Free And Never See Her Again by Patricia Springer Page A

father dying four years earlier of a heart attack and of his mother, who lived in Cisco, Texas.

    Franks's features hardened when he told of his mother's three marriages and his three stepfathers, and when he spoke of his first stepfather's physical abuse of him. Franks stated he had one blood brother and six half brothers and two half sisters. He had depended on his family most of his life to take care of him.
    Franks seemed proud of the fact that he had graduated from Justin Northwest High School, admitting he had been in the special-education program.
    It was when Franks began to talk about his past crimes that he exhibited some discomfort at being in the room with Agent Keefer. He fidgeted in his chair and focused his attention on McCormick.
    Franks started by telling McCormick and Keefer that there was only one victim in his past, his half brother Dale's eight-year-old stepdaughter. Franks's eyes nervously darted toward Keefer, then back to his hands folded in front of him on the table. It was obvious he was uncomfortable speaking in front of the female FBI agent.
    Noticing Franks's reluctance to elaborate on his past crime, McCormick brought Franks's focus back to him and away from Keefer. Franks then began an uncensored, and rather arrogant, account of the molestation of his niece.
    "I don't feel like it was my fault," Franks stated. "Dale and his wife had gone out to the bars partying and left me there to babysit. They left some marijuana at the house and I smoked it. I was feeling real strange and couldn't hardly stand up. She wanted to watch some dirty movies and I started watching one with her. She started kissing me and then we went into the bedroom, where I tried to have sex with her, but I couldn't get my dick in her because she was too small."

    McCormick stared blankly at the suspect. He talked of having sex with an eight-year-old child as though it were a normal act. Keefer felt distress at hearing the words the convicted pedophile spoke so casually.
    "Ricky, you admitted to your probation officer that you were finally able to penetrate her. Right?" McCormick pushed.
    "Yes, I did have intercourse with her," Franks admitted.
    Franks explained that when his brother had gotten home, the girl had told her father what Ricky had done and he and Dale had had it out in the front yard of Dale's house.
    "But that's the only time that it happened. It was because I had smoked marijuana and she told me she wanted me to do it," Franks insisted.
    Franks announced that he had spent eight years on probation for the sexual assault and had made his final probation payment of $400 on April 1, 1999. His final payment had enabled him to get off probation.
    "Didn't you tell your probation officer and sex counselor about other victims?" McCormick prodded.
    Franks took a long breath, his eyes avoiding both McCormick and Keefer. He admitted to other victims and said that there were two named Amber and one named Lori. He wasn't sure of the last names of the girls but stated they were both relatives.
    "I was set up by Lori," Franks contended. "She was ten years old and I was fourteen or fifteen at the time. Lori lived in Newark, Texas."
    Just as he blamed marijuana for his violation of Dale's daughter, Franks blamed alcohol for the other incidents. He added that he and Lori were both young and she had initiated the contact.

    Attempting to avoid any further discussion of his sex crimes, Franks changed the subject to his martial arts training.
    "I began karate at age fifteen and took karate until I was twenty-eight," Franks boasted.
    He bragged of having a black belt in karate, advising that his hands were lethal weapons.
    "But I don't like to fight," he stated. "And with all my brothers taking up for me, I don't have to fight."
    Franks explained that his real brother Rodney often took up for him, and if he had trouble with anyone, he would simply tell Rodney and he would fight his fights for him.
    "Do you and Judy have fights or