OH OH - Elizabeth Franks, 17, Toledo, April 1965

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I never heard back from anyone!! Maddening. I still think the girl whose head was found in the suitcase that had been at the bus station and found when the old luggage was sold at auction was quite possibly Elizabeth's.

Dena
 
Wow, I live in a suburb of Toledo and am just learning of this for the first time.

I do know that there have been a lot of budget cuts with the Toledo police department and also an increase in violent crime in certain areas of the city. I'm wondering what (if any) resources they have available to investigate cold cases like this.
 
Could there be a link between the disappearance of Elizabeth Franks, 17 who went missing from Toledo in 1965 and the abduction/murder of Eileen Adams, 14, Who was abducted in December 1967, also from Toledo?

-----------------------


... 14-year-old Eileen Adams was on her way home from Central Catholic High School in Toledo when she disappeared. Her raped and murdered body was found a month-and-a-half later.

December 18, 1967. Eileen Adams, 14, a freshman at Central Catholic High School in Toledo, Ohio vanishes just one week before Christmas, abducted when she stepped off the school bus and headed towards her sister's home in West Toledo.

Eileen told a friend she was going Christmas shopping, but she was never seen again.

About six weeks later, on January 31, 1968, Eileen's frozen body was found in a field in nearby rural Monroe County, Mich.

The body was clothed, wrapped in a mattress cover with bound hands and feet. She had telephone cord looped around her neck and a forehead wound from where her attacker had hammered a nail into her skull postmortem. ...


LINK:


Robert "Bob, Bo" Brent Bowman - Crimeshots© True Crime Forums
 
What is Elisabeth's middle name? Because there is more than 1 of exact name as she is. Does anyone know?
 
Is there a serial killer at that time when Eileen was murdered? Could be the monster Bownan or could be still the husband? Reason why I ask this is because the husband can't stay married long enough after he got into Elizabeth after he got into a fight with her throws her down a flight of stairs, she already right there could be killed. And who tells a 1 yr old that her mother didn't want her, and prompt into the toddler's head for years?? I have Elisabeth's case in front of me. This is the worst case I have ever seen and I feel sorry about the daughter to live through this again, she has alot of courage. Okay if Elizabeth is alive today, she would be 67 years old. So where is the husband at now and why hasn't the husband be arrested yet?? Or even Bownan??
 
Boomeroreo said:
What is Elisabeth's middle name? Because there is more than 1 of exact name as she is. Does anyone know?
Click to expand...

The Toledo Police Dept page gives her as Elizabeth Lea Franks (formerly McCarthy), born August 10, 1947. Unfortunately I am not sure this adds much as I cannot link the name and dob to any records on Ancestry.
 
Elizabeth has been missing for over 50 years now.
 
Elizabeth Franks was my aunt. My mom is the sister mentioned in the Toledo Blade article who talked to the detectives. I have an interest in True Crime and really want to know what happened to Beth. My mom was 2 when her sister died, but says my grandma was convinced her husband had murdered her. He got her pregnant at 16 and they were only married a year, and he had beaten her before.
 
Bumping case up. Elizabeth Franks has been missing for 53 years.
 
Justice for Joanie said:
This is the reason I wanted to join WS in the first place as I am so looking forward to getting others opinions on this. I believe I know what happened to Elizabeth Franks. In fact, I have felt ever since I found this article that I have found Elizabeth Franks. At the bus depot in Cleveland in January of 1967 the Greyhound bus depot sold a load of luggage to the Everhart Auction House & the son of the owner of Everhart was going through some of this luggage & throwing some of it on a burn pile when he found the skull of a white female approximately 16 years old. She had been dead at minimum of 6 months it was estimated at the time. The Stark county coroner's office was very unhelpful when I called them approx 1 & a half years ago about this skull but the coroner in Cleveland (Cuyahoga County) was wonderful & went through all his records & could not find a record of it despite the Stark county coroner saying in 1967 he had delivered it there. I want to transcribe the entire article but I'm on my Droid & hard to write much on here. Also despite the current detectives saying how much they care in a newspaper article, I couldn't tell by how he didn't return my calls or emails. But when the skull of a Caucasian teenaged female shows up in a bus locker 21 months after a female Caucasian adolescent went missing approximately 113 miles away, I think it could be a viable lead. So Im now asking: HELP PLEASE! What do I do next? Thanks a lot. Dena
Click to expand...

Mystery of the female skull found at the Greyhound bus depot not Elizabeth Franks:

The Times Recorder, Zanesville, OH, January 22, 1967

TheTimesRecorder-Zanesville-OH-Jan-22-1967.jpg




The Akron Beacon Journal, Akron, OH, January 22, 1967

The-Akron-Beacon-Journal-Jan-22-1967.jpg



The Akron Beacon Journal, February 11, 1967

TheAkronBeaconJournal-Feb-11-1967.jpg
 
Elizabeth Lea Franks
  • elizabeth_lea_franks_1.jpg
  • elizabeth_lea_franks_2.jpg
  • elizabeth_lea_franks_3.jpg
Elizabeth, circa 1965; Age-progression of Elizabeth to age 57 (circa 2004)

  • Missing Since 04/14/1965
  • Missing From Toledo, Ohio
  • Classification Endangered Missing
  • Sex Female
  • Race White
  • Date of Birth 08/10/1947 (72)
  • Age 17 years old
  • Height and Weight 5'2, 95 pounds
  • Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Red hair, blue eyes. Elizabeth's nicknames are Beth and Bethie. Her maiden name is McCarthy and she may use the last name Wilson. She has a small mole on the back of her left thigh and a chicken pox scar on her nose.
Details of Disappearance
Elizabeth was last seen in Toledo, Ohio on April 14, 1965. She was married to a twenty-year-old man at the time of her disappearance. They had a young daughter and lived in the 1500 block of Western Avenue in Toledo.

Elizabeth's husband said they had an argument after her caught Elizabeth with another man, and she packed her belongings and left.

In 2004, investigators reopened her case and stated that they believed Elizabeth had been murdered. She has not contacted any of her loved ones since 1965, there has been no activity on her Social Security number, and police could not find any signs of trouble in her life that would lead her to drop out of sight so completely and for so long.

Elizabeth's mother last saw her just before Easter in 1965. She went to her home a few days later to drop off Easter baskets. No one was at the residence but the landlady let her in. Elizabeth's mother says the apartment was in disarray, with the drapes torn and clothes strewn everywhere. The baby's bed had no bedding on it.

The landlady told Elizabeth's mother she had heard a lot of commotion coming from the apartment the previous night. Elizabeth's mother reported her daughter missing after receiving this information and seeing the state the apartment was in, and also hired a private detective to search for her daughter.

Investigators consider Elizabeth's husband to be a "person of interest" in her disappearance. The re-interviewed him in 2004. He had since divorced Elizabeth and remarried twice.

Their daughter lived with her father's relatives after her mother's disappearance, then with her father for a few years, then in a children's home. She did not get to know her mother's family until she was an adult.

Elizabeth attended Genoa High School, where she was a member of the chess club, but she did not graduate. She was also a Girl Scout and a member of a local church. She got married about a year prior to her disappearance, after she became pregnant. Her case remains unsolved and foul play is suspected.
Investigating Agency
  • Toledo Police Department 419-245-3142
Source Information
 
This April will mark 55 years since Elizabeth went missing.
 
Elizabeth Lea Franks
  • elizabeth_lea_franks_1.jpg
  • elizabeth_lea_franks_2.jpg
  • elizabeth_lea_franks_3.jpg
Elizabeth, circa 1965; Age-progression of Elizabeth to age 57 (circa 2004)

  • Missing Since 04/14/1965
  • Missing From Toledo, Ohio
  • Classification Endangered Missing
  • Sex Female
  • Race White
  • Date of Birth 08/10/1947 (72)
  • Age 17 years old
  • Height and Weight 5'2, 95 pounds
  • Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Red hair, blue eyes. Elizabeth's nicknames are Beth and Bethie. Her maiden name is McCarthy and she may use the last name Wilson. She has a small mole on the back of her left thigh and a chicken pox scar on her nose.
Details of Disappearance

Elizabeth was last seen in Toledo, Ohio on April 14, 1965. She was married to a twenty-year-old man at the time of her disappearance. They had a young daughter and lived in the 1500 block of Western Avenue in Toledo.

Elizabeth's husband said they had an argument after her caught Elizabeth with another man, and she packed her belongings and left.

In 2004, investigators reopened her case and stated that they believed Elizabeth had been murdered. She has not contacted any of her loved ones since 1965, there has been no activity on her Social Security number, and police could not find any signs of trouble in her life that would lead her to drop out of sight so completely and for so long.

Elizabeth's mother last saw her just before Easter in 1965. She went to her home a few days later to drop off Easter baskets. No one was at the residence but the landlady let her in. Elizabeth's mother says the apartment was in disarray, with the drapes torn and clothes strewn everywhere. The baby's bed had no bedding on it.

The landlady told Elizabeth's mother she had heard a lot of commotion coming from the apartment the previous night. Elizabeth's mother reported her daughter missing after receiving this information and seeing the state the apartment was in, and also hired a private detective to search for her daughter.

Investigators consider Elizabeth's husband to be a "person of interest" in her disappearance. The re-interviewed him in 2004. He had since divorced Elizabeth and remarried twice.

Their daughter lived with her father's relatives after her mother's disappearance, then with her father for a few years, then in a children's home. She did not get to know her mother's family until she was an adult.

Elizabeth attended Genoa High School, where she was a member of the chess club, but she did not graduate. She was also a Girl Scout and a member of a local church. She got married about a year prior to her disappearance, after she became pregnant. Her case remains unsolved and foul play is suspected.

Investigating Agency
  • Toledo Police Department 419-245-3142
Source Information
 
Elizabeth Lea Franks
1531DFOH.jpg
1531DFOH1.jpg
EFranks2.jpg
EFranks.jpg

Image 4: Age-progressed to 57 years

Name: Elizabeth Lea Franks
Case Classification: Endangered Missing
Missing Since: April 14, 1965
Location Last Seen: Toledo, Lucas County, Ohio

Physical Description
Date of Birth: August 10, 1947
Age: 17 years old
Race: White
Gender: Female
Height: 5'2"
Weight: 95 lbs.
Hair Color: Red/Auburn
Eye Color: Blue
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Small mole on the back of her left thigh. Chicken pox scar on the bridge of nose.

Identifiers
Dentals: Not Available
Fingerprints: Not Available
DNA: Available

Clothing & Personal Items
Clothing: Unknown
Jewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: Unknown

Circumstances of Disappearance
Elizabeth Lea Franks, also known as Beth Wilson or Bethie, was last seen in Toledo, Ohio before Easter in April 1965.

Her maiden name is McCarthy but she used the last name of Wilson in high school. She left behind a 1-year-old daughter.

Elizabeth has never contacted any relatives and has never used her Social Security number. She was married to a 20-year-old man at the time, having gotten married about a year prior after becoming pregnant.

The husband admits to getting into a fight with Beth just before she disappeared, but said he didn't hurt her. He said they argued after he caught her with another man and that she left him.

Beth's mother spent years looking for her daughter, whom she last saw before Easter in April 1965, when Beth stopped by her home. A few days later, she went to Beth's residence at 1512 Western Avenue. The landlady let her in when no one answered the door.

When she entered, the apartment was trashed. Drapes were half-torn and clothes were strewn around. The landlady told her she heard a lot of commotion the night before. The baby's bed was empty and there was no bedding.

Beth's mother made a police report on her daughter's disappearance and she and her sister canvassed Toledo looking for her. She hired a private detective to try and find her daughter.

Foul play is possible. The original police report has been lost over the years.

Investigating Agency(s)
Agency Name: Lucas County Prosecutor's Office
Agency Contact Person: Investigator Tom Ross
Agency Phone Number: 419-213-4700
Agency E-Mail: N/A
Agency Case Number: 07952403

Agency Name: Toledo Police Department
Agency Contact Person: Det. Vicki Stevens or Det. Sgt. Tim Noble
Agency Phone Number: 419-245-3142
Agency E-Mail: mailto:Toledo.Police(at)ci.toledo.oh.us
Agency Case Number: Unknown

NCIC Case Number: Unknown
NamUs Case Number: 14033
NCMEC Case Number: 1201433

Information Source(s)
NamUs
Ohio Attorney General
WTOL News 11
Toledo Blade News Archive

LINK:
1531DFOH - Elizabeth Lea Franks
 
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