A Houston jury sentenced 51-year-old Yoland Washington to 75 years in prison for killing Deundrea Ford, a young mother who disappeared after leaving her job at an east Houston club in September 2023. Accounts have listed Ford's age as either 21 or 22 when she disappeared.
Ford disappeared after leaving work near the East Freeway in September 2023, according to click2houston.com. She worked at Diva's Bikini Bar and Grill in east Houston, and relatives and friends reported her missing after they could not reach her, according to Click2Houston. The search continued for months before investigators connected Washington to the case.
Surveillance Video and a White Transit Van
Surveillance footage showed Ford and Washington leaving Diva's Bikini Bar and Grill at about 2 a.m. on Sept. 21, 2023, and entering a white Ford Transit van, according to abc13.com. The station reported that Ford's phone was later found about three miles from the club.
Investigators reported finding Ford's blood on Washington's shirt and possible blood inside his van, according to Law&Crime. The outlet also reported that Washington told investigators he paid Ford $200 through Cash App for sex and that investigators identified him as the male customer who had been with Ford before she disappeared.
Remains Found in Dallas, Charges Filed
Washington was charged with murder in January 2024, and investigators formally linked him to Ford's disappearance, according to the seed reporting. Abc13.com separately reported that Yoland Washington was charged with her murder, and that remains found in Dallas had been identified as those of the missing Houston mother. A line worker discovered skeletal remains along Luna Road in Dallas in March, and those remains were later identified as Ford's, according to the Click2Houston report cited in the seed story.
Abc13.com also reported that Washington was accused of sexually assaulting, strangling and robbing another woman in Dallas in July 2023, separate from the Ford case. The evidence provided does not establish the outcome of that separate allegation.
Other Houston disappearance cases
The Ford case can be compared with other Houston-area disappearances, although the dates, locations and available evidence differed. According to Click2Houston, 24-year-old Felicia Johnson was last seen leaving the Cover Girls Night Club on April 15, 2022; a suspect was later charged with murder, but her body had not been recovered when that report was published. In a separate case, FOX 26 Houston reported that Erik Fardell Arceneaux was found guilty of murdering Maria Rodriguez, who disappeared in Houston in 2018 even though her remains were never found.
Family Reacts to the Sentence
Kevin Carriere, identified by the reporting as Ford's uncle, said the sentence gives the family a measure of closure but cannot undo its loss. He described 75 years as effectively a death sentence because he does not expect Washington to live long enough to complete it.
Carriere said the family had hoped for a life sentence but believes the 75-year term provides the justice Ford deserved. With Washington headed to prison, he said, relatives can begin grieving.
