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[Music] [Applause] % welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you are doing thanks
00:01:45
for listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always is a man that says music is the food of love he is the
00:01:52
captain well you can just call me sexual Ching it's good to be seen and it's good
00:01:57
to see you thanks for listening thanks for telling a [Music] friend this week we are sipping on
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Double Cross by krux fermentation project garage grade four out of five bottle caps this is a Belgian strong
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dark ale big bodied with intense flavors of dark candy sugar preserved fruit and
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holiday spices and this week's beer double cross was brought to us by Marina in the UK who says we should run for
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president well maybe mom should run for president a big shout out to Tammy from Portland Oregon and a shout out to Grizz
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who says he lives in the state of love and Trust out in BFE Illinois and a big long distance we like your jib to
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Christian in Hong Kong and we have another Tammy Captain who is listening from beautiful South and North Carolina
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that crap so also you can check us out on Stitcher if you're looking for old episodes go to Stitcher they're all free
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exclusively on the Stitcher app and that's enough of the business all right everybody gather around grab a chair
00:03:24
grab a beer let's talk some true crime [Music] oh [Music] in February of 1980 all hell and I do
00:04:08
mean hell broke loose at 1:00 a.m. on February 2nd inmates at a Maximum Security Prison
00:04:16
just south of Santa Fe jumped three prison guards during a routine dorm count by 2:05 a.m. the inmates had
00:04:26
complete control of the prison two prison gangs the chos the Aryan Brotherhood they had their own
00:04:35
agendas after the Takeover the call was to immediately seek revenge against the snitches housed in cellblock
00:04:44
4 as Dawn broke a group of inmates later nicknamed the execution Squad broke into
00:04:51
cell block 4 the riers could not open the cell doors however they managed to find blow
00:04:59
torture that were used to renovate the overcrowded prison in Block 5 Unfortunately they were able to use the
00:05:07
blowtorches to open each cell in Block four one at a time when opened the victims were pulled from their cells to
00:05:17
be tortured dismembered hanged or burned alive inmates killed inmates with piping
00:05:23
work tools and homemade Shanks some of the inmates in the time of chaos and crisis showed they were of
00:05:32
good character some of the correction officers held captive were protected by inmates at inmates instruction two
00:05:42
officers removed their uniforms and put on Prison clothes to disguise themselves
00:05:47
and avoid being attacked these two officers were later escorted out of the prison protected by
00:05:55
inmates however other inmates showed their true colors given the opport opportunity and reminded us all why they
00:06:02
were locked up in the first place as two very unfortunate officers were so brutally beaten and raped that they had
00:06:10
to be carried out of the prison on stretchers seven officers were severely injured the riot only lasted about 36
00:06:19
hours but in the end the official death toll was 33 people all of them inmates 12 of the
00:06:29
victims had been housed in the protective custody unit most of the 33 were brutally murdered some died from a
00:06:37
drug overdose more than 200 inmates were treated for injuries later there would be several books about this prison riot
00:06:46
and its causes an aftermath and to give you a better idea of the Total Carnage one book is titled the hate Factory and
00:06:55
the other the devil's butcher shop the 1980 New Mex Mexico State Penitentiary Riot was the most violent prison riot in
00:07:04
American history then state official Michael Frankie was brought in to completely revamp the troubled and
00:07:12
broken New Mexico prison system Frankie investigated and exposed the corruption that was leading to severe problems and
00:07:21
was officially recognized for his achievements by political leaders such as former US President Jimmy Carter
00:07:30
he served as a judge for 3 years and in 1983 became the director of the New Mexico Department of
00:07:37
Corrections in May of 1987 Oregon governor Neil goldshmid hired Michael Frankie to fill the corresponding
00:07:45
position in Oregon Frankie was hired to address problems in the Oregon State's Department of Corrections after coming
00:07:52
to Oregan Frankie learned many unfavorable things about what was happening behind Prison Walls the
00:08:00
corruption was rampant and included murder prostitution drugs and even stealing cattle as it turns out prison
00:08:08
guards in the80s were taking inmate crews out and stealing cattle from local farms and ranches and then making money
00:08:16
by supplying Stakes to local restaurants it was exposed during the 1980s that officials at the Oregon
00:08:24
Department of Corrections were enlisting the help of convicted murderers inside the prison and rewarding them by
00:08:30
providing them weekend passes at least one of these weekend passes for a convicted murderer led to
00:08:37
another murder simply put Michael Frankie was hired to clean up a giant mess Frankie told his family he was
00:08:46
going to blow the lid off of corruption in the Oregon prison system and implicate several top government
00:08:53
officials however that did not happen because he was murdered before he could do so Michael Frankie was a good man an
00:09:02
ethical man that stood up for what was right and fought corruption and the corrupted this is his
00:09:10
[Music] story [Music] Michael Frankie was a native of Kansas City Missouri he was born October 2nd
00:09:41
1946 and after graduating high school he attended New Mexico's Highland University on a football scholarship he
00:09:48
would graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree and a combined major of political science economics German and French then
00:09:57
he attended the University of Virginia law school and he graduated with a law degree in 1971 is and was subsequently
00:10:05
admitted to the Virginia bar for the next three years he served as a Judge Advocate General in the United States
00:10:14
Navy at Long Beach Naval Station now in 1975 he was admitted to the bar in New Mexico and worked as an Assistant
00:10:23
Attorney General and counsel to the State Department of Corrections he served in this capacity until 1980 when
00:10:30
he became a judge for the first district court in Santa Fe he served as a judge for 3 years and then in 1983 became the
00:10:39
director of the New Mexico Department of Corrections and we heard in the trailer
00:10:43
there Captain what state the they were in as far as the Department of Correction goes for New Mexico state the
00:10:52
the problems there were bad that Riot that we described probably and most likely was
00:11:00
was caused by severe overcrowding within that prison system that particular prison had almost double the amount of
00:11:08
inmates that it was built to house some of them sleeping without beds and then we also have brutality from both sides
00:11:18
of the cell block door from the inmates and from some of the correction officers
00:11:24
as well in May of 1987 Oregon governor Neil gold Schmidt hired Michael Frankie to fill the corresponding position in
00:11:33
Oregon Frankie was hired to address problems in the Oregon State's Department of Corrections the main
00:11:39
purpose however for his hiring was to oversee the largest prison expansion in Oregon State history it was necessary to
00:11:48
expand due to severe overcrowding in these prisons as well now we already spoke of the checkered history of the
00:11:56
Oregon prison system and Michael Frankie was the man tasked with removing the corruption of the Oregon State
00:12:03
Department of Corrections but he took heavy criticism when he first came in by legislators for the cost of overruns and
00:12:13
delays in the state's prison construction program these same legislators were also growing
00:12:19
increasingly frustrated about the rising inmate population so the Oregon system was experiencing severe overcrowding
00:12:27
with up to 5,000 inmates crammed into prisons originally designed for 2,800 people still it's believed by many that
00:12:35
he figured out who was doing what and was ready to report it to his superiors Frankie told his family that he was
00:12:44
going to blow the lid off of corruption in the Oregon prison system and implicate several top government
00:12:51
officials now this leads us to January 17th 1989 so we know a little bit about Michael Frankie's background but what we
00:13:02
didn't say is that Michael was a hardworking dedicated and determined individual and he was expected the he
00:13:11
expected the same out of those who worked for him Michael was known to work late many if not most work days he often
00:13:20
worked into the evening on Tuesday January 17th 1989 Michael Frankie held a regular
00:13:27
meeting this was with the five division heads and other top staff members on his
00:13:33
staff on this Tuesday the meeting lasted until 6:00 p.m. Michael Frankie talked with some Personnel after and was seen
00:13:42
by several people inside what is the Dome building what is called the Dome building there were several floors of
00:13:51
offices in this building and Michael Frankie's office is on the ground level reports from Witnesses indicate that
00:13:58
that Mr Frankie left the dome building shortly after 6:30 p.m. other reports indicate that it was closer to 6:45 p.m.
00:14:08
but just to be clear no reports read that Mr Frankie left his office after 6:45 p.m. two senior staff leaving the
00:14:18
Dome building approximately 40 minutes later discovered Michael Frankie's car parked in its designated spot outside
00:14:26
the front entryway with the drive driver's door open Frankie's white Pontiac bonnaville was one of only a few
00:14:34
cars left in the parking lot at the corrections headquarters at this time of night the two staffers observed no
00:14:42
noticeable damage to the vehicle and no obvious signs of forced entry on the vehicle were observed the staffers
00:14:50
closed and locked the car door and returned to the Dome building where they made numerous phone calls to other
00:14:57
senior staffers to determine Frankie's whereabouts all to no avail security was notified at the nearby Communication
00:15:05
Center and the staffers left the dome building at approximately 8:05 p.m. two other senior staffers Richard Peterson
00:15:14
head of Institutions and David Coy head of planning and budget arrived at approximately 8:35 p.m. and conducted
00:15:22
what they described as a meticulous search of the Dome building but found nothing a miss there was thought that
00:15:30
maybe someone had picked Michael Frankie up and maybe they had went to dinner this was discussed by several of the
00:15:38
persons looking for him so the senior staff members went home for the night after they failed to locate Mr Frankie
00:15:46
and assume that he was at a private dinner engagement police were not notified at this time around 12:30 a.m.
00:15:54
January 18th the night Watchman on duty Steven R o was told to be especially observant as he made his rounds of the
00:16:03
Dome building now as he came to a dimly lit porch at the side of the building Rabino spotted a large man sprawled on
00:16:12
the porch he was surrounded by blood stains and a panel of glass at the porch doorway was smashed the night Watchman
00:16:21
had discovered Michael Frankie's body police secured the area the inspectors quickly noticed some of Michael
00:16:29
Frankie's belongings may be missing this was his briefcase there was also broken
00:16:35
glass on and near his body now it's believed that Michael Frankie as he was being murdered he had tried to unlock
00:16:44
the door to get back into the doc office the Department of Corrections office but
00:16:50
could not unlock the doors and in his final moments of Life Frankie broke a glass panel from the door attempting to
00:16:58
get in ins side or at the very least call for help some have said that all of Frankie's documents from his yearlong
00:17:08
investigation were later shredded at the Department of Corrections within hours of his body being found this is
00:17:16
according to quote inside sources now these inside sources are not listed just to be clear here the
00:17:25
newspapers that very same day covered the story the information that they released was this Michael Frankie was
00:17:32
found stabbed to death just outside the office building in which he worked he died of a stab wound to the heart with
00:17:39
massive bleeding the medical examiner said it was quote a definite homicide but there were no suspects so now we
00:17:48
have a judge that was brought in to clean up this prison system and he is murdered yeah and later the Michael
00:17:55
Frankie murder investigation was described as the largest of its kind in Oregon history at that time the number
00:18:03
of investigators fluctuated between 6 and 30 full-time investigators the media coverage was
00:18:10
intense to say the least and then Governor Neil goldmit he was really according to the papers putting the
00:18:17
police department under intense pressure to make an arrest and bring closure to the case of course given the nature of
00:18:25
Frankie's work the possibility that the murder was a hit was immediately considered right despite interviews with
00:18:33
thousands of people including several convicts and a reward fund exceeding $20,000 the investigators assigned to
00:18:41
the case were not catching any big breaks early on in the investigation what we do know was this due to
00:18:48
eyewitness accounts the police were convinced that the killer was a dark-haired man with a light colored
00:18:55
coat who was seen running from the scene but that man's identity was unknown there were some problems with the
00:19:03
investigation one being that the time of death was not known so the window for the time of death is simply 6:30 p.m.
00:19:12
which is approximately the last time that Mr Frankie was seen right and just after 12:30 a.m. when his body was found
00:19:20
we well he's found by security right correct so do they not have any security cameras in this facility they did not
00:19:30
and the thing here is Captain we can't even at the very least narrow that down any because when his body was found the
00:19:38
body temperature was never taken nor recorded I'm sorry which would have shortened that window for us so all we
00:19:46
can say is that sometime between the last time he was seen alive and the time that he was found dead near this door
00:19:52
that's when he was killed another question keypad entries or is it strictly just it's it's a key 1989 and
00:20:02
this so we need to be clear here this this is a little bit difficult you say well if there were several people
00:20:10
looking for this individual why was he not located well there's a couple problems with this okay so it's January
00:20:17
1 is a problem because by the time he would have left work that day it was already dark so they're at a
00:20:24
disadvantage looking for someone especially outside um where he would later be found and this the door that he
00:20:32
died in front of was it was like a side door and I believe it was on the second floor so let's say he was
00:20:41
attacked his car door was found open so there's some thought that he he was attacked at that car right and then
00:20:49
managed to try to seek help and he made it to that door before he expired so but
00:20:56
he say the door that he was found on was the second floor yes so I don't know if
00:21:01
this would have been the most the the nearest door for him I'm guessing that's where he would go toh um so let's say
00:21:08
it's the nearest door he would have had to run from his vehicle after being attacked and then go up the stairs and
00:21:16
try to get into that door and then unfortunately he passed away there before help could arrive or the attack
00:21:25
continued that the the attacker followed him up there and and and killed him in front of the door so no keypads and no
00:21:34
security video footage of this correct and you bringing up the keypad is interesting because there was at
00:21:41
least I off the top of my head captain I think only one article that I found regarding the case and the crime scene
00:21:49
there was an article that stated many articles on on the cas no I meant stating the following um that the locks
00:21:56
to the doors were changed that day now I don't know that I believe that I don't I
00:22:03
I have no reason to discredit it I have no proof that it didn't happen that day but what I will say is
00:22:09
this there and it this will be obvious by the end of this episode there's a lot of questions around this murder and
00:22:17
there's a lot of thoughts about who committed this crime and I think that the idea of the locks being changed that
00:22:26
day adds to the Mystique of it or to the the confusion right of the whole crime scene the problem I have with that
00:22:35
statement though Captain is that Michael Frankie was the boss he was the he was the the number one dude in this building
00:22:45
there were as I said there were several floors of offices inside this building of the Oregon Department of Corrections
00:22:52
building right he was the man in there if the door locks were changed that day if there's one person that you make sure
00:22:59
has that key when the doors are changed when the locks are changed it's the balls it's that guy it's that guy and
00:23:06
the other thing too to to paint the picture of the scene or to get an idea of what when we try to think of what
00:23:13
could have happened to this man Bob Ross please keep in mind Michael Frankie remember we said he went he he went to
00:23:20
college on a football scholarship mhm this was not a tiny man this was this dude was 6'3 225 pounds and he wasn't
00:23:29
the kicker I have no idea what position he played I'm just saying he could have went played football and he could have
00:23:36
been the kicker well he could have been but changes things a little bit but what
00:23:41
we we know he was not small he was 6' 3 225 to 230 lb yeah this is a big guy get
00:23:47
right back to this after this quick beer [Music] break [Music] this show is sponsored by better help do
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00:26:18
mies cheers Captain we have a big break in the case because on April 8th 1990 so
00:26:26
this is nearly 18 months after Frankie's death mhm the police arrested Frank Gable who was at the time 30 years old
00:26:35
he's arrested for the murder of Michael Frankie so who is he uh well so Frank Gable his name did not surface as a
00:26:45
suspect I guess until about 8 months after the crime when the murder investigation was at what they were
00:26:52
calling at the time a standstill two people initially pointed the finger Gable one was Michael kierin
00:27:00
the other tipster was Janine Vera Gable Frank Gable's wife so the police at this
00:27:08
time believe that Michael Frankie was murdered in a an attempted robbery the police interrogated known drug dealers
00:27:17
and Street criminals looking to figure out if somebody had heard something you know they want to find out the word on
00:27:23
the streets right one of them claimed that he witnessed the murder and then identified the killer as a drug dealer
00:27:30
named Frank Gable according to this witness Gable was in the act of breaking into Michael's car Michael Frankie's car
00:27:38
when Michael came out of the office building around 700 p.m. Gable then stabbed Frankie very badly wounding him
00:27:46
it is believed at this time that Gable stole Michael Frankie's briefcase and fled the scene Michael Frankie then
00:27:53
staggered up a set of stairs to a side entrance to the building building attempting to get in could not and then
00:28:00
broke the glass pane on the door in a desperate desperate attempt to get back into his office now after getting this
00:28:08
tip that led police to drug dealer Frank Gable Frank was already in jail for beating his wife when he was arraigned
00:28:16
for killing Oregon prison director Michael Frankie the charges go ahead so Frankie's attacked January of
00:28:25
89 when is the suspect arrested for beating his wife uh that I don't know and I'm going to be honest with you
00:28:33
Captain I don't know a ton about this Frank Gable um it it wasn't until April of 1990 that he is charged with
00:28:41
Frankie's murder but we do know that he became on he got onto police radar about
00:28:48
eight months after the murder I don't know if that means he was locked up around that same time one of my thoughts
00:28:56
is that it could very well be the case because one of the witnesses is his wife who he has already been charged with uh
00:29:05
assaulting and he's in jail for that assault right so one good thing is hey we got a suspect that we really like and
00:29:13
he's not going to be hard to find because we know where he is he's sitting in a jail somewhere but with his wife
00:29:20
being one of the supposed eyewitnesses or people willing to point the finger at this Frank
00:29:28
I can't believe that if that was going on in their relationship that she was going to tell the police about it before
00:29:35
he's arrested for hitting her now the charges for Frank Gable would be six counts of aggravated murder and one
00:29:43
count of intentional murder for allegedly fatally stabbing Michael Frankie aggravated murder is a capital
00:29:50
crime in organ and the prosecutors said they will seek the death penalty if Gable is convicted
00:29:57
now investigators never found a weapon or other physical evidence tying Gable to the crime and Gable well he never
00:30:07
confessed to the crime either in fact in a jailhouse interview after his court appearance Gable said he was innocent
00:30:15
saying quote don't let me get railroaded he told KO i n television I just ask that they not stop looking there's a
00:30:24
killer out there somewhere the indictment offers a series of possible motives for the murder including that
00:30:33
Gable killed Frankie during a theft or robbery or that the slaying was related to Frankie's work as a prison's
00:30:42
Chief the trial at trial the prosecutor said that Frankie caught Gable breaking into his car and in a panic Gable
00:30:51
stabbed him now again no physical evidence was produced even at trial however the prosec ution was allowed to
00:30:59
introduce as evidence a knife that was purchased by investigators which matched Frankie's wounds Gable's ex-wife
00:31:09
testified that she had gave Gable a similar knife at some point in their relationship all right that seems like
00:31:18
there's some holes no pun intended in this is that the worst evidence you've ever heard yeah I mean again
00:31:28
have some proof have some evidence I mean if she had a receipt of a knife that she bought prior then okay but
00:31:34
right but we don't so and and how many stab wounds do we have his autopsy is difficult so the way that this the way
00:31:43
that it reads is that he was stabbed directly in the heart the problem with what was released to the public is that
00:31:51
we don't know if that stab came from the back or the front right there was not a
00:31:56
ton of information released publicly regarding his autopsy they do state that there were some defensive wounds on the
00:32:04
victim there was also some sign of blunt force trauma however this sounds terrible um the blunt force trauma they
00:32:14
don't believe was part of the attack they actually believe that his his body uh that blunt force trauma to the body
00:32:22
occurred when he he was most likely slumped up against the door and the wall and the corner as he was trying to get
00:32:31
into that door that office door to to get help right and then at some point he fell onto the concrete and they believe
00:32:38
that that blunt force trauma to the body occurred at that time and not during the
00:32:42
course of the attack so I'm going to ask an obvious question and I'm hoping for an obvious answer okay you're putting me
00:32:49
on the spot count so he he's breaking into a car he's breaking into the vehicle that's what they think happened
00:32:55
that's what the prosecution is stating so we have fingerprints um no we don't and again remember the troubling thing
00:33:03
here too is we have the eyewitnesses the the people that closed the car door that
00:33:09
found the car door open Frankie's car door open they stated that they didn't see any damage to the car any sign of a
00:33:16
scuffle any obvious signs that that somebody broke into the vehicle right you know it almost looks like to me with
00:33:25
given that description it more likely sounds to me that Frankie opened up his own car door and then was attacked and
00:33:34
the car door just happened to be left open possibly or the way that the prosecution Paints the picture is that
00:33:41
Frank Gable's in mid breaking and the I would have to guess Frank Gables already
00:33:47
got the door open by the time that Frankie discovers him and says hey buddy what are you doing with my car yeah what
00:33:54
you doing now you got a 6'3 large man and getting ready to come down upon you for breaking into his car yeah breathe
00:34:01
heavy into your ear well and I I think we don't well let's go but but Frank Gable could have just been checking CS
00:34:10
to see if they're unlocked and then he goes oh this car is unlocked I open up the door right when I open up the door
00:34:17
Frankie sees me sees me yeah so that could have happened too that's a possibility but again guess whose hands
00:34:23
on that door unless you're telling me that that he wasar weing gloves or whatever the the individual that was
00:34:30
spotted is believed to have been wearing gloves that that there was a man remember we have the eyewitness account
00:34:36
of a dark-haired man in a light colored coat running from the scene the problem with that is this person is spotted
00:34:45
running from the area of the vehicle not necessarily running from a murder scene
00:34:51
you know it's not like anybody says I saw a murder or a man attacked and then this description of this guy ran away
00:34:57
from the area no there's just a dude that's spotted in the area now that guy from every from every statement I could
00:35:04
find sounds like the guy was wearing gloves so well and it could just be a guy that you know randomly was leaving
00:35:13
work and decided you know what I really need to get in better shape I'm going to
00:35:18
start right now running well and look it's January don't people wear gloves in January I mean I do
00:35:28
get with it people put on some gloves hey don't you wear don't you wear gloves I also wear socks in January too hey at
00:35:35
the trial the state produced several witnesses this is going to be the troubling thing for Mr Frank Gable these
00:35:42
Witnesses all of whom were criminal Associates of gable and claim that Gable confessed the crime to them after the
00:35:50
fact the testimonies were from the following first we have a woman named jod swaringen She's a local teen runaway
00:35:57
who testified before a grand jury that she had witnessed the murder police reports indicate that she had identified
00:36:05
Frank Gable as the perpetrator of that murder then we have Cappy AKA shorty Harden he Cappy shorty if your first
00:36:15
name is Cappy do you need a nickname unless you're incredibly short then he's then he's shorty what if he's like 3 fo
00:36:22
s then you're shorty yeah he testified at trial that he was Park near the Dome building with the young woman we just
00:36:29
discussed Jody swaringen when he saw short he was yeah he saw Frank Gable according to Cappy or shorty whatever
00:36:37
you want to call him he saw Frank Gable stab Michael Frankie then we have Mike kierin we also have Dan Walsh and Kevin
00:36:46
Walker all three separately testified that Gable confessed to them that he had killed Frankie so these are so why are
00:36:54
these guys in the area why is is this guy parked um I don't know if they were parked in the car and fooling around or
00:37:01
if they were leaving the area so this building is actually near um a very large hospital uhhuh um so almost across
00:37:10
the street from the parking lot where we believe Michael Frankie was attacked would be a very large parking lot um for
00:37:18
a state hospital so they very likely could have been in the State Hospital parking lot right but I I want to know
00:37:24
why they were there it seemed to me that they're just finding people that know Frank Gable and just going hey just say
00:37:30
you're there oh no I apolog I think I I think the way that I describe that is weird I don't believe that Jody
00:37:37
Swearingen and this Shorty Harden actually knew who Frank Gable was okay um they were able to say hey the person
00:37:46
we saw attack Michael Frankie was this man they were able to identify him the people that knew Frank Gable were that
00:37:53
Michael KS Dan Walsh Kevin Walker these were known associates of Gables who at one point he confessed
00:38:02
according to them that he had killed Michael Frankie then we have Janine Vera remember the married to Gable at the
00:38:10
time of Frankie's murder right she testified that Gable was not home on the night of the murder and that she didn't
00:38:17
know where he was she also testified that Gable said at some point quote I stuck the guy she says what guy he says
00:38:27
quote the guy at the hospital Gable answered now that's an interesting statement here Captain because one thing
00:38:34
I had wondered about when the prosecution gave their theory of the events and of the murder and how it
00:38:39
occurred and the motive right was that this guy's breaking into a car well if I'm a criminal if I'm a thief you
00:38:48
probably are I'm not choosing a vehicle that's in the parking lot of the Department of Corrections the head you
00:38:55
know the headquarters for the Department of Corrections unless you don't know unless you think it's a hospital right
00:39:02
and that's what's interesting about what she says when she testifies that Gable referred to him as the guy at the
00:39:09
hospital the other thing that's interesting there too is that that also implies that Frank Gable did not know
00:39:15
the man that he attacked he didn't know him by name MH now the verdict that little bit of evidence
00:39:23
those people testifying that's all the evidence they had all he say all circumstantial and you know we had last
00:39:32
week's case of Scott Peterson where people got a little upset and said how can you convict on circumstantial
00:39:38
evidence uh there was a what I would refer to as a mountain of circumstantial evidence against Scott Peterson against
00:39:45
Frank Gable here however that's it that's a mole hill of circumstantial evidence well I still like the way that
00:39:53
Nancy Grace talks about it is the idea that you go into work and it's sunny and it's beautiful out then you go out for
00:40:01
lunch and there's puddles everywhere and your car's wet and there's all this circumstantial evidence that lets you
00:40:08
know that it probably rained right and and so that's how you get to that conclusion yeah there there's not a
00:40:15
mountain of evidence here the difficult things one is your your two eyewitnesses
00:40:21
are criminals then these so-called Associates that you confess to well it's believed and I'm going to say allegedly
00:40:29
because I can't say um that I have hardcore evidence of this or saw lots of reports stating the same but
00:40:39
allegedly I would guess five out of the six people that testified that he was guilty or six out of six would have been
00:40:48
probably drug users at the time um and I can say that because look Frank G was a
00:40:54
he was a known drug dealer and so his associates are either going to be other dealers or users most likely okay and
00:41:03
they've also been referred to publicly in newspaper articles as just that as drug users as far as jod swear engine
00:41:12
and Cappy Harden go um AKA shorty I believe similar that they were uh drug users at the time again I don't think
00:41:24
they had any knowledge of Frank Gable prior to seeing the person that they described as Frank Gable stabbing
00:41:32
Michael Frankie so what's interesting is with Frank Gable as you wonder why would
00:41:37
he break into somebody's car I mean if he's a drug dealer then why why are you breaking into somebody's car that's
00:41:42
that's kind of a lower level crime so you're probably making money off the drugs what why would you break into a
00:41:48
car but if the car is you think is at a hospital or you breaking into it cuz you
00:41:55
think this person is a doctor doctor and there's something that you can get out of this you could get some prescription
00:42:00
pills or or something like that mhm well that's an interesting thing that you bring up here and one thought is that
00:42:11
okay so Frank Gable was considered quote unquote a career Criminal by this point
00:42:16
in his life this is somebody that has been had trouble with the law it wasn't his first run in with the law he was a
00:42:22
known drug dealer he was a guy that was going to make his living off of committing crimes can you imagine that
00:42:28
though I mean you and I have both been in positions where we're at a job that we're not we're not in love with mhm but
00:42:37
it pays okay and the benefits are all right so it starts becoming hey maybe I can turn this into a career can you
00:42:44
imagine the guy that's selling a little bit of dope here a little bit of dope there breaking into cars starts thinking
00:42:53
I don't I don't have many options I this is going to be my career well the other
00:42:59
thing though too is I don't know that it's about options I think a lot of times with these individuals it's about
00:43:05
they don't give a [ __ ] about two weeks from now two months from now two years from now right they're living in the
00:43:10
moment and it's how can I get some money for today maybe tonight maybe tomorrow is the furthest they can think ahead so
00:43:18
let's talk about the car though Captain so neither Frankie's car phone nor his stereo were tampered with we do know
00:43:25
that from the police reports yeah the car phone yeah interesting well remember back then
00:43:32
I'm guessing it's one of those Motorola deals that has like the it has a little station with it it looks almost like a
00:43:38
tiny briefcase yeah and it and some people would keep it in their glove box or kind of there in the center between
00:43:46
the two front seats so it' be very obvious now what makes that interesting though too is if I am a criminal looking
00:43:52
for something expensive and I see that City sitting on the passenger seat or in the front portion of the vehicle I'm
00:43:59
going to go man I'd like to steal that car phone right so well the question here is now is this car owned by Frankie
00:44:08
or is this given to him by the state I believe that he owns the vehicle and the only thing I have to go off of is that
00:44:16
it's referred to as Frankie's car phone and his stereo we're not tampered with well because sometimes I mean head heads
00:44:23
of detectives will get a detective vehicle for example and they might have their radio in there but also have uh
00:44:29
emergency cell phone M service so that's kind of why I was wondering and then that also makes me wonder if it was
00:44:36
owned by the state then how many people have access to to Keys the other thing that we should call into question is the
00:44:44
body so Michael Frankie's watch wallet and cash were still on him when he was found after he he was dead what kind of
00:44:54
Watch was it how how would I know what kind of I don't know what kind of watch it is um and regard well I think if
00:45:00
you're trying to if you're the defense for example right mhm and you say hey he's he's wearing a he's wearing a
00:45:09
baller watch he's wearing a tomx he's wearing a Rolex is timx a baller TX is not a
00:45:18
baller watch that's that's what makes it a joke those are the people that are balling in uh fifth grade right but what
00:45:24
I'm saying is I that does make a difference and you'd think that the defense would have brought this up to
00:45:30
say hey if if he was breaking into the car cuz he wanted to get money or whatever he was looking for then
00:45:39
wouldn't he take this watch I mean if it's a if it's a crap watch you're not going to take it I mean it might have
00:45:46
been a little calculator watch we don't know because it's not reported but again
00:45:51
these items would suggest that the money was not the priority of the Killer is what a lot of people
00:45:58
would point out again my problem with Frank with Frank Gable's motive is if he is a drug dealer one why would you be
00:46:07
Breo breaking into cars that seems like a a downward move in your career you're selling drugs you're making money you're
00:46:16
balling out of control you're wearing timx you got five time X on your left arm so why are you breaking into the car
00:46:24
but again he thought it was the the hospital so you're breaking into into a car because you think it's a doctor's
00:46:30
car so you're trying to break in to get drugs or or Prescription Pad or whatever
00:46:34
it is possibly possibly I don't know that I would say that Frank Gable was above breaking into cars um again I
00:46:41
believe this is an individual that's a career criminal uh he's any he's a those types of individuals look for
00:46:49
opportunity and when opportunity presents itself they seize the moment and steal whatever it is that they can
00:46:57
Captain they did not need Nancy Grace sitting on the sidelines cheerleading for the prosecution here because the
00:47:04
verdict that would come down Gable was found guilty and received life in prison with no chance of parole
00:47:12
all right so an open and shut case right yep easy easy I'll see you next week done one parter great one parter all
00:47:21
right well not so fast as the there are major doubts in this case there were TV and newspapers that came forward in
00:47:30
February of 1991 um and this started prior to Gable's conviction the Michael Frankie
00:47:38
story was featured on an episode of the TV program Unsolved Mysteries the killing sparked widespread speculation
00:47:46
that Frankie was murdered because he was about to expose corruption in his Department one of Frank Brothers he was
00:47:54
also hired for though yes it's believed that he was hired for that was part of the reason that he was hired one of
00:48:00
Frankie's Brothers said that the prison's uh Chief told him shortly before his death that he had discovered
00:48:08
organized crime elements in the prison's system the case also became somewhat of
00:48:14
a Battleground between the three leading Portland newspapers a leading advocate for the wrongful conviction conspiracy
00:48:23
theory was local journalist Phil Stanford Stanford wrote extensively on the case and wrote a screenplay for a
00:48:31
film based on the Frankie murder called without evidence this was released in 1995 featuring Angelina Jolie in one of
00:48:39
her first major roles now she played the person that we already mentioned jod Swearingen then even after the
00:48:47
conviction persons close to the case started calling into question many interesting aspects of the case and the
00:48:55
murder scene we already discussed the car we already discussed the body but one thing that
00:49:01
they would keep going back to is the timing of the murder because we have Frankie's brother who says that shortly
00:49:09
before his murder he told him he was going after an organized criminal element within the prison system
00:49:15
Frankie's employees told police he had received threats shortly before he was murdered and on several occasions sent
00:49:23
security guards to his home now we have Chuck sides a former State lawmaker who played basketball with
00:49:31
Michael Frankie that later said that shortly before Frankie's murder that Frankie started carrying a pistol in his
00:49:39
gym bag for self-defense because he was taking steps to disrupt drug trafficking
00:49:46
inside the prisons M that's quite interesting Captain for several reasons because we have the prosecution that
00:49:54
state that the main motive for for the murder of Michael Frankie was that he disrupted a car thief right and was
00:50:01
killed as a reactionary thing during the course of that robbery right and here we have we
00:50:10
have a lawmaker we have people that he worked with that are saying that there obviously was something in Michael
00:50:18
Frankie's life that he believed that he was in danger he's sending police officers to his home from time to time
00:50:25
he's actively carrying a gun in his gym bag right these would point to signs that this man believed that he was going
00:50:33
to be part of a premeditated attack on his life and not necessarily a situation where he surprises a car thief yeah so
00:50:42
then the question becomes did he just interrupt a a simple car Breakin or was his
00:50:49
investigation such on the right track that it was leading him down the wrong path with the wrong
00:50:56
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