BY DAN HORN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
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Joseph Paul Franklin is accused of two 18-year-old racially motivated slayings.
(Tony Jones photo)
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Melissa Powers' courtship of Joseph Paul Franklin began with an exchange of phone numbers and the age-old question, "What's your sign?"
A few days later, they talked on the phone about relationships, trust and the differences between men and women.
Finally, at their first meeting, Mr. Franklin gazed into Ms. Powers' eyes and told her what she wanted to hear.
"I killed those dudes," he said.
Ms. Powers' story unfolded in court Tuesday when she described in detail how she persuaded the convicted serial killer to discuss his possible involvement in one of Cincinnati's most baffling murder cases.
The taped statement Mr. Franklin eventually gave her is now a key piece of evidence linking him to the 1980 shooting deaths of two teen-age cousins in Bond Hill.
Ms. Powers, an assistant prosecutor in Hamilton County, said she decided to approach Mr. Franklin about the case last year after spending weeks studying his history and habits.
In a handwritten letter, which included a copy of her photo identification, she invited him to meet with her in person. Mr. Franklin was impressed. "I'll tell you, you're so gorgeous," he told Ms. Powers in a phone call. "It'll be nice just sitting down face to face and talking with you, you know. A really pretty lady."
"Well," Ms. Powers responded, "I'm excited about meeting you, too."
Ms. Powers testified Tuesday that she spent a great deal of time making small talk with Mr. Franklin because she did not want to alienate him by dwelling too much on the murder case. She said his background suggested he "liked to be in control," so she let him dictate most of the topics they discussed.
She also said he seemed more willing to talk to women and, in some cases, to confess his crimes to them.
Mr. Franklin's attorney, Dale Schmidt, asked Common Pleas Judge Ralph Winkler to throw out Mr. Franklin's statement, saying Ms. Powers lured him into the interview with her letters and because she never properly informed him of his constitutional rights. Mr. Schmidt suggested that his client met with Ms. Powers only so he could confess to "a pretty investigator." Ms. Powers said Mr. Franklin knew exactly what he was doing.
"He is a professional in his choice of careers," said Ms. Powers, referring to Mr. Franklin's connection to as many as 18 murders. "He knew his rights probably better than I did. He was in control of this. He could have terminated this at any time."
In phone conversations last year, Mr. Franklin often asked more questions than Ms. Powers. He urged her to visit him, inquired about her marital status and told her he could tell by her picture that she was "a good-hearted person."
Mr. Franklin, a believer in the occult, also asked Ms. Powers about her astrological sign. After telling him, she noted that he had a birthday coming up.
"You done all the homework on me," Mr. Franklin said.
"I've done some homework, I assure," Ms. Powers said.
Impressed with her research, Mr. Franklin agreed to meet with her at the Missouri prison where he was on death row for another murder. At that time, he promised, he would tell her whether he killed Dante Evans Brown and Darrell Lane in Cincinnati 18 years ago.
When she arrived at the prison a few days later, Ms. Powers said Mr. Franklin approached her, leaned his shoulder into hers, looked over his glasses and said: "You know I did it. I killed those dudes." In the taped statement that followed, Mr. Franklin detailed how he crouched on a railroad trestle for hours before deciding to shoot the two boys as they walked along Reading Road. He said he shot the cousins, who were black, because he wanted to start a race war that would rid the United States of blacks and Jews.
"I was trying to get rid of all the ugly people in the world," he explained. "I considered the blacks the ugliest people of all." Asked whether she thought Mr. Franklin felt threatened by her when he gave the statement, Ms. Powers said he actually seemed to enjoy it.
"He was not in fear of me," she said. "I think it was the other way around."
Judge Winkler said he will rule next week on whether to allow the statement at Mr. Franklin's trial next month.
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