ATLANTA — Teresa Lang faced her daughter's accused killer in court Tuesday on the first day in the trial of Austin Ford.
Ford is accused of killing 18-year-old Tori Lang, who was his best friend at the time. He was arrested nearly nine months after her death and is accused of murdering her, allegedly hiding and burning her car.
Her body was found on July 28, 2021 under a tree in Yellow River Park in Gwinnett County.
Tori Lang was Teresa's only daughter.
Teresa said Tori and Ford knew each other all through high school. She said the two dated for a short period of time.
During court, the mother recounted the worst day of her life: from the moment she knew something was wrong when her daughter did not come home for curfew until they found her daughter Tori's body.
Teresa even described on Tuesday conversations she had with Ford as she tried to seek answers of how her 18-year-daughter died.
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From the stand, Teresa described how when her daughter missed curfew on July 27, 2021 she went out looking for Tori and even drove around Ford's house to see if she could find Tori's car.
She then started calling her daughter's friends from her phone. Tori did not have her phone on her when she left the house, according to the mother. That's when Ford called her back. She said he did not pick up the phone at first.
The mother of the 18-year-old said when Ford answered the phone he sounded as if "he was shocked to have Tori call on the phone." She said when she asked where her daughter was, he said he did not know.
Her mother then reported her missing that Wednesday only to find out that Tori's body was found the next day.
Teresa said she had multiple conversations with Ford after her daughter's body was found and after her funeral. Teresa testified that Ford made weird statements about her daughter's death as she was trying to figure out what happened.
"He told me a story about how Tori came over to his house. She was looking for someone to hurt her for $300," Teresa recounted.
Prosecutors asked if Tori had any suicidal thoughts or ideas before to her death. Her mother told the court there was an incident in her freshman year of high school where she was hospitalized, but did not specify what happened.
Death of Tori Lang | What to know about the teen found dead in a Gwinnett County park
The mother of the 18-year-old also said that Ford made another "weird" statement: "that he didn't want to be a green bean coming out right now because the guys that hurt Tori might be look out for him," the mother added.
This was one of the statements he made closer to the vigil for Tori's death, which was at Yellow River Park, according to the mother.
Teresa said that Ford told her that he had a football game and would not be able to attend her daughter's vigil, but he and his mother attended Tori's funeral.
A few days later, Teresa reported her gun missing to police officers. The court asked the mother about the purchase of her gun at the time. It was never determined if Teresa's gun was used in the killing of her daughter.
According to her mother, Tori graduated in 2020 and was looking for work before her death. She had an interview lined up the day before her body was found in the park.
Teresa said her daughter had plans to continue in an engineering program and eventually wanted to start taking courses online at a school and declare an engineering major.
She was already enrolled in an electrical apprentice program.