SHORTLY AFTER 6:30 pm on Jan. 17, 1989, Michael Francke, a tall, athletic man, walked out of the Dome Building, headquarters of the Oregon Department of Corrections. Six hours later, his blood-covered body was found, outside the office building's north entrance. He had been stabbed in the heart.
It took the Oregon State Police more than a year to arrest Frank Gable, a small-time drug dealer, and in June 1991 prosecutors persuaded a jury to convict him. The prosecution's theory: Gable killed Francke when the prison director caught him breaking into his car. He was convicted of seven counts of murder and sentenced to life in prison.
It was an undeniably weak case. No physical evidence, no credible witnesses tied Gable to the crime; prosecutors relied on testimony dominated by drug dealers and meth users. Elyse Clawson, probably Francke's closest deputy at the Department of Corrections, says she doesn't think we know the real story. "It was never cleared up to my satisfaction," says Clawson, now living in Boston. "I thought there were a lot of unanswered questions."
Fifteen years later, independent Investigative Reporters are revisiting the case. And the victim's brother, Kevin Francke, has never given up looking for the "real murderer".
This is a true instance of Sex, Lies and Videotapes. Okay, so maybe the videotapes are only of interviews (not available to the the public). But the rest of it is verifiable. Sort of.
Most interestingly, several of the principles of the investistigation ended up married to each other ... some of the relationships being most curious. For example:
* During the murder investigation, some journalists, including Phil Stanford, were chasing rumors that Tim Natividad, a low-level crook, might be involved. But in 1989, before Gable's trial, Natividad was shot to death by his girlfriend, Elizabeth Godlove, who convinced authorities it was self-defense. Kevin Francke, who believes Natividad killed his brother, married Godlove in 1993. They're still married today.There are no real 'answers' in this article, but there are curiousities to make it an interesting read.
Me? I don't know who killed Michael Francke. I never believed that the man who was convicted of the murder, Frank Gable, was definitively identified as the killer.
Check out the article in the link provided above. You may find it as intriguing as I do.
1 comment:
There is a comprehensive web site that deals with all the ins and outs of this case: www.freefrankgable.com
Check it out. Play the interview with Evelyn Meeks, Mike Francke's secretary at the time of his murder, and you will get a good picture of what his frame of mind was at that time.
E Pat Francke
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