New accusations in alleged Wake County murder plot
WAKE COUNTY (WTVD) -- New accusations are surfacing in an alleged murder plot in Wake County; they're coming from the 911 call a mother made desperately asking for help.
That Raleigh mom, Tammy Franklin, 45, and her son Steven, 23, are being held in the Wake County Detention Center under bonds of more than $1 million, charged with felony conspiracy. Wake County deputies accuse them of plotting to murder Tammy's husband Donald Franklin.
On Halloween night, Tammy called 911, telling dispatchers her husband had been harassing her and their children for months, and had snapped.
"I need to do something, get help," she said. "I just can't stand this no more."
Tammy described how Donald came to the nail salon where she was that afternoon and yelled at her. She said when he came home later that evening, he started calling his boss and other people, telling lies that she and their son Steven were trying to do something to him.
Tammy said when Steven tried grabbing the phone from Donald, an accident sent her husband over the edge.
"He had his phone and he had the knife and my son was trying to get it from him and it cut his finger and now he's going crazy on us," she said.
Wake County deputies allege what happened at the family's home that night was no accident. Arrest warrants show they're charging Steven with stabbing his father with a 4-inch paring knife, trying to kill him. Warrants also show Tammy tried hiding her son from officers by taking him to her parents' home in Haywood County.
Sometime later, Donald made his own 911 call. He told dispatchers his son pushed him down the stairs, but he didn't want to press charges.
"He said he won't do that no more," Donald said of Steven. "He told me he was sorry and I accepted his apology."
In her call to 911, Tammy never mentioned her son pushing Donald, only saying her husband had harassed their family for the last five months.
"He said he's gonna get me for some reason," she said. "I don't understand. I ain't never done anything."
Tammy and Donald's 19-year-old daughter Savannah was at the Wake County Justice Center Tuesday to support her mom and brother during their first court appearances.
After the proceedings, she told ABC11 they all have suffered years of physical abuse at the hands of their father. She accused him of lying about the murder plot and the events that unfolded at their home Oct. 31.
"I never thought I would see my brother or my mom in jail," she said. "Cause they've never done anything they never would have done anything. They haven't done nothing."
Savannah went on to say Steven is a student at East Carolina University and wouldn't do anything to jeopardize his future.
She said she didn't know where her father is, and that she filed a restraining order against him following her mom and brother's arrests.
ABC11 has tried to make contact with Donald Franklin to address his family's accusations of abuse, but have not been able to reach him.
