A couple in upstate New York stands accused of killing their adoptive special needs son.
And prosecutors believe they may have been inspired to do so by the movie Manchester by the Sea.
On March 1, 16-year-old Jeffrey Franklin was found dead after a fire broke out at the Mount Upton, New York home he shared with his parents, Ernest Franklin and Heather Franklin.
A few weeks later, Ernest and Heather were arraigned on charges of second-degree murder, arson and tampering with physical evidence, with a plea of not guilty entered on their behalf.
The couple is being held without bail at Chenango County Correctional Facility.
This is where things get tricky, confusing and possibly very, very shady:
An investigation after the fire revealed that Jeffrey – a special needs child who was deaf and who battled bladder and bowel control problem – did NOT have smoke or soot in his mouth, trachea or bronchi.
These findings strongly imply that the teenager did not actually die in the fire.
According to a transcript of last Friday’s bail review, Chenango County District Attorney Joseph McBride alleged that on the night of Jeffrey’s death, Heather watched the Oscar-nominated film, Manchester by the Sea.
It stars Casey Affleck as a man kills his children in an accidental fire.
In the story, Affleck’s character is told you cannot be prosecuted for accidentally killing one’s kids, leading McBride to tell a judge that he thinks this spawned an idea and a scheme by Ernest and Heather.
“Within two hours of that movie playing to this defendant and her husband, Jeffrey’s deceased,” McBride said in court.
He went on to detail the strange actions by both Heather and Ernest on the night/early morning in question, along with their excuses for such actions.
“She [Heather Franklin] inexplicably left the house, driving around Chenango County and Delaware County, and doesn’t return until the fire totally engulfs the house,” McBride said at the hearing, based on court transcripts.
Heather told the cops that she drove to a pair of stores, looking for a certain prescription drug, but evidence (in the form of surveillance video, we assume) shows she never went to the aisle in either store where the drug was located.
Ernest, meanwhile, told police that he was not at home at the time of the fire because he was out trying to chase down the family dogs.
But prosecutors say there was no evidence that any animals lived in the home.
The Franklins adopted Jeffrey in 2012.
“There was a very big strain on the family relationship because of Jeffrey’s special needs and that this defendant was complaining on Facebook about the strain that that was putting on her,” McBride said of Heather.
McBride said that an autopsy determined that Jeffrey died prior to the fire being started, but that his charred corpse makes it nearly impossible to determine a cause of death.
When authorities arrived on the scene, Ernest was “very calm, cool, collected,” McBride said in court.
“He pointed to the room where Jeffrey was lying, and the defendant had no physical injuries from any attempt to try to save [his child].”
If convicted, both of the Franklins face up to 25 years to life in prison.
Heather is pregnant and her lawyer is therefore requesting that she be released due to the “high-risk” nature of her physical state.
As of this writing, Ernest Franklin’s bail was set at $ 250,000 and his wife’s at $ 125,000. Neither has posted bail.