48 Hours - Fatal Choice

Episode Date: October 21, 2026

On August 16, 2009, 9-1-1 operators received two separate calls from the same house. A husband and wife had each dialed in, claiming their partner had stabbed them. When the husband died of his wounds, investigators were left wondering if the killing was self-defense or a cold-blooded murder. "48 Hours" correspondent Peter Van Sant reports. This classic "48 Hours" episode last aired on 9/3/2011. Watch all-new episodes of “48 Hours” on Saturdays and stream on demand on Paramount+.

On the night of August 16th, 2009, I was returning home from vacation with my family when I received a phone call from my lieutenant who told me that there was a stabbing over on Stafford Road. When I arrived at the scene, I talked with some of the other officers. They said that Sandra Franklin, the wife, was responsible for stabbing Dr. Franklin in the chest. I'm Detective Sergeant Andy Kelly with Bainrich Police Department in Jog County, Ohio. County, Ohio. She's brought back to the station by one of our officers. Her photograph is taken.

From there, she was brought up to the interview room. Hi, I'm Sergeant Kelly. This isn't a case of who done it. She admitted that she had stabbed him. I don't like that. But now we needed to find out how this occurred, why it occurred. He smacked me hard in the face and knocked me his ground. And who was the primary aggressor in this case?

And then he put it up to my 30s and I'm going to kill you, you bitch. I loved Peter and Peter loved me. He says, I'll kill you before I let you have my property. At least I thought he did. It all happened so fast. One word leads to another and he hits me. He was in the process of attacking me. I grabbed the knife.

I was not wielding it at him. He's angry and he's sweating. And I'm backed up to the sink. Anybody in that laundry room at that time would have done the same thing. And I winced. And I winced and went like that. I didn't want to kill him.

I hope he's not dead. It was too early at that point to draw a conclusion, but some of her story just wasn't matching up. There was no signs of any physical violence in the house. She said that she was slapped in the face, knocked to the ground. She said she had this big red mark. I didn't see it at all.

There was no mark whatsoever. My intent was to just get out of a dangerous situation. She attacked him. There's no rational reason for me to do this. I don't have any motive to kill my husband. It is a case of murder. He had had the keys shoved up against my throat saying he's going to kill me. I'm not going to die.

On a hot August night. Okay, what's your address? 94-95 sounder. 56-year-old Sandra Franklin calls police to report a violent confrontation. You stabbed him with what? With a knife, a kitchen knife. As paramedics and police in Bainbridge, Ohio rushed to Sandra's horse. farm, oddly a second call comes in from the same address.

What's the problem there? Stab wound. This one from the victim himself. You were stabbed with a knife? Who stabbed you? My wife. 73-year-old Peter Franklin. He stumbled into the backyard, bleeding heavily from a single stab wound to the chest. Does she do it intentionally?

Yes. Within hours, Peter Franklin was dead, and his wife, Sandra, was charged with his murder. I'm absolutely not the murder. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't cry. But what could have brought a loving relationship to this? I still love my husband. Sandra and Peter's love affair had started nine years earlier. He was just a fantastic figure of a man to me.

After several failed relationships, they both felt they'd finally met the love of their lives. He was a doctor, and I love that about him, too, that he was out there helping people. In fact, since his early 20s, Peter Franklin's whole life had been about helping others. He was a person who cared deeply. for other people. He wanted to go and learn different things about different countries. Liz Franklin is Peter's first wife.

They met in her home country, South Africa, while he was in the Peace Corps in the early 60s. And he also wanted to go to Vietnam to help somehow there. After the Peace Corps, Peter did go to Vietnam. Volunteering to help wounded children trapped in the war zone. The experience inspired him to become a doctor.

Was Peter a good man? I think he was a very good man. He could drive you nuts, but he was a very, very good man. Peter Franklin was brilliant, but could be infuriating with his detachment. Peter and Liz settled in a small town just outside of Cleveland, Ohio, where Peter started a family medical practice. In 1965, the couple had a couple had a family medical practice. the couple had a son, Brahm.

Everyone called him Brahmi. Tragically, while on a camping trip with his father, Brami was killed in a freak accident while playing near an abandoned gas tank. He was just 10 years old. What impacted Brami's death have on Peter? A huge impact, and he was very, very sad and really missed him very much.

After Bramie's death, Peter and Liz drifted apart. Their 17-year-long marriage ended in divorce. When I met him, he was a kind and very generous person. Three years later, Peter met Bobby Ardors, a single mom of two boys. My sons were 12 and 13. They looked up to him. If anything I could bank him for is my one son is a doctor now, and the other son's an engineer.

and they quite recall all the good things he did for them. He was such a good person. But like Liz, Bobby noticed there was a strange underside to Peter's personality. Could Peter be exasperating at times? He could be because he lacked the emotion and the awareness that I think a woman or most people would want. It led to their breakup. And Peter remained one of the most eligible bachelor's in the county for years until he met Sandra.

Good girl. This was an amazing thing to fall so deeply in love with somebody so quickly. We would go hunting and the rest of the group couldn't find us. They were getting angry with us because we'd be dropping off and dropping off and get lost in the woods together. It was just so spectacular.

There's nothing quite like being in love. But the two of them had come from different worlds. While Peter had grown up wealthy in New York City, Sandra came from a poor family in rural Ohio. I lived in trailer parks quite a bit, and my mother was a breadwinner. I was horse crazy from the time I was three. And through horses, she made a career, teaching riding to children. I just loved the interaction that I had with the kids, and it was really just a wonderful, wonderful life.

A wonderful life, she hoped she'd continue with Peter. I've pronounced it to your husband and wife. Only three months after their first date, Sandra became Mrs. Franklin. This was the start of something that was going to be just the best thing in my life. But the romance quickly faded. I think he has something wrong with him. He would hit me. He would pick me up and throw me.

He was kill or be killed. That's right. Peter really loved his horses. And I loved the horses, too. Yes. Peter and Sandra married in 2000, spending as much time as they could on horseback. Peter would say, someday I'd like to find my lifelong princess.

And Sandy McDermott, Peter's office manager for nearly 20 years, says he acted as if he'd finally found his princess. He loved me with all his heart as far as I could see early on. But soon after they were married, Sandra started taking control of Peter's life, including the office. And when she was there, she segregated Peter off to himself. Eventually, she fired McDermott and took over managing the office herself. I worked very, very hard for the office and policymaking and answering the phone.

Almost immediately, things began to change. In 2003, in a move to increase profits, Peter dropped his malpractice insurance, something Sandra says she objected to. I said, Peter, please don't do this. Just get the insurance. And to protect his wealth in case he was ever sued, Peter transferred all of his assets worth $3 million to Sandra.

He said, I'm putting it in your name, everything, and then I'm protected, and I can save that money. And there were more changes at the practice. Peter shifted from family medicine to pain management, where he prescribed powerful narcotics. I tried to talk him out of it. Sandra says Peter began dispensing an alarming amount of narcotics. And I would say, what are you doing?

This is enough to kill a horse. State drug investigators became suspicious, and in early 2009, raided Peter's office for allegedly over-prescribing pain killers. Although there were no arrests, authorities were still watching Dr. Peter Franklin. I came to fear him intensely. Sandra says the enormous stress changed Peter. He became violent. He would slap me, shake me, push me against the wall.

But did that really happen? Peter's former girlfriend, Bobby Arders, has her doubts. He never raised a hand. to you. Never, ever raised a hand. He never raised his voice. He never showed any aggression. They didn't know him like I knew him. I didn't know him, apparently, when I married him. By the summer of 2009, the couple was on the brink of divorce. Peter was demanding his $3 million in assets back. Sandra refused to turn them over. He says, I want my land back. He He had threatened me that if he didn't get his land back, that he was going to kill me.

Pembridge 911, what's the emergency? My name is Sandra Franklin and my husband threatened me. Just a week before Peter's death, Sandra made this 911 call, fearing, she says, for her life. They sent three policemen or four policemen and he was escorted out of the house. Peter denied threatening Sandra, but agreed to stay in the house. the couple's trailer. But then on August 16th, 2009, their arguing reached the boiling point. It was a hot August day. We were in the barn, feeding horses. Peter seemed angry.

We walked into the house and we're arguing. It was here in the hallway directly off the kitchen, says Sandra, that the argument, escalated out of control. So we're in the hallway. One word leads to another, and then he hits me. He hit me in the face. All of a sudden, I feel this sharp thing on my chest. He's holding his keys, but on the keys is a knife.

He put the knife, and he put it up at my throat. And he said, I could kill you. Sandra says she backed away towards the kitchen, where she instinctively found something she could protect herself with. I grabbed the knife, just hold it down, my arms are down. I wasn't hiding it, but I was not.

I didn't think I'd have to use it. I was not wielding it at him and threatening him with it. Then he pushes me, he just flings me down the hallway. Still holding the knife, Sandra says she stumbled into the small laundry room where Peter cornered her. And he just goes like this, and he's coming down with this metal right here, right over my head. And I'm thinking, I'm not going to let him kill me. I took my knife up, and I went a short, and I winced.

I closed when I was looking up, and I winced and went like that. And he went, oh. Bleeding internally, Peter staggers through the house, toward the garage, as Sandra calls 911. Where's your husband? Peter managed to get out into the backyard, where he dialed 911. You were stab. My wife. Within minutes, police and paramedics arrived at the scene.

and took Sandra Franklin away in handcuffs. Did he push you, shove you? Yeah, he smacked me hard in the face and knocked me in the brown. But was it self-defense? You find this whole story nonsense. Yes, I do. I don't believe a word of it. I believe she killed Dr. Franklin in cold blood. As Peter Franklin laid dying on the grass outside his home,

he made one last effort to save his own life. Trying to stop the bleeding, he clutches a bundle of clothing to his chest. Peter, he's a dying man. He's catching his last breath. Why did Dr. Peter Franklin waste his last words on earth calling 911? Because he didn't think anybody was going to help him. She is not a loving wife who, oh my God, I made a mistake. I still love you, Peter. She called 911 from inside the house, and she didn't take any steps to help. As far as she was concerned, he was bleeding to death in that backyard.

and she could care less than I was going to leave him there. Jaga County prosecutors, Dave Joyce and Carly Snavely, believe Sandra Franklin's 911 call... My husband just attacked me and I stabbed him. Was nothing more than the first step in fabricating her claim of self-defense. He came at me. Okay. He hit me.

That phone call was made to help herself. Not him. What do you think of Sandra's story of what she claims happened in this space? I think everything you said was a lie. Investigator Karen Sweet believes Sandra was the aggressor. He came over to the laundry room to get some clothing out of the dryer, and as you stood up, he turned, and I think he was totally caught off guard. I think he was ambushed.

I think Sandra was right here and just stabbed him right there in the heart. Room right here? Right there. So he had no idea this was coming? No, I think he had no clue whatsoever. Because he had no defense wounds. There's no blood trail. In fact, he had no,

There was no blood at all in the laundry room. Sweet says that's because Dr. Franklin was holding laundry he'd taken out of the dryer when he was attacked. He had to have that laundry in his hand to apply to the wound immediately because that was such a severe wound, it would have been bleeding all over the floor. But Sandra has a different explanation. She claims that in the middle of his vicious attack on her, Peter suddenly stopped to get his laundry.

He bends over and he goes into the dryer. He opens the dryer to get his clothes. What was our scene though? In one moment you said he was attacking you and cutting you and then he decides to do some laundry? He originally came in there in the house to get his clothes for the next day. Why would he take a break in the middle of killing someone to get laundry? That's crazy. I'm feared for my life.

He said he was going to kill me. When Sandra was going to kill me. questioned at the station that night by Sergeant Andy Kelly, she was quick to point out the wounds on her arm she had suffered at the hands of her husband. He used some sharp object. I thought it was a knife. I don't know what it was, but he went like that.

The only injury that I had noticed was some scratch marks on her left forearm. Okay, Sanjur, can you sit down here for me, please? In the interview, she'll go look into the mirror, and she says that there's a red mark there. get me hard here and it was all red. I did not observe any red mark on her face whatsoever. I'll tell you what, we'll photograph your injuries there.

Later, when Sandra was photographed, police discovered another set of scratches on her chest that she never told police about in the interview. After the interview, she was placed into a holding cell by herself. And that's when I believe that she caused these scratches to herself. I think she was sitting in that jail cell going, oh crap, I'd better get some more injuries

on me if I'm going to get a self-defense case. And then he put it up to my 30s and I'm going to kill you. In the police interrogation, Sandra never identified exactly what the sharp object was that Peter used to leave those marks. And investigators never found that weapon at the scene. The only thing of the metal object that was located was the 12-inch butcher knife that Sandra had used to stab Dr. Franklin. But when she returned home after making bail, Sandra claims she found this sharp object,

the keychain and two-inch penknife, which she turned over to her lawyers. This is a penknife that was found nowhere on the crime scene. Why shouldn't we believe that at that moment, you Sucker punched this guy, sucker knifed him, and you murdered him. Because that's not what happened. Because I don't have any motive to kill my husband. But according to investigators, Sandra had plenty of motive. In a divorce, she stood to lose $3 million worth of Peter's assets

that he had signed over to her and was now demanding back. She wouldn't have her plush $60,000 a year job. house and the benefits that came with being the doctor's wife. She's back to Sandra Franklin, 57 years old and basically a barn hand. There was also the matter of the ongoing drug investigation into Dr. Franklin's highly profitable pain management practice. Police documents show Sandra was also a target of the investigation. Do you believe that Sandra was using Dr. Franklin to raise all this cash? She encouraged him.

to get into this illegal drug business? I do. And Sandra stood to get even more money. With Peter out of the picture, she would collect on his million-dollar life insurance policy. That policy was due to end in two weeks. And because they were divorcing, the likelihood of him throwing at another $20,000 cash

to renew that policy was probably mill. It was one of those things where all of a sudden there's a million dollars out there, and he was worth more to her dead than alive. She saw her little world starting to turn, and as the water's going down the drain, she didn't want to be part of it. And I think she worked herself up into this frenzy,

and eventually she exploded. And that explosion, unfortunately, was his death. Just nine months after Peter's death... Good morning. Please have a seat. Sandra's trial is set to begin. Sandra Franklin purposely caused the death of her husband, Peter S. Franklin. They wanted to charge her with murder.

They did charge her with murder. Her attorney, Steve Bell, is confident about her defense. Mrs. Franklin's only intent on August 16, 2009, was to defend herself. Not one minute was spent by the Bainbridge Police Department, trying to understand what she had been through. It's an embarrassment to law enforcement. She's not a murderer. She didn't murder her husband. Do you have a dark curiosity?

Heart starts pounding, horrors, hauntings, and mysteries is a weekly podcast hosted by me, Kaelin Moore. Each week, I'll take you on a dark journey through terrifying true urban legends, bizarre true crime cases, chilling tales of backwoods horror and more. So if you're looking to join a passionate community of The Darkly Curious, check out Heart Starts Pounding on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. And remember, stay curious. You know, it's been a horrible nightmare, and the only time I can truly forget about my troubles is to be on a horse. As her trial starts, Sandra Franklin is confident she will be acquitted of murdering her husband. It's a beautiful day. I feel good. We're going to get through this. If Sandra is convicted, she could spend the rest of her life in prison.

This case is about a murder. Prosecutor David Joyce wastes no time getting to the grisly details of Peter's death. Sandra Franklin took a 12-inch butcher knife and pushed it four and a half inches into her husband's chest. We're going to talk during this trial about who the aggressor was in this fight. That aggressor, defense attorney Steve Bell argues, was Peter Franklin, and Sandra had no choice but to defend herself. She believed during that struggle with Dr. Franklin that she was about to suffer death or serious physical harm. Raise your right hand. Sergeant Andy Kelly, who interrogated Sandra only hours after Peter was fatally stabbed,

Can I get you some tissues or something? Takes the stand. How many homicide cases have you investigated? Um, this would be probably the first. Bell zeroes in on Sergeant Kelly's inexperienced. Use some sharp object, I thought it was a knife. Okay. Focusing on the sharp object, the weapon that Sandra says Peter attacked her with.

Did you tell any of the Bainbridge officers to please be on the lookout for any sharp, shiny object? No, I did not. They were not interested in finding the shiny object because for minute one, they had decided that Sandra Franklin committed murder, not that Sandra Franklin had acted in self-defense. Steve Bell introduces that shiny object, Peter's keys and penknife, which Sandra says she found days after his death. We swabbed this item and tested it for blood. Defense witness, Dr. Julie Heineg, says her lab found Sandra's blood and DNA all over the keychain and knife.

The only way that could have happened is if Peter had been using that knife in the struggle that Sandra has described. Her blood was the only blood that you detected on a small pen knife. But prosecutors argue that Sandra herself could have tampered with the key. key ring and penknife before she turned it over to her lawyers. Certainly Mrs. Franklin could have scratched herself, placed her blood on there, and sent it down to you and say, hey, can you test this for me? Yeah, we only know what happened. Correct. Okay.

This penknife, do you think this is all just a bunch of nonsense? I don't doubt for a minute that it was manufactured. But that little penknife, according to Steve Bell, is the weapon that caused the wounds on Sandra's arms and chest. I think the most direct explanation for the jury is simply to use something that looks like human skin. It is decidedly a lethal weapon. So they're the cuts on the melon that you just made? They're the cuts on the arm.

They're almost identical. This is the knife that was used to make those cuts. And to make his point... Dr. Wecht, I've handed you a small utility knife. Bell brings in renowned pathologist Dr. Cyril Wex. well known for his expert testimony in the deaths of JFK, Elvis Presley, and John Bonae Ramsey. And are the abrasions on Mrs. Franklin's chest also consistent with wounds that could have been caused by that utility knife? Yes.

The defense then calls on doctors and therapists to discuss Peter's alleged physical abuse of Sandra over the previous years, though she filed no police reports to support her claim. She told me that she was hitting the head with a clipboard by her husband. A complaint of being struck in the left side of the face by her husband. Would you raise your right hand? The prosecution attempts to counter the portrayal of Peter by calling his ex-wife Liz to the stand. He could get angry, but never dangerously angry.

She's traveled all the way from South Africa to tell him. He never did anything to hurt me or anything like that. You certainly never felt in fear of him? No, never, never. Sandra never takes the stand. But Bell plays the police video of Sandra describing her husband's alleged attack. And he hit me and knocked me to the floor. Then you went into the kitchen and grabbed the knife?

The knife was just right there on the counter. I took my knife up and I went a short. And I winced. But jurors saw a very different version in the police video. No! I don't like that! She drove that knife into his chest with enough force to cut through bone. In closing, prosecutor Carly Snavely argues that whatever ignited the fatal confrontation between Peter and Sandra,

it was not a fair fight. Even if you believe every word out of the defendant's mouth, If this is not disproportionate, I don't know what is. This thing in the hands of an angry physician, who knew where to cut, knew where to kill, I'm going to kill you, bitch. I'm going to kill you, bitch. Need to put yourself in the shoes of Sandy Franklin that night.

What did she see? What did she feel? What did she fear? It came in right at his heart. But prosecutor Joyce, leave him. Dr. Joyce leaves the jury with a very different scenario. She takes this knife. She says she's hiding it somewhere in this area.

And this poor guy is walking out with his laundry on his way telling, I've had enough, I'm done with you. That she says, no, you're not. Didn't happen, right, Sandra? After a four-day trial, the jury begins deliberating. Sandra Franklin returns to her horse farm, wondering if this is the last time she'll be free to ride. I don't want to ever lose what I have here.

I don't think that I would do well in prison. Plans are having your thought that far ahead. If I'm fully acquitted, I'd like to take a little vacation. The night before her case goes to the jury, Sandra spends what might be one of her last moments of freedom at home with her friends. I don't know if I'm any more anxious now than I ever was, though. You know, it's been coming on for such a long time. You're innocent and you should be exonerated immediately.

I couldn't wait until that moment comes around. Well, I'll make it out. There we go. Salutes. The next morning, both sides, converge on the courthouse. Good morning. Good morning, everybody.

Unsure of what the day will bring. Jury's been out about four and a half hours. They appear to be having some internal disagreements. There are no rules for how they do these things, and it's just amazing that it ever gets done. Day one, no verdict. We put on the best case we could put on for the state of Ohio. We'll let 12 people decide whether or not

there's self-defense issues here, or whether or not we proved our case. As day two begins, there is nothing to do but wait. I'm terrified. Any moment, these people could come up with a verdict that could be not favorable to me. And it's very scary. Finally, after nine more hours of deliberation, the jury returns to the courtroom with the verdict.

The verdict forms all appear to be completed. The indictment reads the speech. The indictment reads as follows. We, the jury, find the defendant, Sandra E. Franklin, guilty of the offensive murder. Guilty. Sandra is stunned. Thank you. The jury is discharged.

Then, as the jury leaves the courtroom, she lashes out. Shame on you all. Listen. A defiant Sandra is taken into custody. After that trial, I don't know how they came up with that verdict. They are wrong. I maintain my innocence forever. Very disappointed, obviously.

It's a shock. I have to say I had a real loss to explain what the jury had on its mind. She's strong, she's tough, and she'll get through it. She has to. And courts called to order this morning. Will the defense please rise and advise of any reason why the sentencing should not proceed? Three weeks later... I don't think you should proceed with sentencing because I am innocent of all of all.

charges. Sandra finally speaks out in court, determined to go down fighting and using Peter's final call for help to do it. At his 9-1-1 call when the operator asked him if there had been an argument and he replied she won. And what did I win? I won my life. Fair and square, I won my life. I think it's disgusting that someone can say that they won their life by killing their husband. I don't believe she showed one bitter of remorse. You sent me to prison for the rest of my life for crimes I didn't commit. Of that steel and stone cell, I'll be taking a little piece of every one of you in this courtroom with me.

Sandra's plea is in vain. The defendant shall be imprisoned and a state penal institution for an indefinite term of 15 years to life. Judge David Fury gives her the mandatory sentence. This time, as she's let out of the courthouse, her anger has turned to despair. It's totally up there. Folks, certainly went to lock me out this morning. You're just walking in, make yourself at home.

In one moment of conflict, Take cash check, Visa card, MasterCard. Two lives were lost. Settle number one on the list, it just arrived. All that remains. I have four to half bid, now, 75, anybody else went in. The possessions Sandra and Peter were fighting so bitterly over 55, 65, 75, 85, 85, 85, 85, 85, 85, 85,

85, 85. being auctioned off to the highest bidder. Sold, 4.15, nice buy. On the left here, buyer number is 107, 107. I'm very sad about the whole thing. Peter's ex-wife, Liz Franklin, sees the vindication as bittersweet. It's a waste of her life.

It's a waste of his life. Nobody's winning, you know. It's not a winning thing, and it doesn't bring Peter back. But I'm glad he's been vindicated. and that he's not this monster that she made him out to be. In a graveyard outside of town, Peter Franklin has been reunited with his beloved lost son. His ashes were spread over Brahmi's grave.