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"A Killing That Won't Go Away" Jim Hill - Former Oregon Senator
| "Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are." -Benjamin Franklin |
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| Witnesses Against Frank E. Gable Word of criminals builds case in Francke death Written by Steven Jackson of the Statesman Journal Salem, Oregon - August 5, 1990 |
| Michael Francke, 42 Corrections Director was slain Jan. 17, 1989 |
| Frank E. Gable, 30 Former inmate accused of killing Francke |
| The case against Frank E. Gable, the accused killer of Corrections Director Michael Francke, rests on a foundation laid by Salem criminals. Stacked against Gable, the Marion County District Attorney’s office has eight material witnesses---material meaning essential to the prosecution’s case. All but one of the witnesses are part of a rogue’s gallery composed of convicted drug dealers and drug users, thieves, and a child molester. All but one are either serving time, or facing unrelated charges, or on the run. Authorities hold both the sledgehammer of prosecution and the carrot of reward money above the witnesses’ heads. Francke, 42, was stabbed to death Jan. 17, 1989, outside the Dome Building, where the headquarters of the Department of Corrections is located on state hospital grounds. His body was found on a porch, north of the building’s main entrance. On April 6, a Marion County grand jury indicted Gable, 30, on six counts of aggravated murder and one of simple murder. His trial is scheduled for Jan. 7, 1991. If convicted of aggravated murder, Gable could be sentenced to death. Gable, a former Oregon State Penitentiary inmate, has yet to enter an official plea. But he has denied any involvement in the killing of the man responsible for keeping Oregon’s criminals behind bars. Dale Penn, the Marion County District Attorney, has said that the individual accounts against Gable represent the different motive theories accepted by the grand jury--ranging from a bungled car burglary to Francke’s death being related to his job. Gable has said the witnesses--associates bonded together by the methamphetamine trade --are out to get him because they think he worked as a drug informant for the Keizer Police Department in the summer of 1989. Penn, who won’t discuss specifics about the people involved in the case, has acknowledged the frustrations that investigators faced in dealing with the credibility of members of Salem’s criminal underworld as potential witnesses. Still, he remains committed to the indictment handed up by the grand jury--an indictment reliant on the testimony of the witnesses. The following, based on press interviews and a first time look at police reports, are profiles of the eight material witnesses -- the key building blocks of the state vs. Frank E. Gable. |
| 1. Jodie Swearingen Swearingen is so important to the prosecution’s case that she was granted immunity for her cooperation. |
| A methamphetamine drug user with a prior conviction for theft, Jodie Swearingen, 18, told investigators that she was at the Dome Building with Gable and material witness Cappie “Shorty” Harden when Francke was stabbed. Based on interviews and lie detector tests, the police believe that Swearingen went with Gable to the Dome Building. She told investigators that Gable wanted “snitch papers” --- Department of Corrections records listing informants in drug cases -- from Francke. Swearingen was supposed to be a lookout. The police think that Swearingen was on or near the steps of the Dome Building. A lie detector test led the police to believe that she saw Gable go into the building. Normally, the Dome Building would have been locked after 5pm; the police believe that Francke was attacked shortly after 7pm. But the police discovered in May that Janyne Gable, Frank Gable’s estranged wife and a former state hospital employee, still had keys to state hospital buildings, including one that would allow access to the Dome Building. Swearingen was interviewed and given lie detector tests at least 13 times between November 1989 and March of this year. She changed her story often and apparently was able to deceive the lie detector. For instance, one early test indicated that Swearingen was telling the truth when she said she was in Harden’s car when she saw Gable struggle with Francke. Harden also said she was in his car during the attack. Yet several interviews later, the lie detector test led the police to believe that Swearingen was on or near the building’s steps when she saw Gable struggle with Francke near the corrections director’s open Bonneville sedan. In another interview, Swearingen denied having heard of any plans to rob or kill Francke before going to the Dome Building or plans to steal anything from the building. A lie detector test indicated that she was telling the truth. But a later test indicated that Swearingen knew beforehand that Gable planned to take papers from either Francke, his car, or the Dome Building. She also told the police during one interview that Gable was hired to kill Francke by a group of Salem methamphetamine dealers. A lie detector test about the latter information was inconclusive. For all of the attention paid to some of what Swearingen said, apparently other information was simply left hanging or ignored. Swearingen told the detectives that she thought that she saw an acquaintance named Adam run from the scene. According to police reports, she also said, “The guy who did the stabbing looked Hispanic and was wearing all dark clothing.” Detectives administered a lie detector test to Adam Manuel Hernandez, now a penitentiary inmate sentenced for methamphetamine possession and parole violations. But the police only asked Hernandez whether he had driven Swearingen from her parent’s home in Dundee to Salem on the day of the killing. He denied giving Swearingen a ride, but a lie detector test indicated that he was lying. There is no record of Hernandez being tested for possible knowledge of the killing. And in 11 subsequent interview reports, there was no mention of Swearingen being asked about the Hispanic-looking man who she said did the stabbing. She knew Gable by name before going to the Dome Building. Still, Swearingen is so important to the prosecution’s case that she was granted immunity for her cooperation. Normally, her participation could’ve made her an accessory. Swearingen was on the run from Hillcrest School for juvenile offenders when she was apprehended last fall. Swearingen is supposed to check in regularly with county authorities, including submitting to a urinalysis test for drugs. But according to Gable’s defense team, who monitor the whereabouts of the witnesses, she has failed to check in in recent weeks. Penn and assistant district attorney Tom Bostwick, who with assistant district attorney Sarah Moore is prosecuting Gable, were at a convention this past week and could not be reached for comment. Moore did not return three calls to her office Thursday and Friday. Click this link to go to Jodie Swearingen webpage |
| 2. Cappie "Shorty" Harden Gable and Harden have told police that they disliked each other and had only met twice. |
| Cappie “Shorty” Harden called the Statesman Journal this past January from the Marion County jail and said he was “the county’s million dollar baby” in the Francke murder case. Harden had just been arrested in Salem on a variety of old warrants, including illegal drug possession and being a felon in possession of a gun. But the police wanted to know about Frank Gable. They questioned Harden several times between Jan. 18 and Jan. 20, 1990. But it wasn’t until the 20th --- more than a year after Francke’s death --- that he admitted to being at the scene. State police investigators wanted to talk to Harden because they believed that he had participated in Francke’s death by acting as a lookout and driving the getaway car. Their reports noted that he was a “very good friend of another eyewitness, Jodie Swearingen.” But Harden at first told the investigators that Swearingen, Gable, and another man questioned in the case, John Bender, were the people at the Dome Building. He held to that story through several interviews. During a lie-detector test, Harden denied participating in the stabbing, and he denied going to the hospital grounds with Gable. The test indicated that Harden was being deceptive about both of those questions. When confronted, according to police reports, “Harden began to cry openly stating, ‘hey dude, you’re really scaring me.’” Harden, 33, was given six lie detector tests between January and early March 1990. From results of those tests, the police believe that Harden saw Gable stab a man at the Dome Building. Harden finally changed his tune and told the police that Gable was in Francke’s car when a man approached and yelled, “Hey! What are you doing in my car?” Gable got out of the car and stabbed the man in the chest, according to Harden’s account. The man fell to the ground and Gable took off running. Although a lie detector test was not entirely conclusive, the police believed Harden was telling the truth when he denied that he knew Gable was planning to murder or rob Francke. He told police that he went to the Dome Building only after he received a call from Swearingen asking for a ride. But Harden was judged to be deceptive in a later test when he denied meeting with Gable in the hours before the murder. Swearingen told police that Harden and Gable discussed car burglary methods and looked at knives before going to the Dome Building. There is no record of the police questioning Harden about the snitch papers. Yet Swearingen told the police that Gable may have wanted to sell the papers to assist Harden’s drug trafficking. The reports also don’t explain why, if Francke was attacked near his car and knocked down, there was no blood in the area of the car despite two major stab wounds--including the one to his heart--and cuts on Francke’s hands and arms. According to reports and photographs at the scene, a spotty trail of blood began about 100 feet from Francke’s car. Gable and Harden both have told police that they disliked each other and had only met twice. The animosity might explain why Harden, as he was regaining consciousness from an operation on his hand in February, mumbled to a Marion County deputy that “he would be getting out as soon as he ‘hung a murder rap on Gable.’” It didn’t take Harden long to get out. From march through July of this year in Marion and Polk counties, Harden--sometimes using the alias Russell Shelton--was charged with possession, delivery, and manufacture of methamphetamine; being a felon in possession of a gun; failure to appear in court; and probation violations. Harden pleaded guilty in both counties to the methamphetamine possession charges; some of the others still hang over his head. He was sentenced to 18 months of probation in Polk County and sent to a Portland drug rehabilitation program in July by Marion County officials. When he returns he’ll go to the Marion County jail to await what comes next. Harden has not been charged with any crime related to the Francke case. The other witnesses, who lied to the police and failed to come forward on their own with information about the killing, also have not been charged with any crime--such as hindering prosecution. Note from Webmaster: Shorty Harden recanted and admitted he lied at Frank Gable's trial in an interview with Portland Tribune reporter Jim Redden in June 2005. There are links to the front page story the Tribune published on Harden's webpage. Click this link to go to Shorty Harden webpage |
| Frank talks about Shorty Harden and Earl Childers |
| 3. Michael Keerins Keerins said he came forward because he knew what it was like to have a brother killed and still be wondering about the circumstances. |
| Mike Keerins Interview |
| When Harden called the Statesman Journal in January with the offer to sell his story in exchange for $87,000 bail money, he said, “You might say Keerins is out the door, and I’m in.” Harden didn’t get the money, and he has refused requests for interviews ever since. But material witness Michael Keerins, who was the first of the witnesses to point the finger at Gable, said that Harden was telling other inmates at the Marion County jail that Harden made up his story to get the $25,000 reward money. The money was raised and placed in a trust account for information leading to the conviction of Francke’s killer. On the other hand, one of Keerins’ brothers, Pat, told the Statesman Journal that his brother was lying and had told family members that he, too, was only after the money. But Michael Keerins, 34, said he came forward in September 1989 because he knew what it was like to have a brother killed and still be wondering about the circumstances. Two of Keerins’ brothers have been killed. But Keerins’ reasons for talking don’t interest the police as much as two conversations Keerins said he had with Gable. The first, he said, was “two months after Francke was killed.” Keerins told police that Gable met him at his mother’s house and demanded to know what Kris Keerins, another brother, had been telling the police. Kris Keerins was interviewed by police in February 1989 about what he might have seen on the night Francke was killed. He had been out on a pass January 17, 1989, from a corrections drug and alcohol treatment program across Center Street from the Dome Building. Michael Keerins said he told Gable that Kris Keerins wasn’t talking to the police. Asked by Michael Keerins whether he had killed Francke, Gable reportedly said he wasn’t “copping to nothing.” Gable told the Statesman Journal this past January that he thought the Keerins brothers were among those who were out to get him because of his role as an informant with the Keizer police. He said that Kris or Mike Keerins pointed him out to police from the backseat of a police cruiser in May 1989. Michael Keerins said the incident never happened. But the next day, Gable was arrested for unrelated charges and was placed in the same Marion County jail cell as Michael Keerins, who was awaiting extradition to Idaho for a car burglary charge. According to a September 1989 police interview and lie-detector test, Keerins said, “After around three days, he told me he needed bail money--that he had to get out.” I asked, “Why the big hurry?” He then went on to tell me he had fought and stabbed Michael Francke. Although a lie-detector test was not entirely conclusive, the investigators believed Keerins about the two conversations. Keerins pops up in the Francke investigation more than just for his testimony about Gable’s so-called admissions to him. Gable, and at least one other witness questioned by police, have said they believe that another former penitentiary inmate, Timothy David “Rooster” Natividad, was involved in Francke’s death. Keerins told the Statesman Journal this past January that Natividad was his friend and drug-dealing partner. Natividad, 24, was shot dead by his former girlfriend, Elizabeth Godlove, two weeks after Francke’s death. A jury decided that Godlove acted in self-defense and let her go. Gable and the other witness, the wife of a penitentiary inmate, contend that Natividad was part of the methamphetamine- trafficking group that now accuses Gable of murder. But Keerins told the Statesman Journal that, although he was not present, he knew that Natividad was with some other members of the drug-dealing community when Francke was stabbed. Keerins is in the Marion County jail, where he was brought from Idaho after contacting police about Gable. His request for early parole was denied recently, as have been his repeated attempts to get into the Marion County Restitution Center. “I’m getting pretty angry about all this,” he said last week. “I haven’t asked for anything for my cooperation. Maybe I’ll start demanding things like Shorty.” |
| 4. Randall James Studer Gable “was always talking about going and taking care of somebody who owed him.” |
| On November 11, 1989, Randy Studer told police that he hated Gable, the husband of his sister, Janyne Gable. Frank Gable had a history of beating Janyne up, including breaking her arm once. But Studer at first denied that Gable told him that he killed Francke. In fact, he said Gable’s friend and partner-in-crime, Doug “Munchie” Scritchfield, told him, “You know the Francke thing? I did that.” Although a lie-detector test indicated that Studer had not participated in the murder, the investigators didn’t believe him about Gable. Four days later, Studer told police that Scritchfield said he and Gable committed the murder. Scritchfield, 22 and a convicted burglar, was given a lie-detector test in which he was asked whether he knew for sure who killed Francke; whether Gable told him that he was responsible for the killing; and, whether he participated in the killing. Scritchfield denied everything and passed the test. Scritchfield contacted the Statesman Journal this past spring. He said he could “give the whole story” on what happened to Francke. He later refused to be interviewed when the newspaper declined to pay him for the story. Studer, 31, told the police that Gable was always bragging about being a tough guy. His brother-in-law had a habit of carrying guns and knives and was always talking about going and taking care of somebody who owed him,” Studer said. Gable even went so far as to pick up a child and put a gun to its head, Studer said. But he couldn’t remember Gable saying anything about the murder, and when they did crank together the day after the murder. A lie-detector test indicated that Studer was lying. Another test, another denial, and another deception noted, led the investigators to believe that Gable did not name the person he had killed but did tell Studer where the murder took place. It also led investigators back to a December 1988 incident reported to them by another witness. Linda Perkins, who appeared before the grand jury but is not a material witness, said she was at Studer’s house in December 1988 when killing Francke was discussed. Studer was the boyfriend of Perkins’ daughter, Theresa Ross. In March, Studer admitted that Gable, “may have said something about an official that night.” “Gable had displayed numerous guns on that occasion…and had made some reference to a big wheel in corrections,” according to Studer’s account. But Studer also said he was not sure whether Gable was talking about Francke or some drug dealer. A lie-detector test indicated that Studer was telling the truth about the night in December 1988 and about Gable’s January 18, 1989, admission of killing someone. Although he did not come forward voluntarily and then lied to police, Studer has not been charged with hindering prosecution in the Francke case. But the investigation brought the once-convicted strong-arm robber troubles of his own. In questioning Studer’s girlfriend Ross about the case, investigators learned that the couple had sexually molested Ross’ child while using drugs. In February, Studer pleaded guilty to one count of sodomy. Studer was sentenced in May in Marion County Circuit Court to 10 years imprisonment with five years suspended. In fact, he was given a 12 month sentence at the Marion County jail; four months later he’s at the Marion County Restitution Center, which allows inmates out on passes. |
| 5. Daniel P. Walsh “Frank did not say who he wanted to kill, only that it was someone important.” |
| Walsh is the only material witness without a police record. His problems arose from association with the drug-trafficking crowd. Police investigators questioned Walsh in March about the December 1988 meeting at Studer’s house. He told them that he remembered Gable coming into the house waving an M-16 rifle. “Frank then stated he was going to off someone,” Walsh said. “Frank did not say who he wanted to kill, only that it was someone important.” Walsh told police that Gable carried a boot knife that was about 10 inches long, including the antler handle. Walsh said he later bought the knife from another member of the group but pawned it. Questioned again the next day, Walsh denied that Gable ever told him about killing Francke. A lie-detector test indicated that he was lying. When confronted by the investigators, Walsh said Gable told him in March 1989 that the antler-handled knife was the one he used to kill Francke. “Gable said he was in Michael Francke’s car and had a door open,” according to Walsh’s account to the police. “Gable said he had his knife out and was going to steal the stereo…when Francke surprised him by reaching in or trying to grab him. “Gable was startled and turned and lunged for and stabbed Francke in the upper body.” Walsh said Gable told him about the antler-handled knife’s history as Walsh stood in his yard, throwing the knife at a tree. Gable last week scoffed at Walsh’s story: “Yeah, like I’m going to be walking down the street, see some guy throwing a knife at a tree and say, ‘Hey, that’s the knife I used to kill Francke.’ “I’m not that stupid.” Walsh, 24, told the investigators that he didn’t come forward immediately because Gable had threatened to kill him and his family. He said he lied in the interviews because he was afraid that his fingerprints would be found on the knife and that he would be implicated in the killing. Walsh also has not been charged with hindering the prosecution. |
| 6. Mark M. Gesner In February, Gesner told the police that Gable gave him a bag containing a knife that Gesner then threw in the Willamette River. |
| While Walsh said he pawned the antler-handled knife, a knife police later confiscated from a Salem pawn shop, Gesner said Gable gave him a bag containing a knife that Gesner then threw in the Willamette River. A February lie-detector test indicated that Gesner was telling the truth about the incident, which occurred shortly after Francke was killed. But in later tests, Gesner said he only told Gable how to get rid of evidence. Results of those tests ranged from inconclusive to deceptive responses. Investigators began questioning Gesner in October 1989. They wanted to know whether material witness Earl F. Childers ever told him that Gable admitted to the killing. But through two interviews and lie-detector tests, Gesner denied hearing about the murder from Childers or Gable. The results of those tests also ranged from inconclusive to deceptive responses. Later in October, Gesner told The Oregonian columnist Phil Stanford that Paul Ferder, a Salem lawyer, told him that the police might be willing to drop some of the charges against him in return for his cooperation. The investigators apparently left Gesner alone until this past February. Gesner had been convicted of federal gun crimes and was sentenced to Sheridan Federal Prison. Contacted in Sheridan, Gesner, 24, said Gable told him that he was responsible for Francke’s death. Gesner denied knowing anything about the physical evidence in the case. Gesner has not been charged with hindering the prosecution. |
| 7. Earl F. Childers Childers said Gable admitted killing Francke by stabbing him in the chest. |
| Childers told investigators in December that on January 17, 1989, while walking in the area of the Dome Building, he saw Gable driving away from the state hospital grounds. “I yelled and whistled at him, but he did not even seem to see me,” Childers, 42, said. “A few days later, when I asked him about it, he asked me to just forget it, and I did.” Then in July 1989, Childers, who described Gable as a friend, said Gable admitted killing Francke by stabbing him in the chest. Again, a lie-detector test wasn’t entirely conclusive, but the investigators believed Childers’ statement. Childers made news headlines of his own this past May when he told police that two men jumped from behind some bushes, struck him in the head, and stabbed him. He said he was walking east on Center Street, just a few blocks from the Dome Building, when the incident occurred. Childers was taken to Salem hospital, where he was treated for shallow wounds and released. Police said they found no witnesses or evidence. Childers told them that he was able to escape the men, who did not say anything to him or attempt to rob him. Convicted of drug crimes, Childers is in the Marion County Restitution Center. |
| 8. John Kevin Walker “If it’s just a simple robbery, why the corrections director? Any inmate knows how stupid that would be.” |
| If the reality of an attack on Childers is in question, there is no doubt about an April attack on John Kevin Walker. Someone smashed an iron pitching horseshoe into his face as he stood in the Oregon State Correctional Institution recreation yard listening to a menacing lecture from another inmate about what could happen to a snitch. In February, investigators confronted Walker, 26, about telephone calls he received from Gable on the day of the murder and the day after. Walker said the calls had to do with a drug deal he was working out with Gable. Walker denied being told by Gable that he was going to kill a big-shot for the Corrections Department and that Gable later admitted killing Francke. The lie-detector test indicated that Walker was lying. Given another lie-detector test in March, Walker indicated that Gable was paid in guns by someone for killing Francke. In April, Walker told the Statesman Journal that he unknowingly became involved in the Francke case two weeks before the murder when he sold a .357-calibur handgun to Gable. “He said he needed it because he was ‘doing a job on corrections,’” Walker, who lived in Albany at the time, said. On the afternoon of January 17, 1989, Gable called Walker and wanted to know if he would “back him on a play he was going to make.” “I thought he was going to do a robbery on a drug dealer, so I told him no,” Walker said. Gable called Walker on January 18, 1989, and told him that he had messed up. Gable came over to Walker’s house and while there admitted killing Francke. When Walker talked to the Statesman Journal in April, he said he believed that someone within the Corrections Department had to be involved in the killing. “If it’s just a simple robbery, why the corrections director? Any inmate knows how stupid that would be, “ Walker said. “And why plan for at least two weeks, unless he knew for sure that Francke would have something on him that he wanted that particular night? Who would know what Francke carried on him, except somebody at the Department of Corrections?” Eight days after the interview, Walker was struck in the face---breaking his jaw and fracturing the bone around his eye. Surgeons had to place a screw in his face to hold the bone together. But police investigators weren’t interested in Walker’s theories. In fact, they put down on their reports that he had no more relevant information. “I would think that in a case like this, with all these rumors flying around, that everything would be relevant,” Walker said last week from the penitentiary. As a building block for the prosecution, Walker seems to be crumbling. Investigators for Gable’s defense lawyers recently gave Walker the police reports of their interviews with him. “There are blatant errors on almost every page, and this thing is more than 20 pages long,” said Walker, who is now segregated from the rest of the inmates at the Oregon State Penitentiary. “They said that I said Frank came to my house the day after and pointed the .357 at my head. I never said that--he had the gun out, but he never pointed it at me.” “They also said that Frank was trying to set up a deal to get 500 M-16’s. Frank had nothing to do with that; that was between me and Mark Gesner.” Walker said he wants to know where the word-for-word transcripts of his interview with the police are kept. “The police reports keep saying that ‘in substance’ I said this or that. Well, in substance I did not, “ he said. “I mean, they have me down on their reports as brown hair and brown eyes. I have blond hair and blue eyes. I wonder who they were talking to.” Click here to read John Kevin Walker's trial testimony Click here to read John Kevin Walker's recantment |
| Epilogue Gable has been reviewing the evidence against him with his defense team. He said last week that most of the material witnesses like to “play at thinking they’re big-time drug dealers.” “They’re talking like we’re all some kind of Mafioso, sitting around talking about who to kill. I think they’ve been watching too much TV, too much Miami Vice.” The prosecution has turned over more than 9,000 pages of reports, about 900 photographs, and dozens of audio and video cassettes to Gable’s defense team of Bob Abel and John Storkl. The defense lawyers also this past week won a court battle to have the original notes of the investigators turned over to them for comparison to the official reports. But Abel and Storkl have yet to see information the prosecution may have of forensic testing, such as blood and hair comparison. For instance, they don’t know whether the bloodstains on a U.S. Marine Corps bayonet found near the scene match Michael Francke’s blood type. In January 1989, Dr. Larry Lewman, the state medical examiner, determined it could have inflicted the type of wounds suffered by Francke, although police investigators have seized dozens of other knives since. But it is the credibility of the material witness that must hold up in court as to Gable admitting the murder and especially the witnesses placing Gable at the scene; Swearingen, Harden and Childers. Lie-detector tests are not admitted as evidence in court because of their questionable reliability. And despite contradictory and inconclusive results, the police used the tests throughout the investigation to rule out some suspects and to guide them to Frank Gable. The police used the tests to confront witnesses who appeared to be deceptive, gaining admissions, confessions and allowing further interviews. The interviews, confessions, and admissions made by potential witnesses, who have been advised of their rights, can be used in court. Still, Abel said the review of the prosecution’s evidence so far has turned up no “smoking gun”---hard, clear evidence pointing to Gable---beyond the witnesses. Asked whether the criminal histories and changing stories of the material witnesses help his case, Abel just smiled and said: “It sure won’t hurt.” |
