https://www.wlbt.com/story/8013544/three-on-your-side-investigates-cold-case-mystery-of-mabel-conic/Three On Your Side Investigates: Cold Case Mystery of Mabel ConicMarch 13, 2008 at 9:29 PM CDT - Updated July 26 at 5:55 AM
By Marsha Thompson
marsha@wlbt.net
A Bolton man linked to a cold case murder mystery dating back to 1999 has been released on his own recognizance. Ricky Franklin was charged with capital murder and kidnapping in the death of a Jackson woman. Her remains were found in the same area of Bolton as three other women.
It was July of 1999 when the body of a young black female was found shot to death near an oil well near the St. Thomas community of Bolton. Her remains were never identified. She's known as Jane Doe #1.On Halloween 1999, squirrel hunters walked up on the remains of second body at a separate location on St. Thomas Road. Investigators identified 23-year-old Shanon McKinney, stabbed 48 times in the head with a screwdriver.
In the same area they found Jane Doe #2, a woman beaten, shot and partially burned.
The other victim discovered was Mabel Conic, a known prostitute, age 41. Her cause of death was listed as possible gunshot trauma.
Nine years ago, at the scene of the murders, we asked Hinds County Sheriff Malcolm McMillin if he had concluded he had a serial killer on his hands.
"We may have a serial killer (or) we may have someone who killed three people at one time," McMillin said then.
On Thursday, Ricky Levert Franklin was shackled as he was led to court to face kidnapping and capital murder charges in Conic's death. Franklin lived 4.7 miles away from the killing fields. He has remained locked up on a separate case for the last four years.
Franklin had no comment except when he uttered "Praise God."
He had faced murder charges before in the case, but the charges were dismissed due to a lack of evidence.
Hinds County cold case Investigators tried to present new evidence linking him to the murder Thursday. Rebecca Pittman, who works for the Hinds County Sheriff's Department, took the stand outlining evidence that law enforcement felt tied Franklin to Conic's murder, including an anonymous phone call to the victim's family.
Pittman said co-defendant Buster Davis admitted to the FBI and other investigators that he anonymously telephoned Conic's brother and told them Franklin killed Conic. She testified that Conic's boyfriend saw her get into a red sports car with two black males matching Franklin and Davis' descriptions on Mill Street near Monument Street.
She also stated that in 2000, a witness reported to the FBI that in 1999 Davis told him that after the two picked her up they drove to a convenience store. Conic, she said, begged Davis for help, telling him Franklin was going to kill her. Davis saw Conic's hands were tied together.
Pittman also stated that Davis revealed that Franklin shot Conic with some type of hunting firearm at close range in his red Camaro and that Franklin lives in Bolton and Conic was killed in Bolton. Franklin "loves to beat up prostitutes" and this was not the first time Franklin has killed a woman."
But court appointed lawyer Mike Scott dismissed the information as new evidence in the cold case and said there is nothing new since the charges were previously dropped by Hinds County District Attorney Faye Peterson's office. The Judge didn't buy it either. Franklin walked away a free man.
The case will again be presented to a Hinds County Grand Jury. Franklin's attorney's insist lawmen have the wrong man. Franklin's Uncle refused to go on camera with WLBT News Wednesday, but told us Ricky is not a vicious killer, "It was an unsolved case. They are just trying to pin this on someone but all that will come out in court."
Franklin will go back to the St. Thomas community where he grew up, and cold case investigators have more work to do.
Hinds County Court Judge William Barnett dropped kidnapping charges against Franklin. His case will be bound over to the Grand Jury on murder charges only.