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The Case of Frank Gable
📻 Episode #555
🎙️ Hosted by Lauren Bright Pacheco
📅 Dec 18, 2025
About This Episode
Early on the morning of January 18, 1989, a security guard found the body of Michael Francke lying in a pool of blood on the floor of the North Portico of the Dome Building of Oregon State Hospital in Salem, OR. An autopsy revealed the cause of death to be a stab wound to the…
Case status as carried in this site's original 2026 profiles. Independent record verification is rolling out episode by episode — statuses are being re-checked against court and registry sources and date-stamped as verified.
The Case
Early on the morning of January 18, 1989, a security guard found the body of Michael Francke lying in a pool of blood on the floor of the North Portico of the Dome Building of Oregon State Hospital in Salem, OR. An autopsy revealed the cause of death to be a stab wound to the heart. Michael Francke - who had a background as a military man, former prosecutor and judge, and then head of the New Mexico Dept. of Corrections where he rooted out corruption - had been hired by Oregon Governor Mike Goldschmidt to do the same in Salem, OR. Four months later, Police received a tip that Frank Gable, a petty criminal and police informant, was involved. 11 months after that, several other police informants had come forward claiming Frank was involved. Based largely on their questionable testimony, Frank was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/murder-in-oregon/id1667171131https://www.loevy.com/
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In Their Own Words — transcript excerpts
Short excerpts from the episode's official published transcript, with timestamps — listen from these moments, or read the full transcript via the podcast's own platforms.
00:05:49“Speaker 1: Like, I've seen a lot of just shady stuff there, Speaker 1: you know, like use an inmate labor, to stealing equipment, Speaker 1: to funneling drugs in and out, to all kind of Speaker 1: just criminal behavior that they were doing. Speaker 2: That is Frank different Cloud, known to the state as”
00:19:35“Speaker 4: answers change over time. Speaker 2: Like what happened over Jody's swearing gens twenty three polygraphs. Speaker 1: Jody said they took her to the crime scene like Speaker 1: thirteen times, told her there were cigarette butts on the ground, Speaker 1: what kind they were? Just so they could form a”
00:34:18“Speaker 1: I guess I got a little bit of money. I'm Speaker 1: not much happier, you know. I still every day I'm Speaker 1: in turmoil. Every day I have nightmares about prison violence Speaker 1: and people getting stabbed and you know their throats cut Speaker 2: Well, you told me something about the doorbell ringing.”
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← #554 Pablo Velez #556 Franky Carrillo →
Also on the podcast: #456 Frank Benitez