True Crime Stories

This is one of those cases in which you have to wonder if someone looked a little deeper, or got there a little faster if lives would not have been saved. A 911 call was made while the murders of a mother and her two teenage boys were happening, by one of the victims. When officers arrived at the scene just five minutes later and did not get an answer when they knocked on the door they determined that it was a “false call” and left the area. Now, either Oscar Franklin Smith was still inside or he had already left, leaving the back door to the home open. This means when the officers arrived they could have possibly caught a killer or at the very least found the back door open which should have caused further investigating. In August of 1985 Oscar “Frank” Smith married Judy Robirds Burnett. Judy had two sons, Chad and Jason from a previous marriage. Frank also had two children from his first marriage who were now living with his parents. The couple settled down in Nashv...

This is such a tragic and yet odd case. It is one of those cases in which I am sure that the right person is behind bars for murder, but I found the behavior of some of the other characters in the story a little “off.” Emily Branch was thirteen years old in 2000. It was said that she lived with an aunt on her father's side but she apparently visited with both of her parents, who all lived in Memphis Tennessee. It is not completely clear how close she lived with her aunt but both of her parents, living separately, lived within walking distance. Emily's mother, Tracie, was married to a man named Charles Rice but the relationship seemed to rather volatile. It appears that the couple lived with Charles' stepfather. On June 6 th the couple had separated and Tracie had moved in with her brother. They had separated many times during their short relationship. Tracie would claim that Charles used drugs, specifically crack cocaine and after this separat...