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

[WithEyesWideOpen]

:welcome: WithEyesWideOpen!

Nice to have you with us.

PS- Creed fan? Or is your name just a general statement?

Thank You.....as to the name.... a little of both!!!!!

 

[Nymeria]

Thank You.....as to the name.... a little of both!!!!!

Works for me

 

[SeriouslySearching]

Ok...I made it!!! I am here Eric's mom....

Welcome to WS! Look forward to your input.

 

[guamgirltx]

Up front, I apologize if I do this wrong. I can't recall ever being on a site set up quite like this, and there is a LOT of information I need to go back through from the beginning of the thread. I'll do my best to check in here as often as possible, but please be patient if it takes me some time to respond to questions.

Eric and I went to high school together. We lost touch after that, but he tracked me down on Facebook one random day back in 2009. At that point, we interacted online fairly regularly and spent time catching up via Facebook. We mutually contacted other former classmates and continued socializing that way until eventually adding the occasional phone call.

Eric shared with me that his marriage was probably not going to continue much longer, and while the inception of his interaction with the former girlfriend was kept fairly quiet, he disclosed it to me once she hinted that her eldest child might be his.

I'd like to make clear that before Eric's departure to Michigan, Eric did speak fondly of his stepson and expressed frustration and disappointment that his marriage was failing. I doubt it helped matters that the former girlfriend came into contact with him while things were deteriorating, but he made it pretty clear that there had been problems long before that contact was initiated.

As a side note, one I feel is relevant to perspective, during some interaction with other friends online, Eric took a rather blunt and direct attitude with someone who implied an interest in engaging in an extramarital affair with him. Eric was an incurable flirt, but he did have pretty strong feelings about having been cheated on by others, and he wasn't flattered to have been approached to inflict the same hurt on someone else. I noted in passing some comments earlier about the fact that Eric knowingly traveled to the former girlfriend's location while knowing she was already married. Had she not given Eric the impression the marriage was on its way to an end, I suspect he may have approached his newfound fatherhood a bit differently.

Eric discussed with me some of the aspects of the conversations he'd had with the former girlfriend, KF. She had told him that her own marriage had been problematic for years, that both she and her husband had engaged in multiple affairs, and he shared a few aspects she had told Eric about her husband's alleged behaviors and interests that disturbed her. At some point, the hint about her eldest child being his came into the picture, and the aforementioned troubling interests took on a more distressing tone.

I do not know at what point Eric informed KF about his inheritance, nor how much he suggested it might be. He had mentioned the inheritance to me in passing once, but I don't believe he named a figure, simply noted it regarding how he might support himself should his marriage truly end and he find himself further financially distressed.

I will be happy to continue my input, but I am due at my office fairly soon. What I do want to establish are a few facts as to why I do believe strongly that KF and her husband are either directly or indirectly responsible for Eric's disappearance.

1. I was in contact with Eric very regularly from a few days after he got to Michigan until sometime in March.

2. I provided the cell phone he was using from sometime in the fall 2010 until July 2011. I bought the phone, I sent the phone to him, and I maintained the account until I terminated service at the end of July 2011. I also sent Eric a used laptop in early 2011. Up till that point, all the photos, chats, posts, and other online interaction had been done on his cell phone, including some of the photo manipulation in pictures he used as profile shots or other images created for his amusement.

3. The reason I sent Eric these and other things, the reason I stayed in contact with him so much was my concern over him being isolated from his support system and because KF's behavior and hot/cold interaction with him made me worry that Eric was going to be emotionally demolished. She was his absolute kryptonite, "the one that got away", and she was very well aware of it. Coupled with the added emotional tie of a child, Eric's vulnerability was, in my opinion, around the most extreme it could be.

I'm sorry, I'll have to get into more of this later, but I pray that these brainstorming opportunities and communities will get us to the truth and some resolution for Eric and his family.

 

[Momoffourboys]

Up front, I apologize if I do this wrong. I can't recall ever being on a site set up quite like this, and there is a LOT of information I need to go back through from the beginning of the thread. I'll do my best to check in here as often as possible, but please be patient if it takes me some time to respond to questions.

I'm sorry, I'll have to get into more of this later, but I pray that these brainstorming opportunities and communities will get us to the truth and some resolution for Eric and his family.

RSBM

Welcome and thanks for an excellent first post!
:welcome3:

 

[Nymeria]

:welcome5: Guamgirltx!

Thanks for joining us, for your perspective on EF, and for what appears to be a lot of love for Eric.

 

[Eric's mom]

Welcome, guamgirltx ! Glad you are finally here ! I have been and am grateful to you for your friendship with Eric. I have posted here that you were a friend in deed, not just in word. You have been a big help to our family in connecting with the police with information and keeping in touch with us throughout all of our hard times looking for answers as to what happened to Eric. Thank you again.

 

[WithEyesWideOpen]

Up front, I apologize if I do this wrong. I can't recall ever being on a site set up quite like this, and there is a LOT of information I need to go back through from the beginning of the thread. I'll do my best to check in here as often as possible, but please be patient if it takes me some time to respond to questions.

Eric and I went to high school together. We lost touch after that, but he tracked me down on Facebook one random day back in 2009. At that point, we interacted online fairly regularly and spent time catching up via Facebook. We mutually contacted other former classmates and continued socializing that way until eventually adding the occasional phone call.

Eric shared with me that his marriage was probably not going to continue much longer, and while the inception of his interaction with the former girlfriend was kept fairly quiet, he disclosed it to me once she hinted that her eldest child might be his.

I'd like to make clear that before Eric's departure to Michigan, Eric did speak fondly of his stepson and expressed frustration and disappointment that his marriage was failing. I doubt it helped matters that the former girlfriend came into contact with him while things were deteriorating, but he made it pretty clear that there had been problems long before that contact was initiated.

As a side note, one I feel is relevant to perspective, during some interaction with other friends online, Eric took a rather blunt and direct attitude with someone who implied an interest in engaging in an extramarital affair with him. Eric was an incurable flirt, but he did have pretty strong feelings about having been cheated on by others, and he wasn't flattered to have been approached to inflict the same hurt on someone else. I noted in passing some comments earlier about the fact that Eric knowingly traveled to the former girlfriend's location while knowing she was already married. Had she not given Eric the impression the marriage was on its way to an end, I suspect he may have approached his newfound fatherhood a bit differently.

Eric discussed with me some of the aspects of the conversations he'd had with the former girlfriend, KF. She had told him that her own marriage had been problematic for years, that both she and her husband had engaged in multiple affairs, and he shared a few aspects she had told Eric about her husband's alleged behaviors and interests that disturbed her. At some point, the hint about her eldest child being his came into the picture, and the aforementioned troubling interests took on a more distressing tone.

I do not know at what point Eric informed KF about his inheritance, nor how much he suggested it might be. He had mentioned the inheritance to me in passing once, but I don't believe he named a figure, simply noted it regarding how he might support himself should his marriage truly end and he find himself further financially distressed.

I will be happy to continue my input, but I am due at my office fairly soon. What I do want to establish are a few facts as to why I do believe strongly that KF and her husband are either directly or indirectly responsible for Eric's disappearance.

1. I was in contact with Eric very regularly from a few days after he got to Michigan until sometime in March.

2. I provided the cell phone he was using from sometime in the fall 2010 until July 2011. I bought the phone, I sent the phone to him, and I maintained the account until I terminated service at the end of July 2011. I also sent Eric a used laptop in early 2011. Up till that point, all the photos, chats, posts, and other online interaction had been done on his cell phone, including some of the photo manipulation in pictures he used as profile shots or other images created for his amusement.

3. The reason I sent Eric these and other things, the reason I stayed in contact with him so much was my concern over him being isolated from his support system and because KF's behavior and hot/cold interaction with him made me worry that Eric was going to be emotionally demolished. She was his absolute kryptonite, "the one that got away", and she was very well aware of it. Coupled with the added emotional tie of a child, Eric's vulnerability was, in my opinion, around the most extreme it could be.

I'm sorry, I'll have to get into more of this later, but I pray that these brainstorming opportunities and communities will get us to the truth and some resolution for Eric and his family.

Odd that he had the phone all the way to July 2011 , yet no contact with ANYONE after mid March 2011....

 

[SeriouslySearching]

Welcome to WS, Guamgirltx! Nice first post and quite informative! You are a good friend.

The laptop was subsequently stolen, correct? Do you know the date his things were stolen from the motel? Was the laptop entered on NCIC?

Since you were the owner of the phone, I have to assume you had access to all the records and have gone over everything including ping data. Anything come up there?

If Eric was upset women were hitting on him, it goes against the grain for him to fall so quickly for the married ex-girlfriend with or without talk of having a daughter. She must have been convincing especially since she never divorced her husband and they are together currently.

I still find it so odd that Eric looked up her husband to find her and no one thinks that was a problem. In all of my years online, I have never ever contacted the wife of one of my old lovers in an effort to "get in touch" because the ex lover had hidden his identity. It is the first red flag I saw with this case.

If she was sharing behaviors and interests that disturbed her, but they did not disturb her enough to leave long before her daughter turned 16...it means she either accepts them or is into the same behaviors and interests. They stated the marriage was open to affairs/trysts/different partners so their game of cat and mouse was nothing out of the norm. How did Eric feel in general about open marriages and the behaviors she discussed?

If she admitted being with so many men in her past especially while married, how could he conclude the daughter was probably his? Why didn't he insist on DNA testing?

Was Eric having emotional issues prior to going to MI? It sounds as if Eric was ill prepared to cope on his own with many things. Knowing this relationship and his involvement with his possible daughter evidently failed miserably, was he at a point of no return?

 

[skiptracker]

Hello everyone. My absence has been due to a heavy work load these past weeks. Seriouslysearching, I like your input on this, and I'm right along with you. I can't begin to understand what Erics family is going thru, it's so easy to point and blame someone. Things I've read don't make sense to me at all. How can the fg be needing money but yet be accused of being a drug dealer etc. It is known the fg and husband moved and it has been implied this happened shortly after. Researching various databases it shows she moved to Florida roughly 18 months after and not right away. I see no motive for fg nor husband. I checked out millers motel, some very unsavory characters reside there, prostitution, drugs, etc. Why would a person such as Eric stay there? Why would a man his age not have a job, have things in his name? Was He Hiding From Something? Let's dive into his marriage a little bit? Why did his wife leave? What kind of relationship did they have? Erics mom stated Eric had a temper, was he violent? I see in one post on the elite he talks about being drunk, did he have an alcohol problem? Any drug use? If fidelity was a big thing for him, why would he leave his wife, and not only visit but move to Michigan? As far as the theft of his property prior to him disappearing, what all was taken? Was anything taken, or was it a story he came up with to explain why he had nothing? Is it possible he sold the stuff to get money? If not, why would you stay in a place after you have been robbed? I'm not taking sides, this is just an odd case in my eyes. I wish we could see his actually Facebook posts. What did he post about? I assume he had many friends, why haven't they stepped up and showed what his posts were. Was he having a mental breakdown? Like I said I'm not a wolf nor a sheep I am just me. I would like to have the answers for his family.

 

[Nymeria]

Welcome to WS, Guamgirltx! Nice first post and quite informative! You are a good friend.

The laptop was subsequently stolen, correct? Do you know the date his things were stolen from the motel? Was the laptop entered on NCIC?

Since you were the owner of the phone, I have to assume you had access to all the records and have gone over everything including ping data. Anything come up there?

If Eric was upset women were hitting on him, it goes against the grain for him to fall so quickly for the married ex-girlfriend with or without talk of having a daughter. She must have been convincing especially since she never divorced her husband and they are together currently.

I still find it so odd that Eric looked up her husband to find her and no one thinks that was a problem. In all of my years online, I have never ever contacted the wife of one of my old lovers in an effort to "get in touch" because the ex lover had hidden his identity. It is the first red flag I saw with this case.

If she was sharing behaviors and interests that disturbed her, but they did not disturb her enough to leave long before her daughter turned 16...it means she either accepts them or is into the same behaviors and interests. They stated the marriage was open to affairs/trysts/different partners so their game of cat and mouse was nothing out of the norm. How did Eric feel in general about open marriages and the behaviors she discussed?

If she admitted being with so many men in her past especially while married, how could he conclude the daughter was probably his? Why didn't he insist on DNA testing?

Was Eric having emotional issues prior to going to MI? It sounds as if Eric was ill prepared to cope on his own with many things. Knowing this relationship and his involvement with his possible daughter evidently failed miserably, was he at a point of no return?

*BBM*
Not sure how they got this info (By pings, records, etc.), but I know it has been said in previous posts the phone never left the Saginaw area.
I am sure one of the insiders will answer this better soon, just wanted to add what I recalled.

 

[Eric's mom]

I don't recall anyone saying KF was a drug dealer. It was her husband who had a record concerning that according to the internet. The investigating officers in BV told conflicting stories about KF and JC 's finances. Det Waterman said they were poor, his partner Sgt Klecker said they had money. According to what our family was told by Det Waterman, they moved to FL not long into their investigation. The police had their house under surveillance and didn't see any movement for 6 wks and asked neighbors where they moved to. I believe Eric was lured to Saginaw using his daughter so that KF could have her old love and more money than her estranged husband had. It's obvious that Eric and Kendra were rekindling their old flame and I believe her husband was ok with that according to him and the police. He didn't like it when KF moved out of the house with her daughters, tho. I believe something happened to Eric in April at that house. I hope I am wrong and he is still alive and KF is just a liar and can't keep her lies straight. He worked while at Miller's to pay for his room. Eric had jobs. He worked at the same job for several years in MS. He talked about buying a house once, but it wasn't really something he wanted. His cars had all been in his name before this one. NO, he was not hiding from anything !

 

[Roselvr]

Could have sworn someone mentioned grand parent rights but I can't find the post... Emily is an adult; the laws do not apply any more.

 

[WithEyesWideOpen]

To answer some of the questions... just let me say that Eric got in touch with JC because he knew he was the one who had come and got KF from Tennessee many years ago...and knew JC was a family friend....... KF had used fake names on all of her facebook pages and he had not been able to pull her up.... Like all of us, Eric had looked up many old friends on facebook and was keeping in touch with a few....He had no idea at the time that JC and KF had married..he did not know if she in fact was married at all......let alone to JC.......after send a message to JC... it was then up to JC as to weather or not he put Eric in touch with his wife or even responded at all....as to why he did??? You will need to ask JC!!!!........ As for the place he was staying...he was first staying in a nicer hotel and knew he would run out of money fast.....from KF's on mouth to my ears....( when I called her early on in search of Eric). KF suggested Miller's to Eric as a place to stay that would be cheaper as Eric did not know the area well........Eric did tell his mother he did not feel comfortable staying there but hoped it would not be for long as KF was saying she could get him on at one of her businesses......

 

[WithEyesWideOpen]

I think it is obvious from Erics posts on The Elite...he did not "hide" from much.....this is why it is odd for him to stop talking to everyone...... he was one to speak his mind.......one thing he like , was to be heard......This was true more on fb than In person...in a croud he could be rather quiet....

 

[WithEyesWideOpen]

As for Eric's marriage ....we need to ask Vee.....but really ...would we want everyone to know EVERYTHING about any of our marriges???? Fact is they had problems and she left him....KF had become a problem that was the icing on the cake so to speak....

 

[Eric's mom]

No, he did not have an alcohol problem. I actually have never seen him drink anything other than soft drinks and have never seen any kind of alcohol in his home. No, no drug problem ever. Again, he did not leave his wife. He didn't intend to stay in MI. He left furniture with me so he could set up an apt again. We have no reason to believe he made up anything about a theft. Actually, we only have a person's word who obviously isn't truthful that he made up anything, and who said he had nothing? It took KF 2 days to remove Eric's things from his room, so he must have had something. He had a right to sell anything he wanted to, but I don't think he did. No, he was not having a mental breakdown the last time anyone talked to him.

 

[SeriouslySearching]

Could have sworn someone mentioned grand parent rights but I can't find the post... Emily is an adult; the laws do not apply any more.

lol That was me in a pm. No worries. I didn't consider her being an adult, but yes that does change things. Too bad that opportunity was missed.

 

[WithEyesWideOpen]

As for Eric's fb posts...I have read most of it and the police have most of it....A lot of the posts are friends talking to friends....until the police decide they need to be released , we need to remember the other people who posted on there have rights......there are things we have brought to the attention of the police in hopes they are looking into it....meanwhile.... in asking all of the hard questions..which we welcome.... remember ...this is a MISSING MAN !!!!! Please be respectful of the family...... we all have faults.....Eric was no different than a lot of us.....

 

[Eric's mom]

The birthdate of KF's daughter and the fact that she looks so much like him was the reason he didn't ask for a DNA test. I wish he had asked for a DNA test. JC and KF both told the police that the child is Eric's.