WEBVTT - CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Mark Yancey On Floyd's Trial

0:00:02.480 --> 0:00:05.520
<v Speaker 1>Hey, their listeners. In the past ten episodes, we've told

0:00:05.519 --> 0:00:08.559
<v Speaker 1>you the story of Steve Patterson and how Franklin Floyd's

0:00:08.560 --> 0:00:12.000
<v Speaker 1>impact on his family continues to echo today. As you

0:00:12.039 --> 0:00:14.200
<v Speaker 1>know from this series, there are several people in law

0:00:14.280 --> 0:00:16.880
<v Speaker 1>enforcement who tried to bring Floyd to justice, who worked

0:00:16.920 --> 0:00:19.640
<v Speaker 1>hard to unravel as trail of lies. This was the

0:00:19.680 --> 0:00:22.960
<v Speaker 1>work of many Some you met, like Agent Scott lab

0:00:23.560 --> 0:00:27.120
<v Speaker 1>many you didn't. In this bonus episode, we're going to

0:00:27.200 --> 0:00:30.520
<v Speaker 1>hear more from Mark Ynsey, who prosecuted Franklin Floyd and

0:00:30.560 --> 0:00:34.120
<v Speaker 1>the kidnapping case of Michael Hughes and his principal, James Davis.

0:00:34.680 --> 0:00:37.239
<v Speaker 1>He has some pretty incredible memories about what went down

0:00:37.320 --> 0:00:40.760
<v Speaker 1>at Floyd's trial in Oklahoma City. He'll tell us about

0:00:40.800 --> 0:00:44.199
<v Speaker 1>what it was like when Floyd finally faced consequences, how

0:00:44.280 --> 0:00:47.760
<v Speaker 1>law enforcement finally caught Floyd for Ceryl Comesso's murder, and

0:00:47.800 --> 0:00:49.800
<v Speaker 1>what the memorial was like when they changed the name

0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:51.680
<v Speaker 1>on Susi Sevega's headstone.

0:00:51.240 --> 0:00:52.239
<v Speaker 2>To reflect her real name.

0:00:53.680 --> 0:00:56.560
<v Speaker 1>I recommend listening to episodes one through ten before diving

0:00:56.560 --> 0:00:59.320
<v Speaker 1>into this one. He talks a lot about Franklin Floyd

0:00:59.320 --> 0:01:02.160
<v Speaker 1>and his many crime I should also give a warning

0:01:02.800 --> 0:01:05.000
<v Speaker 1>some of the things Mark taught about our graphic and

0:01:05.080 --> 0:01:10.120
<v Speaker 1>discussed both murder and sexial abuse. My producer, Kate Michigan

0:01:10.200 --> 0:01:12.080
<v Speaker 1>spoke with Mark Yancey.

0:01:15.760 --> 0:01:21.880
<v Speaker 3>This is chapter thirteen, Mark Yancey on Floyd's trial. I

0:01:21.920 --> 0:01:23.839
<v Speaker 3>want to start with your time at the US Attorney's Office.

0:01:23.880 --> 0:01:26.000
<v Speaker 3>Can you tell me what attracted you to that work.

0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:28.600
<v Speaker 2>When I got out of law school in nineteen eighty six,

0:01:28.760 --> 0:01:32.679
<v Speaker 2>I actually immediately joined the FBI as an FBI Special

0:01:32.720 --> 0:01:36.320
<v Speaker 2>Agent and they sent me to Oklahoma, and I was

0:01:36.360 --> 0:01:39.760
<v Speaker 2>an FBI Special Agent and legal advisor for about four

0:01:39.760 --> 0:01:43.000
<v Speaker 2>and a half years, and I presented cases to the

0:01:43.040 --> 0:01:46.839
<v Speaker 2>US Attorney's Office for prosecution. Worked very closely with the prosecutors,

0:01:47.040 --> 0:01:49.680
<v Speaker 2>and I liked being in court. I liked seeing what

0:01:49.720 --> 0:01:51.520
<v Speaker 2>the prosecutors are doing. I want to do that.

0:01:52.320 --> 0:01:54.280
<v Speaker 3>And what year was this when you started with the

0:01:54.320 --> 0:01:55.240
<v Speaker 3>US Attorney's Office.

0:01:55.360 --> 0:01:59.880
<v Speaker 2>I started with the US Attorney's Office in nineteen ninety one, Okay.

0:02:00.000 --> 0:02:01.720
<v Speaker 3>Three years later. I kind of want to take us

0:02:01.720 --> 0:02:03.680
<v Speaker 3>back to that point. At this point in our story,

0:02:03.760 --> 0:02:05.840
<v Speaker 3>SUSU se Vegas had been killing the hit and run

0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:10.000
<v Speaker 3>Michael's put into the care of Merle and earnest being

0:02:10.160 --> 0:02:12.799
<v Speaker 3>and then in September of that year, Franklin Floyd kidnapped

0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:15.760
<v Speaker 3>both Michael and Principal James Davis from the elementary school

0:02:15.760 --> 0:02:19.520
<v Speaker 3>and left with Jess Michael, what was your first touch

0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:20.560
<v Speaker 3>point with the story?

0:02:21.360 --> 0:02:23.840
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, you know, this case got legs from early on,

0:02:23.960 --> 0:02:28.320
<v Speaker 2>and there's just so many twists and turns and unsolved

0:02:29.520 --> 0:02:33.200
<v Speaker 2>issues that it just is. Yeah, it was an honor

0:02:33.280 --> 0:02:36.639
<v Speaker 2>or work on something like this, notwithstanding the fact that

0:02:37.520 --> 0:02:42.400
<v Speaker 2>there's so many tragedies involved. My first touch point was

0:02:42.520 --> 0:02:46.440
<v Speaker 2>with one of my former colleagues at the FBI, Joe Fitzpatrick.

0:02:46.680 --> 0:02:49.280
<v Speaker 2>We had worked together as agents and he had been

0:02:49.280 --> 0:02:52.800
<v Speaker 2>assigned this case that afternoon and he called me at

0:02:52.880 --> 0:02:55.600
<v Speaker 2>home that evening. I had not heard about the kidnapping,

0:02:55.800 --> 0:02:58.920
<v Speaker 2>and he explained the situation to me, and to me,

0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:01.920
<v Speaker 2>initially what he was describing is it sounded a little

0:03:01.919 --> 0:03:05.760
<v Speaker 2>bit like more of a domestic type kidnapping. So I

0:03:05.840 --> 0:03:11.240
<v Speaker 2>was hopeful that, you know, Michael was safe. And he

0:03:11.280 --> 0:03:14.400
<v Speaker 2>explained the situation to me and wanted to know what

0:03:14.600 --> 0:03:19.200
<v Speaker 2>we could do if we happened to find Franklin Floyd

0:03:19.880 --> 0:03:22.640
<v Speaker 2>for it to be a federal kidnapping and a federal offense,

0:03:23.600 --> 0:03:26.520
<v Speaker 2>the victim would have to be taken across state lines

0:03:26.760 --> 0:03:30.040
<v Speaker 2>in interstate commerce. So I did not think we had

0:03:30.080 --> 0:03:35.480
<v Speaker 2>a viable federal kidnapping charge at that point. However, Agent

0:03:35.520 --> 0:03:38.560
<v Speaker 2>Fitzpatrick explained to me that Franklin Floyd had a long

0:03:38.600 --> 0:03:43.280
<v Speaker 2>criminal history and that he had taken Michael in the

0:03:43.280 --> 0:03:46.680
<v Speaker 2>principle at the endpoint that day. But the next day,

0:03:46.720 --> 0:03:50.840
<v Speaker 2>as we started to delve into Franklin Floyd's background, that

0:03:51.000 --> 0:03:55.240
<v Speaker 2>is when I really became concerned about Michael in his

0:03:55.520 --> 0:03:59.160
<v Speaker 2>well being, because this just didn't look like a case

0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:04.520
<v Speaker 2>where some he really wanted the child. I concluded pretty

0:04:04.560 --> 0:04:07.840
<v Speaker 2>quickly based on Franklin Floyd's background, He's probably a sociopath,

0:04:08.440 --> 0:04:13.360
<v Speaker 2>lacked empathy, incapable of love. So I knew he's not

0:04:13.480 --> 0:04:15.400
<v Speaker 2>doing this out of love for the child. This is

0:04:15.480 --> 0:04:20.360
<v Speaker 2>just another possession for him, and people can discard possessions

0:04:20.400 --> 0:04:21.880
<v Speaker 2>pretty easily sometimes.

0:04:24.800 --> 0:04:28.040
<v Speaker 3>And so where was Floyd arrested? Where they find him?

0:04:28.400 --> 0:04:31.400
<v Speaker 2>Well, he was arrested, you know, months later. So this

0:04:31.440 --> 0:04:35.400
<v Speaker 2>happened in September, arrested around Halloween. I think it was Louisville, Kentucky,

0:04:36.200 --> 0:04:40.479
<v Speaker 2>and Joe Fitzpatrick fought that Franklin Floyd may try to

0:04:40.560 --> 0:04:43.119
<v Speaker 2>use one of those old aliases to get some type

0:04:43.120 --> 0:04:47.240
<v Speaker 2>of state credential like a driver's license. And that's exactly

0:04:47.240 --> 0:04:49.880
<v Speaker 2>how we found him. He had slipped up by trying

0:04:49.880 --> 0:04:53.200
<v Speaker 2>to get an ID under one of his old aliases.

0:04:55.400 --> 0:04:57.599
<v Speaker 3>And how were you able to inject him on kidnapping charges?

0:04:57.760 --> 0:04:59.160
<v Speaker 3>How to line up for that to work?

0:04:59.440 --> 0:05:01.760
<v Speaker 2>Well, a lot had to line up the other charges

0:05:01.920 --> 0:05:05.240
<v Speaker 2>that I think we had charged five federal crimes at

0:05:05.240 --> 0:05:09.320
<v Speaker 2>the time. One was kidnapping, one was using a firm

0:05:09.400 --> 0:05:13.200
<v Speaker 2>during a relation to the kidnapping. Of course, the carjacking

0:05:13.240 --> 0:05:18.480
<v Speaker 2>statute was applied because he had taken James Davis's truck

0:05:18.640 --> 0:05:22.680
<v Speaker 2>at gunpoint, and we also charged a interstate transportation of

0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:25.640
<v Speaker 2>stolen property, that being the truck because we had found

0:05:25.640 --> 0:05:29.760
<v Speaker 2>the truck later and it Texas in the parking lot

0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:33.560
<v Speaker 2>of a Wonderbread bakery. All the charges were very straightforward

0:05:33.560 --> 0:05:38.120
<v Speaker 2>with the exception of the kidnapping. And the kidnapping was

0:05:38.880 --> 0:05:41.960
<v Speaker 2>a little more problematic because one we didn't find Michael.

0:05:42.600 --> 0:05:44.440
<v Speaker 2>Since we didn't have Michael, we had to prove that

0:05:44.560 --> 0:05:50.320
<v Speaker 2>element of the crime circumstantially, so you could draw some

0:05:50.360 --> 0:05:54.240
<v Speaker 2>reasonable inferences that if he left the next day on

0:05:54.279 --> 0:05:59.920
<v Speaker 2>a bus from Dallas to Atlanta, Georgia, that it makes

0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:03.279
<v Speaker 2>since that he probably took Michael very quickly, knowing that

0:06:03.400 --> 0:06:07.479
<v Speaker 2>police would be in Oklahoma would be swarming looking for

0:06:07.560 --> 0:06:11.480
<v Speaker 2>that vehicle, probably left the state very quickly and drove

0:06:11.720 --> 0:06:14.200
<v Speaker 2>straight to Dallas, Texas, which is only about three and

0:06:14.200 --> 0:06:19.280
<v Speaker 2>a half hours from Oklahoma City, abandoned the truck there,

0:06:19.800 --> 0:06:23.880
<v Speaker 2>and then of course took the Greyhound bus to Atlanta.

0:06:24.080 --> 0:06:27.240
<v Speaker 2>So that was the theory of our case and how

0:06:27.279 --> 0:06:31.560
<v Speaker 2>we established circumstantially that he had taken Michael in interstate commerce.

0:06:32.120 --> 0:06:33.359
<v Speaker 3>I wonder if you can take him back to the

0:06:33.360 --> 0:06:35.680
<v Speaker 3>trial and set the state here, like, where's it being held,

0:06:35.839 --> 0:06:38.640
<v Speaker 3>who's representing him, who shows up to the courthouse every day,

0:06:38.640 --> 0:06:40.200
<v Speaker 3>what's this all like.

0:06:40.880 --> 0:06:45.720
<v Speaker 2>The trial actually started in April of nineteen ninety five,

0:06:46.560 --> 0:06:50.400
<v Speaker 2>ten days before the Oklahoma City bombing, which actually occurred

0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:53.520
<v Speaker 2>right across the street from the courthouse where we tried

0:06:53.600 --> 0:06:57.400
<v Speaker 2>Franklin Floyd. We had a very senior judge assigned to

0:06:57.440 --> 0:07:00.880
<v Speaker 2>the case, Judge Wayne Alley, very experienced, and the trial

0:07:00.920 --> 0:07:06.880
<v Speaker 2>became a little interesting because Franklin Floyd decided to waive

0:07:07.000 --> 0:07:12.800
<v Speaker 2>his right to a jury trial, and we don't know why,

0:07:12.880 --> 0:07:16.440
<v Speaker 2>but I can speculate his thinking was, since this case

0:07:16.480 --> 0:07:20.440
<v Speaker 2>involves a child, that a jury may not give me

0:07:21.000 --> 0:07:25.320
<v Speaker 2>a fair shape. Because it involves a minor victim, people

0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:29.880
<v Speaker 2>may be automatically biased, especially when we hadn't found Michael yet.

0:07:30.600 --> 0:07:34.480
<v Speaker 2>There was another interesting twist to the case. He really

0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:39.400
<v Speaker 2>wanted to represent himself. He very much wanted to be

0:07:39.480 --> 0:07:42.640
<v Speaker 2>able to question witnesses and make arguments to the court.

0:07:43.320 --> 0:07:46.520
<v Speaker 2>You typically can't have a lawyer and argue the case yourself.

0:07:46.560 --> 0:07:50.640
<v Speaker 2>It's one or the other. Judge ally allowed some form

0:07:50.680 --> 0:07:55.200
<v Speaker 2>of hybrid representation to placate Franklin Floyd. I don't know

0:07:55.240 --> 0:07:57.920
<v Speaker 2>why he did that. I can speculate that he thought

0:07:58.040 --> 0:08:03.400
<v Speaker 2>that we might have bursts in court. He was represented

0:08:03.400 --> 0:08:07.600
<v Speaker 2>by Susan Otto, who was the public defender in Oklahoma

0:08:07.600 --> 0:08:10.000
<v Speaker 2>City at the time. I believe she still is the public.

0:08:09.720 --> 0:08:13.560
<v Speaker 3>Defender, and Floyd himself in the courtroom. I read that

0:08:13.640 --> 0:08:16.320
<v Speaker 3>he I think he tried to marry a witness. I

0:08:16.400 --> 0:08:19.440
<v Speaker 3>understand that he was belligerent. What do you remember about

0:08:19.480 --> 0:08:19.680
<v Speaker 3>all that?

0:08:20.240 --> 0:08:22.840
<v Speaker 2>He was more constrained than I thought he would be,

0:08:23.560 --> 0:08:26.400
<v Speaker 2>And I think the only reason he was more constrained

0:08:27.040 --> 0:08:29.800
<v Speaker 2>is because the judge allowed him to sort of blow

0:08:29.800 --> 0:08:32.679
<v Speaker 2>off steam. I think that diffused the situation.

0:08:33.520 --> 0:08:34.680
<v Speaker 3>Did he ever take the stand?

0:08:35.559 --> 0:08:38.280
<v Speaker 2>He did not take the stand. He presented his defense

0:08:38.400 --> 0:08:41.240
<v Speaker 2>generally through cross examination or arguments to the court.

0:08:43.559 --> 0:08:45.880
<v Speaker 3>Who did the prosecution called as witnesses.

0:08:46.320 --> 0:08:49.880
<v Speaker 2>Ed Camiga was my trial partner. He was lead counsel ed,

0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:53.600
<v Speaker 2>and I called a number of witnesses as you can imagine.

0:08:53.679 --> 0:08:57.760
<v Speaker 2>We started with the deputy sheriff that actually responded to

0:08:57.840 --> 0:09:01.840
<v Speaker 2>the kidnapping and found James Davis had been handcuffed to

0:09:01.840 --> 0:09:07.120
<v Speaker 2>a tree in the woods behind the elementary school in Chalkhaw, Oklahoma,

0:09:07.200 --> 0:09:10.200
<v Speaker 2>in a wooded area. One of the defenses to federal

0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:16.680
<v Speaker 2>kidnapping is that a parent cannot be guilty of kidnapping

0:09:16.720 --> 0:09:18.800
<v Speaker 2>their child, and it's very clear in the statute, and

0:09:18.840 --> 0:09:21.680
<v Speaker 2>of course that was one of Franklin Floyd's key defenses

0:09:21.760 --> 0:09:25.000
<v Speaker 2>is I can't be guilty. I am the father of

0:09:25.120 --> 0:09:29.760
<v Speaker 2>Michael Hughes. So we put on DNA evidence to disprove

0:09:30.040 --> 0:09:35.000
<v Speaker 2>that he was the biological father of Michael Hughes. And

0:09:35.040 --> 0:09:37.280
<v Speaker 2>of course he countered by suggesting that he was sort

0:09:37.280 --> 0:09:39.800
<v Speaker 2>of the de facto father or grandfather.

0:09:40.280 --> 0:09:43.640
<v Speaker 3>Oh, I would think you'd pick one.

0:09:44.520 --> 0:09:47.320
<v Speaker 2>A father is actually the tact he took, which we

0:09:47.360 --> 0:09:50.360
<v Speaker 2>thought was an odd tack to take, because obviously he

0:09:50.400 --> 0:09:54.960
<v Speaker 2>always claimed he was Sharon Marshall's father and Michael was

0:09:55.000 --> 0:09:58.000
<v Speaker 2>Sharon's child, so how could you be the father of both.

0:10:04.160 --> 0:10:06.000
<v Speaker 2>We had the Beans testify, obbo, so they had to

0:10:06.000 --> 0:10:10.560
<v Speaker 2>identify photographs of Michael and be able to talk about,

0:10:10.679 --> 0:10:14.120
<v Speaker 2>you know, dropping him off at the elementary school that morning,

0:10:14.160 --> 0:10:16.960
<v Speaker 2>and of course that they had been the foster parents

0:10:17.240 --> 0:10:18.920
<v Speaker 2>and that he had been in their care.

0:10:19.720 --> 0:10:22.319
<v Speaker 3>What's your recollection of their emotional state?

0:10:22.920 --> 0:10:26.880
<v Speaker 2>Very distraught and troubled. I think they had genuinely grown

0:10:26.960 --> 0:10:29.360
<v Speaker 2>to really love Michael. He had become part of the family.

0:10:29.480 --> 0:10:33.080
<v Speaker 2>Michael had really started to thrive under their care, and

0:10:33.120 --> 0:10:35.520
<v Speaker 2>he had, you know, step siblings who were much older,

0:10:35.559 --> 0:10:38.000
<v Speaker 2>and they had grown to like him and love him

0:10:38.040 --> 0:10:40.960
<v Speaker 2>as well. So I think it was very traumatic for

0:10:41.000 --> 0:10:41.600
<v Speaker 2>them as well.

0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:45.760
<v Speaker 3>It seems hard to talk about everything he's done without

0:10:45.760 --> 0:10:49.480
<v Speaker 3>talking about Susie Sebacas. Susie Serbakas, whose alias was of

0:10:49.520 --> 0:10:52.840
<v Speaker 3>course Sharon Marshall. Did anyone talk about her in the

0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:54.559
<v Speaker 3>court room or to what extent was she brought up.

0:10:55.120 --> 0:10:59.000
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, we talked about her a lot because to refute

0:10:59.559 --> 0:11:04.680
<v Speaker 2>the fact act that he was Michael's father, we had

0:11:04.720 --> 0:11:09.199
<v Speaker 2>to talk a lot about Lloyd's relationship with Sharon and

0:11:09.240 --> 0:11:14.240
<v Speaker 2>how he basically held himself out as her father those years.

0:11:14.240 --> 0:11:16.400
<v Speaker 2>So we called one of her best friends from high

0:11:16.400 --> 0:11:20.400
<v Speaker 2>school talk about that relationship. We knew he wasn't the

0:11:20.440 --> 0:11:24.239
<v Speaker 2>biological father. If anything, he was Sharon's de facto's stepfather.

0:11:24.640 --> 0:11:28.440
<v Speaker 2>Therefore he could not be Michael ste facto stepfather. So

0:11:28.559 --> 0:11:30.520
<v Speaker 2>all of that was done to try to negate this

0:11:30.679 --> 0:11:35.040
<v Speaker 2>defense that he was somehow Michael's parent. We called a

0:11:35.120 --> 0:11:38.199
<v Speaker 2>number of other witnesses. Greg Higgs, who was actually Michael's

0:11:38.240 --> 0:11:42.320
<v Speaker 2>biological father, we called him to the stand. Obviously we

0:11:42.400 --> 0:11:47.360
<v Speaker 2>had his DNA to confirm that he was Michael's biological father.

0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:48.600
<v Speaker 3>What was he like?

0:11:49.480 --> 0:11:53.480
<v Speaker 2>Very normal, married and had his own children and knew

0:11:53.520 --> 0:11:57.400
<v Speaker 2>nothing about Michael. He did not know that he was

0:11:57.480 --> 0:12:02.080
<v Speaker 2>Michael's father, and had noted to us that if he

0:12:02.080 --> 0:12:05.520
<v Speaker 2>would have known that there was this whole custody dispute

0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:10.600
<v Speaker 2>and that Sharon had died, he would have gladly adopted

0:12:10.640 --> 0:12:13.319
<v Speaker 2>Michael as his own son. Wow.

0:12:14.800 --> 0:12:17.160
<v Speaker 3>I know that his mental health issues that he struggled

0:12:17.200 --> 0:12:19.400
<v Speaker 3>with came up a lot in his Florida case, and

0:12:19.800 --> 0:12:22.120
<v Speaker 3>that's the reason why he's never apparently put to death.

0:12:22.400 --> 0:12:24.079
<v Speaker 3>Did this come up at all in this case.

0:12:24.120 --> 0:12:27.320
<v Speaker 2>Not really. We had a psychiatric exam conducted by a

0:12:27.360 --> 0:12:33.560
<v Speaker 2>local psychiatrist, doctor Donica. He was a sociopath. Doctor Donaga

0:12:33.679 --> 0:12:36.880
<v Speaker 2>just told his point blank that he doubted very seriously

0:12:36.920 --> 0:12:40.560
<v Speaker 2>whether Michael was alive, which we already knew. We didn't

0:12:40.559 --> 0:12:43.880
<v Speaker 2>have a body, but we knew when Franklin Floyd was

0:12:44.000 --> 0:12:48.560
<v Speaker 2>arrested in Louisville, Kentucky, and Michael was not there, and

0:12:48.640 --> 0:12:52.319
<v Speaker 2>Floyd gave a number of different excuses, crazy excuses as

0:12:52.320 --> 0:12:56.959
<v Speaker 2>to what hypened to Michael in conflicting statements. We knew

0:12:57.160 --> 0:12:57.959
<v Speaker 2>that he was dead.

0:13:06.360 --> 0:13:09.120
<v Speaker 3>When was he sentenced and what was that sentence?

0:13:09.920 --> 0:13:13.080
<v Speaker 2>It was months later. Essentially got fifty two year sentence

0:13:13.160 --> 0:13:16.520
<v Speaker 2>because we have federal sentencing guidelines, so he got the

0:13:16.520 --> 0:13:19.120
<v Speaker 2>maximum he could get into the federal sentencing guidelines. And

0:13:19.160 --> 0:13:21.320
<v Speaker 2>I think at the time he was fifty six, and

0:13:21.360 --> 0:13:23.520
<v Speaker 2>there's no parole in the federal system. So when you

0:13:23.559 --> 0:13:27.840
<v Speaker 2>get a fifty year plus sentence. It's effectively life without parole.

0:13:28.559 --> 0:13:31.200
<v Speaker 3>Something that just continues to stand out to me in

0:13:31.240 --> 0:13:33.360
<v Speaker 3>this case is just how he got away with so

0:13:33.440 --> 0:13:35.320
<v Speaker 3>much for so long. I mean, to not even be

0:13:35.440 --> 0:13:38.640
<v Speaker 3>charged in that homicide. I understand why not. He's just

0:13:39.000 --> 0:13:41.560
<v Speaker 3>a fugitive for so long. How do we explain this?

0:13:42.480 --> 0:13:45.280
<v Speaker 2>Good luck for him and bad luck for law enforcement?

0:13:45.960 --> 0:13:53.119
<v Speaker 2>He was smart enough to move frequently and change names frequently,

0:13:54.360 --> 0:13:57.920
<v Speaker 2>rather than just you know, going to one area, assuming

0:13:57.920 --> 0:14:01.480
<v Speaker 2>one alias and keeping it for decades. He just seemed

0:14:01.480 --> 0:14:05.040
<v Speaker 2>to always stay one step ahead of the law, picked

0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:07.280
<v Speaker 2>the right time to just move and flee.

0:14:08.240 --> 0:14:10.680
<v Speaker 3>So Floyd stole the principal's pickup truck in nineteen ninety

0:14:10.679 --> 0:14:14.040
<v Speaker 3>four during the kidnapping, and incredibly, it was only discovered

0:14:14.120 --> 0:14:16.960
<v Speaker 3>years later in the parking lot of the Wonderbread Baking factory.

0:14:18.240 --> 0:14:20.560
<v Speaker 3>At what point was that found in Dallas?

0:14:20.920 --> 0:14:25.640
<v Speaker 2>That was found quite a bit later, But it was

0:14:25.800 --> 0:14:28.800
<v Speaker 2>obvious that it had been parked for a long time

0:14:29.280 --> 0:14:34.640
<v Speaker 2>because of how dirty it was and how there was

0:14:35.080 --> 0:14:39.840
<v Speaker 2>you know, debris underneath the truck as well. So the

0:14:39.880 --> 0:14:44.760
<v Speaker 2>truck was found and interior of it I think was

0:14:44.800 --> 0:14:50.760
<v Speaker 2>searched months and months after the truck had been repurchased

0:14:50.840 --> 0:14:55.120
<v Speaker 2>by someone. The gentleman who bought it took it in

0:14:55.200 --> 0:14:57.360
<v Speaker 2>for some repairs. They put it up on a lift,

0:14:58.800 --> 0:15:01.000
<v Speaker 2>and that's when it was just governed that there were

0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:04.400
<v Speaker 2>a number of photographs taped to the gas tank of

0:15:04.440 --> 0:15:05.000
<v Speaker 2>that truck.

0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:10.040
<v Speaker 3>Can you kind of walk me through what happened after that?

0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:14.520
<v Speaker 2>Obviously law enforcement was notified. There was some very disturbing

0:15:14.640 --> 0:15:18.680
<v Speaker 2>photos that they found taped to the gas tank. We

0:15:18.800 --> 0:15:22.000
<v Speaker 2>eventually were able to take custios and look through them,

0:15:22.160 --> 0:15:25.320
<v Speaker 2>and it was pretty obvious to me and all of

0:15:25.360 --> 0:15:27.960
<v Speaker 2>us when we saw those photos that these were sort

0:15:28.000 --> 0:15:30.240
<v Speaker 2>of Franklin Floyd's trophies, because there was a lot of

0:15:30.280 --> 0:15:37.200
<v Speaker 2>incriminating photographs, including photographs of Sharon Marshall was a little

0:15:37.200 --> 0:15:43.680
<v Speaker 2>girl inappropriate type poses. Essentially it was child pornography, which

0:15:43.680 --> 0:15:47.240
<v Speaker 2>confirmed our suspicion that he was a pedophile, and this

0:15:47.360 --> 0:15:51.600
<v Speaker 2>confirmed that he had essentially been probably sexually abusing Shurant

0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:56.920
<v Speaker 2>Marshall since shortly after he came into possession of her.

0:15:57.600 --> 0:16:01.120
<v Speaker 2>There were photographs of her dressed and clothes as a teenager,

0:16:01.320 --> 0:16:05.840
<v Speaker 2>but and for a provocative type of clothing. There was

0:16:06.000 --> 0:16:10.840
<v Speaker 2>also some pretty disturbing photos of a woman who was

0:16:11.560 --> 0:16:15.240
<v Speaker 2>bound and gagged, and it looked to us like we

0:16:15.320 --> 0:16:18.520
<v Speaker 2>had some type of victim of a climb there, which

0:16:18.600 --> 0:16:21.760
<v Speaker 2>was again consistent with what we knew of him, and

0:16:22.120 --> 0:16:25.360
<v Speaker 2>obviously we were very concern that we had salt victim,

0:16:25.800 --> 0:16:28.920
<v Speaker 2>maybe a homicide victim, and we needed to find out

0:16:28.920 --> 0:16:29.600
<v Speaker 2>who that was.

0:16:31.120 --> 0:16:32.240
<v Speaker 3>This was Cheryl Comeasso.

0:16:33.440 --> 0:16:35.680
<v Speaker 2>There were also another photo or two of women that

0:16:35.720 --> 0:16:38.680
<v Speaker 2>we never identified. They did not appear to be in

0:16:38.760 --> 0:16:41.640
<v Speaker 2>any type of distress, but we had concerns that these

0:16:41.680 --> 0:16:45.760
<v Speaker 2>were sort of his trophies. These trophies are precious to

0:16:45.800 --> 0:16:50.840
<v Speaker 2>these type of offenders and predators. I mean, these are keepsakes.

0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:53.960
<v Speaker 2>I assume he was hoping he could maybe somehow get

0:16:53.960 --> 0:16:57.720
<v Speaker 2>to those later. Yeah, these were polaroids and he was

0:16:57.840 --> 0:17:02.440
<v Speaker 2>very clear not to show himself in any of them,

0:17:02.800 --> 0:17:05.479
<v Speaker 2>although there was one good thumb photo in one of

0:17:05.520 --> 0:17:10.040
<v Speaker 2>the photographs that the police in Florida used to their

0:17:10.080 --> 0:17:12.639
<v Speaker 2>advantage to try to identify him.

0:17:13.080 --> 0:17:15.600
<v Speaker 3>So you put his thumb in the photograph, which is

0:17:15.760 --> 0:17:20.040
<v Speaker 3>just a stupid okay, many people often do via accident,

0:17:20.320 --> 0:17:23.640
<v Speaker 3>and this happened to be a really stupid mistake for him.

0:17:24.480 --> 0:17:25.440
<v Speaker 3>That's really interesting.

0:17:26.480 --> 0:17:29.520
<v Speaker 2>When we sat down with Agent Fitzpatrick about this, Agent

0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:35.240
<v Speaker 2>Fitzpatrick was, I think the office's ViCAP representative. The acronyms

0:17:35.320 --> 0:17:42.480
<v Speaker 2>VIICAP stands for the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program and this

0:17:42.680 --> 0:17:44.880
<v Speaker 2>was a system set up by the FBI to try

0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:49.919
<v Speaker 2>to connect serial offenders who may travel from state to

0:17:49.960 --> 0:17:55.640
<v Speaker 2>state commit crimes of violence. So Agent Fitzpatrick immediately put

0:17:55.840 --> 0:17:59.679
<v Speaker 2>these photographs into the system, asking, you know, law enforcement

0:17:59.760 --> 0:18:06.240
<v Speaker 2>nation wide if anyone recognized these photos in this particular victim,

0:18:06.920 --> 0:18:10.520
<v Speaker 2>and sure enough to detectives in Saint Petersburg Police Department,

0:18:10.600 --> 0:18:15.639
<v Speaker 2>Bob Shock and Mark DeSario working a Jane do homicide case,

0:18:16.240 --> 0:18:21.479
<v Speaker 2>they immediately recognized the clothing that the victim was wearing.

0:18:24.520 --> 0:18:27.960
<v Speaker 2>They had found a body, the skeletal remains of a

0:18:28.040 --> 0:18:34.840
<v Speaker 2>woman a few years earlier in Saint Petersburg area. They

0:18:34.880 --> 0:18:38.080
<v Speaker 2>were able to take the clothing and wash it. And

0:18:38.200 --> 0:18:42.080
<v Speaker 2>when you look at the photos they uploaded, and you

0:18:42.160 --> 0:18:46.160
<v Speaker 2>saw the pink or the purple bikini and the striped

0:18:46.200 --> 0:18:51.160
<v Speaker 2>shirt and compared it with the photos that we found,

0:18:51.560 --> 0:18:54.240
<v Speaker 2>you could tell us the exact same clothing, and they

0:18:54.240 --> 0:18:57.199
<v Speaker 2>were able to identify the victim as Cheryl Comesso. This

0:18:57.400 --> 0:19:00.760
<v Speaker 2>absolutely connected the due cases. They did not have a suspect.

0:19:00.760 --> 0:19:04.159
<v Speaker 2>Then this immediately made Franklin Floyd a suspect, since he

0:19:04.280 --> 0:19:07.520
<v Speaker 2>was in custody of those photos when she's wearing the

0:19:07.560 --> 0:19:09.399
<v Speaker 2>same clothes, and it was probably the very night she

0:19:09.480 --> 0:19:13.080
<v Speaker 2>was murdered. She was shot one or two rounds to

0:19:13.119 --> 0:19:13.440
<v Speaker 2>the head.

0:19:14.960 --> 0:19:17.640
<v Speaker 3>Did you follow the shehl Comeso case in Florida?

0:19:18.200 --> 0:19:21.359
<v Speaker 2>I did. I almost got called as a witness because

0:19:21.359 --> 0:19:25.399
<v Speaker 2>we convicted him first, and of course a lot of

0:19:25.400 --> 0:19:29.800
<v Speaker 2>the evidence we had was their key evidence. We shared evidence,

0:19:29.880 --> 0:19:32.520
<v Speaker 2>and we made a trip down to Florida to present

0:19:32.680 --> 0:19:34.480
<v Speaker 2>what we had found in our case to them.

0:19:34.840 --> 0:19:37.639
<v Speaker 3>And I know that you'd asked for life in prison.

0:19:38.520 --> 0:19:40.560
<v Speaker 3>How do you react to seeing him sentenced to death?

0:19:41.119 --> 0:19:42.960
<v Speaker 2>It was very satisfactory and appropriate.

0:19:44.200 --> 0:19:46.800
<v Speaker 1>If you've listened to her podcast, you know if Floyd

0:19:46.920 --> 0:19:50.560
<v Speaker 1>was sentenced today, but not actually put to death. He

0:19:50.680 --> 0:19:54.520
<v Speaker 1>died of old age behind bars. Next up, Kate Tosty

0:19:54.600 --> 0:19:58.440
<v Speaker 1>Yancy about a very special memorial service he attended for

0:19:58.560 --> 0:20:00.240
<v Speaker 1>Susie Sevegas.

0:20:01.880 --> 0:20:04.400
<v Speaker 3>I understand that you were at the burial service in Oklahoma.

0:20:04.760 --> 0:20:06.359
<v Speaker 3>Can you tell me how that all came to be?

0:20:06.960 --> 0:20:09.640
<v Speaker 2>You know, I don't know who initiated that, but we

0:20:09.800 --> 0:20:14.119
<v Speaker 2>had a ceremony in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where Sebakas is buried

0:20:14.240 --> 0:20:18.920
<v Speaker 2>actually under the name Sharon Marshall, and you know, someone

0:20:18.960 --> 0:20:21.399
<v Speaker 2>thought it would be fitting to get all the family

0:20:21.480 --> 0:20:25.680
<v Speaker 2>together and have the name Suzanne Sevakas her real name

0:20:25.880 --> 0:20:28.960
<v Speaker 2>on the headstone instead of some alias that she had

0:20:28.960 --> 0:20:33.480
<v Speaker 2>been living under, and that's what we did. So that

0:20:33.600 --> 0:20:35.720
<v Speaker 2>was the first time we got to meet mister Sebakas

0:20:36.359 --> 0:20:41.959
<v Speaker 2>who came down, and different family members and you know

0:20:42.000 --> 0:20:46.040
<v Speaker 2>agents that work on the case, friends of Sharon's who

0:20:46.119 --> 0:20:49.440
<v Speaker 2>knew her, and Tulsa her high school friend from Georgia,

0:20:49.760 --> 0:20:53.320
<v Speaker 2>her best friend from high school in Georgia. So, yeah,

0:20:53.320 --> 0:20:57.400
<v Speaker 2>it was just a way to honor her and correct history.

0:20:58.040 --> 0:20:59.720
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, it sounds like it would have been a very

0:21:00.160 --> 0:21:00.800
<v Speaker 3>very heavy day.

0:21:01.440 --> 0:21:04.760
<v Speaker 2>It was heavy, but fulfilling I think at the same

0:21:04.800 --> 0:21:08.439
<v Speaker 2>time that we could again put a true name to

0:21:08.520 --> 0:21:11.320
<v Speaker 2>this person, sort of show to the world who she

0:21:11.440 --> 0:21:14.399
<v Speaker 2>really was and that she did have a family. It

0:21:14.520 --> 0:21:17.720
<v Speaker 2>was sad, but again at the same time, I think

0:21:17.760 --> 0:21:19.760
<v Speaker 2>people had a lot of the mixed emotions and we're

0:21:19.800 --> 0:21:24.040
<v Speaker 2>just in some ways relieved and happy, that we're able

0:21:24.080 --> 0:21:33.560
<v Speaker 2>to put finality to this unsolved mystery.

0:21:34.520 --> 0:21:36.960
<v Speaker 1>Thanks for listening, and thank you to Mark Nancy for

0:21:37.000 --> 0:21:40.800
<v Speaker 1>taking the time. This is our last bonus episode. Many

0:21:40.880 --> 0:21:43.960
<v Speaker 1>thanks to our listeners. Please spread the word about this

0:21:44.000 --> 0:21:46.440
<v Speaker 1>show and tell all of your friends.

0:21:48.359 --> 0:21:48.639
<v Speaker 2>Hello.

0:21:48.720 --> 0:21:51.800
<v Speaker 1>John Doe is and Original productions by Revelations Entertainment in

0:21:51.880 --> 0:21:56.280
<v Speaker 1>association with First and Life's Productions from Revelation. Our executive

0:21:56.320 --> 0:21:59.800
<v Speaker 1>producers are Morgan Freeman and James Younger from First to

0:21:59.800 --> 0:22:04.240
<v Speaker 1>Lindsay Moreno is the executive producer. Our producing partner is

0:22:04.320 --> 0:22:06.760
<v Speaker 1>ne On Home Media. It was written and produced by

0:22:06.800 --> 0:22:10.240
<v Speaker 1>Kate Michigan. Our editor is Catherine Saint Louis. She is

0:22:10.280 --> 0:22:13.880
<v Speaker 1>also nio On Home Media's executive editor. Our executive producer

0:22:13.920 --> 0:22:17.840
<v Speaker 1>is Sherah Morris. Our development producer is Ian Lindsay. Our

0:22:17.880 --> 0:22:22.680
<v Speaker 1>associate producer is Rufaro Faith Maserua. Sound design and mixing

0:22:22.680 --> 0:22:26.600
<v Speaker 1>by Scott Summerville. Theme and original music composed by Jesse Pearlstein.

0:22:27.000 --> 0:22:30.080
<v Speaker 1>Additional music came from Epidemic Sound and Blue Dot Sessions.

0:22:30.480 --> 0:22:33.639
<v Speaker 1>Bendall Faulton is our fact checker. Our production manager is

0:22:33.640 --> 0:22:37.040
<v Speaker 1>Samantha Allison. From my Heart Media Dylan Fagan as our

0:22:37.080 --> 0:22:40.560
<v Speaker 1>executive producer. Special thanks to Adelia Ruben at ne On

0:22:40.640 --> 0:22:44.720
<v Speaker 1>hum and Carrie Lieberman and Will Pearson at iHeartMedia. I'm

0:22:44.760 --> 0:22:47.320
<v Speaker 1>Todd Matthews. You can learn more about name us at

0:22:47.359 --> 0:22:50.159
<v Speaker 1>NamUs dot com. The number for the National Center for

0:22:50.240 --> 0:22:53.040
<v Speaker 1>Missing Exploited Children's Call Center is one eight hundred the

0:22:53.119 --> 0:22:57.080
<v Speaker 1>loss that's one eight hundred eight four three five six

0:22:57.200 --> 0:23:00.720
<v Speaker 1>seven eight. The National Sexual Assault high Line from the

0:23:00.800 --> 0:23:04.160
<v Speaker 1>Rate Abuse and Incest National Network is one eight hundred

0:23:04.600 --> 0:23:08.199
<v Speaker 1>sixty five six four six seven three. Okay, guys, this

0:23:08.320 --> 0:23:10.640
<v Speaker 1>is the end of the show. If you didn't like it,

0:23:10.680 --> 0:23:13.040
<v Speaker 1>don't do anything. But if you did like it, you

0:23:13.160 --> 0:23:15.359
<v Speaker 1>make sure that your rate and review the show. It

0:23:15.400 --> 0:23:17.720
<v Speaker 1>helps more people to find it and hear this wonderful story.

0:23:18.080 --> 0:23:19.119
<v Speaker 2>Thanks again for listening.