And Never See Her Again (11 page)

"If he didn't do it," Judy said tearfully, "they need to let him out."

But Ricky Franks wouldn't be let go. Franks had been taken to a Tarrant County magistrate and arraigned for the kidnapping of Opal Jennings. Bail had been set at $1,000,000, an amount that assured Franks wouldn't be able to make bond and be released from custody.

The large bond amount and the intense scrutiny of Ricky Franks didn't dampen the resolve of Ed Jones, or Leon Haley, whom Jones recruited to help with the Franks case. Haley, to serve as lead defense attorney, had been practicing criminal law since 1982 and had more experience than Ed Jones with murder cases. Jones had moved to Fort Worth only three years earlier. He had been hired by the Franks family because he had represented another family member in an unrelated case. Both attorneys publicly supported their client.

"From what they (investigators) have said so far, I don't think they'll have anything to present," Leon Haley remarked to local reporters in a positioning declaration anticipating a grand jury hearing. "They're reaching for straws."

Greg Miller, chief deputy district attorney, disagreed. He felt his investigators, as well as the FBI agents, had given the DA's office sufficient evidence to take before the grand jury and request an indictment of Richard Franks for the kidnapping of Opal Jennings.

Greg Miller was known for his expertise in winning cases short on physical evidence. Hence, Miller was often given those cases deemed most difficult to win.

"One day I'd love to have a case with a smoking gun and a full confession," Miller said, tongue in cheek, but his tenacity and ability to wage a winnable prosecution was the reason Miller had been assigned to Richard Franks.

Miller began his career with the Fort Worth Police Department in January 1971 when he joined the cadet program, primarily working traffic detail. The police department wanted the cadets in college, so Miller took advantage of the Law Enforcement Assistance Program (LEAP). Sort of the "GI Bill for cops," Miller's college tuition was paid by the government in exchange for four years of police service. He graduated from Texas Christian University in 1976 with a degree in business administration. He had planned on going on to law school, but he found he enjoyed police work and was good at it. In the meantime, Miller worked on his master's degree in criminal justice at the University of Texas in Arlington.

For two years Miller patrolled the streets of Fort Worth before moving on to the Crime Search Unit. There Miller found himself embroiled in one of the highest-profile cases in Fort Worth history.

On August 2, 1976, a man dressed in black entered the Fort Worth mansion of Cullen Davis, shooting Davis's estranged wife, Priscilla, and killing her twelve-year-old daughter and her current love interest, Stan Farr. Greg Miller was called to the home and served as the primary crime scene investigator.

Cullen Davis was arrested and a year later was on trial in Amarillo, Texas, for the double homicide. Miller, who was on his honeymoon at the time, was summoned to the Texas Panhandle city to testify.

After six days of questioning by the district attorney and cross-examination by Richard "Racehorse" Haynes, one of Texas's most notorious defense attorneys, Miller had had an opportunity to see great lawyers in action. I can do this, Miller thought. He loved testifying and had many opportunities while in the Crime Search Unit to do just that. After two years in crime scene investigation, Miller was promoted to detective. At age twenty-seven, Miller became the youngest homicide detective in Fort Worth.

Through his police work Miller had gotten to know many of the ADAs personally and knew he wanted to be on the prosecution team. Miller's desire to pursue his original plan of attending law school was renewed, but he loved police work and waited until 1984, after receiving his master's degree, to enter the Southern Methodist School of Law in Dallas.

Miller joined the Tarrant County District Attorney's Office right out of law school and soon was consulted by other ADAs on police procedures and crime scene analysis. He knew those subjects well and felt confident in helping with any case that dealt with physical evidence.

It didn't take long for Miller to gain the respect of his peers and earn him the reputation of making difficult cases work. He moved up quickly within the district attorney ranks, and was promoted to Court Chief in 1991. Thus, Miller was the natural choice to try Richard Franks. No body. No physical evidence. No reliable eyewitness. If anyone could make the case against Richard Franks, it was Greg Miller.

McCormick, Manning, and Adair, of the Special Crimes Unit, along with Lori Keefer and Andy Farrell, of the FBI, provided Greg Miller with all the information they had on Richard Franks and the abduction of Opal Jennings. It was up to Miller and his team to take the case to the grand jury and secure an indictment.

Miller was not comfortable with presenting the evidence to the grand jury so soon. Franks had been in custody less than two weeks.

"We're doing it primarily in response to the defense attorneys wanting their side out, so to speak," Miller told reporters. "But that doesn't mean we aren't going to be thorough with this case. I would have rather waited another week or two, but I can deal with this."

"We're glad it's going on," Ed Jones, of the defense team, responded. "If Ricky's not indicted, hopefully the public will see him as an exonerated man. If he is indicted, that doesn't mean he's guilty of the offense. It just says that there's enough [evidence] to make him come to court and answer these charges. Then we could go from there with discovery on the evidence and go about the business of showing our client is not guilty."

There were some law enforcement officials who were beginning to agree with Jones, to have doubts that Franks's statement admitting responsibility in the crime was true. The lack of physical evidence connecting Franks to the crime seemed to be a huge stumbling block for many.

Meanwhile, as some investigators toiled at gathering evidence, others continued to interview Franks's friends and relatives about the case. Among those questioned was twenty-four-year-old Harold Hemphill, one of Franks's half brothers. Detectives had run a routine background check on Hemphill prior to attempting to question him. They found Hemphill was in the Wise County Jail for failure to appear in court in connection with a charge not related to the Opal Jennings case-aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Hemphill's wife, Katie, disputed the statement that there was no connection between her husband's arrest and the Opal Jennings case. She believed authorities were `just messing" with the family. She also believed investigators were merely grasping at straws.

Franks's neighbors in South Fort Worth had mixed feelings after hearing the news that one of their neighbors had been arrested for Jennings's abduction.

A plumbing contractor who lived two doors down from Franks, and who had employed Franks for about a month, expressed his shock upon hearing of Franks's arrest.

"He was a hard worker, but I had an odd feeling about him," the plumber said. "I could never put my finger on it. But to think he's involved in a case that has all of Fort Worth's hearts bleeding, I just can't believe it."

Several blocks away, at MPC, a shop where Franks occasionally worked changing carburetors and performing general maintenance work, the owner was startled at the news of Franks's arrest.

"Several times I tried to put him on full time," the burly owner stated. "He'd work about a week, then miss a day. He was sick. His mom was sick. Always something. But I used him part-time, off and on, for three years. Any girl around, he'd just stare them down, big time. More than one mentioned it to me. My girlfriend's daughter came up to me and said, `He's weird, very weird."'

But Franks also had his supporters. A neighbor whose son was friends with Franks dismissed the allegations: "He didn't seem like the type who could do something like this. And I wouldn't believe a word anyone in this neighborhood would say about Ricky."

Meanwhile, FBI agents combed a forty-acre tract of land two blocks from the Frankses' house, but found no trace of Opal. They had been acting on a tip that Franks had been seen walking through the neighborhood covered with mud and carrying a shovel after Opal's abduction. Franks's brother Rodney dismissed the incident, stating that his brother had been in the muddy field trying to free a pickup that had gotten stuck and that the occurrence had nothing to do with Opal.

This Fort Worth acreage was covered with grassy fields dotted by groves of trees and rimmed by a creek and a railroad track. Agents walked the land in a straight line, searching among the trees and even turning earth in some spots. They utilized trained dogs to aid in the search, but their efforts proved futile. No sign of Opal was found.

When news of Ricky Franks was personally delivered to the Sanderford family, Audrey Sanderford had only one question: "Where's Opal?"

The ailing grandmother pulled out the multitude of media contacts she had made during the past five months and began calling radio and television stations telling the news that someone had been arrested in Opal's case.

Immediately reports began to be broadcast. Soon the small kitchen at the Sanderford house was turned into awar room. Scraps of paper covered the kitchen table; phones rang off the hook. Media outlets across the county clamored to get the first interview with the Sanderford family, anxious to get their reaction to the promising news that Opal's abductor had been caught.

"Mom, pick up the phone. It's CBS radio news," Teresa Sanderford urged.

As Audrey spoke with countless callers, Robert Sanderford watched images of Opal on the livingroom TV. Seeing a shot of his beloved Opal playing with her stuffed animals, the heartbroken grandfather broke down and wept.

Throughout the day Audrey's blood pressure soared, causing her niece, Barbara Wallace, a licensed vocational nurse, to administer pills from the cobalt blue vial never far away.

"I'm going to be fine, y'all," Audrey insisted. "I can handle this."

But with all the media attention, the roller-coaster ride of emotions, gladness at the news of Franks's arrest, and the ultimate distress of still not knowing where Opal was, the Sanderfords were most stunned by surprise visitors in the late-afternoon hours.

As the door of the Sanderford home opened, the family expected another local reporter to be standing on their porch. Instead, Rodney Franks, Ricky's older brother, and his girlfriend, Tina Crowley, waited along with Franks's half brother, Danny Doyle.

The trio entered the Sanderford home, still decorated with pink ribbons and photos of the smiling first grader. The family's television continued to play updates on Franks's capture.

Danny Doyle tightly clutched Barbara Wallace. Speechless, with eyes squeezed shut, they clinched in an embrace and the unlikely duo sank to the floor.

Wallace comforted Doyle, saying, "It took a lot of courage for y'all to walk up to that door." Then, lowering her voice in a soothing, almost motherly tone, she added, "We're not mad at y'all."

The Franks family was devastated by the arrest of Ricky for Opal's kidnapping. They hurt in much the same way the Sanderfords felt pain.

Rodney Franks and his girlfriend of eight years sat teary-eyed on the living-room sofa.

"I've known him all my life," Rodney said, tears blurring his eyes. "I keep thinking, did we do something as kids that messed him up in the head?"

Rodney hadn't seen his younger brother in a couple of months, not since ajune family reunion. He hadn't been able to talk to Ricky since his arrest.

Rodney confessed he had yet to tell his mother, who was living in Cisco, Texas, of Ricky's arrest, fearing that she would be devastated.

"She's not going to handle it," Tina interjected.

Before they left, the family of the missing girl and the family of her alleged abductor joined hands, forming a circle of mutual despair. They all prayed with Reverend Grady Brittian, of Davis Memorial United Methodist Church.

When Rodney, Tina, and Danny walked to their car, Teresa Sanderford looked after them pensively. "They're victims, too," she said with empathy.

Keeping the story of Ricky Franks's arrest for the kidnapping of Opal Jennings alive, Dallas/Fort Worth news outlets probed into every aspect of the alleged kidnapper's life, as well as the facts leading up to his arrest for Opal's disappearance.

They learned that questions concerning Franks's mental condition had surfaced in January 1991, when a court-ordered mental evaluation was performed after he was indicted in Wise County on charges of indecency with a child. Franks's attorney at the time, Ross Simpson, filed a motion that stated Franks appeared to be insane. He described Franks as having a long history of behavioral instability that previously required treatment at a mental-heath center.

The court ordered psychological examination concluded that Franks was a pedophile with mild mental retardation. The report added that Franks fantasized about his sexual impulses, and described him as an impulsive and sad young man who was at risk for acting out. The psychologist recommended that Franks be placed somewhere that provided structure and supervision for the long term.

On April 4, 1991, Franks pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of indecency with one child. The other case was dismissed. He could have been sentenced to two to twenty years in prison, but judge John Lindsey sentenced Franks to seven years' probation.

In July, August, September, October, November, and December 1993, Franks failed to pay his probation fees and also failed to report to his probation officer in December. District attorney Barry Green filed a motion to revoke Franks's probation in February 1994 for failure to report and pay fees. Franks was arrested three days later. But on February 18, 1994, Green, acting on the recommendation of the Wise County Adult Probation Department, asked the court to dismiss the motion to revoke. The request was granted and Franks was released from jail.

The judge modified Franks's probation to include sex offender counseling, and prohibited him from changing residence without the court's approval.