The Shocking True Story of Girl in the Picture

The Shocking True Story of Girl in the Picture

Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re discussing The Shocking True Story of Girl in the Picture.

For this video, we’ll be looking at the life and crimes of kidnapper, murderer, and fugitive Franklin Delano Floyd, which inspired Netflix’s latest true crime documentary.

Are you watching “Girl in the Picture”? Let us know in the comments.

The Abduction of Michael Anthony Hughes

On September 12, 1994, Franklin Floyd entered Indian Meridian Elementary School in Choctaw, Oklahoma. The man claimed to be the father of first grader Michael Hughes and demanded that Principal James Davis take him to his son. Held at gunpoint, Davis collected Michael from a classroom. Floyd then forced the two into a truck, leaving Davis handcuffed to a tree in the woods. By the time police found him, Floyd already had a head start.

During the investigation, police learned that Michael’s mother Tonya Hughes died after a hit-and-run accident in April 1990, at which time Floyd put their 2-year-old son in foster care. Soon after, he was arrested for violating his parole and spent several years in jail. Upon his release, he tried to regain custody but a paternity test revealed Floyd was not Michael Hughes’ biological father. This discovery, along with his extensive criminal record, led to the court’s decision to deny custody.

Two months after the abduction, Floyd was arrested in Kentucky. However, Michael was not with him. He refused to disclose the child’s whereabouts, saying that he left him in the care of someone else. Over the years, he continued to give conflicting statements on what really happened to Michael.

Unraveling the Mystery of Tonya Hughes

Before her untimely death, Tonya Dawn Hughes worked as an exotic dancer at Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Passions. Coworkers found her significantly older husband Clarence creepy and domineering. But Tonya had a secret relationship with Kevin Brown, and eventually decided to run away with him and her infant son Michael.

However, in April 1990, passersby discovered a woman’s body on the side of the highway. Victim of a hit-and-run, Tonya was rushed to the hospital with bruises and localized bleeding at the base of her skull. After less than a week in a coma, she died. Clarence Hughes was a prime suspect but investigators couldn’t find any evidence linking him to the crime.

A week into the search for Michael, the FBI interviewed Jim Ennis, a former coworker of Floyd, though he knew him as Trenton Davis. He gave the agent a photo of Floyd/Davis with a young girl on his lap, who Jim knew as his daughter Suzanne. Investigators could sense something was wrong with the girl in the photo, and after studying it, realized they were looking at a young Tonya Hughes. They believed she was kidnapped, too, and sadly, they were right.

In 1974, Floyd, using the alias “Brandon Williams”, met single mother Sandi Chipman and her four children in North Carolina. The couple dated a month before getting married and moving to Dallas, Texas. In 1975, Chipman was given a 30-day sentence for writing bad checks, and she left her kids with their stepfather. But when she got out, she found their home abandoned and her children missing. She’d later find two daughters, Allison and Amy, with social services, but her eldest daughter Suzanne and youngest child Philip were missing.

The Tragic Life of Sharon Marshall

In 1984, Franklin Floyd, going by Warren Marshall, enrolled his teenage daughter in Forest Park High School in Georgia. Suzanne, now assuming the identity as Sharon, was smart, friendly, and well-liked, but people noticed the weird relationship between her and her controlling father Warren. Friends suspected he mistreated Sharon, but when they asked her directly she denied anything inappropriate. Warren was strict, with an explosive temper.

Sharon had dreams to work for NASA, and when she was a senior, she earned a full scholarship to study aerospace engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. But the excitement was short-lived. Sharon reportedly got pregnant by her boyfriend and Warren was furious. The boy she gave birth to was ultimately adopted by a couple.

In the late 1980s, the two moved to Tampa, Florida to start anew. Sharon began working as an exotic dancer at Mons Venus. And despite being pregnant again, she worked long hours and late nights. In April 1988, Sharon gave birth to another son, Michael, whom Warren allowed her to keep. The other dancers were disturbed by Warren’s behavior and obsession with his daughter. It’s believed that Warren forced his daughter into sex work, possibly starting when she was still underage.

Jane Doe I-275

In March 1995, a mechanic in Kansas found an envelope taped underneath a truck he just bought at an auction. In it were explicit photos. Police traced the truck back to Floyd; it was the truck he stole from James Davis when he kidnapped Michael. Some photos were of Sharon at various ages, while others were of an unidentified woman.

That same month, landscapers in Florida stumbled upon skeletal remains along Interstate 275. Investigators and medical examiners determined they belonged to a female but had no other clues. That is until July 1996, when the FBI’s Tampa field office sent St. Petersburg detectives shocking photos of their possible Jane Doe I-275. By comparing the injuries to the woman in the photos to the wounds in the remains, as well as dental records, investigators identified the woman as Cheryl Ann Commesso, an 18-year-old exotic dancer who went missing in 1989.

Cheryl was a close friend of Sharon Marshall, fellow dancer at the same club. An aspiring Playboy model, Cheryl was tricked into letting Warren take advantage of her when he claimed he’d send to his “connections” in the industry. A coworker made her realize she’d been lied to, and in retaliation, she reportedly informed social services that Sharon didn’t properly report her earnings from working at the club. This resulted in the Marshall’s healthcare and welfare checks being canceled.

Cheryl and Warren got into a heated altercation. Soon after, Cheryl Commesso went missing, and the Marshalls were on the move once again. They settled in Tulsa after getting married in New Orleans. They were now Clarence and Tonya Hughes (previously Tadlock).

Trials & Convictions of Franklin Delano Floyd

In March 1995, Floyd was found guilty on kidnapping charges and sentenced to 52 years in prison without the possibility of parole. Since 2002, he’s been on death row in a Florida prison for the 1989 murder of Cheryl Ann Commesso.

In 2014, Floyd revealed to the FBI that Tonya’s true identity was Suzanne Marie Sevakis, Chipman’s eldest daughter. He also admitted to taking Michael’s life shortly after the kidnapping. However, a search yielded no results. As of 2022, Michael Hughes has not been found.

“Girl in the Picture”

Skye Borgman’s 2022 documentary “Girl in the Picture” delves into this heartbreaking, decades-long mystery. The five-part companion podcast series digs deeper into Sharon Marshall’s teenage years and includes interviews with the people who knew her. Both the doc and podcast are based on “A Beautiful Child” and “Finding Sharon” by investigative journalist Matt Birkbeck.