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Convicted murderer and r*pist Jeffrey Wayne Gorton was found guilty in the February 1991 Hilton Hotel slaying of flight attendant Nancy Ludwig in Romulus, Michigan, and pleaded no contest to the 1986 murder of Flint-based provost and professor, Margarette Eby. Both women were stabbed, violently r*ped, and left behind in horrific crime scenes.
Gorton was arrested in connection with both murders years later, when fingerprints and other evidence collected from both crime scenes provided authorities with a potential lead. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
According to the Michigan Department of Corrections, Jeffrey Wayne Gorton is currently serving time at the Richard A. Handlon Correctional Facility in Ionia, Michigan.
An upcoming episode of ID's The Lake Erie Murders is slated to shed further light on the murder of Nancy Ludwig. The episode, titled Heartbreak Hotel, will air on Wednesday, March 22, 2023, at 7 pm ET.
The synopsis reads:
"Beautiful Northwestern Airlines flight attendant Nancy Ludwig is discovered dead in her hotel room, her body mutilated and head almost decapitated; it will take the discovery of links to another heinous killing to blow the case wide open."
Jeffrey Wayne Gorton was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 2002 for the Michigan killings of two women
The decades-long investigation into the murders of two women in Michigan came to a conclusion in 2002 when Jeffrey Wayne Gorton of Genesee County, Michigan, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole by Wayne Circuit Court Judge Maggie Drake.
Gorton's DNA was matched with samples recovered from flight attendant Nancy Ludwig's body in 2001 by investigators. According to the Free Press, a DNA analyst with the Michigan State Police stated that there was a 1 in 97 quadrillion possibility that the DNA recovered on her body did not match Gorton.
According to a 2002 article in the Free Press, during Gorton's trial, his defense attorney, Craig Tank, did not present a defense or try to challenge the reliability of the DNA evidence. Additionally, Gorton reportedly decided against testifying at the very last minute. The 39-year-old was convicted of first-degree murder, felony murder, criminal s*xual conduct, and larceny.
In January 2003, Gorton also entered a no-contest plea to multiple charges, including first-degree premeditated murder, felony murder, and first-degree criminal s**ual conduct.
Reports state that he r*ped and killed Margarette Eby, a former professor and provost at the University of Michigan-Flint who was 55 at the time of her death in November 1986. Like Ludwig, Eby was slain by Gorton, and her nearly decapitated body was found at her home in Flint, Michigan.
The Wayne County assistant prosecutor who handled the case, Elizabeth Walker, told the Free Press in 2002,
"I think this man evil. In the 22 years I’ve been practicing law, I’ve never felt that way about anyone. But I think this man is evil personified."
Walker further added,
"And I believe there are many, many more bodies out there, many more victims."
Jeffrey Wayne Gorton was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole and is currently serving time at the Richard A. Handlon Correctional Facility located in Ionia, Michigan.
