Carrier Who Claims He Killed Customers Now Calls Reporters from Jail

By: Joe Strupp A Tulsa, Okla. newspaper carrier who has confessed to murdering two women along his paper route has taken to calling local reporters almost daily from jail. Since his arrest in late October, Paul Williford, a 64-year-old former Tulsa World carrier, has phoned his old newspaper's newsroom at least three-dozen times, according to one reporter.

Although she has gotten a few stories out of his calls, World reporter Nicole Marshall said he mostly asks for favors and money and offers little new information. "He calls at least three or four times a week and they don't really result in anything," says Marshall, who also had one face-to-face interview with Williford. "He makes demands, but he doesn't really say anything new."

Larry Levy, who has been covering the story as a stringer for The Oklahoman of Oklahoma City, says he has gotten up to four calls a day from Williford, who remains jailed on $1.5 million bail. "He called me two or three times last week," said Levy, a former Oklahoman staffer who freelances out of his Tulsa home. "It costs me $1.95 every time he calls because he has to call collect."

Levy was able to get one piece of news out of a call last week when Williford claimed via phone that he had strangled a hitchhiker in Arkansas in 1969. Levy reported that law enforcement officials in Arkansas had begun investigating the claim, but have found no links to any crime involving such a scenario.

Williford also revealed to Levy in a previous call that he had six other potential victims along his route, but was arrested before he could kill them. Levy reported that claim in the paper as well.

Williford has been behind bars since he confessed to killing Geraldine Lawhorn, 75, and Donna Stauffer, 73, in October. He made the disclosures after being arrested for sexually assaulting and trying to kill another woman on Oct. 21. All three women lived on Williford's newspaper route.

Williford delivered to 220 homes on two separate World routes, and had been a carrier for about two years. He also briefly delivered the Sunday edition of The New York Times to about 100 additional homes for a local distribution service in early October, but lost that job after refusing to place some papers on front porches.

Lawhorn died on Sept. 28 and was buried in nearby Vinita, Okla. Investigators received a court order several weeks ago to have her body exhumed and an autopsy conducted since then has revealed she died of strangulation, the World reported.

Stauffer, the other victim Williford confessed to killing, was cremated after her death, the paper reported. She was found unconscious on the floor of her living room Oct. 8, according to the World, which added that she was hospitalized on life support for three days before it was removed.

Williford has not been charged with any murders and is scheduled for a Jan. 3 arraignment on murder charges. He is being held on other felony charges stemming from the Oct. 21 assault.

During his time in jail, Williford also has phoned several local television stations and allowed on-camera interviews, reporters said. But most of his contact appears to be through phone calls to newspapers. "He likes to call," said Marshall, a 12-year World reporter. "I am not always here when he calls. He leaves messages and calls on weekends. He tried to call me last night."

World Managing Editor Susan Ellerbach said Williford had refused to be interviewed for a few days last week after demanding that the World return a $200 bond he had been required to post to become a carrier. "He wanted that to be brought to him before he would be interviewed," Ellerbach said. "The business office has handled it and I believe it has been sent. But we would not pay him any money for an interview."

Levy said Williford had asked him for favors, such as finding him an attorney to help with a social security payment problem, but the reporter did not. "He also wanted to find out how a previous interview was covered," said Levy. "He was excited that it had been picked up by the AP."

Marshall said she does not regularly call Williford back, noting that he has often promised information or exclusives and not delivered. "I also have other things I have to cover," she said. "I have a feeling he is someone who wants attention or notoriety."