Ilion High School - Class of 1980

Source is here Utica NY Daily Press 1980 a - 2011.pdf on fultonhistory.com

Former Ilionite accused of trying to hire hit man

The three women, including a former resident of Ilion, charged with the March 28 murder of a Florida doctor, were re-arrested in Melbourne, Fla. yesterday and charged with attempting to hire a hit man to kill a key witness in the trial.

Melbourne police said Joyce Cummings, 18, formerly of Ilion; Priscilla Bradford, 36, and Janice Gould, 34, were arrested after police confiscated $2,000, allegedly to be used to pay the hired killer, from a phone booth.

The three are charged with conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation to commit murder and were being held in Brevard County Jail in Titusville, Fla.

Police did not release the name of the witness who they said the women wanted to kill, nor the name of the hit man. The investigation into the matter was continuing, they said.

A month ago, the three were charged with bludgeoning to death Dr. John Bradford, Jr., 53, an optometrist and the husband of Mrs. Bradford. A witness told police the three beat Bradford over the head with a skillet and a cast iron bottle capper.

The witness told police Mrs. Bradford telephoned her mother during the act and asked her advice because she was having trouble killing him.

Mrs. Bradford told police she was "fighting for my life" when she struck him and that Bradford had beaten her many times during their three years of marriage.

One month before his death, Bradford told employees of an Orlando car rental agency that someone was trying to kill him.

The trial on the murder charge had been scheduled to begin June 2 before the newest developments.

Miss Cummings' mother, Pauline, still lives in Ilion and has said she is convinced her daughter is innocent.

Miss Cummings is a dropout from Ilion High School who moved to Florida last June. She was employed as a laboratory assistant at United Optical Industries, owned by the Bradfords.