MI MI - Eric Franks, 40, Buena Vista Twp, 21 March 2011 - #1

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Eric's mom said:
Some of Eric's family went there and met the owner and housekeeper and watched her open a door to clean the room. Though it didn't seem important at the time to take note of HOW she opened the door, I just spoke to one of my sisters who was there also and we both are almost 100% positive that it was a metal key. I can call the motel owner and ask. The owner and I had several conversations on the phone. I also had talked to his wife and son on the phone and met his son when I met the owner.In the beginning of the investigation in BV, I reported to the lead investigator's boss that the detective made prejudice remarks about the heritage of the motel owner, stating he didn't trust persons with that last name. That's unkind and unfair. He also said he didn't trust motel owners. Yet, he said the first time he met FG he knew she was lying. I asked about search of the room and the grounds around the motel. I asked about interrogating the motel owner (not because I didn't believe him, but to have his story on video) and I was told by state police that they believed him, he had always been consistent, and they had his story on record. Persons involved with Eric while he was in MI were talked to.There never has been any other suspects from the start other than the ones we discuss as far as we've been told. Certainly, Eric's family is open to anything that could have happened and welcome any ideas. We just want to know what happened to him. We keep going back to the emails...someone had access to his passwords and contacts. I'm the only one who received a message supposedly from him in Nov 2011. Someone wanted me to think Eric was alive. I was the one talking to police and persons on the Elite page were told about that the day before I got the email. His closest friends weren't contacted and he was in contact with them almost daily. Sometimes more than once a day. Eric's family deeply appreciates your interest, concern for Eric and his family and your help.
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How old was the son of motel owner? (Just curious since he wasn't mentioned previously) The key could have been a copy, but copies don't work as well as an original sometimes. The only reason I would think of a copy would be for the theft and not for when he checked out.

There were messages posted into April that sounded quite normal and yet the reports say he went missing in March. I am not certain the emails and further communication did not come from Eric himself. What exactly did the November '11 email say, if I may ask?

Eric could be a walkaway Joe as much as people would not like to believe it. It is hard for a family to think they would go off to start a new life and leave their loved ones behind, but it happens. Families swear their loved one would not hurt them like that, but maybe the pain inside they are feeling is greater for some reason. We have several cases on WS where it did happen and those people left for many different reasons. Those cases had their share of suspects, but no one was charged.

I would like some definitive answers on Eric's previous life. We are only hearing the basics with no details. Usually 3 years into an investigation, we have a good idea of who the person is and how he evolved into where he was when he went missing. I am not seeing a clear picture of Eric yet and what I am finding is rather confusing.
 
SeriouslySearching said:
How old was the son of motel owner? (Just curious since he wasn't mentioned previously) The key could have been a copy, but copies don't work as well as an original sometimes. The only reason I would think of a copy would be for the theft and not for when he checked out.

There were messages posted into April that sounded quite normal and yet the reports say he went missing in March. I am not certain the emails and further communication did not come from Eric himself. What exactly did the November '11 email say, if I may ask?

Eric could be a walkaway Joe as much as people would not like to believe it. It is hard for a family to think they would go off to start a new life and leave their loved ones behind, but it happens. Families swear their loved one would not hurt them like that, but maybe the pain inside they are feeling is greater for some reason. We have several cases on WS where it did happen and those people left for many different reasons. Those cases had their share of suspects, but no one was charged.

I would like some definitive answers on Eric's previous life. We are only hearing the basics with no details. Usually 3 years into an investigation, we have a good idea of who the person is and how he evolved into where he was when he went missing. I am not seeing a clear picture of Eric yet and what I am finding is rather confusing.
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The motel owner was at the window in the tiny little entry when three of Eric's family members went to talk to him. His son stepped up to the window and the owner introduced him. He was there for a few seconds. I guess he was around late 20's to early 30's. You may not have read all the previous posts or heard the story on Saginaw news...FG's first story was not that Eric vanished in March. She repeatedly told one of my sisters, me and the OH police that Eric left in April. She only changed her story when the motel owner said she checked Eric out of the motel on March 21st. It is probably closer to the truth that something happened to him in April. Eric had posted in April that he was fixing the house up, FG told the motel owner Eric had a house, Eric told me the last time I talked to him that he was getting a house in a rural area with little reception. He posted about the house being in a rural area and FG posted that there were water issues and she was going back home if Eric wasn't going to help pay.Eric posted that when they got the dish put in the reception would be better. The dish on the house where FG lived had a dish installed that looked fairly new. I called and was told it was ordered by FG. FG told Eric's aunt and me that she argued with Eric in April (not March). She is full of conflicting stories. I think she thought we would accept her story that he went to CA. and we'd think something happened to him there which shows she knew little about him or his family. The police found out later that she had told one of his best friends that he was alive and well and with her in June and she would tell Eric to call him. The Nov. email gave a phone # that had never been set up and asked me to call it. FG had just learned the day before that Eric's family had gone to the police. It said he had a roof over his head and was back on his feet. No one had been told he didn't have a roof over his head or was having any problem. I emailed back and said I needed to hear his voice and of course, I never heard anything. No one could produce his voice. Anything is possible, but you don't know Eric the way his family and friends do. No one who knows him believes he just walked away. Again, you must not have read all of the postings from way back and currently. I think all questions have been answered as they were asked. If you have some questions about Eric that would be helpful to know, ask away ! What I find confusing is how a woman can tell at least 5 different detailed stories to at least 6 different people , including law enforcement, and get away with it ! I think we've shared a LOT about Eric and the one we haven't heard much about is the woman who said she argued with a missing man the last time she saw him ! Her name hasn't even been made public !
 
I will definitely go back and do my homework to catch up here. I have a lot of questions and the more I dig it seems the more questions arise.

Sometimes cases are not what they seem. I would love for you to find your son. No rock left unturned.
 
SeriouslySearching said:
I will definitely go back and do my homework to catch up here. I have a lot of questions and the more I dig it seems the more questions arise.

Sometimes cases are not what they seem. I would love for you to find your son. No rock left unturned.
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Thank you for your help. I am glad to answer questions..that's why I'm here. This isn't easy for me, but I can't just go on with my life as though I know where my child is. You have no idea how many rocks my family and I have turned over and so many times, especially in the first year, it seemed FG was being sheltered and even protected until she could get to a safer area. If it is proven she is innocent of any harm to Eric, the fact still remains she and her husband are guilty of making us believe they are guilty. They should be trying to help, not hinder.
 
Another thought for you to consider, Seriously Searching, is: If a person wanted to walk away from their current life and start a new one, why would that person notify a close family member that hasn't heard from them in about 8 mos.saying to call them and give a # that hasn't been set up so they can't call them. I still have a message on my answering machine from Eric when he got the phone his TX friend sent him telling me the new # and asking me to call . He has always stayed in contact with family. FG tried to make police in BV believe that Eric was a person who rants and and raves on the internet, but never showed the FB interactions between the two of them. She had not seen Eric in about 16 years and tried to make police believe he was one to frequently disappear. She didn't really know him. That email that I received Nov. 22,2011 came from Clio, MI, at a Burger King half way between FG's house and a business connected to one of her family members. It also said that he had questions and couldn't ask them now because there were people over his shoulder. If he really had questions, why didn't he just call back in his new private world? FG had questions about Eric's inheritance when she talked to Eric's aunt and to me. I wondered if she was planning to question me through emails, but was scared off by my statement that I wouldn't have the police stop searching for him until I heard his voice. Whatever has happened, I just want to know. I don't believe he would ever worry me for years just so he could start a new life. Quite the contrary, he would want everyone to know he about his new life. He even left some necessary items here in case he needed to "start over". He even knows I would and others would help him get set up in a new life in a new place. At one time, he spoke of he and FG moving to TX near his friend there. That friend hasn't heard from him since I have. I desperately want the MI state police to question FG about her statement that she can prove she didn't kill him. What kind of person makes that kind of statement and then not step up and let the family of the missing know what she meant ? If he's alive and she knows it, what kind of person would let a family suffer when she could and end the pain? I see on the internet that she needs others to help ease her pain.
 
While her stories do seem inconsistent, I read FG and her husband both went in to be interviewed several times before they moved. I didn't hear that either one lawyered up during those interviews. That surprised me. She does have a child who must have been deeply affected by all of these events. I read where LE interviewed her, too. Maybe the daughter wanted to move?
 
Eric's mom said:
Another thought for you to consider, Seriously Searching, is: If a person wanted to walk away from their current life and start a new one, why would that person notify a close family member that hasn't heard from them in about 8 mos.saying to call them and give a # that hasn't been set up so they can't call them. I still have a message on my answering machine from Eric when he got the phone his TX friend sent him telling me the new # and asking me to call . He has always stayed in contact with family. FG tried to make police in BV believe that Eric was a person who rants and and raves on the internet, but never showed the FB interactions between the two of them. She had not seen Eric in about 16 years and tried to make police believe he was one to frequently disappear. She didn't really know him. That email that I received Nov. 22,2011 came from Clio, MI, at a Burger King half way between FG's house and a business connected to one of her family members. It also said that he had questions and couldn't ask them now because there were people over his shoulder. If he really had questions, why didn't he just call back in his new private world? FG had questions about Eric's inheritance when she talked to Eric's aunt and to me. I wondered if she was planning to question me through emails, but was scared off by my statement that I wouldn't have the police stop searching for him until I heard his voice. Whatever has happened, I just want to know. I don't believe he would ever worry me for years just so he could start a new life. Quite the contrary, he would want everyone to know he about his new life. He even left some necessary items here in case he needed to "start over". He even knows I would and others would help him get set up in a new life in a new place. At one time, he spoke of he and FG moving to TX near his friend there. That friend hasn't heard from him since I have. I desperately want the MI state police to question FG about her statement that she can prove she didn't kill him. What kind of person makes that kind of statement and then not step up and let the family of the missing know what she meant ? If he's alive and she knows it, what kind of person would let a family suffer when she could and end the pain? I see on the internet that she needs others to help ease her pain.
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People who do walk away sometimes try to contact the family. I can't answer why the phone number was to one not yet set up, but it is possible it could have been a typo. Or maybe there was an issue with money so it didn't get turned on. Why he wouldn't try to reach out again is unknown. It is unfathomable how people can walk away and start over, but they do. Lifestyles can often play a role and feeling as if they won't be accepted. Walkaways don't want help from the ones who may stop them from going away.

Eric was there 5 months and maybe during that time he did disappear for days at a time. Did anyone ask the motel owner?

Eric did rave and rant on the internet about politics etc. I read it on his twitter account. He was quite adamant about his views so I didn't understand that part or did you mean he ranted to her personally?

FG's comment may mean nothing. The only way she could prove she did nothing is to lead them to him. Would she lie for him if he didn't want to be found? Could Eric have been telling her about some inheritance due to him finding out about his child? Possible since he had little else to offer her financially.

The email being sent between her place and a relative's business doesn't seem very significant to me. It was a Burger King and I am guessing it had free wi-fi so it could make sense someone without money could be sending it because they would have limited access to internet. It didn't have to be her necessarily.

What if you take FG and hubby out of the suspect pool? Who does it leave? Who had motive? Who stood to gain the most if he was gone? Being he was new to the area, it would be short list unless you include people from his past life. And what else could have happened to Eric if no one was involved?
 
MIMommy, would it be possible to get a photo of a similar car to Eric's up on the website? And, as calls were made from Eric's cell to salvage yards, maybe a line about it may have ended up in a localish salvage yard?

I think the car could be very important because I've met people with a strong interest in cars who can remember vehicles and plate numbers from years back. If it's been junked it won't be found of course - but there is a tiny chance someone might remember taking the vehicle, and who they took it from.
 
Eric's mom, this may be a silly question. Why has FG's name been a "secret"? I understand keeping a minor's name secret. I am not saying FG should be bashed or slandered, but, the fact remains that she was the last person to see Eric.
 
Z,
of course I can add the car - does anyone have a copy of the pic of the similar one that was on one of the fliers?
 
SeriouslySearching said:
While her stories do seem inconsistent, I read FG and her husband both went in to be interviewed several times before they moved. I didn't hear that either one lawyered up during those interviews. That surprised me. She does have a child who must have been deeply affected by all of these events. I read where LE interviewed her, too. Maybe the daughter wanted to move?
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Her stories ARE inconsistent, more than that they are placing Eric in different counties in different months under different detailed scenarios.Eric's aunt and I talked to FG more than once and asked detailed questions and received detailed answers. NONE of that was told to the MI police by FG. She was only interrogated once according to the original BV Chief Sean Waterman. He told me that he only asked them questions like where do you work,etc. the time he went to their business to talk. As for their daughter, the family had already moved to FLA when she was talked to. The Det. called FG's husband and he stated they were on their way back to Saginaw and the Det. told him they needed to talk. That was the longest interview at the police station. I asked if he had talked to the child and he said no. I asked him to and he said they were heading back to FLA, but he would go do that. He told me later that he did. One of the children posted on FB how hard it was on her to move.They left family, friends, hometown and schools.If this was a planned move, why tell Eric about his child and why tell the child about Eric, then a few months later move away? You probably read where "Searching Family" said several interviews had been done. It may have been assumed there were several but we learned more as time went by. According to what we were told at the prosecutor's office by the officers' partner, there was only one interview at the police station, but they were questioned at their business, which may also have been their home at that time. The state police have not yet talked to FG and husband. Speaking of the child being affected, as someone posted earlier, what kind of a mother tells an almost 16 year old child that the man she has always thought was her biological father in fact is not and has her meet the man who is. Then when he vanishes doesn't even help find him, but greatly hinders finding him? As I stated before, I'm open to other possibilities, but it doesn't seem likely there are any. If there are, I hope you find them. Thanks.
 
Momoffourboys said:
Eric's mom, this may be a silly question. Why has FG's name been a "secret"? I understand keeping a minor's name secret. I am not saying FG should be bashed or slandered, but, the fact remains that she was the last person to see Eric.
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I'd like to know the answer to that also. I did ask the news media and was told that normally the last person to see a missing person alive is named, but this case is different for a reason. The police and the media have not named her , so our family hasn't. I guess a lawyer could advise us on that. She should have asked to be interviewed by the media and tell what happened and what he was wearing, but then WHICH ONE OF THE MANY stories would she tell??
 
Eric's mom, I deeply appreciate your postings here on WS. please don't take our questions as criticism. JMO but I personally am just trying to get a clearer picture.

In some of your earliest postings here, I got the vibe/feeling that perhaps you questioned whether Eric had perhaps led on the former girlfriend, to thinking he had an inheritance. Is that something you would consider a possibility? Here's why I ask...perhaps, being unemployed and newly reconnected with his ex, who admits his parentage of their child 16 years too late...
Perhaps he wanted to seem like he had some financial wherewithal? It's not a criticism of Eric it's simply something that could create a clearer picture...
Like perhaps she did move to the new home in the boonies, and when he couldn't come up with the cash to fix the water issues she realized he was not financially solvent, and so, she bailed on him and the potential of their relationship?
Just curious. I've known many people in my life who would downplay their financial issues and sometimes outright lie, to soothe their bruised self respect. It happens. But did it happen with Eric?

Via Kindle, like a true Amazon junkie
 
SeriouslySearching said:
People who do walk away sometimes try to contact the family. I can't answer why the phone number was to one not yet set up, but it is possible it could have been a typo. Or maybe there was an issue with money so it didn't get turned on. Why he wouldn't try to reach out again is unknown. It is unfathomable how people can walk away and start over, but they do. Lifestyles can often play a role and feeling as if they won't be accepted. Walkaways don't want help from the ones who may stop them from going away.

Eric was there 5 months and maybe during that time he did disappear for days at a time. Did anyone ask the motel owner?

Eric did rave and rant on the internet about politics etc. I read it on his twitter account. He was quite adamant about his views so I didn't understand that part or did you mean he ranted to her personally?

FG's comment may mean nothing. The only way she could prove she did nothing is to lead them to him. Would she lie for him if he didn't want to be found? Could Eric have been telling her about some inheritance due to him finding out about his child? Possible since he had little else to offer her financially.

The email being sent between her place and a relative's business doesn't seem very significant to me. It was a Burger King and I am guessing it had free wi-fi so it could make sense someone without money could be sending it because they would have limited access to internet. It didn't have to be her necessarily.

What if you take FG and hubby out of the suspect pool? Who does it leave? Who had motive? Who stood to gain the most if he was gone? Being he was new to the area, it would be short list unless you include people from his past life. And what else could have happened to Eric if no one was involved?
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No, not that he ranted to her personally. She tried to make it appear that was what he was about, not that the two of them had a relationship going. There was no typo, the family and police checked the # out with the phone company and it had been sold, but never set up. They offered to help us get it set up thinking at first we had it and didn't know how. If there was an issue with money, all he had to do was call me collect. If he didn't want help from those he walked away from, why would he call in the first place? And he didn't want to walk away from his friends and family even if he wanted to get away from FG and the situation there. Eric has always been accepted as a loved member of our family. No one would have stopped him from living anywhere he wanted to. No one has said anything about him disappearing for any length of time while there or ever. He kept in touch with friends and family. He's a grown man and like all grownups, can go on a short trip without telling everyone he knows if he wanted to. I don't know that he did. Why would she lie to protect someone when it puts her as a suspect for possible murder? No, that's not the only way she could prove she didn't kill him. She may know what happened and is protecting someone else. Yes, he could have told her things to build himself up. I think they probably told each other things to make each look good. No one said he didn't have an inheritance, just not the huge amount she told to Eric's family that she thought he had. As for the email sent from the Burger King, yes, it does have significance. Remember she said he had left for CA several months earlier and she watched him go. Of course, she watched him go from two different locations in two different months under two different scenarios. No, it didn't have to be her necessarily. There are other people in her family. But why would Eric still be around that area if the reason for him being there left? No one said he didn't have ANY money, but all he had to was call me or another family member or a friend and he would have been wired some help. There is no one else that stood to gain if he was gone. There was someone involved. Someone is lying. As I've said before, there are things we know that we aren't at liberty to say in an open forum, but we've said enough to present the story as we know it.
 
MIMOMMY said:
Z,
of course I can add the car - does anyone have a copy of the pic of the similar one that was on one of the fliers?
Click to expand...

This was a sample pic on the media thread-

68416856-640.jpg


I would check with Erics Mom though, I though there was an issue with correct color? I *think* this was the right one.

PS- If took the liberty of editing out the "Subaru" so as not to confuse things, if you want to use this pic-

9r1y8o.jpg
 
Simply Caustic said:
Eric's mom, I deeply appreciate your postings here on WS. please don't take our questions as criticism. JMO but I personally am just trying to get a clearer picture.

In some of your earliest postings here, I got the vibe/feeling that perhaps you questioned whether Eric had perhaps led on the former girlfriend, to thinking he had an inheritance. Is that something you would consider a possibility? Here's why I ask...perhaps, being unemployed and newly reconnected with his ex, who admits his parentage of their child 16 years too late...
Perhaps he wanted to seem like he had some financial wherewithal? It's not a criticism of Eric it's simply something that could create a clearer picture...
Like perhaps she did move to the new home in the boonies, and when he couldn't come up with the cash to fix the water issues she realized he was not financially solvent, and so, she bailed on him and the potential of their relationship?
Just curious. I've known many people in my life who would downplay their financial issues and sometimes outright lie, to soothe their bruised self respect. It happens. But did it happen with Eric?

Via Kindle, like a true Amazon junkie
Click to expand...
Yes, I can see him building himself up to her and it appears she built herself up to him. I think they both found out some of what they had told each other wasn't exactly true. I have to suppose that though on Eric's part because he isn't here to say what he told her. I think when she found out he wasn't wealthy and still had some anger issues at times, she was ready to get back with her husband. Naturally, Eric wasn't going to leave a daughter he was just getting to know. I was told there were jealousy issues with her husband altho that makes no sense in a way because of all he said against his wife and the fact that he is the one who put Eric and FG in touch with one another. If he had only ignored the FB request from Eric, there probably would never have been contact made.
 
This is the right model and color but it had different wheels - it had wheel covers, whereas this photo shows factory alloy wheels.
 
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