Girl in the Picture is a Netflix documentary which investigates the mysterious case of Sharon Marshall and her troubled life which lead to her chilling death. The documentary film is based on the international bestseller A Beautiful Child and its follow-up, Finding Sharon, written by the award-winning investigative journalist Matt Birkbeck.
The documentary’s release has brought the case to the public’s attention again and viewers have a lot of questions regarding it. It is the most bizarre and horrifying story that is unfortunately true and not a work of fiction. As the real identity of the Girl in the Picture aka Tonya Hughes aka Sharon Marshall is becoming known to everyone, we are also curious to know about the man behind it all.
Who is Franklin Floyd?
Franklin Delano Floyd, born in 1943 was the youngest of five children of Thomas and Della Floyd. His father died at the age of 32 due to liver failure and his mother could not take care of the kids. Thus, they were sent to Georgia Children’s Baptist home. But his life there was a living hell as he was tortured, molested and raped by other kids and staff of the children’s home.
Due to his troubled childhood, he resorted to small crimes like stealing food, guns etc. But soon turned horrendous when he abducted a four-year-old from a local bowling alley and sexually assaulted her in the nearby woods. Floyd was convicted of kidnapping and child molestation and was sentenced to serve ten to twenty years at the Georgia State Prison in Reidsville.
Since then he was continuously in and out of prison. Throughout the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s he was a wanted fugitive with multiple allegations and convictions against him, including abduction, molestation, robbery and assault. While on the run, he met Sandra Willet under the false identity of Brandon Cleo Williams in Michigan.
Sandra had 3 daughters and a son who were taken away by social services due to her inability to provide for the kids. Brandon showed empathy and promised her that he will get them back, and they got married soon after. Their married life was no bed of roses as he would always carry a knife with him and threaten Sandra if she ever tried to leave him.
But due to a bad cheque bounce, she was sent to jail for 30 days. That’s when Brandon took off with the kids, leaving the 2 girls in an orphanage and the boy somewhere else. However, he kept the oldest daughter Suzanne Sevakis with him. Whom we all know as the Girl in the Picture or other aliases.
So technically, Floyd is Suzanne’s father, contrary to her later years where he sexually groomed her and eventually married her to avoid the police. Rest we all know how that sinister marriage ended up in Suzanne’s death. But Suzanne’s brother was still not found until 2019 when a man came forward believing he was the brother and DNA tests confirmed his identity.
Where Is He Now?
Franklin Floyd is currently on death row at the Union Correctional Institution in Florida. He is 79 years old. In 2002 he was convicted for Michael Hughes’s (Suzanne’s son) abduction and weapon assault with 52 years in prison. But soon after a skeleton was found in Florida which was traced back to Cheryl Ann Commesso, a former strip club co-worker of Sevaskis, with whom he was obsessed.
He was then found guilty of the murder and sentenced to death. However, he has never been convicted for Suzanne Sevakis’s (Tonya) murder as it was considered a hit-and-run case with no proof of who did it. Even the remains of Michael, who he claimed to shot two times in the back of the head, are still unknown.
Girl in the Picture is streaming on Netflix.
Also Read: Girl in the Picture Documentary: Who Was Sharon Marshall and How Did She Die?