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Real Name: Unknown (at time of broadcast)
Nicknames: Suzanne Davis, Sharon Marshall, Sharon Hughes, Tonya Dawn Hughes
Location: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Date: April 25, 1990

Case[]

Details: "Suzanne Davis" was a woman whose true identity remains a mystery. She was the mother of six-year-old Michael Hughes. After her death in 1990, he lived with foster parents Ernest and Merle Bean. On September 12, 1994, Franklin Floyd, a man claiming to be Michael's father, entered Indian Meridian Elementary School in Choctaw, Oklahoma, a suburb of Oklahoma City, and went to the office of principal James Davis. He pulled out a gun and forced James to take him to Michael's classroom. He then forced both of them into James' pickup truck and ordered him to drive out into the country. In a wooded area, he handcuffed James to a tree and fled with Michael. Five hours later, James was rescued, but for the next two months, there was no sign of Franklin or Michael. Finally, in November, Franklin was arrested in Louisville, Kentucky. However, Michael was nowhere to be found.
As police delved into this case, they made several disturbing discoveries. In 1975, Franklin, then thirty-two, turned up in Oklahoma City. He was going by the name "Trenton B. Davis" and had a young girl with him. He claimed that she was his daughter, Suzanne. Over the next decade, they moved from town-to-town, using a variety of aliases. In 1988, Suzanne, then seventeen, gave birth to Michael. Incredibly, Floyd claimed to be his father. Even more incredibly, he then married Suzanne.
On April 25, 1990, when Michael was two, Suzanne was injured in a suspicious hit-and-run accident which took place outside of the hotel she was staying at. She died five days later. The prime suspect was Franklin, although he was never charged. He vanished soon after her death, leaving Michael in foster care. Ernest and Merle remembered that he had many developmental problems. He had limited muscle control and was non-verbal and often hysterical. They claim that he was considered at the age of two to be the mental equivalent of a nine-month-old child. While in foster care, however, he made great developmental progress.
Six months after abandoning Michael, Franklin was arrested on a parole violation. A routine blood test led to a somewhat surprising discovery: he was not his biological father. After being released from prison, he requested that custody of Michael be returned to him. That was denied. Six months later, he abducted him from his first-grade classroom. He is currently serving a fifty-two-year sentence for the kidnapping. He has refused to divulge Michael's whereabouts but claims that he is alive and safe.
Investigators tried to look further into Suzanne's background. They were disturbed to discover that she was not Franklin's biological daughter either; in fact, they believe that she was abducted by him as well. She was most likely abducted by him between 1973 and 1975, but no one knows where she came from or what her true identity is. Over the years, she lived in Georgia, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Florida, and Arizona.
Suspects: Franklin is suspected of kidnapping Suzanne when she was a child. He is also suspected of causing her death in a "mysterious hit-and-run accident". However, he has never been charged in it.
Extra Notes:

  • This case first aired on the December 15, 1995 episode.
  • Kevin Ogle of KFOR-TV helped to present it.
  • Writer Matt Birkbeck wrote a book called A Beautiful Child based on Suzanne's life.
  • Her and Michael's cases was documented on 20/20. They were also referenced on an episode of Motives & Murders: Cracking the Case, which focused mainly on the solving the murder of Cheryl Comesso.
  • In 2022, a Netflix documentary, Girl in the Picture, was released about this case.
SuzanneMarieSevakis child

Suzanne before her abduction

Results: Unresolved. In 1997, Franklin was charged in the 1989 murder of eighteen-year-old Cheryl Commesso, a coworker of Suzanne's. Her skeletal remains were found off Interstate 275 in Pinellas County, Florida. She had been beaten and shot to death. It was discovered that she had vanished shortly after getting into an altercation with Franklin. They had fled shortly after her disappearance. In March 1995, photographs were found in a truck that had previously belonged to Franklin. They showed her bound and severely beaten. In 2002, Franklin was convicted and sentenced to death for her murder. He is now awaiting execution.
In May 2014, FBI agents reinterviewed Franklin and he finally gave information about "Suzanne" which led to her being identified as Suzanne Marie Sevakis, born September 6, 1969. DNA testing confirmed this. Franklin, then going by the name "Brandon Cleo Williams" had married her mother, Sandi Brandenburg, in 1973; at the time, she had a son and three daughters (including Suzanne) from a previous relationship. In 1975, she was arrested and sentenced to thirty days in jail. During that time, Franklin abducted the children. Sandi was unable to file a missing persons report because he was their stepfather. Suzanne's two sisters were later discovered safe at a local social services office. However, she, Franklin, and her infant brother, Phillip, could not be found.
Sadly, Michael has never been found. However, in September 2014, Franklin confessed to killing him on the day of his abduction. He claimed that he disposed of his body on Interstate 35. A search of the area yielded no results. Police suspect that wild hogs may have eaten his remains. Despite the lack of a body, Ernest and Merle have stated that the confession has given them some closure.
In 2019, a man named Phillip Steve Patterson came forward, believing that he is Suzanne's missing infant brother, Phillip Brandenburg. His adoptive mother knew Sandi and claimed that she adopted him through Sandi and Floyd. She also claimed that his name at birth was "Phillip Steven Brandenburg". In 2020, DNA testing confirmed that he is Suzanne's brother, Phillip.
On January 23, 2023, Franklin died in prison at the age of seventy-nine.
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