrayed her boyfriend, Artenchius “Art” Wainwright, which investigators said led to actions …

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Girlfriend’s betrayal proves deadly

Ford gets 25 years in Wainwright murder

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Cristalia Dawn Ford was sentenced in criminal court last Thursday to 25 years in prison. She betrayed her boyfriend, Artenchius “Art” Wainwright, which investigators said led to actions that resulted in the Shelbyville man’s brutal death on March 18, 2020.
Wainwright was just 33 years old at the time he was killed.
Ford, 51, accepted a plea deal in which she pled guilty to a single count of facilitation of 1st degree murder. She must serve at least 105 months (almost 9 years) before she will be eligible for early release. The time she will serve in state prison is also reduced by the 7 months she has been incarcerated in the Bedford County Jail. 
Ford was originally charged with two counts of 1st degree murder, conspiracy to commit first degree, especially aggravated robbery and aggravated robbery. If she had gone to trial and been found guilty, she faced a possible life sentence (51 years) or the death penalty on each murder charge. She would have also faced a possible sentence of 15 to 60 years each on the charges of especially aggravated robbery and conspiracy to commit especially aggravated robbery.
Boyfriend’s death
Wainwright died as a result of an extremely violent beating with an aluminum baseball bat and the butt of a handgun. Charles Edward Young, of Christiana, who was 50 at the time, was convicted of murder at a trial in February.
Young, investigators determined, was the one who actually wielded the bat in the attack. The autopsy report shows that Wainwright took blows from the bat over his entire body; his liver, spleen, and right kidney were cut and he had four fractured ribs.  
Dr. Randy Tashjian, who performed Wainwright’s autopsy, testified that he had never performed an autopsy that resulted in such a long list of injuries. Tashjian said he has performed over 2,000 autopsies (over 100 which were homicides.)
The list of lacerations and bruises Wainwright suffered fills nearly three pages of tightly spaced lines of small type.
The crime
According to prosecutors, Cristalia Ford was living with Wainwright at the time at his Chestnut Drive home in Shelbyville. At the time, Ford said, Wainwright owed her a considerable sum of money. She didn’t think he was going to pay her back.
Ford met with Young and asked him to help her get the money Wainwright owed her. Prosecutors said Ford told Young that Wainwright had a large sum of money and marijuana at their home. Prosecutor Mike Randles said that Ford knew Wainwright “would not hand over the money and drugs without a physical altercation.”
Testimony shows how Ford took Wainwright out to dinner the night he was killed to get him out of the house. Ford conspired with Young to be sure Wainwright was not at home and a back door was left open, giving Young easy access to the home. 
Court testimony further explained that Young had recruited Colby Ray Watford, 25, of Dowelltown, located in Dekalb County, to assist him in confronting Wainwright.
A break in the case
Initially, Ford told police that she didn’t know the men who attacked Wainwright. She testified that she didn’t witness the beating; she was locked in a closet.
The break in the case didn’t come until May 28, 2020, 70 days after the murder. On May 28, investigators received a phone call from Donna Watford who lived on South Mill Street in Dowelltown.
Watford told investigators that her husband, Colby Ray Watford, had participated in the killing and robbery of Wainwright. Police arrested the 25-year-old that day.
Colby Watford agreed to talk to Shelbyville police 6 days after his arrest and gave them a statement about what had happened the night Wainwright was murdered. He confessed to his participation in the crime and told them Young enlisted him to help with the crime.
An arrest warrant was issued for Young that day. 
In his statement to Shelbyville investigators, Watford also implicated Ford who was Wainwright’s live-in girlfriend. Watford told police that he was told by Young that Ford got Young involved in the plot to take $30,000 in cash and a large stash of marijuana from Wainwright. Ford allegedly told Young that Wainwright owed her $30,000 and was not paying it back.
Watford’s next court appearance is set for Oct. 17, when it is likely he will take a plea deal. Watford is also charged with especially aggravated robbery, 1st-degree murder, and conspiracy to commit especially aggravated robbery.
Family grief
Art Wainwright’s mother, Shana Jennings, spoke at the Ford and Young sentencing hearings. At Ford’s hearing last week, she said to Ford, “Losing my son has shattered my world…You should be caged like the animal you are for the rest of your life.”
At the sentencing hearing for Young, Shana Jennings echoed the same sentiments, “Regarding the convicted murderer who has absolutely no regard for life; the kind of evil that possesses him should never have the opportunity to walk free again. He should be caged like the animal he is for the rest of his life.”
She added, “Allowing him to live at all is a travesty. I still struggle with my faith that tells me to forgive. He doesn’t deserve it and currently I am unable to give it. I have hopes that one day for my own sake I will be able to forgive.”
Wainwright’s stepfather, Bennie Jennings, Jr., also made statements at the sentencing hearings of Young and Ford. “Art and I were not related by blood, but he was my son,” Jennings said at Young’s sentencing hearing, explaining his relationship with Wainwright. “Through no fault of his own, he trusted the wrong person and it cost him his life. He will remain in our hearts and we will always love and miss him.” 
Jennings is an investigator with the Tennessee Highway Patrol. He has been with the THP for over 30 years.