[MegtheEgg86]

For whatever reason I've been thinking about this case over the past few days and even rewatched the FA episode last night.

Cathy reported to her mother and Pat Parker, another waitress at the Old Mill, that the caller had stated he was some kind of law or justice official (I can't remember off the top of my head what exactly), and that the sheriff's office was sending undercover officers to local restaurants to see which establishments weren't consistently carding customers purchasing alcoholic beverages. Cathy would've been vulnerable to such a set-up given her young age and its accompanying naivete, and because she would've been especially interested in protecting her family's business.

Paul Ferrell himself admits to sexual offense against several women when he made those so-called "crank sex phone calls" to various bookstores and libraries, and unwittingly involving the women who answered the phones in his own sexual gratification. I'm not sure what the exact timeline is, but I would be thoroughly unmoved to learn the sex calls ceased around the time the "meeting" calls began. In other words, I think Ferrell may have been engaged in escalating behavior. Cathy Ford may have simply been the first woman to have taken the bait.

Evidence would indicate Paul Ferrell and Cathy Ford were probably pretty well-acquainted with each other, but that relationship wouldn't have been necessary for the phone call and proposed meeting discussed therein. I have the feeling Ferrell was likely at least acquainted with the women that he phoned, but wasn't particularly close to any of them. I noticed a pattern: just as he did with the sex calls, he avoided truly confronting these women by presenting himself as someone else (and in positions of some kind of authority, such as a doctor or a magistrate) and refraining from identifying himself by name. I'm no psychologist, but I find that element intriguing, and in no small part for this reason:

To my knowledge, nobody has ever claimed that Cathy Ford was having an affair with Paul Ferrell but Paul Ferrell himself. There's over a ten year difference in age between Ferrell and Ford, with Ford being barely out of high school and Ferrell a 30 year-old man. By all accounts, they ran in somewhat different social circles: Ferrell's family was well-respected and church-going, and Ford's boyfriend and friends skirted the edge of the law. However, Ferrell did have a friendship with Ford's brother Rich, and frequently ate at the Old Mill. He would've known Cathy, certainly, but it's never really been established how well. Even when Ferrell describes their relationship on Final Appeal (one that Stacks says, by Ferrell's account was more friends than lovers), it sounds like he might as well have been talking about the kid who sat next to him in history class in high school. I realize it's totally anecdotal, but I could provide as much information on some of the cashiers at my local grocery store as Ferrell did about Cathy Ford, and this was supposed to have been someone with which he was having a romantic affair.

Furthermore, Paul's twin brother David and his wife lived with Paul at the time of the alleged affair, and they both stated that they were completely unaware of any relationship between the two--that had there existed such an affair, "we would've known about it." In sum, I'm not sure Ferrell and Ford ever had a relationship of the character Ferrell describes, and the possible reasons why are an interesting consideration.

It may be possible that Paul Ferrell either conflated or flat-out fabricated the nature of their relationship after he became a suspect in order to explain any trace of Cathy that might later be found in his trailer or property. Cigarette butts of the kind Cathy smoked were found in Ferrell's home; that isn't particularly remarkable if the two were having an affair. The fact that Darvin Moon, Cathy's boyfriend, was known to be something of a rough character with an alleged jealous streak only bolsters this narrative: it creates a motive for Moon to have killed Cathy and framed Paul for it.

Additionally, Ferrell, given the avoidant, indirect nature of the phone calls, may indicate some sort of feeling of inadequacy in Ferrell himself. Perhaps the narrative concerning Ford and an illicit love affair is, for Ferrell, a demonstration of prowess. Maybe it "does" something for him psychologically. Who knows.

The fact that Paul Ferrell demonstrated a pattern of escalating behavior with women revolving around those phone calls, and then later became a law enforcement officer is chilling to consider. It may even be possible that he planned to exploit his authority in order to contact and perhaps assault women. Again, who knows. But what we do know doesn't seem particularly good.

In spite of it all though, I still think dude got a sh*tty trial on account of the unsophisticated blood evidence and the way it was presented, and on the "body language" testimony. Had he been retried, however, I think it's highly likely he still would've been convicted.