All language subtitles for The Murder Tapes - 3x04_track3_eng

Smietana: At that point
in time, I realized

this was a very
serious situation.

There's a child
in that house.

I was devastated,
because now jeffrey was never

going to have
what he should have.

Did he snap? Did something
happen either accidentally

or on purpose?

We had to dig deeper.

Oh, my goodness,
what did we just see?

♪

♪

[ phone number dialing ]

[ phone ringing ]

[ two high-pitched beeps ]

narrator: Within seconds,
deputy dustin smietana,

already on patrol nearby,
rushes to the scene,

a small house in
a remote part of the county.

Once we arrived on the scene,
no lights on the roads

or anything, and to see the big
bright orange light in the sky,

it definitely
got my attention.

It woke me up fast.

I ran up
the driveway as fast

as I possibly could, but I was
basically up to my shins,

if not more,
in muck and mud.

And it is very hard
to traverse in.

I turned on my body camera,
because we record these events.

And this is a serious event
that's unfolding in front of us.

As I was running up,
I just -- I caught out of

the corner of my eye
as I was running by,

I saw the silhouette
of a person off to my right

as I was running up.

He said that
his boy was in the house.

At that point in time,

I realized this was
a very serious situation.

You know, there's
a child in that house.

[ fire roaring ]

[ breaking glass ]

smietana:
We're hearing popping sounds,

crackling of the fire,
I mean, this is the biggest

fire I've seen
in my career.

It was engulfing
the house slowly,

and just the ashes
were raining down on me.

[ distant sirens ]

we could hear sirens
in the distance,

and quite honest,

I can't imagine
a heavy apparatus, you know,

40, 50, 60,000 pounds try and
traverse this type of terrain.

[ distant sirens ]

after me and my partner realized
going around the back of

the house was not an option
that we were able to do,

we went back down the driveway,
and we make contact with

the guy that
said he was the homeowner.

[ beeping noise ]

narrator: The homeowner,
ernest franklin,

points to where
his adopted son,

jeffrey, or jr,

is trapped inside the house.

Knowing that there was
a victim inside that house,

I felt helpless,
my partner felt helpless, too.

We stood by, and watched
the house burn more and more

and realizing that
there's nothing we could do.

Narrator:
Minutes later,

local fire departments
arrive on the scene.

They had to start running
a line all the way

up this driving, which is --
it's a long way away.

Seconds seemed like minutes --
in my mind, it took forever.

There's firefighters scrambling
all over place,

and they're just
trying to establish

a foothold on anything
they possibly can

to fight this fire.

Once they got their water lines
established, they're starting

to fight it back,
it's like, wow,

the hard part's over now,
that they all came together,

did everything they possibly
could in this situation.

Beckwith: It wasn't
safe enough for us to

put our firefighters
inside the building.

So once we determined exactly
where jeffrey was last seen,

we decided
to focus our attack

onto the fire by standing from
the outside of the building,

and trying to extinguish that
as quickly as we could.

♪

austin: Jeffrey --

he never had
parents of his own.

He comes to our house, and it
was a complete change for him.

Everybody loved him,
so it was worth it to everybody.

He was a kid
that just would make you smile,

and he loved everything.

Jeffrey was deaf.

He also had
learning disabilities.

He had trouble learning
and mastering his own language.

Behavior-wise, really,

he did things a typical
3-, 4-year-old would do,

it's just he was
older doing them.

But he was a happy kid

even with all
the challenges he had.

There was an opportunity
for jeffrey

to have his own parents.

And we asked him, you know,

do you want to stay here with
uncle ted and aunt jen?

Or do you want a mommy
and daddy all of your own?

And he said he wanted a mom
and dad all of his own.

It was difficult, um,

not wanting to let him go.

We loved him, but we also
were taking comfort

in he's gonna get
his own parents.

He deserves
his own parents.

♪

-[ chord strikes ]
-[ two high-pitched beeps ]

narrator: Back at the house,
firefighters continue

to attack the blaze,

knowing jeffrey is inside.

Narrator: Ernest franklin
is pulled aside for questioning.

Fern: The owner of the home
was the only one there

at the scene,
so he would probably have

the most knowledge
of what took place,

so it was important to speak
to him a soon as possible

and get the accounts of
what took place that evening.

What's concerning about it
is that you start to wonder,

you know, why isn't this guy,

uh, injured,
partially burned?

Usually, people go back
into the house,

they're injured, they're burned
or sometimes even

they die themselves
trying to recover children.

Narrator:
Once the fire is out,

the firemen make
a heart-wrenching discovery.

We started what we call
de-layering the room.

So a lot of the debris
and everything that fell off

from the ceiling or from
the walls or anything.

We started removing some of
those items piece by piece,

going through and looking for
any type of remnants of jeffrey

that may remain.

One of the first things
we found was actually

the bedsprings.

And then we eventually end up
finding jeffrey's body.

We found him laying on
the mattress as though

he was sleeping.

It's something
you never forget,

and it takes a toll
on everybody that's there.

Fern:
All those things are adding up

that something's not right here.

There's something
that was missing,

and we needed to find that.

[ two high-pitched beeps ]

♪

narrator: Fire investigators in
chenango county, new york,

have just discovered 16-year-old
jeffrey "jr" franklin,

dead inside
his destroyed home.

Smietana: After the firefighters
found jeffrey in his bedroom,

they carefully lifted him up,

and we carefully
brought him down.

We carefully placed him
into a body bag

that the funeral home
brought out.

That's when it became real,
it became very real,

and we carefully walked him
down the drive, again,

through the mud,
through the terrain.

We placed him
inside of a hearse,

and it was my job just
to follow that hearse

all the way down
to the morgue.

I don't know -- I really --
I can't describe the feeling.

It was just...

People pass away every day,

but this kid suffered so much
how he passed away.

♪

♪

narrator: Now, the investigation
into the fire begins.

Detectives start by speaking
with jeffrey's

adopted mother, heather.

Fern: I learned that heather was
down at the neighbor's house,

and obviously we needed to get
a statement from her.

So I made my way down there,
made contact with her.

Narrator: Heather describes
her evening in

the hours leading up
to the fire.

Officer: Okay.

Heather was visibly upset,
you know,

she was crying.
She was emotional.

She was pregnant
with her child,

you know,
that brings a whole

nother level of
emotions into play.

It could be very devastating.

So we had to sympathize
with her.

She just lost a house
and lost a child.

Narrator: While heather and
ernest grapple with their loss,

fire investigators turn to
the remains of the home,

hoping to uncover just
what started the fire.

Beckwith: We started
our investigation

by taking pictures -- we judged
that against the story,

the information from
the interviews that we were

receiving and trying to put
everything back together.

And did notice that the stove
door in the living room

was open,
so we questioned that.

Also, the homeowner, who was
home at the point in time,

tells us that he comes back
out of the woods from looking

for his dogs, and the timeframe
that he starts talking about

that he's gone,

and when he comes back,
we really start questioning

the progression of the fire,

because using scientific
methods, we can figure out,

you know, what the burn rate
is in the building, based off

from the combustibles and the
type of building construction.

So then we started piecing
everything together and realize

that there was something
that was not right here.

Narrator: Detectives need
to know more about what

happened on the night of
the fire.

They start by speaking
with ernest's

neighbor,
dominick gildersleeve.

We needed to continue
to gather information

and provide that information
to assist

the fire investigators.

Dominick was there
at the fire,

and he witnessed ernest
and his actions.

Dominick would help take care
of the animals, uh,

the outside animals
and the, you know,

inside dogs and cats
when the franklins went away.

So it was important
for us to talk to him

and see if there was something
out of the ordinary.

And we wanted to see
what kind of picture

he could paint for us of what
type of person ernest was.

Narrator: But then dominick
mentions something else

that could explain
ernest's odd behavior.

Dominick was putting
his own pieces together to

his puzzle that things
weren't adding up to him,

and he was concerned that
something triggered ernest,

something happened,
and, uh, you know,

ernest was doing something
to try to cover something up.

Narrator:
Then, two days after the fire,

investigators receive a call
from the medical examiner.

Fern: I was told
there were some concerns.

For one, there was a lack
of soot in the trachea

and the bronchi of jeffrey
in the mouth and the tongue.

It didn't match up with
that he died in the fire.

Also, the lack of
carboxyhemoglobin

in jeffrey's body
told us that he wasn't

breathing when
the fire took place.

Given the information
from the autopsy,

we knew that jeffrey
was dead before the fire.

So my conversation
with the pathologist

resulted in it going
from a fire investigation

to a homicide investigation.

And we had to determine
who did it.

So the person
we would look at first,

and who we'd be leaning
towards the most,

would be ernest.

We wanted to find out
why he didn't try to get into

the house.

What did he do to try
to help save jeffrey?

We had to dig deeper.

We had to find out
what was he trying to hide?

♪

narrator:
Sheriff's detectives

in chenango county, new york,

have just discovered that
16-year-old jeffrey franklin

was dead before
the fire claimed his body.

Now, investigators are
looking at a likely suspect.

Fern: It was looking
more and more like

ernest was the person
who did it.

You know, it was intentional
and not accidental,

and so we had to continue
our investigation

and try to figure out,
you know,

why he was trying
to cover something up.

Narrator: Investigators start by
speaking with ernest's parents.

So we wanted to just see what
ernest was like as a child,

what has he been like
the last couple years?

What's his interaction
between heather and jeffrey?

We wanted to see the household
as a whole

and ernest as a person.

Ernest's parents
had said that he had

told them that
he was over in iraq.

They didn't really know
the specifics,

but the only thing they did
mention is that he definitely

came back different.

That's obviously something
concerning for us.

Was he still having issues?
Did he snap?

Did something happen,

you know, either
accidentally or on purpose?

Is it the fact that heather's
pregnant now,

that they've been trying for
years to have their own kid,

and now this new baby
comes along,

and the old kid's kind of out,
and the new kid's in.

So we just don't know
for sure,

but we're starting to kind of
see a picture at this point.

Narrator: While detectives
search for the truth,

those who knew jeffrey mourn
for a child taken too soon.

Austin:
He had so much potential,

even with...

All the challenges he had.

But he was never
gonna be like everyday kids,

but he still had...

He still had a potential
to have a really, really

good life.

I'm sorry.

♪

narrator:
As detectives are seriously

considering ernest's
motives for murder,

his sister arrives
at the station with

information that may be
pertinent to the investigation.

Well, I remember the entire
time interviewing her that

she was very reluctant
to give up some information,

but my gut was
telling me that she wanted

to get more
off of her chest.

To say,
"there goes $2,000 a month,"

and not mention any sympathy
towards losing your child,

it was a red flag to her,
but it was also a red flag

to us.

[ music climbing ]

♪

♪

narrator:
Detectives investigating

jeffrey franklin's death
are no closer

to uncovering
exactly what happened,

but they believe
there is still more to

his adoptive father's story
than meets the eye.

It was starting to look like
jeffrey was becoming a burden.

Heather was unable
to conceive for many years,

so they adopted a child.

And now that they were able to
conceive their own child,

did they need jeffrey anymore?

There's obviously
more behind that,

and ernest was the key
to finding out more.

Narrator: So detectives begin
taking apart ernest's story.

Gould: So during
the investigation, we're trying

to figure out
these alibis and try to

be able to prove one way or
another if they're true or not.

Ernest's was probably
the most difficult, obviously,

because he's at home,
and he's up in the woods,

and his story chasing dogs,

there's not really a easy way to
be able to prove that happened,

so that was, you know,
kind of the hard thing for us.

On the other hand,
heather was much easier

to get her alibis.

She stated she went to
several different stores.

Obviously, we had
investigators go pull

surveillance video,

and, in fact, we did find her
on many store

surveillance cameras

at basically the times that
she said she was there.

On the video,
you do see

the truck pull up,
you see her exit the vehicle,

you see her walk into
the store, you can see heather

grab a cart,
go through the aisles.

The next thing we saw was
her checking out.

It's an overhead view of her
just having a couple items,

and then she walks
out of the store.

And then she gets
into her car.

She sits there for maybe
a minute or two.

Not sure what she's doing,
but a minute or two,

nothing too out of
the ordinary.

And then she pulls out of
the parking lot.

So after leaving the first
store, she did go to

at least one other store,

so at this point,
her story makes sense.

So obviously, you know,
ernest, again,

is the only one
at the house,

and he's obviously
the prime suspect.

Narrator: Growing increasingly
suspicious of ernest,

detectives invite him down
to the station

for further questioning.

We wanted ernest to know that
we knew jeffrey was dead

before the fire,

and we wanted to provide
that information to him

to see how he was gonna react.

We were hoping that he would
then break down,

maybe give us confession,

tell us exactly
what happened that night.

He reacted in more of

a stubborn way throughout
the interview process.

He was cold.
He was unsympathetic.

Never apologized for what
happened to jeffrey.

Miller: We had already obtained
his military records,

and we knew what he was
stating wasn't the truth.

He'd never had any combat time
in afghanistan.

While he's saying this,

it's making me further believe
that he's lying and he could be

lying about other things
throughout the investigation.

At that point in time,
we have to stop talking

to him and get him the lawyer
that he requested,

but it left a lot of
unanswered questions.

Narrator:
Since ernest isn't talking,

investigators need to build
their case against him

a different way.

So they turn
to his wife, heather.

During the interview with
heather, we told her that

ernest was going
to be charged with murder,

murdering jeffrey, and we told
her that she needed to put

herself and her unborn
child first.

And if she knew anything,
she had to tell us.

She knew a lot more
than what she was telling us,

and it was frustrating.

She just was trying
to sidestep questions.

She was trying
to avoid answering

questions by asking
for bathroom breaks.

So we had to
take it to the next step,

figure out
what truly took place.

So the next step in
the investigation was to obtain

a search warrant for the truck,

which would disclose
a lot of information

about what
took place that night.

Fern: So we executed
the search warrant on the truck.

We found some extremely
valuable evidence.

We did not expect to find
a portable gps unit

in the truck that would
basically just discredit

her entire story.

♪

♪

narrator: Sheriff's detectives
in chenango county, new york,

have questioned ernest
franklin about the death

of his adopted son, jeffrey,
but have gotten nowhere.

And after speaking
with ernest's wife, heather,

they have uncovered a gps
in the couple's truck.

Gould: After taking the gps unit
that was in the vehicle,

once you started looking at it,

and once you started
seeing it timestamped

and gave a location
of everywhere

that that vehicle
went that night,

there was some shocking
revelations that we were all

like, oh my goodness,
what did we just see?

So it did start by showing

her leaving the residence
that night,

about the time that she said,
it does show her

showing up to walmart
at the time she said.

But then the real bombshell
for us and the one that we were

kind of taken back by was

the fact that after
leaving walmart,

she goes back to the residence
and sits there for

approximately five or six
minutes at the residence.

So then the vehicle
starts back up.

She goes to another store
after that.

And that totally
disproved her stories

previously -- she said
she never went by the house,

never was around
the house -- that, to us,

said that she has
some involvement in this.

She either knew implicitly
what he was gonna do or had

a pretty good idea of what he
was gonna do while

she was gone.

So at this point,
she was a solid suspect.

Narrator:
Investigators confront heather

about this new information.

Narrator: Detectives also arrest
ernest and charge both parents

with second-degree murder

in the death of
their adopted son, jeffrey.

Fern: After arresting heather
and ernest that day,

there was no doubt in our mind
they were both equally involved

in committing this crime.

There are people out there
that do things that

other people wouldn't
even fathom of doing,

and why they did that,

we may not ever completely
know the truth.

Austin: Why would somebody
do that to jeff?

They took away someone that...

Was one of
our most vulnerable,

one of the sweetest,

most compassionate people
who needed protected.

And he's not here anymore

due to other people's
behavior and choices.

They just wiped
the slate clean.

He should not have been
taken away.

This is not fair.

♪

narrator: In March 2019,
news cameras photograph ernest

in court as the guilty verdict
is read aloud.

He is sentenced to 21 years
to life in prison.

Almost one month later,
on the day before her trial,

heather pleads guilty
to the lesser charge of

manslaughter and arson.

We'll never quite know
for sure

exactly what happened
that night.

Obviously, there's some
working theories

and things
that make sense to us.

We obviously know jeffrey
was dead prior to the fire.

That's a fact
that we always will know.

We know that the fire was set

to cover up the fact
that jeffrey was dead

prior to the fire.

As far as the fine details,
we'll never know for sure,

because they're the only ones
that could tell us that.

Jeffrey was a child
that couldn't speak anymore,

but using the evidence, we
were able to give him a voice.

We had the gps
and the forensics.

So jeffrey was able to say
that, "hey, someone

did something to me."

I don't know the circumstances,
I don't know

exactly what happened
or what they did or whatever.

I can't even --
I can't imagine...

The fear that was going
through his mind and...

That really bothers me.

♪

all I can hope is...

It was over quick
and he didn't suffer.

Sorry.

♪

austin:
We remember his laughs.

His favorite signs, you know,

things that he would do,
his quirky little things

that he would do.

We remember those things,
and we remember him often.

He deserved a lot more.

He should be living
his best life.

Best life doesn't mean
a career or a doctor,

just living your best life,
being happy with who you are.

I miss him.

We all do.

I think...

He just should have had
so much more.

He really should have.

♪