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Reign of Death - Joseph Paul Franklin Serial Killer · Murder Files Unsealed

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  Speaker 1: Okay, so today we're we're diving into some pretty dark territory,
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  the life and crimes of serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin.
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  And it's tough, you know, we're dealing with real lives
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  that were tragically cut short. So we want to understand
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  what could lead someone down such a dark pass, of course,
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  but we also need to, you know, absolutely remember and
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  acknowledge the weight of these acts. For sure. We're not
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  here to glorify.
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  Speaker 2: Anything, no, no, no, not at all.
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  Speaker 1: We've got biographical information, crime reports, even some of Franklin's
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  own words interested try to piece together this unsettling puzzle.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's that word puzzle that I think is
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  really key here. We're not looking for easy answers here, right,
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  We're trying to understand the complexities of someone like Franklin.
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  Speaker 1: It's definitely complex, especially when you look at you know,
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  where he came from his childhood. I mean, we're talking
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  about a level of deprivation and abuse. That's just it's
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  hard to amass culty even fathom poverty, abandonment by his father,
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  and then constant brutal physical abuse, just a horror show.
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  How does a child even begin to process.
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  Speaker 2: That, that's the question. It's like, you know, trauma like that.
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  It doesn't excuse anything, no, of course not, but it
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  can certainly leave a mark. Yeah, And in Franklin's case,
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  he seems to have just craved structure, belonging right, some
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  kind of explanation for the chaos that he had experienced.
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  Speaker 1: So he finds it in some pretty terrifying places. He
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  does turns to religion early on, okay, but then it
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  takes a dark turn.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it takes a real nose dive. Unfortunately.
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  Speaker 1: What happened.
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  Speaker 2: He becomes fixated on this okay, really warped interpretation of Christianity,
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  and it gets mixed with this dangerous obsession with Nazi ideology.
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  Oh no, Yeah, he reads my chamflic It's gospel. It's
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  like he's finding fuel for the hatred that's already simmering
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  within him.
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  Speaker 1: And we're talking about the nineteen seventies here, right, time
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  of massive social change in America, Exactly the time when
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  those simmering tensions are boiling over in some places, fake time.
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  Franklin's not alone in his hatred, is he, sadly? No?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, he finds company validation in groups like the National
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  Socialist White People's Party.
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  Speaker 1: Really the KKK. Wow.
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  Speaker 2: He even rubbed shoulders with David Duke Wow, as you know,
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  was a prominent figure in the KKK at the time.
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  This wasn't just one man's descent into darkness, right, This
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  was happening within a network, a movement.
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  Speaker 1: It's frightening to think about the level of organization. Yeah,
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  the shared ideology of hate.
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  Speaker 2: It's a scary thought.
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  Speaker 1: And it wasn't long before Franklin's hateful rhetoric turned into
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  terrifying action.
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  Speaker 2: Unfortunately.
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  Speaker 1: No, he sets out on this cross country road trip,
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  ol Boy, and it becomes this horrifying journey of violence
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  and terror. Right nineteen seventy seven, Chattanooga, Tennessee. He fire
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  bombs a synagogue.
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  Speaker 2: It's escalating.
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  Speaker 1: It was empty that day. Oh wow, Thankfully it's lucky
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  joke of life. A's bared lives. But even then, it's
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  a clear escalation, the declaration of his intentions.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, And you know what's important to remember here is
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  that Franklin he wasn't driven by these random acts of violence.
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  His crimes were disturbingly calculated. Really, his victims meticulously chosen, Wow,
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  based on his twisted ideology.
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  Speaker 1: It's scary, how deliberate it was.
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  Speaker 2: It's terrifying.
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  Speaker 1: So he was targeting specific groups, yes, seeking to incite
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  terror and division. Absolutely, and tragically he didn't stop there. No,
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  Just weeks after the synagogue bombing, ok he guns down
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  our fonts, Manning Junior and Tony schwinn oh Geez, an
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  interracial couple in Wisconsin, simply because they were in love.
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  Speaker 2: It's just heartbreaking, you know, it's awful. It's like the
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  personal becoming political and the worst way possible, right, how
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  hateful ideology translates into violence against individuals. Their only crime
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  was loving each other in a way that challenged his
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  warped worldview.
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  Speaker 1: It's sickening, the senselessness of it all, it really is.
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  And just a couple months later in Saint Louis, the
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  violence escalates again. This time it's Gerald Gordon, a forty
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  two year old man gunned down outside a synagogue.
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  Speaker 2: And that's a pattern we see emerge really with Franklin
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  and sadly with other individuals driven by such intense hate. Okay,
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  you see an escalation from property damage to attacks on individuals,
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  often with increasing brutalities.
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  Speaker 1: It is like this snowball effect exactly.
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  Speaker 2: It's like this horrifying momentum building behind it, and it
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  unfortunately doesn't stop there. Right, nineteen seventy eight, that marked
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  a chilling turning point for Franklin. Okay, he sets his
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  sights on even higher profile targets. Really, it's like he
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  was aiming for maximum impact, you know, wow, seeking to
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  instill fear, not just in specific communities, but across the nation.
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  Speaker 1: This is where we see him attempt to assassinate Larry Flint, right,
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  the Hustler magazine publisher. Yeah, what a wild turn of events.
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  Speaker 2: It does seem almost unbelievable, doesn't it. But for Franklin
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  it was a logical, albeit horrifying progression in his twisted logic. Flint,
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  with Hustler's often explicit content and particularly its depiction of
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  interracial relationships, okay, represented everything Franklin despised.
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  Speaker 1: So in Franklin's mind, someone like Flint was a danger
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  to society, absolutely almost worthy of being eliminated.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's us.
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  Speaker 1: Just disturbing on so many levels.
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  Speaker 2: It's disturbing. It speaks to the danger of this kind
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  of ideological extremism when someone truly believes their worldview is
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  the only valid one. It can justify almost any action
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  in their minds, and the consequences, as we know, we're devastating.
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  Flint survived the attack, but was left permanently.
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  Speaker 1: Paralyzed, a life forever altered by this active hate.
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  Speaker 2: It's awful. Yeah, it's a stark reminder that these aren't
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  just abstract acts. You know, they leave real lasting scars.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, Flint wasn't his only high profile target.
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  Speaker 2: Right in nineteen eighty, Franklin attempts to assassinate Vernon Jordan Wow,
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  a prominent civil rights leader and close confidant of then
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  President Jimmy Carter.
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  Speaker 1: So he's going after people who, in his view, are
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  actively challenging his racist ideology.
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  Speaker 2: Exactly.
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  Speaker 1: It's a whole other level of chilling calculation.
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  Speaker 2: It wasn't enough to terrorize individuals, right, He wanted to
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  strike at the heart of movements Wow, to dismantle what
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  he perceived as a threat to his warped worldview.
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  Speaker 1: And through all of this, the random attacks continue. He's
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  like this phantom, drifting across state lines, leaving this trail
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  of pain and fear in his wake.
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  Speaker 2: It's part of what made him so difficult to apprehend,
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  that constant movement, the lack of a clear pattern in
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  his victims beyond their race or perceived threat to his ideology.
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  Speaker 1: In nineteen seventy nine, he kills Harold mcgiver, a manager
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  at a taco bell in Georgia. The details of this
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  one are particularly disturbing.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, this case is really tough to stomach. Franklin claimed
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  he targeted mcgiver simply for interacting with wrong women at
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  the restaurant.
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  Speaker 1: Are you serious? It's awful. Wow.
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  Speaker 2: It really highlights the depth of his paranoia and prejudice.
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  How the smallest interaction in his mind was justification for murder.
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  Speaker 1: It's unbelievable.
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  Speaker 2: It's just awful.
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  Speaker 1: And then in Oklahoma City he murders Jesse Taylor and
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  Marian Bursett, another interracial couple. Yeah, it's just heartbreaking.
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  Speaker 2: It's truly tragic. How many lives were cut short because
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  of this man's hatred.
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  Speaker 1: It's crazy to think about. Wow. Like the randomness of
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  some of his victims too, I.
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  Speaker 2: Know, And it's even more tragic when you think about
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  that aspect of it, the randomness. Like in Cincinnati, Yeah,
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  two young cousins, Oh gosh, Daryl Lane just fourteen, Oh
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  my god, and Dante Evans Brown, only thirteen. They were
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  caught in the crossfire of one of his attacks. Oh no,
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  they weren't even his intended targets, just kids.
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  Speaker 1: It's almost too much to bear thinking about.
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  Speaker 2: I know, you know, it speaks to the indiscriminate nature
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  of hate, you know how it doesn't just impact its
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  intended targets, but it ripples outwards, leaving destruction in its.
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  Speaker 1: Wake, and tragically. Franklin Spree continued, It's wild to think about.
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  You know, how long he was able to evade capture, right, No.
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  Speaker 2: It's like he was constantly moving, right, almost like he
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  was trying to outrun himself or something.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, but even Franklin, he couldn't outrun himself forever. No,
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  So what finally brought this reign of terror to an end?
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  Speaker 2: It's almost ironic, you know, what's that for someone so
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  obsessed with racial purity. It was his own blood that
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  betrayed him.
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  Speaker 1: What do you mean?
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  Speaker 2: Franklin was a regular at blood banks. Oh, really had
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  to be to support himself on the run. Right, but
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  those visits, yeah, they'd be his undoing. A blood bank
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  worker in Florida, Okay, recognized Franklin's racist tattoos, the one's
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  he was so proud of the very same from an
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  FBI alert. Oh wow, talk the poetic justice. Right wow,
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  that's a single phone call brought the largest manhunt at
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  the time to a screeching halt.
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  Speaker 1: Wow. So, after all that calculated violence, something so simple
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  was his downfall?
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  Speaker 2: Crazy?
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  Speaker 1: Right, that's wild.
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  Speaker 2: It just goes to show you even the most meticulous plans.
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  Speaker 1: Can unravel, that's true.
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  Speaker 2: And for Franklin, it finally happened in October nineteen eighty. Okay,
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  he was arrested in Lakeland, Florida, Okay, ending his reign
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  of terror.
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  Speaker 1: But this wasn't just one case, one arrest, Oh no, no, right,
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  this was the beginning of this huge legal battle.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, Franklin faced a series of trials, Oh god, convictions,
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  sentences piling up one after another. Or his crimes across
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  multiple states is mind boggling. And you know, these trials,
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  they weren't just about determining guilt or innocence. They kind
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  of forced this difficult question to the surface.
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  Speaker 1: What's that what drove.
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  Speaker 2: A man like this?
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  Speaker 1: Right? Is it as simple as he was just evil? Right? Or?
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  Speaker 2: Was there something more?
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  Speaker 1: Right? Was there something broken? Within him exact. I mean,
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  that's that age old question, isn't. Yeah, trying to reconcile
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  these horrific acts with the human being.
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  Speaker 2: I know, it's like, how do you even begin to
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  wrap your head around that?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah? How do you understand if it was pure evil
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  or as you said, like something broken?
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  Speaker 2: And you know, psychiatrists who examine Franklin, yeah, argued he
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  exhibited signs of paranoid schizophrenia, really pointed to his delusional thinking,
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  his grandiose sense of purpose. Okay, And of course you
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  can't ignore the profound impact of his childhood trauma, right, right,
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  But even with all of that, Yeah, it's a question
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  that's still debated today. Of course, can mental illness ever
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  fully explain such calculated cruelty?
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  Speaker 1: I don't know. It's a tough one, it is, And honestly,
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  it's a question a lee for our listeners to ponder.
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  Speaker 2: It's a good one to think about because it.
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  Speaker 1: Forces us to confront, you know, these complexities of human nature. Absolutely,
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  these gray areas where good and evil, right, aren't always
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  so cut and dry exactly.
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  Speaker 2: And if that question wasn't complicated enough, right, there's another
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  layer to consider. What's that in his later years, Franklin
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  renounced his racist views.
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  Speaker 1: Oh wow, claim to.
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  Speaker 2: Have found some kind of redemption?
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  Speaker 1: Are you serious? Yeah?
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  Speaker 2: So was it genuine, a true change of heart?
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  Speaker 1: Or was it just another manipulation?
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  Speaker 2: Right? Was it a way to control the narrative even
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  in the face of his own mortality.
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  Speaker 1: It's hard to know what to believe, isn't it? Was
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  there truly remorse thereh Or was this all just another
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  act in a life defined by violence and hatred.
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  Speaker 2: It's a tough one, it really is. Even in death.
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  Franklin remains an enigma. He was executed in twenty thirteen.
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  But the questions, the shadows he casts, right, they linger,
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  they do.
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  Speaker 1: And as we resurface from this deep dive into the
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  life and crimes of Joseph Paul Franklin, I keep coming
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  back to the same thought. What's that Hate is a
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  powerful and destructive.
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  Speaker 2: Force, it really is.
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  Speaker 1: It can warp individuals, tear communities apart, leave a trail
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  of deba a station that spans generations.
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  Speaker 2: That's true.
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  Speaker 1: And while there are no easy answers, no simple solutions,
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  I think the most important thing we can do is
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  try to understand it, absolutely recognize the seeds of hatred
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  before they take root and blossom into violence, because ultimately,
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  understanding is the first step towards prevention. I agree, it's
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  the best weapon we have against the darkness.
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  Speaker 2: Couldn't agree more