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[Music] [Applause] thank you welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you are doing thanks
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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
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captain well you can just call me Sexual Chocolate it's good to be seen and it's
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good to see you thanks for listening thanks for telling a friend [Music] this week we are sipping on Double Cross
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by Crux fermentation project garage grade four out of five bottle caps this is a Belgian strong dark ale big bodied
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with intense flavors of dark candy sugar preserved fruit and holiday spices in this week's beer double cross was
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brought to us by Marina in the UK who says we should run for president well maybe your mom should run for president
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a big shout out to Tammy from Portland Oregon and a shout out to Grizz who says he lives in the state of love and Trust
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out in BFE Illinois and a big long distance we like your gym the Christian in Hong Kong and we have another Tammy
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Captain who is listening from beautiful south of North Carolina and last but not
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least we have Sylvia who says True Crime garage gets five out of five bottle caps
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yeah so thank you to everybody for helping out with this week's show go to True Crime garage.com Check out the blog
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Stitcher they're all free exclusively on the Stitcher app and that's enough of the B is knees all right everybody
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gather around grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true crime [Music] foreign
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[Music] of 1980 all hell and I do mean hell broke loose at 1am on February 2nd inmates at a
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Maximum Security Prison just south of Santa Fe jumped three prison guards during a routine dorm count
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by 205 am the inmates had complete control of the prison two prison gangs the Chicanos the Aryan
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Brotherhood they had their own agendas after the Takeover the call was to immediately seek revenge against the
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snitches housed in cell block 4. as Dawn broke a group of inmates later nicknamed the execution Squad broke into
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cell block 4. the rioters could not open the cell doors however they managed to find blow
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torches that were used to renovate the overcrowded prison in Block 5. Unfortunately they were able to use the
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blow torches to open each cell in Block four one at a time when opened the victims were pulled from
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their cells to be tortured dismembered hanged or burned alive inmates killed inmates with piping work tools and
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homemade shanks some of the inmates in this time of chaos and crisis showed they were of
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good character some of the correction officers held captive were protected by inmates at
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inmates instruction two officers removed their uniforms and put on Prison clothes
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to disguise themselves and avoid being attacked these two officers were later escorted
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out of the prison protected by inmates however other inmates showed their true colors given the opportunity it reminded
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us all why they were locked up in the first place as two very unfortunate officers were so
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brutally beaten and raped that they had to be carried out of the prison on stretchers
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seven officers were severely injured the riot only lasted about 36 hours but in the end the official death toll was
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33 people all of them inmates 12 of the victims had been housed in the protective custody unit
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most of the 33 were brutally murdered some died from a drug overdose more than 200 inmates were treated for
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injuries later there would be several books about this prison riot and its causes and aftermath
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and to give you a better idea of the Total Carnage one book is titled the hate Factory and the other the devil's
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butcher shop the 1980 New Mexico State Penitentiary Riot was the most violent prison riot in
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American history then state official Michael Franke was brought in to completely revamp the
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troubled and broken New Mexico prison system Frankie investigated and exposed the
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corruption that was leading to severe problems and was officially recognized for his achievements by political
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leaders such as former U.S President Jimmy Carter he served as a judge for three years and
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in 1983 became the director of the New Mexico Department of Corrections in May of 1987 Oregon governor Neil
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Goldschmidt hired Michael Franke to fill the corresponding position in Oregon Frankie was hired to address problems in
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the Oregon State's Department of Corrections after coming to Oregon Frankie learned many unfavorable things
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about what was happening behind Prison Walls the corruption was rampant and included murder prostitution drugs and
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even stealing cattle as it turns out prison guards in the 80s were taking inmate crews out and stealing cattle
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from local farms and ranches and then making money by supplying Stakes to local restaurants
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it was exposed during the 1980s that officials at the Oregon Department of Corrections were enlisting the help of
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convicted murderers inside the prison and rewarding them by providing them weekend passes
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at least one of these weekend passes for a convicted murderer led to another murder
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simply put Michael Frankie was hired to clean up a giant mess Frankie told his family he was going to blow the lid off
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of corruption in the Oregon prison system and implicate several top government officials however
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it did not happen because he was murdered before he could do so Michael Frankie was a good man an
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ethical man that stood up for what was right and fought corruption and the corrupted this is his story
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[Music] foreign Ty was a native of Kansas City Missouri he was born October 2nd 1946 and after
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graduating high school he attended New Mexico's Highland University on a football scholarship he would graduate
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with a Bachelor of Arts degree in a combined major of political science economics German and French then he
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attended the University of Virginia law school and he graduated with a law degree in 1971 as and was subsequently
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admitted to the Virginia bar for the next three years he served as a Judge Advocate General in the United
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States Navy at Long Beach Naval Station now in 1975 he was admitted to the bar in New Mexico and worked as an Assistant
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Attorney General and counsel to the State Department of Corrections he served in this capacity until 1980 when
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he became a judge for the first district court in Santa Fe he served as a judge for three years and then in 1983 became
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the director of the New Mexico Department of Corrections and we heard in the trailer there captain
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what state the they were in as far as the Department of Correction goes for New Mexico state the the problems there
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were bad that Riot that we described probably and most likely was was caused by severe overcrowding within the prison
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system that particular prison had almost doubled the amount of inmates that it was built to house some of them sleeping
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without beds and then we also have brutality from both sides of the cell block door from the inmates and from
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some of the correction officers as well in May of 1987 Oregon governor Neil Goldschmidt hired Michael Frankie to
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fill the corresponding position in Oregon Frankie was hired to address problems in the Oregon State's
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Department of Corrections the main purpose however for his hiring was to oversee the largest prison expansion in
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Oregon State history it was necessary to expand due to severe overcrowding in these prisons as well now we already
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spoke of the checkered history of the Oregon prison system and Michael Franke was the man tasked with removing the
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corruption of the Oregon State Department of Corrections but he took heavy criticism when he first came in by
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legislatures for the cost of overruns and delays in the state's prison construction program these same
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legislators were also growing increasingly frustrated about the rising inmate population so the organ system
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was EXP experiencing severe overcrowding with up to five thousand inmates crammed
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into prisons originally designed for 2 800 people still it's believed by many that he
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figured out who was doing what and was ready to report it to his superiors Frankie told his family that he was
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going to blow the lid off of corruption and the Oregon prison system and implicate several top government
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officials now this leads us to January 17 1989. so we know a little bit about Michael
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Frankie's background but what we didn't say is that Michael was a hard-working dedicated and determined individual and
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he was expected that he expected the same out of those who worked for him Michael was known to work late many if
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not most work days he often worked into the evening on Tuesday January 17 1989 Michael Frankie held a regular meeting
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this was with the five division heads and other top staff members on his staff on this Tuesday the meeting lasted until
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6 pm Michael Frankie talked with some Personnel after and was seen by several people inside what is the Dome building
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what is called the Dome building there were several floors of offices in this building and Michael Frankie's office is
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on the ground level reports from Witnesses indicate that Mr Frankie left the dome building shortly
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after 6 30 pm other reports indicate that it was closer to 6 45 PM but just to be clear
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no reports read that Mr Frankie left his office after 6 45 pm two senior staff leaving the Dome
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building approximately 40 minutes later discovered Michael Frankie's car parked in its designated spot outside the front
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entryway with the driver's door open Frankie's white Pontiac Bonneville was one of only a few cars left in the
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parking lot at the corrections headquarters at this time of night the two staffers observed no noticeable
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damage to the vehicle and no obvious signs of forced entry on the vehicle were observed
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the staffers closed and locked the car door and returned to the Dome building where they made numerous phone calls to
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other senior staffers to determine Frankie's whereabouts all to no avail security was notified at the nearby
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communications center and the staffers left the dome building at approximately 805 pm
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two other senior staffers Richard Peterson head of Institutions and David Coley head of planning and budget arrived at
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approximately 8 35 pm and conducted what they described as a meticulous search of
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the Dome building but found nothing amiss there was thought that maybe someone had
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picked Michael Frankie up and maybe they had went to dinner this was discussed by several of the
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persons looking for him so the senior staff members went home for the night after they failed to locate Mr Frankie
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and assume that he was at a private dinner engagement police were not notified at this time around 12 30 a.m
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January 18th the night Watchman on duty Stephen Rubino was told to be especially
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observant as he made his rounds of the Dome building now as he came to a dimly lit porch at
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the side of the building Rabino spotted a large man sprawled on the porch he was
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surrounded by bloodstains and a panel of glass at the porch doorway was smashed the night Watchman had discovered
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Michael Frankie's body police secured the area the inspectors quickly noticed some of
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Michael Frankie's belongings may be missing this was his briefcase there was also broken glass on and near his body
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now it's believed that Michael Frankie as he was being murdered he had tried to unlock the door to get back into the doc
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office the Department of Corrections office but could not unlock the doors and in his final moments of Life Frankie
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broke a glass panel from the door attempting to get inside or at the very least call for help
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some have said that all of Frankie's documents from his year-long investigation were later shredded at the
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Department of Corrections within hours of his body being found this is according to quote inside sources now
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these inside sources are not listed just to be clear here the newspapers that very same day
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covered the story the information that they released was this Michael Franke was found stabbed to death just outside
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the office building in which he worked he died of a stab wound to the heart with massive bleeding the medical
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examiner said it was quote a definite homicide but there were no suspects so now we have a judge that was brought in
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to clean up this prison system and he's murdered yeah and later the Michael Frankie murder investigation was
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described as the largest of its kind in Oregon history at that time the number of investigators fluctuated between 6
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and 30 full-time investigators the media coverage was intense to say the least and then Governor Neil Goldschmidt he
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was really according to the papers putting the police department under intense pressure to make an arrest and
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bring closure to the case of course given the nature of Frankie's work the possibility that the murder was
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a hit was immediately considered right despite interviews with thousands of people including several convicts and a
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reward fund exceeding twenty thousand dollars the investigators assigned to the case were not catching any big
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breaks early on in the investigation what we do know was this due to eyewitness accounts the police were
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convinced that the killer was a dark-haired man with a light-colored coat who was seen running from the scene
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but that man's identity was unknown there were some problems with the investigation one being that the time of
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death was not known so the window for the time of death is simply 6 30 PM which is approximately the last time
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that Mr Frankie was seen right and just after 12 30 a.m when his body was found well he's found by security right
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correct effect so do they not have any security cameras in this facility they did not
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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
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body temperature was never taken nor recorded I'm sorry which would have shortened that window for us so all we
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can say is that sometime between the last time he was seen alive in the time that he was found dead near this door
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that's when he was killed another question keypad entries or is it strictly just it's it's a key
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it's 1989 and this so we need to be clear here this this is a little bit difficult you say well
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if there were several people looking for this individual why was he not located well there's a couple problems with this
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okay so it's January 1 is a problem because by the time he would have left work that day it was already dark so
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they're at a disadvantage looking for someone especially outside um where he would later be found and
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this the door that he died in front of was it was like a side door and I believe it was on the second floor so
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let's say he was attacked his car door was found open so there's some thought that he he was attacked at that car
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right and then managed to try to seek help and he made it to that door before he expired so please say the door that
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he was found on was the second floor yes so I don't know if this would have been
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the most the the nearest door for him I'm guessing that's where he would go to so let's say it's the nearest door he
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would have had to run from his vehicle after being attacked and then go up the stairs and try to get into that door and
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then unfortunately he passed away there before help could arrive or the attack continued
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that the the attacker followed him up there and and killed him in front of the door so no keypads and no security video
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footage of this correct and you bringing up the keypad is interesting because there was at least
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I off the top of my head captain I think only one article that I found regarding
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the case and the crime scene there was an article that stated any articles on the case no I meant stating the
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following um that the locks to the doors were changed that day now I don't know that I
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believe that I don't I have no reason to discredit it I have no proof that it didn't happen that day but what I will
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say is this there and it this will be obvious by the end of this episode there's a lot of
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questions around this murder and there's a lot of thoughts about who committed this crime and I think that the idea of
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the locks being changed that day adds to the Mystique of it or to the the confusion right of the whole crime scene
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the problem I have with that statement though Captain is that Michael Frankie was the boss he was the
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he was the the number one dude in this building there were as I said there were several floors of offices inside this
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building of the Oregon Department of Corrections building right he was the man in there if the door locks were
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changed that day if there's one person that you make sure has that key when the doors are changed when the locks are
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changed it's the boss it's that guy it's that guy and the other thing too to to paint the picture of the scene or to get
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an idea of what when we try to think of what could have happened to this man Bob
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Ross please keep in mind Michael Frankie remember we said he went he he went to college on a football scholarship this
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was not a tiny man this was this dude was six foot three wow 225 pounds and he wasn't the kicker
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I have no idea what position he played I'm just saying he could have went played football and he could have been
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the kicker well he could have been but changes things a little bit but what we we know he was not small he was six foot
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three 225 to 230 pounds this is a big guy get right back to this after this quick beer break
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[Music] thank you [Music] all right cheers me ladies cheers Captain we have a big break in
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the case because on April 8th 1990 so this is nearly 15 months after Frankie's death
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the police arrested Frank Gable who was at the time 30 years old he's arrested for the murder of Michael
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Frankie so who is he uh well so Frank Gable his name did not surface as a suspect I guess until about
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eight months after the crime when the murder investigation was at what they were calling at the time a standstill
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two people initially pointed the finger at gable one was Michael kieran's the other tipster was Janine Vera Gable
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Frank Gable's wife so the police at this time believed that Michael Frankie was murdered in a an attempted robbery the
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police interrogated known drug dealers and Street criminals looking to figure out if somebody had heard something you
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know they want to find out the word on the streets right one of them claimed that he witnessed
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the murder and then identified the killer as a drug dealer named Frank Gable according to this witness Gable
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was in the act of breaking into Michael's car Michael Frankie's car when Michael came out of the office building
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around 7 PM Gable then stabbed Frankie very badly wounding him it is believed at this time that Gable stole Michael
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Frankie's briefcase and fled the scene Michael Frankie then staggered up a set of stairs to a side entrance to the
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building attempting to get in could not and then broke the glass pane on the door in a desperate desperate attempt to
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get back into his office now after getting this tip that led police to drug dealer Frank Gable
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Frank was already in jail for beating his wife when he was arraigned for killing Oregon prison director Michael
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Frankie the charges go ahead so Frankie's attacked January of 89 when is the suspect arrested for beating his
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wife uh that I don't know and I'm going to be honest with you Captain I don't know a ton about this Frank Gable
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um it it wasn't until April of 1990 that he is charged with Frankie's murder but
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we do know that he became on he got onto police radar about eight months after the murder I don't know if that means he
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was locked up around that same time one of my thoughts is that it could very well be the case because one of the
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witnesses is his wife who he has already been charged with uh assaulting and he's
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in jail for that assault right so one good thing is hey we got a suspect that we really like and he's not going to be
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hard to find because we know where he is he's sitting in a jail somewhere but with his wife being one of the supposed
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eyewitnesses or people willing to point the finger at this Frank Gable I can't believe that if that was going
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on in their relationship that she was going to tell the police about it before he's arrested for hitting her now the
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charges for Frank Gable would be six counts of aggravated murder and one count of intentional murder for
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allegedly fatally stabbing Michael Frankie aggravated murder is a capital crime and organ and the prosecutors said
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they will seek the death penalty if Gable is convicted now investigators never found a weapon
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or other physical evidence tying Gable to the crime and Gable well he never confessed to the crime either in fact in
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a jailhouse interview after his court appearance Gable said he was innocent saying quote
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don't let me get railroaded he told k-o-i-n television I just asked that they not stop looking there is a killer
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out there somewhere the indictment offers a series of possible motives for the murder
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including that Gable killed Frankie during a theft or robbery or that the slang was related to Frankie's work as a
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prison's chief the trial at trial the prosecutor said that Frankie caught Gable breaking into
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his car and in a panic Gable stabbed him now again no physical evidence was produced even at trial however the
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prosecution was allowed to introduce as evidence a knife that was purchased by investigators
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which matched Frankie's wounds Gable's ex-wife testified that she had gave Gable a similar knife at some point in
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their relationship all right that seems like there's some holes no pun intended in this
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is that the worst evidence you've ever heard yeah I mean again have some proof have some evidence I mean if she had a
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receipt of a knife that she bought prior then okay but right but we don't so and
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and how many stab wounds do we have his autopsy is difficult so the way that this the way that it reads is that he
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was stabbed directly in the heart the problem with what was released to the public is that we don't know if that
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stab came from the back or the front right there was not a ton of information released publicly regarding his autopsy
00:29:07
they do state that there were some defensive wounds on the victim there was also some sign of blunt force trauma
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however this sounds terrible um the blunt force trauma they don't believe was part of the attack they
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actually believed that his his body uh occur that blunt force trauma to the body occurred when he he was most likely
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slumped up against the door in the wall in the corner as he was trying to get into that door that office door to to
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get help right and then at some point he fell onto the concrete and they believed
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that that blunt forced trauma to the body occurred at that time and not during the course of the attack so I'm
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going to ask an obvious question I'm hoping for an obvious answer okay you put me on the spot count so he he's
00:29:58
breaking into a car he's breaking into the vehicle that's what they think happened that's what the prosecution is
00:30:04
stating so we have fingerprints um no we don't and again remember the troubling thing here too is we have the
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eyewitnesses the the people that closed the car door that found the car door open Frankie's car door opened they
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stated that they didn't see any damage to the car any sign of a scuffle any obvious signs that that somebody broke
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into the vehicle right you know it almost looks like to me with given that description it
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more likely sounds to me that Frankie opened up his own car door and then was attacked and the car door
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just happened to be left open possibly or the way that the prosecution Paints the picture is that Frank Gables in mid
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break-in and the I would have to guess Frank Gables already got the door open by the time
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that Frankie discovers him and says hey buddy what are you doing with my car yeah now you got a six foot three large
00:31:03
man getting ready to come down upon you for breaking into his car I breathe heavy into your ear well and I I think
00:31:11
we don't well let's go ahead but but Frank Gable could have just been checking cards to see if they're
00:31:18
unlocked and then he goes oh this car is unlocked I open up the door right when I
00:31:23
open up the door Frankie sees me yeah so that could have happened too that's a possibility but again guess whose hands
00:31:30
on that door unless you're telling me that that he was wearing gloves or whatever the individual that was spotted
00:31:37
is believed to have been wearing gloves that there was a man remember we have the eyewitness account of a dark-haired
00:31:45
man and a light-colored coat running from the scene the problem with that is this person is spotted running from the
00:31:54
area of the vehicle not necessarily running from a murder scene you know it's not like anybody says I saw a
00:32:00
murder or a man attacked and then this description of this guy ran away from the area right now there's just a dude
00:32:06
that's spotted in the area now that guy from every from every statement I could find sounds like the guy was wearing
00:32:14
gloves so well it could just be a guy that you know randomly was leaving work and
00:32:21
decided you know what I really need to get in better shape I'm going to start right now running well and look it's
00:32:28
January don't people wear gloves in January I mean I do get with it people put on some gloves
00:32:37
hey don't you wear don't you wear gloves I also wear socks in January too yeah hey at the trial the state produced
00:32:44
several witnesses this is going to be the troubling thing for Mr Frank Gable these Witnesses all of whom were
00:32:51
criminal Associates of gable and claim that Gable confessed the crime to them after the fact the testimonies were from
00:32:59
the following first we have a woman named Jody Swearingen she's a local teen runaway who testified before a grand
00:33:07
jury that she had witnessed the murder police reports indicate that she had identified Frank Gable as the
00:33:14
perpetrator of that murder then we have Cappy AKA shorty Hardin happy shorty if your first name is Cappy
00:33:24
do you need a nickname unless you're incredibly short then he's then he's sure what if he's like three foot seven
00:33:29
then you're shorty yeah he testified at trial that he was parked near the Dome building with the young woman we just
00:33:37
discussed Jody Swearingen when he said shorty was yeah he saw Frank Gable according to Cappy or shorty whatever
00:33:44
you want to call him he saw Frank Gable stab Michael Frankie then we have Mike Kearns
00:33:51
we also have Dan Walsh and Kevin Walker all three separately testified that Gable confessed to them that he had
00:33:59
killed Frankie so these are so why are these guys in the area why is this guy parked
00:34:05
um I don't know if they were parked in the car and fooling around or if they were leaving the area so this building
00:34:11
is actually near a very large hospital so almost across the street from the parking lot where we believe Michael
00:34:20
Frankie was attacked would be a very large parking lot for a state hospital so they very likely could have been in
00:34:28
the State Hospital parking lot right but I want to know why they were there seems to me that they're just finding
00:34:35
people that know Frank Gable and who's just going hey just say you're there oh no I apologize I think I I think the way
00:34:41
that I describe that is weird I don't believe that Jody Swearingen and this Shorty Hardin actually knew who Frank
00:34:48
Gable was okay um they were able to say hey the person we saw attack Michael Frankie was this
00:34:56
man they were able to identify him the people that knew Frank Gable were that Michael Cairns Dan Walsh Kevin Walker
00:35:05
these were known associates of Gables who at one point he confessed according to them that he had killed Michael
00:35:12
Frankie then we have Janine Vera remember the married to Gable at the time of Frankie's murder right she
00:35:19
testified that Gable was not home on the night of the murder and that she didn't
00:35:25
know where he was she also testified that Gable said at some point quote I stuck the guy she says what guy
00:35:33
he says quote the guy at the hospital Gable answered now that's an interesting statement here Captain because one thing
00:35:41
I had wondered about when the prosecution gave their theory of the events and of the murder and how it
00:35:46
occurred in the motive right was that this guy's breaking into a car well if I'm a criminal if I'm a thief
00:35:54
you probably are I'm not choosing a vehicle that's in the parking lot of the Department of Corrections the head the
00:36:02
you know the headquarters for the Department of Corrections unless you don't know
00:36:07
unless you think it's a hospital right and that's what's interesting about what she says when she testifies that Gable
00:36:14
referred to him as the guy at the hospital the other thing that's interesting there too is that that also
00:36:20
implies that Frank Gable did not know the man that he attacked he didn't know him by name
00:36:26
now the verdict that little bit of evidence those people testifying that's all the evidence they
00:36:33
had all here say all circumstantial and you know we had last week's case of Scott Peterson where people got a little
00:36:42
upset and said how can you convict on circumstantial evidence uh there was a what I would refer to as a mountain of
00:36:49
circumstantial evidence against Scott Peterson against Frank Gable here however that's it that's a molehill of
00:36:57
circumstantial evidence well I still like the way that Nancy Grace talks about it is the idea that you go
00:37:04
into work and it's sunny and it's beautiful out then you go out for lunch and there's puddles everywhere and your
00:37:11
car is wet and there's all this circumstantial evidence that lets you know that it probably rained right and
00:37:19
and so that's how you get to that conclusion yeah there's not a mountain of evidence here the difficult things
00:37:26
one is your your two eyewitnesses are criminals then these so-called Associates that you confess to well it's
00:37:34
believed and I'm going to say allegedly because I can't say um that I have hardcore evidence of this
00:37:41
or saw lots of reports stating the same but allegedly I would guess five out of the six people that testified that he
00:37:51
was guilty or six out of six would have been probably drug users at the time and I
00:37:59
can say that because look Frank Gable was he was a known drug dealer and so his associates are either going to be
00:38:07
other dealers or users most likely okay and they've also been referred to publicly in newspaper articles as just
00:38:16
that as drug users as far as Jody Swearingen and Cappy hardengo AKA shorty I believe
00:38:25
similar that they were drug users at the time again I don't think they had any knowledge of Frank Gable prior to seeing
00:38:35
the person that they described as Frank Gables stabbing Michael Frankie so what's interesting is with Frank Gables
00:38:43
you wonder why would he break into somebody's car I mean if he's a drug dealer then why are you breaking into
00:38:48
somebody's car that's that's kind of a lower level crime so you're probably making money off the
00:38:54
drugs why would you break into a car but if the car is you think is at a hospital
00:39:00
or you're breaking into it because you think this person is a doctor and there's something that you can get out
00:39:06
of this you could get some prescription pills or something like that well that's
00:39:11
an interesting thing that you bring up here and one thought is that okay so Frank Gable was considered quote
00:39:21
unquote a career Criminal by this point in his life this is somebody that has been had trouble with the law it wasn't
00:39:27
his first run-in with the law he was a known drug dealer he was a guy that was going to make his living off of
00:39:34
committing crimes can you imagine that though I mean you and I have both been in positions
00:39:40
where we're at a job that we're not we're not in love with but it pays okay and the benefits are
00:39:46
all right so it starts becoming hey maybe I can turn this into a career can you imagine the guy
00:39:52
that's selling a little bit of dope here a little bit of dope there breaking into
00:39:58
cars starts thinking I don't I'll have many options this is going to be my career
00:40:05
well the other thing though too is I don't know that it's about options I think a lot of times with these
00:40:11
individuals it's about they don't give a [ __ ] about two weeks from now two months
00:40:15
from now two years from now that's right they're living in the moment and it's how can I get some money for today maybe
00:40:20
tonight maybe tomorrow is the furthest they can think ahead so let's talk about the car though Captain so neither
00:40:28
Frankie's car phone nor his stereo were tampered with we do know that from the police report yeah the car phone yeah
00:40:36
interesting well remember back then I'm guessing it's one of those Motorola deals that has like the it has a little
00:40:43
station with it it looks almost like a tiny briefcase yeah and and some people would keep it in their glove box or kind
00:40:52
of there in the center between the two front seats so it'd be very obvious now what makes that interesting though too
00:40:57
is if I am a criminal looking for something expensive and I see that sitting on the passenger seat or are in
00:41:05
the front portion of the vehicle I'm going to go man I'd like to steal that car phone right
00:41:10
so well the question here is now is this car owned by Frankie or is this given to
00:41:17
him by the state I believe that he owns the vehicle and the only thing I have to
00:41:22
go off of is that it's referred to as Frankie's car phone and his stereo were not tampered with well because sometimes
00:41:29
I mean heads of detectives will get a detective vehicle for example and they might have the radio in there but also
00:41:36
have emergency cell phone service so that's kind of why I was wondering and then that also makes me wonder
00:41:43
if it was owned by the state then how many people have access to to Keys the other thing that we should call in a
00:41:50
question is the body so Michael Frankie's watch wallet and cash were still on him when he was found after he
00:41:59
he was dead what kind of Watch was it how how would I know what kind of I don't know what kind of watch it is
00:42:06
um and regard well I think if you're trying to if you're the defense for example right and you say hey he's he's
00:42:14
wearing a he's wearing a baller watch he's wearing a Thomas he's wearing a Rolex this Timex of baller no time this
00:42:25
is not a baller watch this one that's what makes it a joke those are the people that are bawling in uh fifth
00:42:31
grade right but what I'm saying is I that does make a difference and you'd think that the defense would have
00:42:36
brought this up to say hey if if he was breaking into the car because he wanted to get money or
00:42:44
whatever he was looking for then wouldn't he take this watch I mean if it's a if it's a crap watch you're not
00:42:51
gonna take it I mean it might have been a little calculator watch we don't know because it's not reported but again
00:42:58
these items would suggest that the money was not the priority of the Killer is what a lot of people would point out
00:43:06
again my problem with Frank with Frank Gable's motive is if he is a drug dealer one why would you be breaking into carbs
00:43:15
that seems like a downward move in your career you're selling drugs you're making money
00:43:23
your ball on out of control you're wearing Timex you got five Timex on your left arm
00:43:29
so why are you breaking into the car but again he thought it was the the hospital
00:43:35
so you're breaking into a car because you think it's a doctor's car so you're trying to break in to get drugs or or a
00:43:40
prescription pad or whatever it is possibly possibly I don't know that I would say that Frank Gable was above
00:43:46
breaking into cars um again I believe this is an individual that's a career criminal uh he's any
00:43:52
he's those types of individuals look for opportunity and when opportunity presents itself they
00:44:00
seize the moment and steal whatever it is that they can Captain they did not need Nancy Grace
00:44:07
sitting on the sidelines cheerleading for the prosecution here because the verdict that would come down
00:44:14
Gable was found guilty and received life in prison with no chance of parole alright so
00:44:20
an open and shut case right yep easy easy I'll see you next week done one parter great one parter well not so fast
00:44:30
as the there are major doubts in this case there were TV and newspapers that came
00:44:36
forward in February of 1991 um and this started prior to Gable's conviction the Michael Frankie story was
00:44:46
featured on an episode of the TV program Unsolved Mysteries the killing sparked widespread speculation that Frankie was
00:44:55
murdered because he was about to expose corruption in his Department one of Frankie's brother was also hired for
00:45:02
though yes it's believed that he was hired for that was part of the reason that he was hired one of Frankie's
00:45:08
Brothers said that the prisons Chief told him shortly before his death that he had discovered organized crime
00:45:16
elements in the prison's system the case also became somewhat of a Battleground between the three leading
00:45:24
Portland newspapers a leading advocate for the wrongful conviction slash conspiracy theory was local journalist
00:45:32
Phil Stanford Stanford wrote extensively on the case and wrote a screenplay for a
00:45:38
film based on the Frankie murder called without evidence this was released in 1995 featuring Angelina Jolie and one of
00:45:47
her first major roles now she played the person that we already mentioned Jody Swearingen then even after the
00:45:55
conviction persons close to the case started calling into question many interesting aspects of the case and the
00:46:02
murder scene we already discussed the car we already discussed the body but one thing that they would keep going
00:46:09
back to is the timing of the murder because we have Frankie's brother who says that shortly before his murder he
00:46:17
told him he was going after an organized criminal element within the prison system
00:46:22
Frankie's employees told police he had received threats shortly before he was murdered and on several occasions sent
00:46:30
security guards to his home now we have Chuck sides a former State lawmaker who played basketball with Michael Frankie
00:46:39
that later said that shortly before Frankie's murder that Frankie started carrying a pistol in his gym bag for
00:46:47
self-defense because he was taking steps to disrupt drug trafficking inside the prisons that's quite interesting Captain
00:46:57
for several reasons because we have the prosecution that state that the main motive for the murder of Michael Frankie
00:47:04
was that he disrupted a car thief right and it was killed as a reactionary thing during the course of that robbery
00:47:13
right and here we have we have a lawmaker we have people that he worked with that are staying that
00:47:23
there obviously was something in Michael Frankie's life that he believed that he
00:47:27
was in danger he's sending police officers to his home from time to time he's actively carrying a gun in his gym
00:47:35
bag right these would point to signs that this man believed that he was going to be part of a premeditated attack on
00:47:43
his life and not necessarily a situation where he surprises a car thief yeah so then the question becomes did he just
00:47:51
interrupt a simple car break-in or was his investigation such on the right track that it was leading them down the
00:48:00
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