 It's been a year since I first mentioned a potential break in the search for Sharon's identity. Local and federal law enforcement have been involved, but to date there's been no significant movement or progress. So, here's what's been happening.
Police near Knoxville, TN received a call from a woman who said she knew Franklin Floyd when she was a child in the early 1970s, and that Floyd and his brother Billy had visited her father, who was a serial rapist and pedophile. Floyd was on the run (you'll recall he violated his parole in early 1973) and sought refuge with this woman's father. Around the same time, the body of Janet Carter was found in the Smokey Mountains and her three-year old daughter Christina was missing. Janet was from Birmingham and was in the midst of a custody battle with her husband when she fled. The woman claims that her father killed Janet and took Christina, whom he repeatedly raped before killing her and burying her body underneath his home. Around the same time, Floyd and his brother were staying nearby, and the woman said she would be taken there every weekend, where Floyd would rape her. The woman remembers another little girl, a cousin, who was also repeatedly raped by her father. The cousin, said the woman, is Sharon. The woman said her father was going to kill Sharon, but Floyd apparently fled wth her. The woman told her story to the local police, who called in the local FBI. Their interest was minimal. After six months, and with little progress, I connected the local police to Joe Fitzpatrick, and over the past few months the woman has been interviewed several times by an outside FBI bureau. There are other details that can't be released yet. The woman says she never read A Beautiful Child, and her memories are real. I thought enough of her and her story to pass it along. The bit about Floyd "rescuing" the girl from the woman's father is similar to what Floyd told me when I interviewed him, that he saved the girl from certain death. The woman's father is still alive, and last I heard police were going to interview him. Will keep you posted.
47 Comments
Jennifer Fisher Tanner
8/7/2013 01:21:02 pm
Please let me know what you find out!! I still miss my best friend!
Marlene Lawley
8/7/2013 01:29:50 pm
Matt, do you know if there are any plans to search for Christina's grave under this man's house, to verify this story? Christina was my young cousin.
Nancy Solomon
8/7/2013 09:42:17 pm
Mr. Birkbeck, I, too, am a cousin of Christina. Janet was my half sister. I would also be interested to learn if they are searching for Christina's body under the house. Thank you.
joan Beam
8/8/2013 09:49:15 am
Hi Nan...Christy would have been our niece...not a cousin.
SLOANE
8/8/2013 04:27:48 am
I am in a group that discusses this on a regular basis, as well as Christina's case please update us as you find out Matt! We will all be on the edge of our seats! both of these girls along with Janet deserve answers Marlene, Nancy and Jennifer i'm sorry for your loss.
Joan Beam
8/8/2013 08:01:35 am
I,too, am Janet Carter's half sister and Nancy Solomon who commented above. Please keep us updated if there will be any searching for Christina. Our father passed away several years ago, never knowing who killed Janet. Thanks.
Jennifer
8/8/2013 09:11:45 am
If Sharon ends up being Christine, I would love to drive to meet family members as I knew her the best! I have one item left of hers that I will pass on to family if this proves true! She was such a gorgeous soul! It would bring so much closure to finally have some answers!!
Jennifer
8/8/2013 09:11:54 am
If Sharon ends up being Christine, I would love to drive to meet family members as I knew her the best! I have one item left of hers that I will pass on to family if this proves true! She was such a gorgeous soul! It would bring so much closure to finally have some answers!!
Jennifer
8/8/2013 09:12:08 am
If Sharon ends up being Christine, I would love to drive to meet family members as I knew her the best! I have one item left of hers that I will pass on to family if this proves true! She was such a gorgeous soul! It would bring so much closure to finally have some answers!!
Jennifer
8/8/2013 09:12:13 am
If Sharon ends up being Christine, I would love to drive to meet family members as I knew her the best! I have one item left of hers that I will pass on to family if this proves true! She was such a gorgeous soul! It would bring so much closure to finally have some answers!!
Marlene Lawley
8/8/2013 09:18:58 am
Jennifer, DNA testing has ruled out that Christy was Sharon. Janet's family submitted the DNA sample a couple of years ago so that it could be compared to Sharon's sample that is on file. So we never found out what happened to Janet's daughter. Christy's father is still hoping for answers. Thanks for your wonderful offer,
Jennifer
8/8/2013 09:27:48 am
Oh...double bummer. I had hoped to find out where Sharon came from. I will follow Janet and Christine's story, and send lots of prayers! I know first hand how bad it hurts to lose someone you love and never have answers. Hopefully closure will come for us all one day!!
sloane
8/9/2013 09:22:41 am
Jennifer, hopefully with this tip, if they did happen to find Christine under the house it will give this woman enough credibility to DNA her against Sharon this will solve both mysteries but that leads me to believe that they probably killed Sharon's mom as well leaving another mystery will it ever end?
Nancy Solomon
8/15/2013 12:39:18 pm
J. Cathy Beam
8/15/2013 10:16:40 pm
Sharon Calhoun
8/17/2013 01:03:51 am
I am another half-sister along with Nancy Solomon and Cathy Beam. I was in high school when Janet was killed and it deeply impacted my father and her family. We are all interested in knowing more about what happened to Christy and would hope that with the advances in DNA they might be able to find who committed this horrendous act of violence toward our sister and her daughter. Our prayers go out to Janet and Christy's family and friends as the search continues to find out what happened. It is thru sites like this that we can connect and hopefully find an answer.
Jessy lyn at
4/7/2023 02:35:17 am
Hello!
Janessa
9/4/2013 10:00:47 am
I think of Sharon and Michael often. I am praying Sharon can have her name back, and that we can find Michael and put him to rest with his mother.
Jill Williams
9/11/2013 07:14:42 pm
Whether this woman's young cousin is Sharon remains to be seen; however, I choose to believe her story and she thinks it is Sharon. Revealing such a painful past is a rare and incredible difficult thing to do, especially when one has suffered such pain at the hands of ones own father.
Joanna
10/1/2013 05:54:52 am
I don't trust the DNA test ruling out the Christina Carter link. There was some concern over if they had a true DNA sample from Sharon. Someone had said they used Sharon's daughters DNA somehow, but IMHO there's a million scenarios that could lead to an in-valid specimen. Franklin Floyd was such a sketchy character that it wouldn't surprise me if he had more than one Sharon Marshall with multiple baby switches and sales. It is very obvious that he would have Sharon get pregnant by other people, and then sale off the babies. Who knows to what extent. I really feel that he was involved with something organized very similar to the human trafficking rings today. Most people don't want to believe that this sort of thing exists, but it really does.
Sloane
6/24/2014 11:16:41 pm
Joanne, I think the babies that sharon put up for adoption went thru the state from what I researched, so there would have been no sale, and the adopted parents adopted them legally, Which makes little sense with Floyds other actions, obvously had some moments of clairity in order to pull this off for so long, thats probably what made him so dangerous.
Donna Holliday
10/4/2013 02:27:36 am
I just finished re-reading the book last night. I stopped by the blog for the latest update. I sure hope to see a resolution some day.
sloane
10/6/2013 11:39:51 pm
DA
10/11/2013 09:30:31 am
Can Matt obtain a new DNA sample from Sharon (not from her children, or from an old blood vial that may not have been from her.
cathy Beam
10/11/2013 11:52:08 am
Carol Hernandez
10/15/2013 09:08:09 am
Has anyone talked to Floyd's family neighbors friends someone has to know
JERRI ALLISON
11/5/2019 08:15:22 pm
Rhonda is my niece.
Marlene Lawley
10/15/2013 10:55:38 pm
Leslie White
11/27/2013 05:17:55 pm
I, too read about this case recently and it saddened and touched me deeply. Jennifer, my heart goes out to you as well as Janet and Christina's families. Is there possibilities that Christy as well as Michael are still alive?
Intrigued
1/15/2014 03:44:01 pm
It's now been at least 18 months and no progress at all? Give us some more clues so we can work it out if the FEDS can't!
Jillie1962
3/16/2014 04:13:00 pm
Intrigued, its been 50 years since Sharon taken so her identity has been unknown for longer than 18 months, YOU just didn't know about it. DA, Matt doesn't collect DNA, he writes about it.
Intrigued
4/29/2014 02:27:11 pm
Jilly, it was 18 months since the LATEST LEAD, not since Sharon was taken. That is all I was referring to.
Jillie1962
3/16/2014 04:18:14 pm
Jennifer, thank you for being such a good friend to Sharon. I remember from the book Floyd doing some pretty creepy stuff around you but you never turned your back, and later you were the one she called when she needed a friend. That was you, right? Without people like you Sharon would not have known the world had good in it.
anita
4/26/2014 07:11:17 am
IM in the uk,in im nothing to do with anything but i just wanted to say, I've read that book three times hoping there is some clue somewhere but alas no its such a sad story that poor girl, really hope this mystery gets solved and that poor little boys found
wesley wright
4/28/2014 09:27:49 pm
hey there is a new blog about franklin Floyd and a cousin of his from Oklahoma! the blog is called middle American mafia I don't know if this is part of what the investogaters are investgating but it is very interesting to say the least!!! most of the blog is about the cousin! like I said I don't know if this is part of this investigation but of this is true hopefully it will help slove the case!
kafkette
6/16/2014 01:24:54 pm
reminds too much, i think, of the woman who narrated <i>my daddy was the black dahlia killer</i>. both too bad &, in a more serious way, too good. meaning: it would be <u>better</u> if this stuff never happened.
kafkette
6/16/2014 01:26:03 pm
had *yet to happen, apologies.
Intrigued
9/24/2014 01:42:55 pm
I would have thought it was quite simple, if this woman said that Christina Carter's body is buried under a certain house - easily checked. Has it been looked into? If not, why not? In who's hands is this case now?
Sloane
9/29/2014 05:09:49 am
I dont see why a 23 and me DNA to find her family line or like Intrigued said, why cant they look?If a woman says she saw a child burried, you would think they would be obliged to investigate, some of you are members of Christina's family , you have been told (on a website) that the possibility of your missing loved one being under a house is there any way to open a new investigation as a family member on a new tip? Ha! and there are actually people who say you cant get away with murder! I hope there is behind the scenes work going on , but I somehow doubt that there much.
Gemma Farrell
9/30/2014 06:36:50 pm
This would be an excellent case for the programme 'Cold Justice' to take on.
Nicole C.
2/8/2018 09:49:59 pm
Wow! Just saw this story on ID channel. I Will be buying the book! So sad, what happened to people in Floyd’s path. Seems from the comments on here that even before Floyd was adult there were mysterious/ evil things happening with him around. I think there needs to be more digging into this mans life as a child, adolescence and as a teenager.
ANITA PURCELL
11/5/2019 11:29:48 pm
I hope that little boy is found in wish they would do a in depth doc about this the book was amazing btw both of them
ANITA PURCELL
11/5/2019 11:39:09 pm
I've re read them many times Leave a Reply. |
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