LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A man who murdered his neighbor as a teenager, and who was later granted mandatory parole under two Nevada laws, would go on to kill two people and shoot a third before killing himself.
But Mark Ford’s actions, though extremely violent, are rare for young offenders who attempt to reintegrate into society after serving decades in prison, the 8 News Now Investigators found.
Ford, 36, killed two people, shot a third, and then died by suicide between Feb. 20 and Feb. 25, according to documents the 8 News Now Investigators obtained. In all, Ford killed three people — not including himself — as he served 20 years in prison for the 2003 murder of Vincent Gomes.
2003: The first murder
Ford was 15 at the time of his arrest for Vincent Gomes’ murder. He broke into the house Vincent Gomes shared with his ex-wife, Roberta Gomes, stabbing the man in the neck.
“I think about it every February,” Roberta Gomes told the 8 News Now Investigators, now 21 years after her ex-husband’s death. Little did Roberta Gomes know at the time — February would become the anniversary of Vincent’s killer, too.
The couple were married for 26 years but divorced in the late 1990s. They remained friends and lived together in Peccole Ranch.
“I felt bad for him, and I told him I’d always be there if he ever needed anything — and he did,” Roberta Gomes said about their living arrangement.
“One afternoon I came home and there are police cars there; TV crews running around,” Roberta Gomes said about Feb. 24, 2003.
Vincent Gomes had called 911, saying a person had broken into his house. In a second call, he told a dispatcher a person stabbed him before he lost consciousness.
Later in the evening, officers told Roberta Gomes her ex-husband was dead.
“And they said, ‘Your husband’s been murdered by a person,’” she said. “Later, I found out it was a person that I’d know when he was 10 years old.”
That naïve neighbor would soon be convicted of killing her ex-husband. Too young to vote, too young to drink, but old enough to kill.
Crime scene photos the 8 News Now Investigators obtained show then-15-year-old Ford shortly after his arrest. During his trial, Ford said he never intended to kill Vincent Gomes in the burglary. A year later, a jury found Ford guilty of second-degree murder.
Roberta Gomes spoke to Ford at the sentencing before a judge handed down two life terms with the possibility of parole.
“You’re not going to get away with it,” Roberta Gomes remembers telling Ford. “You might be punished in prison, but the dear Lord is not done with you yet, you will get yours again sometime.”
2022: Granted parole
Ford went before the Nevada Parole Board twice: Once in 2012 and again in 2022. The first time, he was up for parole on the first life term. While the hearing happened, the board legally could not release Ford until his second life term was complete.
“I’m definitely asking for forgiveness and a second chance out in life,” Ford said from prison during his 2022 hearing, according to a video copy the 8 News Now Investigators obtained through a records request. By then, Ford was in custody for almost all of that minimum 20-year term and Nevada law stipulated he was eligible for parole.
In the 20 years Ford was incarcerated, the Nevada Legislature under then Govs. Jim Gibbons and Brian Sandoval, both Republicans, passed two laws that eventually led to his February 2023 release.
In 2009, Assembly Bill 474 retroactively granted offenders under 16 mandatory parole if they completed certain requirements, like education and job training. In 2015, Assembly Bill 267 retroactively granted offenders under 18 parole eligibility after serving 20 years in crimes resulting in death.
The second law followed two U.S. Supreme Court rulings, which also retroactively removed life sentences without parole for children.
During Ford’s 2022 parole hearing, parole commissioners noted Ford was a “low risk.” A risk assessment tool, one the board administers when making its decision, came to that conclusion due to the age when he was arrested – 15 – programming he completed in prison, including obtaining a GED, and lack of recent discipline.
The order granting Ford parole also cites his “positive institutional record” and his participation in “programs specific to addressing behavior that led to incarceration.” During the hearing, Ford told the panel he completed anger management class over the 20-year term.
When the 8 News Now Investigators asked the Nevada Department of Corrections about specific programs Ford completed, we were directed only to the release document itself.
“I have had 20 years to reflect on my actions that day,” Ford told the commissioners, who ultimately voted to release Ford, citing the two Nevada laws requiring his eligibility for release.
Twenty years to the day Ford killed Vincent Gomes, the Nevada Department of Corrections released the 35-year-old man to begin that second chance. In a statement, a spokesperson said the parole board granted Ford “mandatory parole,” citing both the 2009 and 2015 laws.
Within a year, Mark Ford was dead.
2024: Two more murders
“Metro police say a man accused of shooting and killing two people in five days has died by suicide,” an 8 News Now anchor reported during a newscast on Feb. 25, 2024.
On Tuesday, Feb. 20, around 5 p.m., Jessica Russo’s mother called police saying she found her 36-year-old daughter unresponsive with several gunshot wounds at a home near St. Rose Parkway and Bermuda Road. Investigators identified Ford as Russo’s boyfriend and said Ford also lived at the home.
On Sunday, Feb. 25, around midnight, Ford shot and killed John Dorotiak, 44, outside of Dotty’s near Hualapai and Elkhorn. Dorotiak worked there as a bartender, one of two jobs he did to support his wife and 16-month-old daughter, his family said. Police identified Ford as an “acquaintance” of Dorotiak’s, though the exact relationship remained unclear.
Sometime between Dorotiak’s murder and the discovery of Ford’s body, Ford shot another man in the head, documents said. In that third shooting, a person called police saying Ford was outside a home near Cactus Avenue and Valley View Boulevard. The victim, a man, was shot outside of the home and survived, documents said. The man’s name was not made public. Police said the third victim was a “friend” of Ford’s.
Later that morning, police found Ford dead in a car outside of a home in the south valley near Las Vegas Boulevard and St. Rose Parkway, documents said. Officers found Ford with a gunshot wound to his chest.
Juvenile justice
“It’s heartbreaking,” Preston Shipp, senior policy counsel for the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, said. Shipp is a former prosecutor who works with the group that advocated for changes in Nevada’s law.
“What responsibility does the parole board have to make sure a person like Mark Ford has the education has the skills and has the mindset to not reoffend once he’s back out in the world?” 8 News Now Investigator David Charns asked Shipp.
“Parole boards are taking it very seriously. When they have questions about whether someone can be safely released, they’re keeping them in,” Shipp said. “They certainly don’t have a crystal ball.”
The future would show young offenders like Ford would be unlikely to do it again. According to a Montclair State University cited by CFSY, just 1% of young lifers, those given sentences of life without parole, who, unlike Ford, have no chance of ever leaving prison, reoffend if they are released.
Several studies the 8 News Now Investigators reviewed, including one from the Nevada Department of Corrections, show the longer a younger person is in prison and the more access they have to programming, the more likely they can successfully reintegrate into society.
No notice
Soon after Ford’s death in February, the 8 News Now Investigators called Roberta Gomes.
“And you had no idea that he was even out?” Charns asked Roberta Gomes.
“No,” she said. “The district attorney said, ‘When he comes up for parole. You will be notified.’”
Roberta Gomes said she was not notified nor did she, at that point, know Ford was dead. All these years later, she said he got a greater punishment.
“To me, 21 years later I was sort of shocked, but I said, ‘Well, the dear Lord I guess did what I guess he said he was going to do,’” she said.
The 8 News Now Investigators asked to interview parole commissioners about mandatory decisions like Mark Ford’s. Instead, a spokesperson declined, saying no commissioner was available at any time.
The 8 News Now Investigators also asked Republican Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo’s office for comment, since it is the governor who appoints commissioners to the board. A year into the job, Lombardo has appointed one of the seven commissioners serving on the board. The governor’s office did not respond to the request.
In the years since Vincent Gomes’ death, the Nevada Legislature enacted and voters approved Marsy’s Law, which requires the state to alert victims of an offender’s release. However, victims must opt-in to the service.
The 8 News Now Investigators attempted to contact a member of Ford’s family but did not receive a response.