Teenage Hatchet Murders – Jeffrey Franklin

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25th June 2020  •  5 min read

Jeffrey Franklin was just 17-years-old when he brutally attacked his parents and young siblings with a hatchet, sledgehammer, rat-tail file and butcher knife.


Teenage Hatchet Murders - Jeffrey Franklin

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Camelot Drive is a middle-class neighbourhood in Huntsville, Alabama, where lawns are kept well-manicured and people leave bicycles on front lawns without fearing that they will be stolen. In 1998, however, this quaint neighbourhood was the scene of a brutal murder.

On the 10 March, 1998, 17-year-old Jeffrey Franklin attacked his family in their home at 13005 Camelot Drive. Armed with a hatchet, a two-pound sledgehammer, a rat-tail file and a butcher’s knife, he attacked his mother, Cynthia, and his father, Gerald. He also attacked his younger siblings – 14-year-old Sara, 8-year-old Timmy and 6-year-old Christopher.

Police were alerted to the scene when a neighbour noticed one of the children laying outside the home in a puddle of blood. When they arrived, they had only come with one ambulance and one Urban Responder car, believing that they were responding to one injured child. What they found inside, however, distressed even the most seasoned officers. “After 16 years, this is the worst I’ve seen,” said one of the officers.1

By this point, Jeffrey had already fled from the scene but police issued an all-points bulletin after discovering that he had fled in a blue Geo Metro. He would lead police on a car chase throughout the neighbourhoods of southeast Huntsville. During the chase, Jeffrey tried to run officers off the road and succeeded once, on Bailey Cove Road, where he forced a patrol car onto the curb in front of Hope Presbyterian Church.

The chase came to a halt when Jeffrey crashed into a fence. As he was being arrested, he laughed and taunted onlookers and spat on a photographer. Despite the cold weather, Jeffrey was shirtless and a pitchfork and pentagram had been scratched into his chest.2

Teenage Hatchet Murders - Jeffrey Franklin

Cynthia and Gerald were both pronounced dead at the scene while Sara, Timothy and Christopher were rushed to Huntsville Hospital where they were in critical condition. “The children all had very serious head and face injuries from what looked like an axe and some sort of large, blunt force object,” said hospital spokeswoman Terri Bryson. Miraculously, all three siblings would survive, although with life-altering injuries.

Jeffrey’s other sister, 11-year-old, Stacey, was thankfully not at home at the time of the attack but in the aftermath, she would receive counselling for post-traumatic stress syndrome. According to their aunt, Donna Maddi: “They are doing pretty good, actually. I decided early on that we would not talk about what happened, unless they wanted to. Then, it would be on their terms.”

Based on the crime scene, Jeffrey had murdered his mother first by stabbing her with a rat-tail file. He then attacked his sister with a hatchet, slashing her throat and clubbing her. Jeffrey then killed his father with a sledgehammer as he entered the house before turning his attention on his younger brothers. They had both been attacked with a hatchet.

According to neighbours and fellow students at Grissom High School where Jeffrey was a student, he was “involved in devil worship.” According to 17-year-old Jenny Smith: “He was really smart, a nice person up until two years ago. He just changed into a different person. I don’t know why. His attitude was different. He was always in a bad mood, and he had a really short temper.” She described an incident during a discussion about God in their government class which had convinced her that he “worshipped the devil.”

Another student, Mark Dunham, said that Jeffrey often threatened to put spells on people while Adam Salyers said that he frequently spoke about taking drugs, mainly Ritalin. A number of Cynthia’s colleagues at Valley View Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center said that Jeffrey had been causing his family problems for over a year and a half. According to one colleague, Paul Noel: “She told me it was out of hand.” Cynthia told her concerned colleagues that a pastor had told her that Jeffrey was in a “passing phrase.”3

In his notebook, police found that he had been planning on killing his parents for a while. He also wrote of satanic rituals and sexual torture and his belief that Satan wanted him to kill his family. He wrote: “I know dad will be home at this time and I’m going to be, I’ll wait by the front door, behind the little hutch, and I’ll hit him with a hammer. Mom will be out on a walk, when she comes back, I’ll have the radio playing loudly, I’ll call mom in the room and ask her what’s on the agenda for today, then I’ll kill her, and what about the brothers and sisters. Well, I’ll take them, I’ll strangle my little brother in his room and I’ll lure my other little brother into this room and strangle him. Then my sister, I will rape her then I will finish her off.”4

Teenage Hatchet Murders - Jeffrey Franklin

Before the murders, Jeffrey had been visiting a psychiatrist for attention deficit disorder and depression. He was prescribed with Ritalin, Prozac, and Klonopin. Jeffrey had been awake for three days straight before the killings and was said to abuse Ritalin and was snorting three of four pills at a time. Cynthia had kept the pills in a lockbox but Jeffrey had figured out how to take out the hinge pins, remove the pills and then replace them with saccharine tablets without her noticing. The abuse “pushed him into a total psychosis, he was crazy,” said Robert Tuten, Jeffrey’s representative.

Jeffrey’s defence attorney described his behaviour as “deranged.” Jeffrey told police that he was at the house but didn’t admit to attacking his family. He said it was like some “evil being” had taken over his body. Jeffrey was arraigned in Madison County District Court on charges of capital murder and attempted murder. He entered a not-guilty plea through his defence lawyer, Roy Miller.5

In 2001, Jeffrey avoided a trial by pleading guilty to two murder charges and three counts of attempted murder. He was sentenced to three life sentences that were to be served consecutively. In a statement, Jeffrey said: “I hope and pray that one day my family can forgive me for the things that I have done, and I know that may take a long time. I know that God has already forgiven me.” In the statement, Jeffrey additionally warned others about the dangers of abusing Ritalin: “I told my doctor I was abusing Ritalin, but he continued to prescribe it to me in increasingly high doses and I, in return, abused it in higher and higher doses.”6

According to Jeffrey’s attorneys, Robert Tuten, Patrick Tuten and Leon Johnson, their defence would have hung on the psychiatrist’s determination that Jeffrey was insane when he attacked his family. They said that they took the plea deal because it was the best outcome. “Just because he can stand up there in front of a judge and say ‘yes’ does not mean he is all right now,” said Patrick Tuten.

Under Alabama law, a person sentenced to life in prison is eligible for parole after serving 15 years. In September of 2016, Jeffrey was denied parole.

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Footnotes:

  1. The Huntsville Times, 11 March, 1998 – “This is the Worst I’ve Seen”
  2. Associated Press, 11 March, 1998 – “Teenager Charged in Parents Axe Murder”
  3. The Huntsville Times, 14 March, 1998 – “Parents With Troubled Kids Struggle”
  4. CBS – 19 WHNT, 25 May, 2016 – “Jeffrey Franklin’s Dark Writings Foreshadowed His Deadly Attack on Family”
  5. The Huntsville Times, 14 March, 1998 – “Accused Teenager Pleads Not Guilty”
  6. The Huntsville Times, 23 June, 2001 – “Franklin Pleads Guilty to Murders”

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Dee
Dee
3 years ago

Wow, that’s unbelievably sad!

Susan Maree Jeavons
Susan Maree Jeavons
3 years ago

I know what Prozac does to an adult mind. I can’t imagine what that and all the other drugs this kid was on did to him. But I don’t have to do I? I would never give a kid Prozac! Never!

Jackie
Jackie
3 years ago

To bad his parents were looking for a quick fix

T. Edwards
T. Edwards
2 years ago
Reply to  Jackie

His parents did what most parents would do they sought help from a psychiatrist its the doctor that over prescribed medicine even though he said he was abusing it, so dont blame the parent’s.

Sebastian Johnson
Sebastian Johnson
3 years ago

Dopamine in particular is a neurotransmitter known to be associated with bizarre alterations of cognitive function in brains with abnormally high concentrations. Ritalin is a dopamine re-uptake inhibitor. It is no surprise to me that someone who committed a crime to this level of madness was abusing amphetamines. I don’t know as much about the other drugs, but it would not surprise me if they were acting as a catalyst in his decent into psychosis. Sooner or later the medical field is going to have to take a good, hard look at how mishandled psycho-active drugs really are.

lily
lily
3 years ago

i take prozac and im a minor

Kate
Kate
3 years ago
Reply to  lily

Oh goodness 🙁 PLEASE, know that you can talk to your doctor or another trusted adult if you feel like you need to change medications.

Natalie
Natalie
2 years ago
Reply to  Kate

Please know that you have absolutely no fucking business giving minors you don’t know advice about mental health treatment. What is wrong with you?!

Kate
Kate
3 years ago

EXACTLY what I was thinking!! That kid’s mind was sooo damaged. I was prescribed Prozac when I was about 17, it was a nightmare & made me have extremely scary thoughts. I legit felt insane… I felt way worse on Prozac than before. Then, I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was 26 & was put on Ritalin. It also made me feel awful! It helped the ADHD but it was like when the dose was starting to wear off, I would get intense waves of extreme mood changes, I would feel just really out of it & crazy. Thankfully,… Read more »

Mr. W
Mr. W
3 years ago

Every person, adult and teenager, is going to react differently to psychotropic medication. What works for some may not work for others. However, drugs are not to be blamed in this scenario. Thousands of teens were and still are prescribed Prozac yet only one teen who was prescribed this medication went off the deep end. Blaming Prozac, Ritalin or any other drug for one’s actions alleviates responsibility and plays right into the victim hood mentality that seems to be so popular in America. If Prozac helps my daughter, if she needed such help, then there is no hesitation on my… Read more »

rev
rev
3 years ago
Reply to  Mr. W

not just one, every school shooter

Nunya dambidness
Nunya dambidness
3 years ago
Reply to  rev

I was proscribed all three of those meds. I abused Ritalin and drank ontop of my kolonipin. All I ever did was excessively jack off and watch porn for 8hrs on Ritalin. When I drank on top of the Kpins I’d lose my motor skills and fall down. I started using cocaine after that. I’m sober now I’m so glad all I did was touch myself and not kill anyone. Ritalin is useless unless you have an erectile disfunction.

\._./
\._./
3 years ago

Hah, when I did vyvanse in 8th grade, I would use it to starve myself so I could blow myself. In case it wasn’t clear, it worked. For studying though, definitely did not.

Natalie
Natalie
2 years ago
Reply to  rev

It can’t be that school shooters tend to have a history of mental illness. No, no, the causative factor is the MEDICATION, not the illness. Of course. 🙄

Do you people think, at all?

TJ fitz
TJ fitz
3 years ago

how do u spell defense wrong that many times

Jayne
Jayne
2 years ago

Ew, freak.

M. P.
M. P.
2 years ago

Jeff was always kind towards me. Always gave me a hug before my 7th period math class. He was a senior when I was a freshman so that made me feel special. We would occasionally hangout during lunch if I wasn’t trying to find a place to smoke. Went to Good Shepard Catholic Church.

Lisa Jones
Lisa Jones
4 months ago
Reply to  M. P.

Hey there- Thanks for telling us something nice about him. I am his aunt and don’t think I can ever forgive him.

Céline
Céline
3 months ago
Reply to  Lisa Jones

I’m so, so sorry you and your family have been through such a horrific ordeal.

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