My 1998 ford escort won't start. I've had no problems with it?

The bells won't ring, the only light that illuminates is check engine on the dash, none of the gauges work, You can't shift it out of gear, no radio. Nothing at all any help would be appreciated. I drove it this morning. Pulled up to a house. Turned it off, went inside, come out about 10 minutes later and nothing the engine doesn't crank, no power to windows, dash, lights radio? I'm thinking anti theft but I can't find how to reset it. I disconnected battery cable for 20 minutes and that didn't work.

Probably a bad battery but very possibly dirty / loose terminals. Have them cleaned and tightened.

LOL. That 15 year old battery needs to be replaced. Sorry but DUH HUH

This is definitely a low current problem. Escorts have a solenoid on the shifter - part of the brake / neutral safety circuit. You can't shift out of Park if this solenoid is not energized.

I doubt that it is the battery though. It was running 10 minutes beforehand. Batteries do not fail suddenly. It would have given symptoms beforehand - weak starts. Do not buy a new battery unless it can be determined without doubt that the battery is the problem. Too many perfectly good parts are thrown out because people guess what the problem is, buy a new part and install it. That. Called "throwing parts at the problem and I have fired mechanics for doing it.

The problem needs to be diagnosed properly. Someone needs to see if current is getting to the starter solenoid and trace current path back to the battery. Most likely it is corroded junction (most likely at the solenoid) which may require no replacement parts - simply disassembly and cleaning.