27-year-old murder still under investigation

SANDUSKY — The Sandusky Police Department's detective bureau isn't short of work. Detective Eric Costante, for example, is swamped with open investigations. One case in particular Costante is determined to solve is a 27-year-old homicide. Ida May Franklin was found murdered in her home on April 9, 1994. The small 72-year-old woman had been viciously killed, and though two decades have since passed, no arrest was ever made. "This was bad," Costante said. "It needs to be solved." Neighborhood murder According to Costante, Ida May Franklin was known around her neighborhood as a feisty woman — small but feisty. She lived in a small shack at 1312 N. Depot St. (now Seavers Way), that has since been demolished. She was a fixture in her community. "She was well known by her neighbors," Costante said. "And she was always in contact with her family." That is why, when family hadn't heard from Franklin for three days and found mail piled on her stoop, they decided to check in at her small rundown home. When they attempted to open the front door, it wouldn't budge. "There was a couch pushed up against the front of the door, someone moved it there," Costante said. "The house was dirty and in disarray, but you could tell someone had been in there." The scene inside the house was violent. Franklin had been beaten, stabbed, her throat had been slashed and she was stuffed under a mattress in the middle of her family room. Blood spray on the walls suggest that Ida had been attacked and then dragged across the floor still alive. "There was a large amount of blood," Costante said, "on the walls and pooled near her body." A bloody scarf was found near Ida's body that is believed to have been wrapped around her neck and used to drag her through the room. Costante said robbery is the suspected motive; Franklin had just received her Social Security check from the bank. One of Franklins shoes had been thrown across the room, and she was known to have hidden her money in her shoe. "It didn't make sense where the shoe was in terms of the scene," Costante said. "Someone who knew her did this." Detectives in 1994 took few photographs (every photo cost the department money to be developed, Costante said) and the ones they did take were grainy and dark. Blood smears on the wall and blood pools on the floor scream 'evidentiary treasure trove' to contemporary law enforcement. But in 1994, that wasn't the case. "This is frustrating to see," Costante said. "This is a very solvable case by today's standards." Cold case breakthroughs The evidence gathered in Franklin's case would be a detectives' gold mine today — fingerprints and blood found spread throughout the home could have easily identified a suspect. Unfortunately, in 1994, DNA testing was still in its infancy and not available to most small police departments. "There is a lot of evidence here," Costante said. "With DNA we could have gotten prints from the door and the walls." Using DNA analysis in cold cases has shown promise in several unsolved cases. Advancements in genetic analysis provides law enforcement a re-do in some cases. A rape case from 1999 in Cleveland was solved over the summer when DNA collected from a rape kit was connected to an Elyria resident by investigative genetic genealogists, the detective said. "Law enforcement has had tremendous success in solving these cases since DNA has become available," Costante said. "There have been cold case breakthroughs." Costante is also utilizing similar genetic technology to determine the identity of a woman found dead in Lake Erie 41 years ago. Ohio's Bureau of Criminal Investigations has a separate cold case unit that is dedicated to testing genetic material submitted for shelved cases. Currently, Ohio's BCI has 2,208 unsolved cases in their database, according to their website. "The technicians and chemists at BCI do a fantastic job," Costante said. "It's, with them, that these cases get solved." For Franklin, Costante sent the shoe, a shirt and oral swabs to BCI to be tested. But the results were disappointing. "The results came back as inconsequential, nothing suitable for comparison," Costante said. The investigation isn't over yet. Costante said he opened up the case to new eyes and new perspectives, he is determined to solve this murder. Not the end Franklin's case was initially reopened in the early 2000's. Costante said some headway was made and suspects were identified but not enough to execute an arrest. The case was then reviewed again in 2019, but COVID put an already stretched police department under further strain. "I started looking into it with Detective Gary Wichman, he was on the force the same time as the original detective, John Pezeka," Costante said. "He was bothered that Ida was never finished." Wichman and Costante worked through Ida's case with a fine-tooth comb and collected all documentation they could find on her, he said. "We spent a lot of time going through the details and making sure we had all the reports." Costante said. Wichman has since retired, and Costante is persistent in his mission to finally close the book on this case. Costante wants the other detectives look at Franklin's murder to get a new look and maybe new ideas. "He did what he could for it and I'm going to do what I can to finish it," Costante said. "I want the detectives to get together as a team and compare our notes. We can look at it with fresh eyes and they might be able to see something we missed." Franklin still has family in the area. When Franklin's nephew found out the department was revisiting his aunts' murder case, he was shocked and grateful, Costante said. "When we talked to them about this, it nearly brought tears to their eyes," he said. For 27 years, someone has gotten away with the crime and that, Costante said, is unacceptable. The detective said there is a person of interest, and that person is still alive. "Someone needs to be held accountable for this," Costante said. "I feel very confident about this case. I feel we are all on the right page with it." If anyone has any information or knowledge pertaining to Ida's case, they are encouraged to contact Costante at 419-627-5866.