Franks resided in Neosho, Missouri in 2001. She went camping with her 42-year-old friend, Mark Terrell Walsh, and an 11-year-old female child on August 17, 2001. A photograph of Walsh is posted below this case summary. The group was traveling in a 34-foot motor home. They stayed in a campground near Table Rock Lake in Arkansas shortly after embarking on the trip. Authorities believe that the group drove to the Beaver Lake area in northwest Arkansas afterwards. Franks has never been heard from again.

Walsh and the child arrived in Rule, Arkansas near Green Forest on September 9, 2001. Franks was not accompanying them at the time. Walsh was arrested shortly thereafter and charged with abducting the child, as well as statutory rape and sodomy. The girl told investigators that she believed she saw a decomposing body inside one of the cabins she and Walsh visited, but she was unable to recall the location of the building.

Walsh was convicted of two counts of first-degree sodomy and sentenced to life in prison. He is currently incarcerated in a Missouri prison. Foul play is suspected in Franks's case due to the circumstances surrounding her disappearance.

Arkansas authorities are handling Franks's investigation.

Above: Mark Terrell Walsh, circa 2007