By Sharon Coolidge
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Prosecutors say a 20-year-old man and a friend of his set out on a robbery spree the night of Feb. 10, 2003, and killed anyone who got in their way.

A statement by one of the two men, coupled with ballistics technology that linked the two deaths, led Cincinnati police to Carl Ford.

The second man has not yet been charged or arrested.

Ford, already serving a life sentence for the murder of 16-year-old Bryan Lyons, pleaded guilty Thursday to a charge of murder for killing William Alan Reed, 44, of Norwood.

The victims were walking in Evanston when Ford and his friend targeted them, prosecutors said.

Lyons had stopped at Jack's Carry Out & Drive Thru and was headed to his grandmother's house nearby when he was shot. The Evanston teen was found on the grandmother's lawn about 7 p.m. He died five hours later.

Ford told authorities he was the lookout and didn't know the other man would shoot.

A few hours later, prosecutors say, they killed again.

Prosecutors say the duo, still in the same neighborhood, confronted Reed, who was visiting in Evanston.

Again, Ford told authorities, he was the lookout and didn't know the other man would shoot.

Reed drove himself to University Hospital, crashing near near the emergency entrance about 2:50 a.m. Feb. 11. Reed died an hour later.

A computer at the Hamilton County Coroner's Office where ballistics tests are logged matched the homicides. Later, Ford confessed to his role in Lyons death, according to prosecutors.

Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Charles J. Kubicki Jr. sentenced Ford on April 6 to life in prison with eligibility for parole after 21 years.

E-mail scoolidge@enquirer.com