Photographer convicted of wife’s 1983 murder

SANTA ANA, Calif. — A former Spokane photographer has been convicted of murdering his estranged wife in Southern California 27 years ago to avoid paying child support and losing custody of his daughters. The district attorney’s office says 64-year-old William Mordick was found guilty Wednesday and faces life in prison when he’s sentenced next month. He drove to the Anaheim Hills home of his estranged wife, Katherine, in January 1983 to pick up his children for a birthday party. Prosecutors say he put the girls, then 2 and 4, in his car, went back inside and slashed the woman’s throat. He later moved to Spokane with the girls and became a commercial photographer. Mordick was arrested in Spokane on Feb. 11, 2008, after DNA evidence from blood smears linked him to the crime scene. He testified he was innocent. He’d owned and operated Photography by Gregory in Spokane since the early 1990s.