In 1977, the small town of Dansville, Michigan, was shattered by a fire that killed a man in his sleep. But this wasn’t just another tragic house fire. What unfolded was a story of fear, survival, and justice in a system that offered none. And at the centre of it all was a woman named Francine Hughes.
Sources:
Lansing State Journal, 10 March, 1977 – “Former Wife Arrested in Arson Death”
Lansing State Journal, 25 March, 1977 – “Ex-Wife Bound over in Fiery Death”
Lansing State Journal, 30 June, 1977 – “Abused Dansville Woman Helped”
Petoskey News-Review, 3 August, 1977 – “Friends Rally Round Battered Wife”
The Kalamazoo Gazette, 14 October, 1977 – “NOW Observers Await Dansville Murder Trial”
The Grand Rapids Press, 14 October, 1977 – “Judge Takes Himself Out of Hughes Case”
Lansing State Journal, 25 October, 1977 – “Mrs. Hughes Accused of Affair”
Lansing State Journal, 25 October, 1977 – “Deputies Cite Hughes Threat”
Lansing State Journal, 26 October, 1977 – “Smoke Caused Hughes’ Death”
Lansing State Journal, 26 October, 1977 – “Mrs. Hughes Never Saw Son Hit Francine”
The Ann Arbor News, 26 October, 1977 –“Wife Assault Recounted”
Lansing State Journal, 27 October, 1977 – “Mrs. Hughes Children Tell of Beatings”
The Grand Rapids Press, 27 October, 1977 – “Father Beat Mom Often, Girl Tells Hughes Jury”
Lansing State Journal, 28 October, 1977 – “Love Affair Testimony”
The Kalamazoo Gazette, 1 November, 1977 – “Francine Hughes’ Doctor Testifies”
Lansing State Journal, 1 November, 1977 – “Mrs. Hughes Testifies to Years of Beatings”
Lansing State Journal, 1 November, 1977 – “Mrs. Hughes Beaten Often”
Detroit Free Press, 1 November, 1977 – “Victim’s Threat to Wife”
The Flint Journal, 2 November, 1977 – “Defendant Says Voice Told Her to Set Fatal Fire”
The Muskegon Chronicle, 3 November, 1977 – “Defence Asks Court Acquittal”
The Flint Journal, 3 November, 1977 – “Two Psychiatrists Testify”
The Muskegon Chronicle, 4 November, 1977 – “Jury Acquits Francine Hughes”
Lansing State Journal, 5 November, 1977 – “Francine Hughes Free Woman Now”
The Saginaw News, 17 November, 1977 – “Francine Hughes Judged Sane”
Birmingham News, 29 March, 2017 – “Woman Who Was Subject of Battered Wife Film”
