On March 10, 1998, a topless man sat in the back seat of a police car in Huntsville, Alabama and smiled at the camera.
This man was Jeffrey Franklin, who had just murdered his parents Cynthia and Gerald, armed with a sledgehammer and a knife.
The 17-year-old had also attempted to murder three of his younger siblings. Police were called after someone saw one of the children lying outside in a pool of blood, Morbidology reports.
When the police and ambulance arrived, they were horrified by what they found, thinking they were responding to the case of an injured child.
Franklin, who had already fled his family home by this point, was pursued by police and ended up crashing into a fence.
Jeffrey Franklin smiled and spat at people as he was arrested after murdering his parents. (YouTube/WHNT News 19)
The Alabama killer was shirtless when cops dragged him from his car and placed him in the back seat of their vehicle. The infamous photo shows him sitting there grinning.
According to WHNT, he had carved an upside-down cross into his torso, and an investigator claimed he was awake for days before committing the murders.
In the footage of his arrest, he can be seen being led away in handcuffs, smiling and spitting at people nearby.
Cynthia and Gerald were pronounced dead at the scene, their family home, while all three children survived, albeit with life-changing injuries.
Franklin claimed to have been at home, but initially did not admit to being the killer, according to AL.com; instead, he tried to claim that an “evil entity” had taken possession of his body.
A photo of Franklin taken in prison in 2012. (Alabama Department of Corrections)
Although he initially pleaded not guilty, Jeffrey Franklin pleaded guilty to two counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder in 2001 and was sentenced to multiple life sentences, to be served consecutively.
“I don’t blame anyone for the reactions to me because I feel like I justify most of them,” he later said in an interview about his crimes.
At the time of his sentencing, he said he would “hope and pray that one day my family can forgive me for the things I have done” and that “I know God has already forgiven me.”
He also claimed that he was abusing the drug Ritalin and that a doctor had continued to prescribe him large amounts despite these statements.
Under Alabama law, someone serving a life sentence is eligible for parole after 15 years.
Franklin’s first attempt at parole in 2016 was unsuccessful, and his attempt at parole was again denied in 2022.
