The twisted conclusion is revealed about the little girl who never really knew who she was. A reinvestigation of the cold cases of Sharon Marshall and Michael Hughes unravels the mystery of the little girl who never really knew who she was.
The twisted conclusion is revealed about the little girl who never really knew who she was. A reinvestigation of the cold cases of Sharon Marshall and Michael Hughes unravels the mystery of the little girl who never really knew who she was.
Girl in the Picture Podcast is a companion to the documentary coming to Netflix on July 6, 2022. The podcast is a standalone audio documentary and can be listened to before or after watching the film. If you are hoping to avoid spoilers, we recommend watching the film before listening to episode 3.
Girl in the Picture Podcast is brought to you by Netflix and Main Event Media.
Narrator: Skye Borgman
Writer and Producer: Anna Priestland
Executive Producers: Emily Bon and Jimmy Fox for Main Event Media, Skye Borgman and Matt Birkbeck.
Sound Editor: Joel Porter
Sound Designer and Mixer: Reed Thomas Lawrence
Original Music Composition by: Jimmy Stofer
Based on the books “A Beautiful Child" and “Finding Sharon” by Matt Birkbeck.
Special Thanks: Matt Birkbeck, Ashley Rodriguez, Scott Lobb, Nate Furr, Sandra Willet, Cliff Sevakis, Mary Dufresne, Megan Dufresne, and Steve Patterson.
If you are in need of support on any of the issues related to this podcast, please reach out to someone.
If you need to talk with someone, but aren't sure which service is best for you, Victim Connect Resource Center can help you.
The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN)
1-800-656-HOPE (4673)
National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 or
or online using a safe computer at www.thehotline.org
National Sexual Violence Resource Centre
National Human Trafficking Hotline
Hotline: 1-888-373-7888
Text: 233733
ChildHelp National Child Abuse Hotline
Hotline: 1 (800) 422 – 4453
Available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week via phone and text.
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Hotline: 1 (800) 843 – 5678
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
Hotline: 1-800-273-8255
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
Hotline: 1 (800) 662 – 4357
[00:00:00]
Skye: This podcast contains descriptions which may be upsetting or triggering to some listeners. Please check the show notes for resources should you need to reach out to someone.
[00:00:30]
Episode four of "Girl in the Picture" left off in 2002 with Franklin Floyd's conviction for the murder of Cheryl Commesso. He had already received a sentence of 52 years without parole for the kidnapping of Michael, but this time, the jury unanimously recommended the death penalty.
[00:01:02]
The judge agreed, and Floyd was sentenced to death. Sharon Marshall's story was revived in a few articles during Cheryl's trial. It had been 12 years since her death, but Sharon's true identity was still a mystery. Author Matt Birkbeck, an investigative journalist, came across the story.
Matt: Back in 2002, I met a private-a private eye, and she sends me this email.
[00:01:30]
It was just a photograph of a man and a-and a little girl. And then underneath it, it said that she had been kidnapped, raises this fellow's daughter, he married her, and then subsequently killed her. So I said, let me-let me look into this. Let me make-let me make a couple of phone calls. The first person I think I spoke with was Joe Fitzpatrick, who was the FBI agent who was involved in this case.
[00:02:03]
And he said Floyd's on trial now for the murder of a girl that had been friends with this woman in the photograph we came to know as Sharon, and that we don't know who she is, and we don't really know what happened. And even though he was kind of leery to talk to me, you could tell that there was some unfinished business here for him.
[00:02:30]
Skye: Joe Fitzpatrick retired without all the answers he was seeking. Sharon Marshall's identity and the recovery of Michael Hughes were two cases in Joe's career that he wasn't able to solve. To him, she was someone's daughter, possibly someone's sister, yet he could never match her to any missing persons report that fit Floyd's timeline. All he knew was that Sharon was in Floyd's possession somewhere around 1975.
[00:03:00]
Matt: It was very complex. It wasn't just a kidnapping, and it wasn't just a murder. What started to draw me to the story was-was the girl. I did some more digging. Now, keep in mind this is before social media, and they were websites. And there was one called Websleuths. So basically, this was a website for these amateur sleuthers, who were just digging up all kinds of stuff. Could be missing girls. It could have been anything. And so, they had some info on there.
[00:03:30]
The problem with a website like that is that you get maybe 10% of people who are really serious about it, and doing some pretty good work, and the other 90% are just completely off the wall. And I did get in touch with a couple of them over the course of time. And so, I would just learn more-I would just learn more info. I said listen, I gotta do some research.
Skye: There was only one person who knew exactly who Sharon Marshall was.
[00:03:58]
And he was sitting in the St. Petersburg Jail in Florida, awaiting death row.
Matt: I said, you know what, let me see if I can get to talk to this guy. And I wrote a letter to his attorney in Florida. And after the trial was over, I get a phone call, and it was Franklin Floyd. I believe we had a couple of other conversations. And then I finally went down to meet him. I had no idea who this guy was or what he was about. And then I went in there.
[00:04:30]
And they bring me into-they bring me into this county prison. So, we sit down and we started talking. Actually, I should rephrase that. He started talking. And he didn't stop. He thought maybe that somehow I could help him, I could do something as lawyers could do--tell his story, and somehow that would free him, whatever. He doesn't--he's rambling. He's telling me about his life. And, you know, I'm trying to ask him about Sharon Marshall--who was Sharon Marshall? And he doesn't want to answer that question.
[00:05:00]
Skye: Just as he had done with the prosecution at his trials, Floyd was eager to talk about Sharon's accomplishments during high school. But the one thing that no one could get out of him was where Sharon came from. Who was she?
Matt: I mean, you just say to yourself, oh my God, if this girl would have just been in a different situation, what she could have done. And listen to Jenny Fisher talk about her, and how Sharon had helped Jenny through a difficult period when they were teenagers.
[00:05:32]
And you hear all these great things. There was this goodness. You know, this was really a story of good and evil. And so I always wanted to tell her story, and I hoped that people would react to it. But the ultimate goal was hopefully I do a book and we get some--maybe someday we find out who she really is, 'cause nothing else was going on. And so, the book came out in 2004.
[00:05:58]
And within six months to a year, we had people around the world trying to find: Who is this girl?
Skye: Matt's book, "A Beautiful Child," got the conversation going again, and the Websleuth forum went into overdrive. It was one mystery they couldn't let go of. Matt had pieced together so much of Sharon's story from high school and through her life in Florida and Oklahoma, but like Joe, he was still left with that gaping hole: Who was Sharon before high school?
[00:06:32]
As far as the investigation was concerned, Sharon Marshall was technically a Jane Doe case. Her profile was on websites dedicated to missing persons and unidentified remains cases like the Doe Network and NamUs. And she and Michael, who was technically still missing, were also listed with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. This is Ashley Rodriguez. She was a senior forensic case manager at NCMEC.
[00:07:00]
Ashley: The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, or NCMEC, as a lot of people refer to us as, we serve as a national resource center for law enforcement, families, and other forensic professionals. Our main goal is to be able to provide resources and technical assistance to all these people involved in cases of missing and exploited children.
Skye: With no family or law enforcement looking for Sharon, NCMEC had a very small file. It included a copy of Matt's book and tips that had come in from people following the case online.
[00:07:33]
Ashley: Prior to the mid-'80s, law enforcement's approach to missing child cases was very different from what it is today. And to hear law enforcement say, you know, "We're not going to take this missing persons report. Your child probably just ran away," those things were not uncommon, unfortunately. The aspects of law enforcement investigations and their attitudes towards these types of investigations have changed over the years for the better.
[00:07:58]
We still don't know that there was even a missing persons report filed for Sharon Marshall. And we may never know if there was an actual report filed or attempted to be filed. So, the majority of the cases that we do work are from the '70s, '80s, '90s, like, that-that timeframe. And the cases that we have been involved in where there has been some resolution and we've been able to identify the victims, more often than not, we're actually finding that the children were never reported missing.
Skye: After reading Matt's book, Ashley was confident that the center had the means to help the case.
[00:08:32]
They held what's called a comprehensive case review on both Sharon and Michael. The hope was that the FBI would officially reopen an investigation and assign resources. And after the review, the FBI agreed. They knew they needed another shot at Floyd. He was the one person who had the answers. And after ten years on Death Row, maybe he'd be ready to talk.
Ashley: It was kind of like our last resort. And we had to try.
[00:09:01]
But I--I was not optimistic at all. I just thought there was no way. This guy, he is so narcissistic, and I just felt that who Sharon Marshall is and where Michael Hughes is, those were the two pieces of information he was going to take to his grave.
Skye: In 2012, the FBI assigned the cases to Special Agent Scott Lobb. They allowed him to study the files a couple of hours a week, providing it didn't interfere with his other work.
[00:09:29]
For the next year, Scott studied Franklin Floyd as much as he could.
Scott: I watched every YouTube video I could find, to get an idea of Franklin Floyd's demeanor. The number one step in the interview and interrogation process is preparation. I studied Franklin Floyd. I want to know everything I can about him: What makes him tick, what--how he acts, and what he does. And what I think--he has a certain amount of respect when he's dealing with somebody who he feels is in a position of authority.
[00:10:04]
Skye: Scott knew he needed to gain that respect from Floyd, and with the chance he may only get one shot at an interview, he approached the Oklahoma office's best interrogator, Nate Furr. With Floyd having had no visitors for six years, they hoped he would talk, but it would take meticulous planning.
[00:10:26]
Nate: We spent, what was it, probably three to four months planning each and every step to do with introduction. When he came in, he was fully shackled. He's literally screaming and yelling and almost spitting on us, just because he's so adamant at trying to get his point across.
Skye: Scott and Nate planned a good cop/bad cop approach, even down to dressing specifically for their roles, and they talked with Joe about what to expect.
[00:11:02]
Scott: It's just as Joe Fitzpatrick described it would be--that you have to let him go. You just have to let him get it out of his system and rant. Don't try to interrupt him. He was combative. We didn't even introduce ourselves as FBI agents before he starts on a rant. He thought we were his attorneys, his pro bono attorneys for his-his death penalty case. We had him seated. We were standing while he was doing this rant for a good 45 minutes.
[00:11:30]
And I finally said, "We're not your attorneys." And he says, "Well, who the fuck are you?" And I said, "We're FBI agents." And he cocks his head back, goes, "What do you want?" "Well, I'm reopening the Michael Hughes investigation." He goes, "Well, I'd appreciate it if you close it." I told him I was in charge. I call the shots. I pull the purse strings on this case. I said, "This is what we're going to do. We're going to tell your story for you." He thought about it for a minute.
[00:12:00]
Got, actually, quiet. And he agreed to talk to us. I had three questions I wanted answered: Who is Sharon Marshall? What happened to Michael? I believe Floyd killed him. And were you responsible for the death of Sharon on the Frontage Road here in Oklahoma City? We were focused on what happened to Michael. Floyd made a lot of comments that pointed in the direction that he killed Michael.
[00:12:30]
Nate: We walked him from the school through every aspect of the abduction. I said, "At what point did he get upset? He got upset, didn't he?" "Well, he was a little upset, and I couldn't control him. You know, I was trying to get him to calm down." But he said, "We were having a good time." And I said, "No," I said, "I think-I think Michael probably started missing Mama Bean at this point." And I said, "Did he try to get out of the truck? Was he fighting you? Does he start hitting you?"
[00:13:00]
And I kept talking to him. And then he starts crying. He starts crying on me. And he says, "Why are you doing this to me? Why-why are you-why are you doing this to me? Why are you bringing this up?" I said, "Did you hit him?" I said, "Did you really hurt him? The one child that you love the most." And I said, "You wanted him to be your-your new Sharon. Sharon's out of the picture. This is your new Sharon, isn't it? Michael's-Michael's the one that's going to replace her." And I said, "Nobody's going to ever know what happened to this poor kid unless you tell us." And I just kept--"you need this." I said, "You-you need this." And then Scott came in.
Scott: "Floyd, how'd you kill him?" He at one point says, "My God, why have you forsaken me?" as he's looking at the wall, and I finally hit my fists down on the table, and a little bit louder, and a little bit sterner, "How'd you kill him?" I knew we had him. He was getting ready to confess. Waterworks turn off. He turns from looking at the wall, looks left, to look right at me.
[00:14:01]
"I shot him twice in the back of the head, to make it real quick."
Nate: It was scary, because I fully believed him.
Skye: Floyd described knowing there would be police waiting at the Texas border, and he knew he had to get rid of Michael. He wasn't aware that Scott and Nate knew about Billy's tip from the rest stop at that same border. And he just kept talking.
[00:14:30]
When they asked him if he was parked near the rest stop, he said, "No, there were too many people watching me." He then drew on a piece of paper the intersection where he claimed he dumped Michael's body. The Medical Examiner's Office conducted a search of a 2,000-square foot area going down six inches. Every inch of dirt from that area was sifted by hand in hopes of finding something--a belt buckle, a zipper, or even a metal eyelet from one of Michael's shoes.
[00:15:00]
But the search found nothing. During hours of interrogations, Floyd told detailed stories of his past, and Scott took him through a timeline, year by year. They walked him back in time prior to Forest Park High School, through Arizona and Louisville, when Sharon was around 10 or 12 years old. And soon, Floyd had taken them back even earlier than that, to those missing years in the timeline--Oklahoma City and back even further, to Cherryville, North Carolina.
[00:13:31]
Knowing this was all new information, Scott and Nate felt they were getting close, and they asked specifically about Sharon.
Scott: I zeroed in on the first one of: Who was she?--because that's an easy question to answer. He may not want to answer it, but it's--he's not admitting to a murder.
Nate: And then all of a sudden, he starts talking about how good looking he was. And he's wearing a bus driver outfit, in Cherryville, North Carolina.
[00:16:00]
And, you know, he was the best bus driver in the world. And he tells us that he meets a girl in a truck stop, who was down on her luck. And Scott asked, "What was your name at the time?"
Skye: Floyd didn't hesitate. Brandon Cleo Williams--a name no one had ever heard.
Nate: And so, we were officially someplace we had never been before.
[00:16:30]
Skye: Floyd rambled on, saying he had met a woman named Sandi Chipman at a truck stop, a young single mother who, according to Floyd, had just given up her three daughters for adoption. Within a few days of meeting, he'd asked Sandi to marry him, and said he'd help her get her children back.
Scott: He names the three girls, and I said, "Well, who's the oldest?" He goes, "Well, that's the one you're here asking about." "What was her date of birth?" "September 6, 1969." "Where was she born?" "Livonia, Michigan."
[00:17:00]
"How do you know this?" "'Cause I've seen the birth certificate." I asked him, what was the oldest girl's name? "Well, it was Suzanne Sevakis.
Nate: We wanted to keep going, but we both wanted to run outside and get on our phone immediately and start calling our office going, "Hey, run these records." As soon as I got outside, I called Charlotte.
[00:17:29]
And I say, "Can you get me a marriage certificate from this date, with Brandon Cleo Williams?" By the time we made a 45-minute drive, we had the marriage certificate. I called my other friend and--a Michigan State Trooper. I just said I need a birth certificate.
Skye: When Joe Fitzpatrick got word that they had found Sharon's real identity, he immediately reached out to Matt Birkbeck.
Matt: I get an email from Joe Fitzpatrick, and it says, "Call me."
[00:18:01]
And he says, "We know who she is. We know her identity." I said, "Sharon?" And I was just floored. I was like, holy shit.
Skye: Suzanne Marie Sevakis, born in Michigan, September 6, 1969. The dates match up with Floyd having possession of Sharon by the mid-1970s.
[00:18:30]
And her age was right. But who was Sandi Chipman? And what happened to her and the other children? Ashley's two cases were moving fast, but there were still so many questions.
Ashley: How did he get her? Like, where did he take her from? Where are her parents? Why wasn't she reported missing? All of those types of questions that law enforcement then had to work to figure out
Matt: We figured out who the girl really was, where she's from.
[00:19:00]
And that birth certificate has her parents' names on it. Oh, by the way, they're both still alive. Clifford Sevakis is in Michigan and Sandi Brandenburg is living in Virginia. And we start making plans to fly to these two places to interview them. She comes out from the back, and she's like, "What are you doing here?"
[00:19:29]
Ashley: I think they went into the interview hoping for more, hoping to find, you know, a really caring mother who was relieved or thankful that they had found her daughter. And I think they were hoping to hear that she had been searching for her daughter all these years, or trying to figure out why there wasn't a missing persons report. But I don't think that mom had any of those-any of those answers for them.
[00:19:57]
I don't think we can-we can judge a lot, because, you know, how would anybody act when someone shows up at your door and says, you know, "Your daughter from however many years ago, she's deceased, and we found her, and here's the life that she led"?
Scott: So, I pull that picture out. She looks at me, goes, "That's Brandon Cleo Williams and he stole my daughter Suzie. And I showed her the picture of Suzanne, and she starts crying when she sees Suzanne. I just asked her an open-ended question: "Let me hear your story."
[00:20:30]
Skye: When I met Sandi, she seemed to me like she's seen a lot in this life. I was aware before meeting her that there were a lot of mixed feelings towards her from everyone involved in this case. She's been described as combative and dismissive, accused of crying fake crocodile tears, and so many people have never been able to reconcile what Sandi's role was in Suzanne's disappearance. Sandi told the FBI that Floyd had stolen Suzanne.
[00:21:00]
And so, I guess, just like Scott and Nate, I wanted to ask her that same open-ended question: "Let me hear your story."
Sandi: I lived in Cherryville, North Carolina at the time. I lived in a mobile home park. My father bought the trailer for me.
Skye: Suzanne was a single mom, raising three young daughters alone. Suzanne was five years old and had a sister Allison and half-sister Amy.
[00:21:30]
She says she was trying to get by without her parents' help.
Sandi: I was eight and a half months pregnant at that time. I was still working at the mill, taking care of the girls. And, you know, the tornado hit out of the blue. I mean, the mobile home park was, like, on the hill.
[00:21:58]
And the tornado came through and tipped my trailer sideways. I got the kids under the mattress, the girls under the mattress, and I didn't realize till I opened the front door that the front end of the trailer was six or seven feet off the ground.
Skye: The tornado that hit Cherryville wiped out the trailer park, killing one of the neighbor's children. FEMA moved everyone into a motel until it was safe to return to new trailers, and at nine months pregnant, Sandi and the children were homeless.
[00:22:31]
Sandi: After the tornado, I guess now they would call it PTSD. They put us up in a hotel, and during that time, Stevie was born. I mentioned to the Red Cross that I needed to talk to somebody, that I was terrified. And they put me off. My parents came and got the girls while I was in the hospital. They picked me up from the hospital.
[00:23:00]
Took me back to the hotel with Stevie, and left, and we got the other trailer. So, I went back to the trailer with four children. No car. No-no counseling, no-no-no nothing at the time. And it was in the middle of the country. And my parents didn't believe in mental health issues.
[00:23:34]
I mean, back in-back in that day and age, mental health issues were pushed under the table. And I just totally disintegrated. I didn't belong to a church. I didn't belong to a big social group or anything like that.
[00:23:59]
And the couple of friends that I had in the trailer park, they never moved back in after the storm. And I went to social services, and took my children to social services, and said I wasn't capable of taking care of them, because I wasn't. I couldn't feed them properly. I couldn't watch them properly. And I was afraid that something would happen to them.
[00:24:30]
And I felt like another tornado was gonna come the next day. And I could never shake that feeling. You know, I couldn't let them go--I couldn't let the girls go outside and play because the tornado would get them. The girls had trouble, you know, emotional issues. And I completely lost it. They were scared. And I was almost nonfunctioning.
[00:25:00]
I can remember, at one point, sitting in the corner, in the living room, on the floor, and the girls saying, "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy." And I couldn't move. They were very nice. They took the children. And the lady said, you know, "You need to think about what you're doing." The lady in the front of the social services office, she said, "Honey, go to church. You'll feel better."
[00:25:31]
So I went to church, and that's where I met him.
Skye: Sometime between 1973 and 1974, Franklin Floyd had become Brandon Cleo Williams. Why he was in Cherryville, or how long he had been there, is unknown. Floyd says he met Sandi at a truck stop, where he claims she was a sex worker. Sandi says they met at church. Based on records, he was known to join church groups in many of the cities he lived in.
[00:26:01]
The truth, though? Maybe we'll never know.
Sandi: When-when I went to the church, he just came and sat down. He talked to me about what was wrong, you know, why I was crying, why I couldn't stop crying. And he said, "You need somebody to take care of you. You need somebody to take care of your children. You need my help. God sent me to help you. We will go get your children Monday. We will get married.
[00:26:30]
"And I will take care of you and the children." He was just--at the time, seemed so calm and level-headed. This was Sunday. "We'll go get the children tomorrow. We'll go to social services tomorrow and get the children," which we did. And social services gave them back, no questions asked.
[00:27:00]
I met him on Sunday. We were married, like, by Tuesday, I think. I mean, it was, like, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
Skye: When Sandi went to social services and asked them to take her children, it set in motion a process to adopt out all three girls. Cliff, Suzanne and Allison's father, was asked if he would adopt all three sisters, because they wanted to keep them together.
[00:27:27]
Cliff was not in a position to take them on and signed what's known as parental release, surrender and consent to adoption papers. Basically, this gave social services permission to find foster or adoptive homes for the children. And in doing this, Cliff agreed that he would "not interfere with said child, either by personal visits or correspondence, and will not at any future time demand the return of said child to his custody." Just over a week later, Cliff received a letter from social services.
[00:27:59]
Sandi had married Brandon Cleo Williams and had asked for her children back. She no longer wanted them adopted out. Cliff was told that unless he revoked his papers, the girls would remain in the care of Sandi and her new husband permanently. He was satisfied that the children were back with their mother and he kept his commitment to not make contact. Cliff and I spoke about having to make that decision…
Cliff: I let her be, because I thought she was part of a new family and a new culture.
[00:28:30]
She'd been--you know, the last thing I knew was that Sandi had remarried. Didn't know she remarried--and married a monster. But last thing I knew was that she had a family and a home. I would think about her on, you know, special occasions, anniversaries and birthdays, even just randomly. I always thought, "Where is she now? What is she doing now?"
[00:29:02]
Felt like I'd been punched in the gut. I feel-I feel the same feeling now, just recalling it. It's just so utterly depressing and shameful and sad. It's hard-it's hard to put away the sadness.
[00:29:28]
Skye: He had no idea what sort of home life the children were being released to, or the type of person Sandi was marrying.
Sandi: He had glasses and a dorky haircut. And he was just--he was neat and clean, very neat and clean, and just very calm. At that time, I-I didn't even know--wouldn't have recognized that he had the temper that he had.
[00:30:00]
He didn't want me to work. And then, when-when we needed money, he said I could go to work. But the money was his. You know, any-any money I made was his. Like, I couldn't go to the grocery store alone. I went to work. I came home. I went to work. I came home. I went to work. I came home. The control got worse as time went on.
[00:30:30]
I don't know how I did it, or why I did it. I don't know. To be honest, I don't know.
Skye: Sandi says Floyd became physically abusive and often threatened her with a knife. She says he never harmed the kids, and practically ignored Allison and Amy, but doted on Suzanne. They moved to Dallas, Texas, where he worked different jobs, and Sandi got a job at a school. She says the principal there knew that things at home weren't good and he was trying to help her get out of her situation.
[00:31:02]
Sandi: Once we had gotten to Texas, I began to-to work and got to be around other people again. I began to realize that something was very, very wrong. We weren't acting like other people around us were acting. I mean, the kids--
[00:31:29]
Other than going to the babysitter, the kids didn't go out to play. We didn't go out to dinner. We didn't go to the-the amusement park, the zoo. We didn't do any of that kind of stuff. Anything that we were going to be seen in public, or might be seen in public, we didn't do.
Skye: According to Sandi, she was picked up in Texas and arrested on an outstanding warrant from North Carolina.
[00:31:58]
Apparently, she'd cashed a bad check at 7 Eleven for just over a dollar, for diapers, and was jailed for thirty days. Floyd was out of town working, so Sandi asked her regular babysitter to take the children until he could come home to collect them.
Sandi: He picked the kids up from the babysitter. Took Allison and Amy to a children's home and said I was a prostitute and I left my children, and took Suzie.
[00:32:31]
Skye: No official records have ever been found to confirm if this is true. Sandi says that she tried to go to the police, but because Suzanne was taken by a stepparent, they couldn't do anything about it. And so, this is the point that Franklin Floyd left Texas with Suzanne Sevakis. When interviewed, Floyd denied that he ever stole Suzanne. He argues that Sandi gave Suzanne to him, that she wanted him to take all the kids.
[00:33:00]
But he just took Suzanne because, as the eldest, she was easier to look after. But if he didn't kidnap Suzanne, then why change her name to Sharon? Floyd said it was because he was a fugitive, not because he abducted her.
Sandi: When I stop and think about it now, I was even more messed up than I thought I was. I mean, I really was. Everything that happened to Suzie is my fault.
[00:33:32]
Because I didn't know how or where to get the help we needed. I have felt guilty about it for years. I don't-I don't know what I could have done differently. I thought I did everything that I was supposed to do.
[00:34:00]
Ashley: There were claims that she did-that she did reach out to law enforcement in Texas, but I don't think we were ever able to confirm that. Investigations were very different back then. So, if she did, I wouldn't be surprised if they said, "Oh, Suzanne is with her stepdad. Sorry. You know, she's fine." I wouldn't be surprised if maybe she did and, you know, one of those scenarios happened, but I don't think that we'll ever really know. Mom may say that she did but we have no way to prove that at this point.
[00:34:32]
Skye: So, what about Sandi's family? Her brother Jim, Suzanne's uncle, says that his parents asked her a number of times in those early years where Suzanne was. After all, Allison and Amy were back living with her. Sandi never had an answer. And what about the baby that Sandi had during the tornado? According to her family, they didn't know that baby Stevie even existed.
[00:34:59]
There are a lot of people who strongly believe that if Sandi's story is true, then why didn't she do everything she could to find Suzanne? What Sandi did and didn't do to find her daughter caused huge rifts within the family. In 2018, after the release of Matt's follow-up book, "Finding Sharon," Sandi says her father and other members of the family stopped speaking to her. They found it too hard to understand the truth of what happened to Suzanne.
[00:35:29]
Another person who found it impossible to reconcile was Heather, Sharon's friend and fellow dancer from Mons Venus.
Heather: When I was kidnapped, my mother never stopped looking for me. I was taken in 1976. And for almost five years, my mom contacted everyone--her senator, the mayor. She went on TV.
[00:35:59]
She contacted the American Consulate in Mexico. She did everything she could. And she wasn't an affluent person, but she spent all of the money she could looking for me. So, I'm actually very angry at Sharon's mom. I don't believe for one second that, because this was back in the day, that she couldn't find her child. Because my mother did everything.
[00:36:31]
I don't want to make her feel guilty. I just want to know why. Why didn't she try harder? What happened that you just let go of your daughter and just lived your life as if nothing happened. Because things could have been different.
[00:37:00]
It didn't have to go this way.
Skye: With the attention focused on Suzanne and the lack of any records, the story of what happened to Stevie became buried. Even Scott and Nate with the FBI found it difficult to work out if Stevie even existed. There was no evidence that Stevie was in Dallas after the family moved there from Cherryville. Was it possible that Suzanne wasn't the only child of Sandi's that went missing?
[00:37:30]
There has always been such deep confusion over the whereabouts of this baby. He was born Philip Steven Brandenburg, and his file on websites like NamUs and NCMEC were always approximates--approximate birth date and approximate disappearance date. There was a group of people on Websleuths who were obsessively following the search for Suzanne and Michael. They had read Matt's books and were trawling missing persons websites for babies who could be a match to baby Stevie.
[00:38:00]
They'd also started searching for someone else: The baby girl that was adopted out by Floyd and Sharon in New Orleans. Back in '94, when Floyd kidnapped Michael, the FBI had traced Sharon's birth daughter and reached out to Mary.
Mary: When the FBI showed up at my house, when he kidnapped Michael, they were afraid that he was on the run and he was going to be heading to New Orleans, because they found our information with him.
[00:38:31]
So, they thought he might be heading this way to maybe take Megan, too
Skye: When Michael was kidnapped, Mary learned that the gut instinct she had about the couple giving the baby up for adoption was right. She dreaded the day she'd have to tell Megan that her birth mother was another victim of Floyd's. As the years went on, Mary became aware that Megan's birth mother's true identity had been discovered, and people were talking.
[00:39:00]
Mary: My husband and I made a decision that we were gonna sit down with Megan. And we sat down and talked to her and said, "Your birth mother did get killed, supposedly by hit and run. We still, to this day, don't know exactly what happened." And we said, "But we want you to know, because there were people out there looking for her." We wanted her to be aware of it. All over Websleuths, they kept saying, "Let's go find the daughter they gave up in New Orleans, for adoption." And that's when we reached out to Matt.
[00:39:30]
Matt: I got this random email, asking if I wanted to talk with Sharon's daughter. I wasn't sure if it was real or not. And a woman calls me, and she's really leery. Like, she's cautious. And we start talking. You know, she--"Please, whatever I tell you, you have to keep to yourself, you have to keep confidential." I said of course. And so, tells me the daughter's name is Megan.
[00:40:00]
Megan: It was always known, just that I was adopted, and it was just an open thing. What I was told was my birth mother died in a car accident. But that was-that was all I knew until--almost until the end of high school. You know, straight out the gate, it was--I still felt like I needed to protect my mom.
[00:40:29]
So, growing up, when you would tell people you're adopted, "Oh. Oh no." And, you know, my birth mother passed away and people would--"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry." And I--for some reason, I would get angry. Like, I have my mom. Why are you sorry? I don't need your sympathy. I feel totally different about it now. The more I learned, the angrier and sadder I got about everything. And that's kind of been a progression of emotion since then.
[00:41:01]
I think, when we found out that he admitted to killing Michael, and we found out my birth mother's name, that's when it got more real. I read halfway through Matt's book, the first book. But when we got to the pictures, and I got to see pictures of Michael, I couldn't read any more after that.
[00:41:33]
I read about a quarter through the second book, and saw all the places where people could have intervened, and I couldn't read any more of that. I just can't get past all of it, and, yeah. 'Cause it's a lot more than just a story for me. And I know the pieces and parts. And I feel like it's enough right now.
[00:42:00]
Everything of this--since learning about it--has been more anger and more sadness and confusion of how I'm supposed to feel. I don't know. I don't know what my feelings are. I know I'm mad. But I don't know at what specifically, or why. Like, I'm still trying to figure-figure it all out and process it. Once a month, once every two months, I'll do some sort of research or digging on it and learn a little bit more.
[00:42:31]
Pictures. That's always my goal, is to find pictures. This last time I did it, I found new pictures of Michael. And I-I think that Michael resembles my son, Michael. I found a picture of Michael with a book, from--he was in school, holding up this book. I was like wait a minute. And I went back into my son's room and found a book that a friend had given us from his childhood.
[00:43:00]
And it was the same, exact book. And this friend is also adopted, so, like, there's even a connection there. But that's why I search, to find those little pieces that I can hold on to. 'Cause I don't want to hold on to the other stuff. I want to hold on to the good stuff that--I guess that's what I search for, is the good stuff, and try to find the happy parts. So, I'm trying to figure out me, but I know that this story is gonna help somebody.
[00:43:31]
Skye: In 2019, the FBI and NCMEC had all but closed the books on Suzanne's case, when a new voice in the story came to light.
Stevie: I grew up in Cherryville, North Carolina. That's currently where I'm living now. The same place everything happened. I never left. I was adopted when I was a baby. It was never talked about. But, you know, I kind of knew. A gut feeling.
[00:44:00]
Just a gut feeling. You know, I found some paperwork, just rummaging around, that said my real last name was Brandenburg. So, I've known since I was about 12. It was always in the back of my mind, but at the time, I felt like it would b little my mom and dad if I asked, you know, who my real mom and dad is. I didn't want to step on anybody's toes.
[00:44:30]
My dad passed away in 2019. You know, my dad passed away was kind of hard on me, so I just wanted kind of, you know, closure on everything, of who-who I am. My mom told my girlfriend that I was adopted. And I asked my mom what my real last name was, and she told me, you know, my real last name was Brandenburg. Me and my girlfriend started, you know, just getting on the internet. When I found the missing persons, it was a really big shock. The birthdays matched up.
[00:45:00]
The names all matched up--Phillip Steven Patterson, Phillip Steven Brandenburg, April 12, 1974. And I knew. And just sat back and I said, holy cow. This is-this is crazy. This is me.
Skye: Suzanne's baby brother Stevie didn't go to Dallas when Sandi and the girls moved there. And despite missing persons reports in later years believing he may have disappeared at the same time as Suzanne did, there was no evidence he ever even left Cherryville.
[00:45:32]
Stevie: Typed in the Brandenburg name, and then, you know, Sandi's name came up, and just started piecing everything together. I reached out to her. She said that she had been looking for me for a long time. And that's-that's basically it. No, I didn't ask her any questions. It was not a conversation. It was just on social media. I just basically said, you know, this is me.
[00:46:01]
This is who I am. And she-she knew I was. She apologized a couple of times. And I was like, well, there's--you know, there's no need to be sorry. And that was--that's basically it. I've never spoken with her. I've got questions that I guess only she could answer. But... Yes, I would like to ask her questions.
[00:46:31]
I would like to know what transpired in that trailer park. I think that Sandi may have said that, you know, maybe she wasn't ready for another child, and my mom, and not able to have kids, said, you know--I would think she would say, "I would love to have him." That's what my mom would say. I think that's-that's what happened. You know, obviously, she came to the decision to give me to my mom.
[00:47:01]
It's important to me. And there's a lot of people out there that's read Matt's book that wants to know what happened to baby Phillip. And I think, you know, these people should know that I had a good childhood, that nothing happened. I'm alive and well. Been doing good for myself and family.
[00:47:30]
I think people-people will get a joy out of that, some closure on this story.
Skye: In 2017, Matt Birkbeck arranged a ceremony to change Tonya's headstone, replacing the name Tonya with her true name. It read: "Suzanne Marie Sevakis.
[00:47:58]
"September 6, 1969 to April 30, 1990. Devoted mother and friend." Matt, Jenny, Karen, Lynn, Joe Fitzpatrick, Suzanne's uncle Jim, and Suzanne's father Cliff, and many others, came to pay their respects to the girl they knew as so many different people. To Jim and Cliff, she was the smiling little girl always reading books. To Jenny and Lynn, she was the teenager who never wavered in her encouragement and love of her friends.
[00:48:31]
And to Karen, she was the dedicated mom to Michael, always positive despite her concern for the son she would never see grow up. It was Megan's presence at the ceremony that closed the circle for everyone there that day. Megan met Cliff, her birth grandfather, and that started a special relationship of love and forgiveness.
[00:48:58]
Megan: I met my grandfather for the first time when we were in Oklahoma for the memorial service to change out the headstone.
Cliff: This wonderful introduction to Megan was quite a blessing. In a family has been torn apart by forces from evil, and I think it's very important. I think that coming together at the gravestone gave closure to a lot of people.
[00:49:30]
It gave comfort to a lot of people.
Megan: It felt like closure, but also a door opening at the same time. Like, the sad part, figured out who she was. She was put to rest. Now, let's build on this new stuff.
[00:50:00]
Skye: So, did I find the answers I was seeking, trying to understand how all this happened? How Sharon Marshall--or should I say Suzanne Sevakis--became the person she was? I guess I did. She lived through trauma that no one will ever truly understand, but she still had a positive impact on everyone around her. And it's clear she had something within her that no monster could ever take away.
[00:50:31]
That day at the ceremony, she was no longer alone. She was surrounded by everyone who loved her, whether as Tonya, Sharon, or Suzanne. "Girl in the Picture" podcast is brought to you by Netflix and Main Event Media.
[00:51:00]
Narrated by me, Skye Borgman. Written and produced by Anna Priestland. Executive produced by Emily Bonn and Jimmy Fox for Main Event Media, me, Skye Borgman, and Matt Birkbeck. Music composition by Jimmy Stofer. Sound edited by Joel Porter. Sound design and mix by Reed Thomas Lawrence. Based on the books "A Beautiful Child" and "Finding Sharon" by Matt Birkbeck. As we heard in the series, in 1994, a mechanic found a package of photos taped under Principal Davis' truck, that would become the turning point in the case.
[00:51:33]
Some of the pictures were of Sharon as a child, which helped the FBI piece more of her story together. Others were of Cheryl Commesso, which helped solve the Jane Doe I-275 case and convict Floyd of murder. Also in the package were photos of women that authorities always guessed were other victims of Floyd's, but were never able to identify. And there was something else.
[00:51:59]
Floyd had kept a photo cut from a newspaper of a mystery woman with dark hair. In 1998, after solving Cheryl's murder, the St. Petersburg Police sent out a press release asking for the public's assistance in identifying the woman. They revealed that although no article or obituary was attached to it, it did include the photo tag that was printed on the newspaper. It read: "No photo credit for Kathy Scruggs story in local news."
[00:52:29]
The press release was also shared with police departments in the cities where Floyd was known to have lived, but no woman was ever linked to the photo clipping, and even now, over 20 years later, she has still never been identified. So, what do we know about her? She has long, dark, curly hair and heavy eyeliner, with a distinct '80s to '90s look. At the time of the press release, police described her as an older woman, but looking at it now, she really could have been young, possibly even in her late teens.
[00:53:03]
And what about the time period? Well, Kathy Scruggs was a well-known journalist who worked the crime beat at the Atlanta Constitution. Now, it's known as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, but she worked there from 1986 through the 1990s and died in 2001. The other thing that ties the clipping to Atlanta is that The Constitution had a supplement they called Local News.
[00:53:27]
And although the press release stated it came from a local news story, they never identified it from Atlanta specifically. We know that Floyd and Sharon lived in Atlanta from 1983 to the summer of '86 and were known to return there after this, but because of the Scruggs link, it was likely printed between 1986 and 1994, when Floyd stole the truck. The thing about Kathy Scruggs' work was that she wrote almost daily about murdered women and often reported on cold cases even years later.
[00:54:02]
Newspaper archives came up with over 3,000 articles from Scruggs during her time there, and after going through every single one, no matching image ever showed up. Perhaps it has a different label or tag, but it seems like it must be there somewhere. Floyd is now off death row and in the prison's general population. He's not going anywhere and will probably die soon, so identifying this woman is not a priority for authorities.
[00:54:30]
But perhaps she has loved ones, somewhere, looking for her too. To find the picture of the mystery woman, go to netflix.com/tudum and search "girl in the picture."