Investigators tied two Aiken County homicides and a brutal beating in downtown Augusta to one man.
Franklin Wright, 55, is accused of strangling two Aiken County women on Aug. 11, then burning their bodies. He was also named by Richmond County authorities as the man who beat the owner of a convenience store so badly Wednesday night that the first deputy arriving at the store thought she had been shot.
Jennie Hope, 54, owner of Lotto Express, at 13th and Broad streets, remained in critical condition Thursday night at Medical College of Georgia Hospital, according to authorities. A hospital spokeswoman could not update her condition because of medical privacy laws.
Authorities were searching for Wright on Thursday night in the area of Jones Street and Railroad Avenue in Blythe. A tipster told the Richmond County Sheriff's Office he was seen in that area on foot late in the afternoon.
Wright is believed to be armed with a handgun and has no means of transportation. He is "seeking opportunities to evade capture" and should be considered "extremely dangerous," the sheriff's office said Thursday evening. Deputies were in the area notifying the public to be on high alert.
Wright, who lives on Oliver Road in Beech Island, is the only known link between the deaths of Yana Schenker, 75, a wealthy former athlete, and Shalamar Byrd, 38, whom neighbors described as a prostitute.
A ring belonging to Schenker was found with Byrd's burned body, but an Aiken County Sheriff's Office spokesman remained mum Thursday about any other connection between the women or Wright.
Schenker's son, Billy Schenker, said he broke down and cried Thursday when he heard about the downtown beating.
"I'm greatly relieved they found somebody," he said. "I'm also horrified that another woman was assaulted. My prayers go out to her and her family."
Schenker wouldn't comment on whether his mother knew or had contact with Wright in the past. The latest attack happened Wednesday night as Hope worked alone at Lotto Express, just across the street from the Huddle House.
Richmond County sheriff's Capt. Scott Peebles said she was probably lying unconscious for an hour and a half before she was discovered by a customer about 10 p.m. in a back room.
The beating was first reported as a shooting because of the severity of her injuries. Peebles said she had been beaten in the head and arms during a robbery.
Vicky Whittle, the manager of the Subway next door, said that although the two businesses are connected, the employee who closed the restaurant about 9 p.m. never saw or heard anything suspicious.
Hope frequently told panhandlers and others causing trouble near the store to leave and never come back, Whittle said.
Beech Island resident Franklin Wright, 55, is wanted in connection with the killing of two women whose bodies were found Aug. 11 in Aiken County and the severe beating of another woman in Augusta on Wednesday night.
Anyone with information on his whereabouts should call 911 or the Richmond County Sheriff's Office at (706) 821-1080.
The burned bodies of two women were found Aug. 11 at separate locations in Aiken County. Autopsies determined both women died of asphyxiation before being burned.
DEVELOPMENTS:
- On Aug. 13, one victim, Yana Schenker, 75, was identified. Authorities said they believe the same person or people killed both women and set the fires to destroy evidence.
- On Aug. 16, authorities said a ring worn by the unidentified victim belonged to Schenker.
- On Aug. 24, a sketch of the unidentified woman was released. Four days later, the brother of Shalamar N. Byrd recognized her from the sketch and contacted authorities.
- On Wednesday, a memorial was held at Neighborhood Outreach of Sims Avenue, where Byrd frequented.
- On Thursday, police in Richmond and Aiken counties linked Franklin Wright, 55, of Beech Island, to the brutal beating of an Augusta store owner and the deaths of Schenker and Byrd. Authorities were searching for Wright on Thursday night in Blythe.
Sounds like "an eye for an eye" time to me. Hydra-Shok is ready when you are.
wow! a month-long investigation of some folks growing plants while this is going on. money well spent...the war on drugs affects everyone.
hope you get well, jennie and/or garth.
Search for the perp with rounds in their chambers and your safeties off, please.
Another owner of a store who is open after dark and has no 100 dollar video system. When will merchants ever learn? I dare say that if crooks even saw a camera mounted on the wall, they would think twice.
AMEN dichotomy! I hope that worthless piece of scum resists arrest and gets exactly what he deserves. Here this store owner let him work around the store to earn money and he did this to her in return. Oh, NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's called a,"False Sense of Security." People better start having the Old West mentality and be "packing" where ever they go. Why do people assume they'll never be a target? Don't folks realize they could be the next victim at any time? What is so hard about being aware of who is standing next to you, who is following to close, and what would you do should something happen? Have a plan of some sort in your head and be ready. My prayers are with the victim as I say this. Why in the world would she leave herself wide open to this homeless person and give him access to her business? It's obvious to anyone that a Lotto store takes in alot of cash on a daily basis and this homeless man had an agenda from the start. He just waited for the right time and was successful in his plan. I'm very sorry for the damage he has done. Please people quit walking thru this life with trust for people who could careless about you and please turn that false sense of security into preparedness,be alert to the possibilities of what could happen to you at any moment.
Treerock, cops can't be everywhere at all times. And come on guys, you all have convicted and executed a homeless guy who at this time is only a suspect. If it is him then let the full wrath come down on, but it's early yet for that.
beboisme- SO TRUE and well said. Thank you for reminding us that we are all potential victims and should be aware of our surroundings at all times. While I believe Ms. Hope put herself in a high risk situation by being alone in the store at night, perhaps she felt working late was necessary to successfully run her business. I pray she has a speedy recovery and makes a plan to keep herself and her business safe in the future.
Why would this homeless man be a suspect? Just because he frequented the store and did odd jobs?
We need to be careful about accusing individuals, becoming judge, jury and executioner before we have all the facts or some more proof than "he was homeless and use to do odd jobs around the store".
With that being said, If he's guilty, then he should be prosecuted.
...Innocent until proven guilty?
guilty until proven someone else is guilty...
If we can't trust our justice system why do we have one?
Treerock, if your suggestion is for law enforcement not to waste their time stoping drugs flowing into our community, your thought process is very misguided. A very large percentage of violent crimes happen because of drugs, either the person is under the influence, needs money to buy them or his protecting their turf... And, no, legalizing them will not stop this in any way, shape or form. Either way, the cops are doing their jobs to the best of their abilities with very limited resourses and inadequate manpower. Blame the criminals, no one else...Whomever is guilty of this crime deserves life in prison or the death penalty, no matter what their race, sex or age, we must REMOVE violent criminals from our socitey by all legal means necessary.
Unless the Subway employees start carrying guns I don't know what escorting one another to their cars is going to accomplish.
cops could be more places, madsnapper, if they didn't waste time on months-long investigations into horticulture.
my thought process is just fine, asitis. the violent crimes with drugs comes from the fact that they are deemed "illegal". prohibition proved that point long ago when it was repealed. do people kill each other over turf wars for selling 40 oz. of king cobra? not any more because that market isn't being forced into the hands of criminals.
my suggestion is for police officers to protect the community (as well as for the community to stand up for itself), not worry about what plants are in someone's garden. the war on drugs has not stemmed the flow only driven the market underground to be controlled by thugs and gangsters.
yes, law enforcement should remove violent criminals from OUR society. and they could do that a whole lot better if they were not weeding the countryside and wasting BILLIONS of tax dollars on this failed policy.
Drug addicts commit murder and robberies to steal money to buy drugs. It wouldn't matter if they bought them at CVS, it's their addiction that causes crime. Legalizing drugs will only allow people who currently do not do them (because they are illegal) to become drugged out zombies hitting honest people in the head for a buck.
Augusta is quickly devolving into a third world country
So, according to you, Ushouldnthave, people who don't use drugs now would be zombies if they were legal. Craziness. You really have no idea. You must hang with a mentally challenged crowd. It's legal to drink gas now but people I'm around don't touch the stuff.
so now, all drug addicts are also murderers and thieves? now that thought process is misguided.
do you also believe that ONLY drug addicts commit these heinous crimes?
what about the criminals whacked out of their minds on religion that commit horrible atrocities?
from wikipedia:
* Tony Alamo - Headed a Santa Clarita commune. Convicted of tax evasion in 1994 and then resided in a halfway house in Texarkana. In 2009, he was convicted of ten federal counts of taking minors across state lines for sex, and sentenced to 150 years in federal prison.
* Shoko Asahara - Founder of Aum Shinrikyo sentenced to death by hanging under Japanese law for involvement in the 1995 Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway.
* Wayne Bent (aka: Michael Travesser) - Founder of Lord Our Righteousness Church, sometimes called Strong City. Was convicted of one counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor in 2008. Was sentenced to 18 years with eight years suspended.
* Matthew F. Hale - Former leader of Creativity Movement sentenced to a 40-year prison term for soliciting an undercover FBI informant to kill a federal judge.
* Warren Jeffs - Once President of Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (a polygamist Mormon sect), convicted of rape as an accomplice (overturned in 2010). Jeffs also awaits trial in other states and in the federal court system.
* Jung Myung Seok - South Korean religious sect leader and founder of Providence. Convicted for raping several of his followers.
* William Kamm - An Australian religious sect leader and self-styled Pope Peter II who was sentenced to prison in October 2005 for a string of sexual attacks on a 15-year-old girl. In August 2007 his sentence was increased after being found guilty for a series of sexual abuses against another teenage girl over a five year period.
* Ervil LeBaron - Led a small sect of polygamous Mormon fundamentalists, and was convicted of involvement in the murder of two people and plotting to kill another person in 1981.
* Alice Lenshina - Zambian head and founder of the Lumpa Church. Conflicts with the government over the sect's rejection of taxes led to a violent confrontation and her subsequent imprisonment.
* Jeffrey Lundgren - Headed splinter group from Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, executed October 24, 2006, for multiple murders.
* Charles Manson - Leader of the Manson Family who is serving life for first degree murder.
* Shukri Mustafa - Egyptian leader of Takfir wal-Hijra who was captured and executed for the kidnap murder of an Egyptian ex-government minister.
* Fred Phelps - Leader of anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church. Convicted for disorderly conduct and battery.
* Howard Douglas Porter - Pastor at Hickman Community Church, convicted of first-degree murder, embezzlement, elder abuse and attempted murder in 2008.
* Swami Premananda of Tiruchirapalli - Inidian religious leader convicted and sentenced to two life sentences for the rape of 13 girls and murder in 2005.
* Jacques Robidoux - Leader of defunct group The Body of Christ who is serving time for first degree murder after starving his son, apparently thinking it was God's will.
* Paul Schäfer - Former head of Chile-based Colonia Dignidad, was convicted of sexually abusing 25 children.
* Roch Thériault - Former head of "Ant Hill Kids commune" serving a life sentence in Canada for the murder of Solange Boislard.
* Yahweh Ben Yahweh - Head of Nation of Yahweh, convicted for Federal racketeering charges and conspiracy involving 14 murders.
* Dwight York - Head of Nuwaubianism, convicted in 2004 of multiple RICO, child molestation, and financial reporting charges and sentenced to 135 years in prison.
should religion be prohibited? of course not, that is a ridiculous notion because not all religious figures commit these crimes.
murderers commit murders, thieves commit thievery, tax-cheats commit tax evasion, sick MFer's commit rape and molestation...
Dissman, the article clearly states in plain English-- "Police are reviewing surveillance videos to obtain an image of the suspect."
To me that would indicate that the store does have a surveillance system. Were you in such a hurry to make it seem that it was some fault of the business owner's that you didn't see that?
The addicts are already addicted. Legal, yet well regulated, would lower the price and take the dealer and all the associated problems away. The addicts would not be as hard up, hence less crime. They get violent when the drugs run out in most cases, so let em be high if they want and leave the rest of us alone. The billions in taxes surely could'nt hurt either.
Isn't this the second attack a homeless person has been involved in the last couple of weeks?
Refer to this scumbag as an "Urban Outdoorsman" so the obama zombies don't get their panties in a wad. Jennie you have the right last name "Hope" I hope you will recover, let's all say a little prayer for this woman
Land of the free home of the violent. Since when does someone have to beat a person nearly to death to steal a few dollars? This is just too common.
Would the potential thieves, murderers etc... be so inclined to commit such acts of violence if they knew they were being watched via cctv? Maybe, maybe not. I would suppose it depends on how stupid the idiot is. Some have taken chances at the thought that no one would recognize who they were on tape anyway. Fools take chances all the time. That's why their called fools. It's my thought that these acts of violence aren't just because the thieves are desperate for money, but because they really like the act of human suffering at their hands. In Mulberry,Fl. they still have their hanging tree in the center of town from days of long ago. Too bad it's not utilized there and other places in our crumbling country. Is it justfiable for someone to deliberatly take the life of another and simply be allowed to take another breath on this earth when found guilty of brutal murders. It's my opinion that the Judicial system take a good long and hard look at how being "civil" to a murderer is screwed up. I cannot phathom the reasons for being allowed life for taking a life. What will it take to change the laws and move these criminals from the court room to the chair. No appeals court, no last meal, and certainly no good bye's to loved ones. Give what they gave their victims, nothing more, nothing less.
The Urban Outdoorsman should get the "Eternal Dirt Nap"
If he is guilty, he is clearly so very violent that he needs to be swiftly and certainly punished by execution.
Uh, treerock, veering a little off topic there, dude...
For what it's worth, Frank Wright worked for me for over a year. He does not drink or smoke, is a vegetarian, and exercises religiously. He owns property in Beech Island and is not homeless. Though a little eccentric, he was a hard working and honest employee. It is extremely hard for me to connect the man I know with these crimes.
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