Richard Franks. Lot of 3 ALS. Pmks: (1)March 15, 2007, (2) April 19, 2007 and (3) May 25, 2007. SEALED.Contents unknown. Pristine.
Kidnap
Confused, her4-year-old friend dashed to his house nearby to tell his mother.Opal’s cousin, nearly 3, ran to the grandparents’ house andwailed; “Opal gone bye-bye.” In the chaos that followed,relatives and police tried to get clues from the preschoolers, theonly witnesses. But days turned into weeks, weeks into months andmonths into years without any trace of the blue-eyed girl who lovedplaying with Barbie dolls, riding her bicycle and going tokindergarten.
Nearly five yearsafter her abduction, part of Opal’s skeletal remains were found inthe woods about 10 miles from where she disappeared. Family andfriends finally laid Opal to rest with a memorial service at RichardHills Church of Christ. “It was hard not knowing,” said hermother, Leola Sanderford, shaking her head. “Now, we know she’sat peace.” Opal had moved in with her grandparents in Saginaw, atown of about 13,000 residents just northwest of Fort Worth, duringthe fall of 1998 while her mother stayed in North Dakota to work andsave money to support Opal and her 2-year-old sister.
The bubbly Opaldelved right in to kindergarten, making friends, coloring andlearning to read. She printed her name with a purple marker on herwooden locker in the classroom; she later got in trouble for writingon a school pew but took it in stride. “She was just resilient andfit right in,” said Gioia Jones, Opal’s kindergarten teacher.“She just approached everything with a happy heart.”
On March 26, 1999,Opal was excited about going out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant,but wanted to play outside first. The 4-year-old playmate told policethat a man in a dark car snatched Opal, drove less than a block,turned around in a driveway and sped away in the other direction. Itwas about 5:30 pm. “She was just playing in the yard, doing whatlittle kids are supposed to do,” said James Neale, a Saginaw policedetective. “When you get these kinds of calls, they always turn up,but this one didn’t.” For months, investigators tracked downthousands of registered sex offenders in Saginaw and nearby cities,eliminating hundreds of possible suspects.
Richard LeeFranks’s (b. 1969;hereinafterreferred to as “Ricky”)name didn't stand out at first. He had served time on a charge ofindecency with a child in nearby Wise County and was living with hiswife in Fort Worth. When an investigator tried to find him, hediscovered Ricky’s half-brother lived down the street from Opal’sgrandparents. Ricky was questioned and later arrested. He said hetook Opal to a store but dropped her off safely after fending off thesexual advances of the 6-year-old. He later denied that he picked upOpal.
A hung jury caused amistrial to result from his first trial in 2000, but three monthslater he was found guilty of aggravated kidnappingiand given a life sentence. Authorities weren’t certain if theywould charge him with murder in connection with Opal’s passing.Judy, who was charged with lying to a grand jury, entered a guiltyplea to aggravated perjuryii.
For Opal’s family,Ricky’s conviction didn’t ease the hurt of not knowing where shewas. Police believed Ricky killed her but couldn’t prove it. Herfamily feared she was dead but held out hope, appearing on televisionnews programs over the years just to show her picture, one more time,just in case. “After all that time, we kind of knew (she died), butwe were still hoping she’d come home alive,” said AudreySanderford, Opal’s great-aunt.
Rescue teams usedhorses and all-terrain vehicles to travel to locations Ricky claimedhe frequently visited as they conducted numerous searches over theyears, most recently in the spring of 2017. Opal's remains, however,were found by chance. On December 30, 2003, two horseback riders cameacross a piece of a small skull in some woods about 10 miles outsideof Saginaw. According to the Medical Examiner's Report, she may havepassed away from a crushing head injury. Following that,investigators searched the woods and discovered additional bonefragments, a toy, and Barbie tennis shoes, the same brand Opal waswearing when she vanished. Even though the discovery was sad, it wascrucial for the family and the officers who searched for her,enabling them to move forward. iii
Confession
... “I was afraidshe was going to make a pass at me or get me to take her some where.She was wanting me to take her to the store. She wanted ... she wentaround the front of the car to get into the passenger side. I wasafraid she wanted me to take her to have sex with her or something. Itook her to the store. She got into the passenger side.The other twokids were outside playing. I told her I was going to bring her backso she could finish playing with the other two kids. I took her tothe convenience store a block from the house. I sat in the car andshe got something to drink. She bought a co*ke. Then she came back tothe car she said thank you for bringing me up here, but I said Idon't want to do it again. Opal tried to move over toward me ... Ididn't know what she tried to do she tried to grab me between thelegs ... she grabbed my dick he said, she wanted to you know, "f*ckme!", I told her "No!", she said, "f*ck me!",she tried to take her pants off. I told her no she asked me "Why?"and I said, "Because I don't do that!" She asked me "Why?"And I said, "Because you're too young and I could get in troublefor ...." She unzipped my pants, took my ... and had it in herhand ... she went down like she was going to go down on it. I pushedher back. I put my johnson back in my pants. She was sitting besidewhen she went to bend over. I pushed her back. I said I'm not goingto have sex with somebody younger than I am. I told her that sheneeded to get out of the car. This happened on the way back after thestore.”
His first paroledate is scheduled for August 15, 2029.
VIDEO:Angie Housman (9yo) 1993 Amber Hagerman (9yo) 1996 Opal Jo Jennings(6yo) 1999 | https://youtu.be/oXjxmU9LX8E
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iAggravatedkidnapping is kidnapping accompanied by serious bodily injury tothe victim, or a ransom demanded, or carjacking, or fraud, force orfear upon a victim under age 14. Make no mistake about it: bothkidnapping and aggravated kidnapping are serious crimes with hugepunishment if a conviction is reached.
iiAggravatedPerjury. ( a) A person commits an offense if he commits perjuryas defined in Section 37.02, and the false statement: (1) is madeduring or in connection with an official proceeding; and. (2) ismaterial. (b) An offense under this section is a felony of the thirddegree.
iiihttp://proquestumi.com/pgdweb?did=1171416951&sid=52&Fmt=38olientld=41822&RQT=3098NName=PQD
