Rodney McIntyre | Homicide Watch DC

For "Depraved Heart" Killing of Daughter, Rodney McIntyre Sentenced to 40 Years

Laura Amico — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 12:03:52 -0400

"Disgusting. Cruel. Heinous. Heartless. Horrible. Unspeakable. Atrocious. Indescribable. The product of a depraved heart."

Judge Lynn Leibovitz spared few words today when describing Rodney McIntyre's sexual assault on and murder of his teenage daughter, Ebony Franklin, in Columbia Heights last November.

"It is hard to put into words Mr. McIntyre's degree of culpability," she said, before sentencing him to 40 years in prison. Leibovitz said McIntyre could have received a much longer sentence had the case gone to trial and had he been convicted, but that a 40-year sentence in this case likely amounts to life-in-prison.

McIntyre, 46, pleaded guilty in July to first-degree premeditated murder while armed in Franklin's death. Prosecutors agreed to not pursue any other charges related to the case. Leibovitz said that even those crimes which were not prosecuted "are unspeakable."

Franklin was 17 years old when she was reported missing from Prince Georges County in November 2010. On Nov. 29, her body was found in a trash can in a Columbia Heights alley. Prosecutor Jocelyn Ballantine said it had been there for four days before being found. Charging documents in the case said Franklin had been stabbed 15 times and had been sexually assaulted.

"Ebony Franklin was a beautiful young woman. She was vivacious and spirited," Ballantine said, adding that the teen was a dancer and a student.

McIntyre's sexual assault on and murder of Franklin was a "violation of his duty to protect and nurture her," she said.

She described McIntyre as an aggressively jealous man, who would sweep the carpet in the doorway in order to catch the footsteps of any unwanted visitors and who carefully watched the washrags in the bathroom for evidence that any of his sexual partners were sleeping with other men.

He began a sexual relationship with his daughter soon after he was released from prison, at which time Franklin was 13, sentencing documents state. He told investigators that he had slept with 50 woman and needed sex three to four times a week, preferring his partners to be young woman between the ages of 17 and 20. Ballantine said the government's investigation determined that the partners that he sought out "skews younger" than what McIntyre reported.

Ballantine said McIntyre believed that Franklin was having sex with her step-father and was unhappy that she had an "age appropriate" boyfriend. The day Franklin's step-father dropped her off to visit McIntyre Franklin "smelled like sex," Valentine said McIntyre told authorities

"He is not just an abuser or a sexual predator. He is a murderer," Ballantine said. "He killed her because he couldn't control her."

McIntyre's personal message to the court Thursday was brief.

"I took the life of my daughter. I robber her of her childhood," he said. "She didn't have a chance to become a dancer or a model or a counselor. I just want to say how deeply sorry I am for what I've done."

His attorney, Elizabeth Mullins, appeared to struggle with the horrificness of the crime, too.

"As a mother myself, I can't even imagine the pain of the family," she said.

She said McIntyre was "haunted and troubled" by "demons" and just a month before he killed Franklin had reported feeling "irritable and depressed" and had sought treatment. He did not take his medication the day Franklin was killed, she said.

Reading a letter she said McIntyre had composed, she offered McIntyre's explanation for his daughter's killing.

"I'm sorry my demons got the best of me," she said on McIntyre's behalf.

Read the Government's Memorandum in Aid of Sentencing and press release below.

District Man Sentenced to 40 Years in Prison For the Killing of His Teenage Daughter- He Left Her Body in a Trash Can, Tried to Cover Up the Crime -

WASHINGTON - Rodney Mc Intyre, 45, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 40 years in prison on a charge of first degree murder while armed in the slaying last year of his 17-year-old daughter, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced.

Mc Intyre pled guilty in July 2011 in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. He was sentenced this morning by the Honorable Lynn Leibovitz, who said that Mc Intyre’s conduct “was the product of a depraved heart in the truest sense of the legal meaning of the term.”

According to a statement of facts presented at the plea hearing, and signed by the defendant, the victim, Ebony Franklin, was raised by her mother in Maryland. In 2008, after her father’s release from prison, where he had served time for threats in a domestic violence case, Ebony reinitiated contact with him. She was then 15.

On Friday, November 26, 2010, Ebony was to meet Mc Intyre in the Columbia Heights area of Northwest Washington to shop for Christmas presents. After that meeting, she was to return to her mother’s home to complete her chores. Once those chores were completed, Ebony planned to spend the weekend with her father, as well as visit her boyfriend.

Upon arriving in the District on November 26, Ebony met with her father near Meyer Elementary School, where Mc Intyre worked for an after-school program. At the school, in the 2500 block of 11th Street NW, Mc Intyre stabbed the victim at least 15 times, causing her death.

At some point after the murder, Mc Intyre disposed of his daughter’s body by placing it in a trash can. He then covered the body with trash and wheeled the can to the rear of a building in the 1000 block of Fairmont Street NW. Ebony’s body was discovered three days later.

Between May 2008 and the time of her murder, Mc Intyre engaged in sexual intercourse with his daughter on multiple occasions. Before the body was discovered, he attempted to conceal his daughter’s disappearance and murder. He used her cellphone to send multiple text messages, including some directed to her stepfather that asked if her mother was upset that she had not come home. On the morning of November 28, 2010, Mc Intyre used the cellphone to send a text message to the victim’s mother, saying, among other things, “Remember.the.bitch.told.on.my.man.now.yoo.get.her.out.the.trash.”

The defendant also visited local police stations over the weekend to report that Ebony was missing. He was arrested for the murder in May and has been in custody ever since.

“It is difficult to imagine a crime more horrific than a father murdering his own daughter,” said U.S. Attorney Machen. “We want to extend our deepest condolences to Ebony’s mother. We hope that the justice meted out today brings some comfort to all those who loved Ebony and have suffered this terrible loss.”

In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Machen praised those who worked on the case from the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Detectives Thomas Braxton and Lee Littlejohn, Paralegal Specialist Alesha Matthews Yette, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jocelyn Ballantine, who prosecuted the case.

Comment of the Day

Laura Amico — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 18:53:24 -0400

Lovegirl wrote today about the "guilty" plea from Ebony Franklin's father, Rodney McIntyre. She wrote:

Finally I can rest. RIP EB. I know you are watching over me and Ryn.

Rodney McIntyre Pleads Guilty in Daughter Ebony Franklin's Death

Laura Amico — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 13:23:54 -0400

Rodney McIntyre pleaded guilty today to premeditated first-degree murder while armed in the death of his 17-year-old daughter, Ebony Franklin.

McIntyre appeared in front of Judge Lynn Leibovitz to make his plea today. Prosecutors have agreed to seek a term of 37 to 40 years for the 45-year-old defendant.

Franklin was found in a Columbia Heights trash can last November, prompting community outrage and concern that grew as the case lingered without an arrest for almost six months. Some of that concern came from McIntyre himself, who asked police, through the media, "what really happened with my daughter?"

Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 27.

Read the plea deal below and a press release from the USAO after the jump.

District Man Pleads Guilty to First Degree Murder While Armed
In the Killing of His Teenage Daughter
- He Left Her Body in a Trash Can, Tried to Cover Up the Crime -

WASHINGTON - Rodney Mc Intyre, 45, of Washington, D.C., pled guilty today to a charge of first degree murder while armed in the slaying of his 17-year-old daughter, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced.

Mc Intyre pled guilty this morning in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. He is to be sentenced October 27, 2011 by the Honorable Lynn Leibovitz. If the plea agreement is approved by the judge, Mc Intyre will be sentenced to a prison term of 37 to 40 years.

According to a statement of facts presented today, and signed by the defendant, the victim, Ebony Franklin, was raised by her mother in Maryland but maintained a relationship with her father. On Friday, November 26, 2010, she was to meet him in the Columbia Heights area of Northwest Washington to shop for Christmas presents. After that meeting, she was to return to her mother’s home in Maryland to complete her chores. Once those chores were completed, Ebony planned to spend the weekend with her father as well as visit her boyfriend.

Upon arriving in the District on November 26, Ebony met with her father near Meyer Elementary School, where Mc Intyre worked for an after-school program. At the school, in the 2500 block of 11th Street NW, Mc Intyre stabbed the victim at least 15 times, causing her death.

At some point after the murder, Mc Intyre disposed of his daughter’s body by placing it in a trash can. He then covered the body with trash and wheeled the can to the rear of a building in the 1000 block of Fairmont Street NW. Ebony’s body was discovered three days later.

Between May 2008 and the time of her murder, Mc Intyre engaged in sexual intercourse with his daughter on multiple occasions. Before the body was discovered, he attempted to conceal his daughter’s disappearance and murder. He used her cellphone to send multiple text messages, including some directed to her stepfather that asked if her mother was upset that she had not come home. On the morning of November 28, 2010, Mc Intyre used the cellphone to send a text message to the victim’s mother, saying, among other things, “Remember.the.bitch.told.on.my.man.now.yoo.get.her.out.the.trash.”

The defendant also visited local police stations over the weekend to report that Ebony was missing. He was arrested for the murder in May and has been in custody ever since.

In announcing the plea, U.S. Attorney Machen praised those who worked on the case from the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Detectives Thomas Braxton and Lee Littlejohn, Paralegal Specialist Alesha Matthews Yette, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jocelyn Ballantine, who prosecuted the case.

Plea documents have been added to this post.

Rodney Mcintyre Plea Offer (PDF)Rodney Mcintyre Plea Offer (Text)

Prelim in Ebony Franklin Murder Case Postponed to End of Month

Laura Amico — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 20:23:13 -0400

A preliminary hearing in the Ebony Franklin murder case has been postponed to the end of the month, according to court records checked Wednesday evening.

Rodney McIntyre was due in Judge Lynn Leibovitz' courtroom Thursday. He is suspected if killing his daughter, Ebony Franklin, in November 2010.

The preliminary hearing has been rescheduled to July 29.

In Charging Documents, a Timeline of Ebony Franklin's Death

Chris Amico — Mon, 23 May 2011 22:33:25 -0400

Prosecutors today presented their case against Rodney McIntyre--accused of killing his daughter, Ebony Franklin, last November--in the following timeline:

On Friday, November 26, 2010, the decedent, Ebony Franklin, age 16, was to meet her father, Mr. Mc Intyre, in the Columbia Heights area of the District of Columbia to pick up her Christmas gifts, and then was to meet up with W-2 to return home.

The decedent met with Rodney Mc Intyre.

During that meeting, there was vaginal sexual contact between the decedent and her biological father, Rodney Mc Intyre.

Although the decedent was supposed to meet W-2 in the 3500 block of Georgia Avenue, N.W., to return home to Prince George's County, Maryland, the decedent did not do so.

No further communications were received that can be conclusively identified as having come from the decedent after 12:04 p.m. on November 26, 2010.

From 12:04 p.m. to 2:51 p.m., no cell site information is available for either the decedent's phone or Mr. Mc Intyre's (202) XXX-XXXX phone.

Thereafter, both the decedent's phone and Mr. Mc Intyre's (202) XXX-XXXX began transmitting data again. All of the cell site data transmissions were in the Southeast area of Washington, D.C., in close proximity to 3XXXX Brothers Place, Southeast;

Mr. Mc Intyre stated he was staying at 3XXX Brothers Place, Southeast, from Wednesday, November 22, 2010 until December 1, 2010;

On Monday, November 29, 2010, at approximately 1:08 p.m., the decedent was found in a trashcan outside of 1030 Fairmont Street, N.W.

Between 12:04 p.m. and the time the body was found, several communications were sent from the decedent’s phone to her family and friends that could have only been sent by someone with close familiarity to the decedent and her family. All indications are that the decedent’s cell phone never left the District of Columbia during this period.

The location where the body was found is less than a block from Mr. Mc Intyre's place of employment.

On Tuesday, November 30, 2010, personnel from the OCME performed an autopsy on the decedent's remains. Medical staff also completed a sex kit. The cause of death for the decedent was ruled multiple stab wounds. The manner of death was ruled HOMICIDE.

The sex kit was submitted to the MPD forensic laboratory. The DNA examination identified only a single male DNA profile present in the decedent's vagina. The DNA examination identified Mr. Mc Intyre's sperm as the single male DNA profile present in the sample collected from the decedent's vagina.

Note: In this post Homicide Watch has chosen to redact phone numbers and identifying addresses from the timeline presented by the U.S. Attorney's Office. Full charging documents are available here.

Rodney McIntyre Held Without Bond in Ebony Franklin Homicide

Laura Amico — Mon, 23 May 2011 21:21:08 -0400

Rodney McIntyre was held without bond for first-degree murder in connection with the stabbing death of his teenage daughter, Ebony Franklin.

Emotions ran high in today's arraignment as the prosecution laid out details of the girl's death and argued that there was probable cause to detain McIntyre until a preliminary hearing, set for July 7.

The evidence included phone records and a DNA test that showed a sexual relationship between McIntyre and Franklin, who is his biological daughter. The prosecution also said that McIntyre was the last known person to have contact with Franklin before her body was found several days later--stabbed 15 times--in a Columbia Heights dumpster.

Several individuals in the courtroom became upset and left the room after the DNA evidence was mentioned.

Police Chief Cathy Lanier said Saturday that McIntyre had been a person of interest in the case from the beginning, but charging documents released today show him to have become increasingly paranoid as MPD investigated his daughter's death. Under questioning from authorities, the explanations that he offered for evidence grew increasingly bizarre.

According to prosecutors, when confronted with evidence that McIntyre's sperm was found in Franklin's body during the autopsy, he initially said that she was trying to become pregnant and that he had provided her with a bottle of his semen, which she was inserting into herself with a turkey baster.

Later he said that he had had sex with her, but that the semen found in the autopsy was not his because "he knew that sperm did not stay inside of a woman’s body for more than 3 days, such that it would be impossible for his DNA to be present because their last sexual contact was on Tuesday, November 23, 2010," charging documents said.

In charging documents presented to McIntyre today, government prosecutors relied on the autopsy, sex kit evidence and cell phone records that show Franklin and McIntyre in the same part of Columbia Heights at the same time the day she was reported missing.

Prosecutors also cite two text messages sent from Franklin's phone after she was reported missing: one sent on Saturday, Nov. 27, asking if her mother was upset that she hadn't come home. Another, sent to her mother the following day reads: "Remember.the.bitch.told.on.my.man.now.yoo.get.her.out.the.trash."

The recipient of the first message said that they had never before received a text message from Franklin.

Read charging documents from the case and other coverage after the jump.

Other coverage from court today:

DC Father Charged With the Murder of His Daughter; Ebony Franklin's Body Found in Trash in November: MyFoxDC.com

Read reports from NBC Washington and the Associated Press.

Drug, Burglary, Violence Convictions in McIntyre's Record

Karen Frantz — Sun, 22 May 2011 18:03:35 -0400

Rodney McIntyre, accused of killing his teenage daughter, Ebony Franklin, in November, has an extensive prior record and spent time in and out of prison from the early '90s through the mid-naughts, according to court documents.

His arrest record dates back to 1983 and includes convictions in a string of misdemeanors and felonies including attempted robbery, assault with a deadly weapon and drug charges.

Most recently, in 2005 he was convicted for threatening to injure a person. He was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for that charge.

There is no record of McIntyre being arrested on a sex crime charge in D.C.

McIntyre is due in court tomorrow to be presented with the murder charge.

When Words Matter

Laura Amico — Sun, 22 May 2011 13:45:51 -0400

Rape. Incest. Sex.

Yesterday MPD Police Chief Cathy Lanier said there was evidence that Rodney McIntyre had had a "sexual relationship" with his 17-year-old daughter, Ebony Franklin.

That didn't sit right with Carol, who commented on a report saying,

"Someone really needs to press lanier about calling incest, rape, and murder a "sexual relationship". It makes it sound like this poor young woman was complicit or consenting. I hope justice will be served and she finds peace."

A similar complaint has pinged through NBC Washington's comments board on their story.

"Sexual 'relationship' with a teen and her dad? I'd call it rape...OK," wrote Darren Hutchinson, a law professor at American University.

The words we use to discuss crime matter, and they matter most when we are talking about violent crime. Lanier likely chose the words she used carefully because McIntyre has not been charged with a sex crime in the case.

But what matters more than words is evidence and we don't know the evidence of the case against McIntyre yet.

The big questions remaining:

Will McIntyre be charged with a sex crime?
What does "sexual relationship" mean in this case?
What, if anything, did that relationship have to do with Franklin's death?

Ebony Franklin Murder Arrest Link Roundup

Laura Amico — Sun, 22 May 2011 12:22:47 -0400

When Ebony Franklin's body was found in a Columbia Heights trash can just after Thanksgiving weekend, the horror of the crime that killed her and tragedy of her loss were deeply felt through the neighborhood.

"Still no word on Ebony Franklin's killer," Mariah Costello shared on Facebook just days after Franklin was found.

"I still can't bring myself to park back there and I still keep waking up in the middle of the night. No one's trash has moved since monday, not pulled to the curb Tuesday, seems we didn't have the will to. No kids outside. Neighbors keep looking at each other a little more uneasily. Is it one of us? Do we know them? Are they near here? I hate what this does to us."

Some answers came, finally, on Saturday evening, nearly six months later. Franklin's father, Rodney McIntyre, was responsible for the 17-year-old's death, MPD Police Chief Cathy Lanier said.

At a press conference Saturday night, Lanier said there was evidence that McIntyre had had a sexual relationship with his daughter and that she had been stabbed 17 times.

McIntyre, a 45-year-old Southeast DC man, is expected to be presented with a first degree murder while armed charge Monday in DC Superior Court.

Here's a links roundup of coverage of the arrest yesterday.

Read more at WJLA, WUSA, WTOP, the Washington Times, DCist and in the Washington Post.

First Degree Murder Charge for Father of Ebony Franklin

Laura Amico — Sat, 21 May 2011 21:43:02 -0400

MPD's press release on Ebony Franklin's homicide states that her father, 45-year-old Rodney James McIntyre of Southeast DC, was arrested just after 5 p.m. tonight on suspicion of first-degree murder in the case.

McIntyre is expected in court Monday to be presented with the charge.

Read MPD's press release after the jump.

May 21, 2011

Arrest made in the Homicide of Ebony Franklin

( Washington, DC)- Detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department’s Homicide Branch have announced an arrest in the homicide of 17 year-old Ebony Franklin.

On Monday, November 29, 2010, shortly after 1:00 pm, units from the Third District were dispatched to the rear of the 1000 block of Fairmont Street, NW, to investigate the report of an unconscious female. Upon arrival, the units discovered the unconscious female in the alley. DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services personnel responded to the scene and determined that death was apparent. The victim was pronounced dead on the scene and subsequently transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, who ruled the manner of death a homicide.

On Saturday, May 21, 2011, at approximately 5:18 pm, 45-year-old Rodney James McIntyre of Southeast, Washington, DC, was arrested by members of the Capitol Area Regional Fugitive Task Force pursuant to an arrest warrant charging him with First Degree Murder while Armed.

Press Conference for Ebony Franklin Homicide Case at 9 p.m. Tonight

Laura Amico — Sat, 21 May 2011 20:51:13 -0400

MPD will hold a press conference at 9 p.m. tonight to discuss the Ebony Franklin homicide case, according to a press release just sent by MPD. The conference will be in front of The Boys and Girls Club at 101 M Street SW.

We'll post more as we know it.

Ebony Franklin's Father Arrested, Suspected in Girl's Death

Chris Amico — Sat, 21 May 2011 19:50:49 -0400

Rodney McIntyre, the father of Ebony Franklin, has been arrested in connection with the 17-year-old's death. Franklin's body was found in a Columbia Heights dumpster in November.

In March, McIntyre accused police of harassing him. Police called him a person of interest in the case.

"The way my baby was found in the trash, it's unacceptable," said Rodney McIntyre, the father of 17-year-old Ebony Franklin who's body was found in a District dumpster last November. "What I want to know as her father, what really took place with my child?"

Memories of Franklin are posted after the jump.