By Ted Gregory, Tribune reporter
7:00 PM CDT, June 1, 2010
A relative of slaying victim Kristine Gilford's has created a Facebook group aimed at finding the man charged in her stabbing death, Eric A. Gilford, her estranged husband.
"I felt like I had to do something to help," said Kristine Gilford's cousin Frank Snover, who set up the Facebook account Friday night with his girlfriend, Laura Murray. "I thought, why don't we just use the technology today and send out another wanted poster."
The Facebook group, Eric Gilford WANTED, had attracted nearly 1,300 members by Tuesday afternoon, six days after a neighbor found Kristine Gilford, who was five months' pregnant, barely conscious in a friend's Villa Park apartment. Gilford died of multiple stab wounds about 90 minutes later. The woman's 4-year-old daughter also was in the apartment but unharmed.
Eric Gilford, 31, an active-duty Navy sailor, was charged Friday with first-degree murder and intentional homicide of an unborn child. He and Kristine Gilford had been married since February, police said, but she had moved from their Downers Grove home to a friend's apartment in early May.
Authorities found Gilford's abandoned 2008 Dodge Charger on Thursday morning in a Fargo, N.D., parking lot. Efforts to reach investigators Tuesday were unsuccessful.
Law enforcement has used Facebook to fight and prevent crime, said Kathleen Loughlin, spokeswoman for the social networking site. Those efforts include police notifying residents of crime in the area, tracking down stolen merchandise, launching a global Safety Advisory Board and locating missing persons, Loughlin said.
Kristine Gilford's funeral is set for 10 a.m. Wednesday at Zimmerman-Hartnett Funeral Home in Forest Park.
tgregory@tribune.com
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