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

[Coldpizza]

Boy, this is a tough question and I understand if you don't want to answer, but in your heart do you feel he is still alive?

 

[searchingfamily]

Do any of his ex wives stay in touch with your family? This may be too personal, just was wondering.

One or more may be reachable, but in general no.

 

[searchingfamily]

Boy, this is a tough question and I understand if you don't want to answer, but in your heart do you feel he is still alive?

No, no one in the family does. We all hope we're wrong though.

 

[~n/t~]

fwiw...on his twitter account he does have a lot of California tweeters he followed at some point so perhaps he did have an interest to go there?

Sports, news.....many LA tweets. Unfortunately, there is no conversation. Just tweets he selected to follow at some point.

 

[Cltguy49]

I've crossed referenced known addresses for Eric with his Ex's and could only find one. His 2nd. Would she ever contact any of you if he were to contact her? Also, if you need contact information for her I can give that to you in private message

 

[Coldpizza]

No, no one in the family does. We all hope we're wrong though.

We do too. I will say this, he has such a strong personality in many areas that it is possible he just walked away. But from what you have shared with us he always one way or the other stayed in touch with family while appearing transient. I tend to agree he moved to various places to stay near the ones most important in his life.It's as if he was torn being a family guy but at the same time having a strong conviction in his political beliefs and being a rebel at the same time. From my perspective he stayed under the radar to protect himself and was a loner because of it. Obviously very smart intellectually from his writings. Hope sincerely you get some answers. Like Nurse said...

Squeaky wheel

 

[Cltguy49]

I used to have access to a database called TLO.com It was put together by John Walsh, Adam Walshes father, to help people find people, mainly for collections and LE. But they have excellent tools that could help find associates, other public data bases he might be on (Myspace, etc). They may also help you do some leg work but have no idea how much they would charge. I don't have access to it anylonger and cannot access the website at the moment for a contact number but google it. It's just possibly another way to trace his steps

 

[nursebeeme]

bumping eric back up to the top

 

[~n/t~]

Checked DeviantArt site using his name. Nothing came up. He may have used a moniker but that's assuming he even used the site to post his creativity.

Any other sites we can look at? Photobucket? I'll go look.


No matches.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

We do too. I will say this, he has such a strong personality in many areas that it is possible he just walked away. But from what you have shared with us he always one way or the other stayed in touch with family while appearing transient. I tend to agree he moved to various places to stay near the ones most important in his life.It's as if he was torn being a family guy but at the same time having a strong conviction in his political beliefs and being a rebel at the same time. From my perspective he stayed under the radar to protect himself and was a loner because of it. Obviously very smart intellectually from his writings. Hope sincerely you get some answers. Like Nurse said...

Squeaky wheel

I posted earlier that it's entirely possible that Eric needed space and time from family, friends, relatives. The opening statement of his Manifesto (March, 2009) seems to imply that he was frustrated with same:

"Several so-called Christians, friends and relatives have been taking things I've said online and are trying to use them against me..." http://emanifestostrikesback.blogspot.com/

:moo:

 

[searchingfamily]

I posted earlier that it's entirely possible that Eric needed space and time from family, friends, relatives. The opening statement of his Manifesto (March, 2009) seems to imply that he was frustrated with same:

"Several so-called Christians, friends and relatives have been taking things I've said online and are trying to use them against me..." http://emanifestostrikesback.blogspot.com/

:moo:

Again, that was 2009...and it was one rant, and we all get upset with family sometimes. He didn't move away until late 2010, and he didn't disappear until Mar 2011. We really don't think one expression of frustration two years before he disappeared is much of a clue.

 

[searchingfamily]

Updates today - Eric's mother has found a baby tooth and a thumb print - the thumb print is a stroke of pure luck - on the back of a check that was cashed and this particular bank he cashed it at required his print since he didn't have an account there. Anyways, we'll be getting those both to NamUS for DNA analysis and fingerprint upload.

 

[nursebeeme]

searchingfamily, that is great news! I am also very glad that you got Eric's case into namUS.

 

[searchingfamily]

searchingfamily, that is great news! I am also very glad that you got Eric's case into namUS.

Didn't know to do it until this great group of people pointed us in the right direction. Thanks all.

 

[nursebeeme]

We are glad to help you SF!

Have you been able to get in touch with any other media (eta: and state police)? I haven't heard back from my email canvass yesterday but will recanvass this evening when I get home.

 

[Cltguy49]

I wish I could put this delicately but I don't know how to.....does the local Coroners office have any John Doe's that they could now compare the thumb print to?

 

[searchingfamily]

We are glad to help you SF!

Have you been able to get in touch with any other media (eta: and state police)? I haven't heard back from my email canvass yesterday but will recanvass this evening when I get home.

We've been following up with media since yesterday - thanks to that list prepared here. Have had one newspaper in Bay City, and ABC news station in Flint, and the Saginaw NBC station have asked us to fax the press release so far. We've noticed a couple of other CBS stations picked up the release after it ran on WNEM - in Augusta, GA and somewhere in AZ.

Still can't believe only one place in Saginaw ran it the first go 'round.

 

[searchingfamily]

I wish I could put this delicately but I don't know how to.....does the local Coroners office have any John Doe's that they could now compare the thumb print to?

I know BVPD has been checking John Does, but they haven't had a fingerprint before. Obviously that will be a new item to use to check now.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Again, that was 2009...and it was one rant, and we all get upset with family sometimes. He didn't move away until late 2010, and he didn't disappear until Mar 2011. We really don't think one expression of frustration two years before he disappeared is much of a clue.

I truly meant no offense to you or your family, searchingfamily, but it's a fact that adults can and do leave family, friends, relatives for extended periods of time for no apparent reason. It's not at all unusual that these individuals need space and time away from what's familiar to do some serious soul-searching and perhaps discover who they are and what's important to them.

There were two fairly recent cases of mysterious "disappearances" that involved an entire family from northern lower Michigan and a New York man who went missing from a science fair in Detroit. The Medsker family from Petoskey up and left their home and business without telling anyone. When the story was covered by Nancy Grace, the husband/father contacted his sister to let her know that they were alright but gave no details about where they were or why they left. The man from New York was last known to have crossed the border into Canada, leaving behind a wondering family, a girlfriend, and business colleagues who still have no clue to his whereabouts. Both cases were discussed here at Websleuths if you'd like to familiarize yourself with either of them.

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=165002&highlight=petoskey+family+missing

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=166215&highlight=mike+treder

I don't want to jump to the conclusion that Eric met with foul play, but I think that the exGF and her husband should be reinterviewed and submit to polygraphs. Something about the exGF, Eric learning that he had fathered a child by her, and her moving Eric's belongings out of the motel at the time of his disappearance raises my hinky meter several degrees. :moo:

 

[TobyWong*]

Yes the ex moving the stuff out of the room is the main thing to me which needs to be looked at. Imo Eric would've been in contact w/ someone. Anyone. also if it were suicide then body or vehicle would've been located. I don't understand why ex would feel the need to remove his stuff. And if he just left like she says he did then he would've taken his stuff so I'm stumped right there, his last known contact. And finding that car. I wish I were closer just to drive around that area, car could still be just sitting around.