Warning: Graphic content, readers’ discretion advised. This story contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some readers discretion advised.
Warning: Graphic content, readers’ discretion advised. This story contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some readers discretion advised.
this is 33 year old heather franklin,3 hours this was recorded
heather lived a happy life with her husband ernest and their adopted son jeffrey
from the moment he joined the family ,jeffrey had it all
two loving parents caring friends and a bright future head of him or so he thought
he was trapped in a burning house
what the firefighters don’t know ,jeffrery was already dead befpre the fore started
and someone tried to cover up his murder
in 2017 the small community of Guilford is forever shaken and what happened to jeffrey that night will uncover one of the most distubing child murders the state of new york has ever seen
in 200 on the 22 nd of july a little boy named jeffrery is born outskirts of birming hampton new york being the child of developementally disabled parents.
jeffrey is passed from one foster family to anotherr like his mother his was born deaf with special needs,finding it heard to understand and use his own language.
in his first 10 years jeffrey has passed between three different foster families by the time his turn 10 his uncle and aunt take him and his little sister into their home.
the couple has five of their nine children living at home so adopting jeffrey isn’t an option but for a while they gave jeffrey a home.
a year later jeffrey become eligible for adoption and at age 11 he finally gets a family on his own , his taken by heather and ernest franklin a couple who desperately want children but can have their own.
over the next few years franklin’ framily seems to live a happy life going on trips together and sharing special brithday moments.
but everything changes on march 1st 2017 when police received a disturbing 911 call
reporting a fire devouring the franklin home
in a matter of seconds deputy officers quickly head to the small house in the secluded countryside
as they pull up to the adress the site of a massive fire immediately catch their eyes
quickly they run over to the house where they see a sillhouet of a person claiming his son is in the house .
as they try to look for a way into the house flames are steadly consuming it while the air is filled with falling ash
the sirens of a fire truck can be heard in the distance but the rough terrain makes it difficult to reach the house
in the meantime jeffrey is trapped in the house
the boys father says that he was walking his dogs when he came back he noticed the fire when he noticed the fire .
that’s when he checked the rear of the building to see if he couls spot jeffrey,but the fire made it impossible to do so .he then tried smashing the windows to break break in but it was too hot inside .
in the meantime the firefighters arrived and quickly establish the situation.
ones the crew sets up their water lines they begins pushing back the flames it’s too dangerous to send firefighters inside so they have to come up with a new plan .
after figuringout where jeffrey where last spotted they decided direct theur efforts to that spot while the firefighters are doing the best they can ,
ernest franklin is pulled aside for questions
what doesn’t make sense to the officers is the fact that ernest doesn’t have a single injury it seems as if he never even tried to save jeffrey
usually people go back into the house they’re injured they burned or sometimes even they die themselves trying to recover children.
after the fire put out the firefighters make a disturbing discovery,they began by removing debris piece by piece sifting through everything that had fallen from the ceiling or walls.
with every item they cleared they search for any sign of jeffrey, after searching every room they finally discover his body , lying on the mattress almost as if he were peacefully asleep
paramedics find it strange because it seems as if he never tried to escape the burning home.
all those thing are adding up that something’s not right here, there’s something that was missing and detectives needed to find out
as jeffrey’s body is taken to a pathologist the police officers start investigating the scene pictures of the scene are taken and every corner is carefully inspected
folowing this hey are informed the boys mother heather is at the neighbor’s house as they come to take her statement she recounts the event that took place before the fire.
as she was visibly in shock, firefighters finally approached her and told her that her husband was alive but jeffrey didn’t make it.
being pregnant at the time heather became extremely emotional losing her home and her child all at once was more than anyone could bear.
a day later the officers turned to the neighbor dominid gildersleeve who might know something more.
dominic feels suspicious about ernest’s behavior escpecially because he went to him first before he called 911.
he claims he didn’t have any conversation with ernest about the incident that happened because ernest told him he has PTSD and he didn’t want to trigger him
the investigators start to piece things together realizing that something feels off and they grow more suspicious, they sense that something happened and that ernest seems to be hiding something.
just 2 days after the fire ,they get an unexptected call from the medical examiner informing them of several alarming details.
there’s no soot found in jeffrey’s arways, mouth or tung , this discovery doesn’t line up with someone who supposedly died in a fire.
the lack of carboxy hemoglobin and jeffrey’s body told that he wasn’t breathing when the fire took place
detectives knew that jeffrey was dead before the fire so the conversation with th pathologist resulted in it going from a fire investigation to a homicide investigation
and detectives had to determine who did it
investigators immediately start looking for jeffrey’s killer
at the moment the main suspect is ernest it seems odd to them that ernest didnt try to enter the house to save his son there is something he’s hiding and detectives are determined to find it.
it looking more and more like ernest was the person who did it, it was intentional and not accidental and so detectives had to continue they’re investigation and try to figure out why he was trying to cover something up
following this ,investigators decided to talk to ernest’s parents
they want to understand the family dynamics and explore who ernest is as a person, looking at the entire houshold
the parents tell them that ernest was in the army for a year and a half when he came back he didn’t seem like his old self
he grew increasingly furious often lashing out by hitting walls after ernest parents share their thoughts
his sister shows up at the station
she explains that in 2006 jeffrey moved in with the franklin who became his foster parents a decade later they officially adopted him and from that point on everything took a drastic turn.
talking about money without showing any concern for the loss of their child raises suspicion with the detectives they want to know who made this comment but ernest sister is reluctant about it .
the investigators observe her strong loyalty to her brother , seeing this he chooses to push her harder to uncover who made the statement
after a while she finally cracks and admits that it was ernest who said it.
the detectives now begin piecing together a new version of events
heather and ernest have taken in jeffrey through adoption manly because hearther struggled to have achild of her own.
but once heather finally became pregnant ,things started to change.
it was starting to look like jefrrey was becoming a burden, heather was on unable to concieve for many years
so they adopted a child and now when they were able to concieve their own child they didn’t need jeffrey anymore there’s obviously ore behind that
jeffrey ones loved turned into an unwanted responsibility that’s when they set on removing him from their lives and disguising it as an accidental fire that would cover up the truth.
despite needing the evidence,the investigators continue there work,they begin verifying where everyone was on the day of the crime
detectives trying to figure out these alibis and try to be able to prove one way or another if they’re true or not.
ernest said he was deep in the woods running after the dogs when the fire broke out.his story seemed shaky since no one was with him to back it up.
on the other hand heather insisted she visited multiple stores searching for medecine , investigators quickly review the surveillance footage from several store and sure enough she appears in multipe camera recordings around the time she mentioned .
in the video the truck arrives and she steps out heading straight to the store
heather can be seen pick up a cart and moving through the aisles calmly shopping shortly after the camera checking out
visible from an overhead angle only a couple of items, so at this point her story makes sense
so obviously ernest again is the only one at the house and he’s obviously the prime suspect. following this ernest is brought to the police headquarters for questioning ernest continues to hold on to his version of evets right
now he has no clue that the police have already discovered jeffrey died before the fire even started ,the detective choose to confront him with this crucial detail eager to see how he’ll respond
during the entire interview he stays composed showing little emotion about his son’s tragic death, his attitute appears detached and unfeeling
he asks the detectives why he would ever set fire to his own house as it seems illogical to him he insists that he deeply cared for his son and could never commit such a terrible crime.
he also told detectives that he served in afghanistan and killed a mom and a child.
ernest states that after returning from afghanistan he felt a strong desire to adopt a child which led him to become jeffrey foster father .
however,when investigtors check his military records they find no evidence of him serving in combat ,this dishonestly raises red flags.
leading detective to suspect he’s hiding something….
they desided to push further to the truth but ernest sticks to his version of events
at this moment they have no choice but to stop question him and bring in the lawyer he asked for, detectives are now sure that ernest know more than he’s telling them.
following this they decided to focus on his wife -Heather.
during her interview with heather detectives told her that ernest was going to be charged with murder,murdering jeffrey and they told her that she needed to put herself and her unborn child first .
similar to ernest the investigators suspect heather is keeping vital details to herself they press her to reveal the truth about ernest-promising that it will protect the child che’s expecting. how ever she still continues to give patrial answers
in the meantime other investigators obtain a warrant to search her truck and that’s when they uncover vital evidence that might be the key to solving the case.
after taking the GPS unit that was in the vehicle
once you started looking at it ,once you started seeing it timestamped and gave a location everywhere that the vehicle went that night.
there were some shocking revelations that detectives were all like oh my goodness what did they just see?
it begins with footage showing her leaving the house that night she claimed
and the video comfirms he arrival at walmart but then after leaving walmart she returnes to the house and stays there for about 5 or 6 minutesafter that brief stop
the car starts again and she heads another store contradictory to her original story ,she insisted she never went near the house that night
but the footage says other wise considering this she now becomes the prime suspect
after this the detectives handcuff heather
and take ernest into custody
both tare charged with second -degree murder.
after arresting heather and ernest that day there was no doubt in detectives mind they were both equally involved in committing this crimethere are people out there that do things that other people wouldn’t even fathom to doom.
just a few days before heather’s arrest she posted on facebook to share with her friengs how she deeplu missed her son whom she referred to as JR.
“i still feel so lost withpitt having JR to look after “
in 2019 2 years after jeffrey’s death ernest steps into the courtroom,inside the prosecutor mcbride begins to lay out his case.he explains that on the night of february 28,the franklin were watching manchester by the sea
a film where a father unintentionally starts a fire that tragically his three children but he faces no legalconsequences.
mcbridebelives this detail holds a deeper significance for the case at hand.
within 2 hours of that movie playing to this defendant and her husband jeffrey’s deceased mcbride said she inexplicably left the house driving around and doesn’t return until the fire totally engulfs the house.
in march 2019 ernest received a sentence of 21 years to life behinds bars
just weeks later on the eve of her own trial heather admits guilt to be reduced charges of manslaughter and arson
we never quite know for sure exactly what happened that night, we obvisously know that jeffrey was deadprior to the fire, that’s the fact we always will know .
we know that the fire set to cover up the fact that jeffrey was dead prior to the fire as far to find details we’ll never know for sure cuz only k they’re the only ones that could tell us that, jeffrey was a child that couldn’t speak anymore