
When a Chicago pharmaceutical representative stops returning calls, her large and loving family begin to worry. Keith Morrison reports.
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Leah Franklin
She had missed a meeting. And then not to hear from her. This isn't right. It would have been impossible to get up every day knowing that she was gone. I had to believe we would find her alive.
Detective Greg Jacobson
Text her. She always got right back.
DSW Advertiser
I've seen her step out the shower to answer her phone.
Detective Greg Jacobson
Then one day she didn't.
Leah Franklin
Immediately. My spidey senses were high.
Detective Greg Jacobson
Where was Nailah?
Andre Wright
An email, all caps. Are you alive?
Detective Greg Jacobson
There was no sign of her. And such a confusing trail of clues. Even the calls to 911 were silent.
Detective or Investigator
No voice, no struggles could be heard.
Narrator / Lester Holt
That's gonna be kind of eerie.
Detective or Investigator
Yes, it is.
Leah Franklin
In my heart I knew she's not coming back.
Detective Greg Jacobson
One of the suspects had an alibi until a camera caught him in a lie.
Family Friend or Witness
He lived a life of a lot.
Detective Greg Jacobson
Of smoke and mirrors and the strangest clue of all. There in an empty parking six perfectly stacked cardboard boxes. Why were they there? What was in them?
Detective or Investigator
It was right adjacent to a lagoon.
Leah Franklin
Whoa.
Detective or Investigator
I watch enough dateline to know that's probably not a good sign.
Detective Greg Jacobson
I'm Lester Holt and this is Dateline. Here's Keith Morrison with smoke and mirrors.
Narrator / Lester Holt
It wasn't like this, you have to understand. It wasn't gray, wasn't cold. No flecks of snow to drift and catch the bitter breeze. No, no, it was hot. And it was late after midnight. September 27, 2007.
Detective or Investigator
Pretty secluded area next to a forest preserve.
Narrator / Lester Holt
So it was. And it was clear and dark and still and vacant here where the deep wood fought back against the decaying suburban sprawl. And then nothing was clear at all.
Leah Franklin
I remember crying. This violent cry.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
You're experiencing everything, but it's not you.
Narrator / Lester Holt
You're just waiting to wake up.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
It just feels like you're in. Literally, like in a nightmare.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Yes, still does. The name you'll want to remember is Nailah.
DSW Advertiser
The meaning was one who succeeds.
Narrator / Lester Holt
This is Nailah's mother, Maria.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
I wanted her to be successful. She was.
DSW Advertiser
She lived her name.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Quite true. As, frankly, have the rest of them in this big family. This is Leah, the firstborn.
Leah Franklin
We might need a graph chart because.
Narrator / Lester Holt
It'S kind of involved full siblings, half siblings, quarter siblings once removed, that sort of thing. Very blended.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
We share one parent, so technically half siblings. But that word is kind of offensive to me because to me it implies that it's something less. And I've never felt that way. I've never used that word. We're just siblings.
Narrator / Lester Holt
One big, close, happy family. So said John, the youngest.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
It's simple for us because, you know, we grew up together from the time we were young. So for us, it's like we're one big family.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Not one, but two Ashleys.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
She's Ashley with the E and the other one's Ashley with the Y.
Narrator / Lester Holt
That's this one. And imagine this. I think this is kind of unusual, kind of rare.
DSW Advertiser
Yes.
Narrator / Lester Holt
That everybody gets along.
DSW Advertiser
Yeah, everybody gets along. It's a good thing.
Leah Franklin
Although when we were kids, it was a lot more crazy to other people.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Hi. And in the middle of this big family was Nailah.
DSW Advertiser
Happy birthday, Harper.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
I love you.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Little Moot they used to call her, because once she decided something all arguments against were moot.
Leah Franklin
She was very sure of herself from really, the earliest time.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Yes, Nailah Franklin was going somewhere.
DSW Advertiser
She was like my hero. I looked up to her.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
She always just accepted you for who you were. It's almost like she glowed when she walked into a room.
Narrator / Lester Holt
After college, Nailah came home to Chicago and began building a career, eventually in pharmaceutical sales. At 28, she owned a condo in the heart of the city.
Leah Franklin
I think everything she wanted to be, she was just as a theme, fabulous was the aspiration. And I think she definitely met that mark.
Narrator / Lester Holt
But always number one, really. She stayed in touch, never failed. Call her. She'd call back right away, text her. She'd reply instantly. Always.
DSW Advertiser
She managed to water all of her relationships. She spent time with everyone, friends, family.
Narrator / Lester Holt
That's a pretty special skill.
DSW Advertiser
Yeah. To manage that in your career.
Narrator / Lester Holt
There were men. Of course there were. Though she was, shall we say, discerning.
Leah Franklin
The young men she dated were of a caliber that, you know, we expected of her.
Narrator / Lester Holt
What sort of guys did you like?
DSW Advertiser
Successful, nice, respectable men, professional men.
Leah Franklin
She was dating a plastic surgeon guy and this guy and that guy.
Narrator / Lester Holt
She took up briefly with a dashing investor who drove a white Bentley. And then in July 2007, Nailah attended an art gallery opening. And he came, this lawyer from Milwaukee, Andre Wright.
Andre Wright
She had a big, beautiful smile. She's a very pretty woman, very warm personality. And we just kind of walked around the space looking at different pieces, talking about my interests, what I was looking for in a piece of art. Obviously, I tried to engage her.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Suddenly, this is a different search than it was.
Andre Wright
I mean, the artwork became of little interest to me at that point.
Narrator / Lester Holt
And just like that, it was all over for both of them. You know, I don't want to go all Hallmark card on you or anything like that, but, I mean, this was clearly kind of a transcendental moment or something.
Andre Wright
Yeah, absolutely. Definitely.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Aila's family loved Andre. What family wouldn't?
Leah Franklin
She brought him to my child's first birthday party. He brought my baby a gift. I was like, who does that?
Family Friend or Witness
But he.
Leah Franklin
Because he's a nice, quality person.
Narrator / Lester Holt
They liked you?
Andre Wright
I think so, yeah. Yeah.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Due to her influence, you started planning on moving in together, right? On being together? We did, and that was happening pretty fast.
Andre Wright
It felt good, though. I mean, it just felt natural.
Narrator / Lester Holt
It was long distance. He in Milwaukee, she in Chicago. They stayed connected by phone and email and text all day long.
Andre Wright
I would call her every morning, and.
Narrator / Lester Holt
No one seemed to notice any dark force, any unseen thing festering in the heat of that hot, late summer. Didn't feel the warning, didn't know who said what to whom. It was September 18th, a Tuesday.
Andre Wright
That Tuesday morning, I thought I had called her on my way to work, but I was interrupted. And she called me and said, hey, what happened to my call? And I said, oh, I thought I had. So we spoke for a bit, exchanged emails later, and then just kind of went about the date.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Evening came, he in the flush of love, called again. No answer.
Andre Wright
Left her a message saying I was heading home and got a text message back from her phone saying she was at a dinner and would reach out later.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Wait a minute. You'd been calling her every day, talking all the time? Yeah. And she said, I'm at dinner. I'll call you later. But she didn't. Then, 9pm One of the Ashleys called Nailah. Nailah, who always picked up the phone for a sister.
DSW Advertiser
I got a text message that said something along the lines that I'm at dinner and I'LL call you in a few.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Does that sound like her?
DSW Advertiser
No. It wasn't like her to not answer the phone. I've seen her like step out the shower to answer her phone.
Andre Wright
I send her an email, all caps. Are you alive?
Narrator / Lester Holt
One of those half in jest, half worried things you say without knowing what a good question it was.
Detective Greg Jacobson
Not only was Nyela increasingly hard to reach, even worse, she hadn't shown up for work that day.
Leah Franklin
When we returned immediately, my spidey senses were were high.
Detective Greg Jacobson
And one more ominous sign. Three calls to 911 from her cell phone.
Detective or Investigator
No voice, no struggles could be heard. Light music in the background.
Narrator / Lester Holt
That's going to be kind of eerie to hear that, huh?
Detective or Investigator
Yes.
Narrator / Lester Holt
September 19, 2007 dawned in Chicago like any other late summer day. Hot, humid, windy, the usual, except for one thing. Nayla Franklin, ambitious, dependable, and always on her phone, was suddenly radio silent, even with her new love, Andre.
Andre Wright
I called her that morning, emailed her, called her again early afternoon, and that's.
Narrator / Lester Holt
When he sent her that all caps email. Are you alive? And you probably didn't mean it the way it really.
Andre Wright
No. Was just like say to someone, are you there?
Narrator / Lester Holt
At the end of the workday, big sister Leah did get a call. Not from Nailah, but from Nailah's boss.
Leah Franklin
He said she had missed a meeting. Immediately my spidey senses were high. So of course I tried to call her. Didn't get her.
Narrator / Lester Holt
So Leah called Nailah's friends and her other siblings. Had anyone heard from Nailah?
DSW Advertiser
I didn't speak with her that day. I didn't speak with her the day before.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
And I said, no, I haven't. I actually haven't. I've been really busy and I haven't talked to her.
Narrator / Lester Holt
A cold fear took hold of Leah. She called the Chicago pd, filed a missing persons report, and then she drove over to Nailah's condo, knocked on the door, no answer. She got a key. She went in.
Leah Franklin
You see her eggs and coffee that she had just left there, just out.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Something's wrong.
Leah Franklin
Just like, you know what? This isn't. This isn't right.
Narrator / Lester Holt
And then Leah got professional. She knew. How. She's a public relations executive. And she called every media contact she had. You kind of went wide on this thing. Your PR impulse really kicked in.
Leah Franklin
Yes.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Leah's experience told her not to hope too much for media help for one very unfortunate reason.
Leah Franklin
Quite frankly, I don't know of a lot of women of color or people of color who get the same attention by the public in General.
Narrator / Lester Holt
You know, there's that old saw in the media business and in fact, there's some truth to it.
Family Friend or Witness
No. Yeah.
Leah Franklin
Yeah, I think it's not just a saw.
Narrator / Lester Holt
The good looking young blonde goes missing and the whole world wants to know about it and stay talking about it for years. Black woman's not quite the same deal.
Leah Franklin
No. And there is reality to that. It troubles the mind that when people of color go missing or if it doesn't fit the narrative of gun violence or gang violence or something like that, then somehow it's not. It's not. It's not real.
Narrator / Lester Holt
So Leah knew. But Leah was not to be denied. You decided they were damn well going to cover it.
Leah Franklin
Well, they were.
Narrator / Lester Holt
And maybe this was because of Leah's media savvy. The next morning, Nailah's picture was all over the news. Flyers with her picture are taped to traffic posts and handed out to people passing by.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
We were in the streets and putting up any place we could. Downtown, suburbs.
Narrator / Lester Holt
They phoned and texted and emailed their friends, but no one reported seeing Nailah. No one. Nailah's sister kept replaying their last conversation.
DSW Advertiser
She called me and she said, I've got something to tell you. And before she could tell me, she got a call on the other line and she clicked over and she said, she'll call me back.
Narrator / Lester Holt
She didn't call you.
DSW Advertiser
She didn't call me back.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Awful. With a person's mind could churn up in the dark as day one became two and then day three.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
I kept calling her and kept calling her. I just kept thinking, she's gonna answer, she's gonna answer, she's gonna answer.
Leah Franklin
There's no handbook for this. So you wake up and you think it's a bad dream and no, it's still real.
Narrator / Lester Holt
The case of the missing pharmaceutical representative landed on the desks of Sergeant Mia Oliore and Detective Greg Jacobson, who right away scanned Nailah's phone records and found something alarming. Just after 10pm the night Naila vanished, her cell phone made three calls to 911 Chicago merchants.
Detective or Investigator
No voice, no struggles could be heard. No background noise with the exception of some light music in the background.
Narrator / Lester Holt
That's gonna be kind of eerie to hear that, huh?
Detective or Investigator
Yes, it is. Is the person physically unable to complete the conversation and just able to dial a 91 1?
Narrator / Lester Holt
So the investigator set about talking to just about everybody.
Family Friend or Witness
Nyla knew there was interviews completed through doctors she had visited to try to retrace her, trace her steps and people she had encountered a lot of people were talking. Of course, everyone, anyone that we knew had a relationship with her.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Maybe Leah's PR campaign helped because we.
Detective or Investigator
Had some anonymous tips. People saying that they saw her at.
Narrator / Lester Holt
This location, but not a single one of them led to Nyla. By now, the detectives believe they were dealing with a serious crime, and yet she's missing.
Detective or Investigator
Technically, there hasn't been a crime committed.
Narrator / Lester Holt
That makes it somewhat awkward when you're looking into it.
Family Friend or Witness
But anyone that we knew that had contact with her, the boyfriend that she was in Wisconsin with the weekend before she went missing, they were all interviewed.
Narrator / Lester Holt
That boyfriend from Wisconsin, Andre, had come to Chicago, was helping with the search and soon was perhaps the subject of it. They came to you.
Andre Wright
They did.
Narrator / Lester Holt
The perfect boyfriend. Now to police a perfectly obvious person of interest.
Detective Greg Jacobson
Coming up, a discovery in an empty parking lot.
Detective or Investigator
It was in a pretty secluded area right adjacent to a lagoon.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Whoa.
Detective or Investigator
I watch enough DATELINE to know that's probably not a good sign.
Detective Greg Jacobson
A strange sight, to be sure. But what, if anything, did it have to do with Nyela? When DATELINE continues.
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Narrator / Lester Holt
There's this big search. Yes, how overwhelming was that?
DSW Advertiser
You don't realize how the world seems so big when you're Looking for someone.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Imagine all of Chicago and Naila could be anywhere. Tied up in some basement in the trunk of a car. A worse then, middle of the night, 20 miles south of town, at a place called Calumet City. A local cop was on routine patrol checking out a golf course parking lot. His name is Calvin Lucius.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
So as I got to this area right here, I noticed right in front of me, six perfectly stacked cardboard boxes, you know, shipping boxes sitting right there in the parking lot, sitting right on the curb so it stood out. So I'm looking like something's not right here.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Inside the boxes. Pills. Hundreds of them.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
I was thinking, okay, this might be something big as far as, you know, some type of narcotics and drug related case.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Except look more like samples. Something a pharmaceutical rep would have been handing out free to doctors. What were they?
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
Just different type of medicines. I can't even pronounce the names.
Narrator / Lester Holt
What were they doing here? On the label? The address to a storage locker and a name. Nailah.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
And pretty soon the FBI and Chicago police.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Everybody was out here looking, including Detective Greg Jacobson.
Detective or Investigator
It was in a pretty secluded area next to a forest preserve which was right adjacent to a lagoon.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Whoa.
Detective or Investigator
I watch enough dateline to know that's probably not a good sign.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Was Niela down there in that murky water?
Family Friend or Witness
We had light trucks out there.
Detective or Investigator
They dredged the lagoon back and forth.
Narrator / Lester Holt
They went, scoured every inch of the pond and the thick woods behind it and found one weird thing.
Detective or Investigator
There was some jewelry that was on.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Some of the bushes, pearls and such, just hanging there. The cops checked with their friends. Looked like Nailah's, they said, except Niela wasn't here. But remember Sister Leah's PR campaign not far away from there, next town over.
Leah Franklin
The person saw a newscast and they were like, that car's been on my block for a couple days. And thank God they saw that. And thank God they cared enough to call it in.
Narrator / Lester Holt
That call came from here. Hammond, Indiana, just down the road from Calumet. Three days after Naila vanished. A black Chevy Impala.
Family Friend or Witness
We rushed out there to, you know, to see it.
Narrator / Lester Holt
It was hers.
Family Friend or Witness
You open that trunk, the last thing you want to think is that there's something in that trunk. Unfortunately, there wasn't.
Narrator / Lester Holt
You obviously do a workup on the vehicle. Did you find any prints, any DNA, anything useful at all?
Detective or Investigator
I think our evidence technicians that processed it described it as it was wiped clean.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Including in the trunk?
Family Friend or Witness
Yes.
Detective or Investigator
Yes.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Believing somehow she might find her sister, the younger Ashley drove out there.
DSW Advertiser
The car was parked in front of an abandoned house. And I went and I banged on the door, Looked through the windows. I screamed her name. I didn't want to leave. I had to be taken from the area.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Of course, the cops canvassed the neighbors and what do you know?
Family Friend or Witness
They had seen a male mulling around the vehicle and then enter another vehicle and leave. And that was a few days prior to us actually locating the vehicle.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Did they give you a good description?
Family Friend or Witness
A male african american, thin build.
Narrator / Lester Holt
That description might have fit a lot of people in nailah's life. Like, for example, her new boyfriend, Andre wright. Police had questioned him right away. It was about their relationship and where he was when she disappeared.
Andre Wright
They asked about when. Last time I saw her was last time we spoke.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Or could that man mulling around the car have been someone else? Like that previous boyfriend, the investor? His name was reginald potts. But before the cops could find him, he stepped up and called them.
Detective or Investigator
He wanted to know why Chicago police wanted to.
Narrator / Lester Holt
And talking with him, he agreed to stop by headquarters for a talk.
Detective or Investigator
He gives us a lot of information.
Narrator / Lester Holt
He met her a year earlier. He told them by pure chance, really. On the street in the ritzy gold coast. She was sophisticated. So was he. They dated briefly. Realized it wasn't for life, Though a girl could do worse, what with his white bentley and duplex overlooking the lake.
Detective or Investigator
He lives in a very large apartment complex. A high rise.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Nice place and beautiful.
Family Friend or Witness
In an upscale area in the city.
Detective or Investigator
It's where you want to live.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Wow. Reginald told them everything he did the day nailah vanished. Everywhere he went. Very detailed the day's events. Early evening shopping with friends at target bar hopping later with not one but two girlfriends. Separately, of course. And after that, an intimate part with a third girlfriend.
Detective or Investigator
They make arrangements to meet at reginald's apartment around midnight on the 18th.
Narrator / Lester Holt
This guy gets around.
Detective or Investigator
If you got a bentley, your options are open, right?
Narrator / Lester Holt
I guess so. As investigators headed off to check Reginald potts alibi down in calumet city, officer calvin lucius was again cruising vacant parking lots. This time a mile or so from where he found those boxes. When a partner noticed something.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
He saw A pair of earbuds hanging from the tree.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Bright little bobbles showed up in the dark. What else was in that abandoned place at the edge of the midnight woods?
Detective Greg Jacobson
Coming up. It's now a different type of investigation. And detectives take a closer look at a man from nailah's past.
Family Friend or Witness
She saw, sensed there was something off about him.
Narrator / Lester Holt
It's a grassroots effort by family and friends for all the frantic activity, the phone calls, the flyers, the organized looking about. It was a rare quiet time nine days in, when Nailah Franklin's sister felt it.
Leah Franklin
We had a prayer service at our church. In my heart I knew. I was like, you know what? She's not coming back.
Narrator / Lester Holt
And that very night, in the 3am Hush of Calumet City, Night patrol officer Calvin Lucius felt his way past the glittering earbuds his partner saw hanging from a tree to the inky flat fringe of forest at the back of a long abandoned parking lot behind a derelict video store.
Detective or Investigator
I probably got like, maybe right around in this area.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Yeah.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
And just looked over and the body was there.
Narrator / Lester Holt
What was that moment like?
Detective or Investigator
Shocked.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
You don't know if it's her or not, but you have an idea.
Detective or Investigator
Because it's a female body, they had.
Narrator / Lester Holt
To resort to dental records to confirm it was Nailah.
Leah Franklin
I think this type of death, it doesn't just kill that person. It kills a lot in the family. It's the absence of a piece of you because that person's not here.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
I can't describe it. It's like you know it's happening, but it just doesn't feel real. It just feels like you're in. Literally, like in a nightmare.
Narrator / Lester Holt
An autopsy confirmed the death was by asphyxiation. So now it was homicide. But who was the killer? Not Andre confirmed he was in Milwaukee when Nailah vanished.
Family Friend or Witness
Everything with him checked out.
Narrator / Lester Holt
As for being questioned, are you upset by it?
Andre Wright
Not at all, no. They should. They should have done that. That was part of doing their job.
Narrator / Lester Holt
So what about that investor, Reginald Potts? The one who'd been so helpful? Well, this was curious. When the detectives went to visit his high rise apartment, they couldn't help but.
Detective or Investigator
Notice the exterior to one of the doors was extremely damaged. Like it had been forced open.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Huh, that's weird. Maybe not so weird. There was an explanation.
Detective or Investigator
Reginald Potts was recently visited by members of the Cook County Sheriff's Department in an attempt to evict Reginald Potts.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Of course, this was 2007. Lots of people were falling behind on their mortgages. But by the look of it, Reginald's problems ran deeper than that.
Family Friend or Witness
He was constantly in default. 15 pairs of Gucci shoes. And not a bed to sleep on.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Not a bed to sleep on.
Detective or Investigator
A mattress.
Family Friend or Witness
A mattress. No furniture. Not a pot or pan in the kitchen. But yet what he believed were important items to surround himself with. Cars, clothing, high end restaurants. They're for show.
Narrator / Lester Holt
The Bentley, it turned out, belonged to somebody else. And Reginald juggled Girlfriends and hookups and an ex wife who was raising one of his children and an ex girlfriend with whom he'd had another. Didn't take Nyla long to figure it out, or so her friends told the police.
Family Friend or Witness
She sensed there was something off about him, and that's probably where she decided to, you know, look a little deeper.
Narrator / Lester Holt
So she ended it. And as she did, she warned whomever she could about Reginald. Even one of his other girlfriends. Watch out for this guy. He's bad news. And he's cheating on you.
Detective or Investigator
Yeah, they were in communication about Reginald.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Nailah told Andre that when Reginald found out, he wasn't happy.
Andre Wright
He got wind of that and reached out to Nailah in a threatening manner.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Sent her nasty emails and voicemails. Did she worry about that a lot?
Andre Wright
She didn't exhibit any worries to me.
Narrator / Lester Holt
About it, but she must have been worried. Detectives found a report that Nailah had called a non emergency police phone number, asked about filing an order of protection against a threatening ex boyfriend. She mentioned Mr. Potts. So, yes, Reginald Potts was a murder suspect. But he wasn't exactly hiding from the police. Remember, he'd given them a very detailed alibi to check out.
Detective or Investigator
He's pretty specific on where he's at.
Narrator / Lester Holt
And as the weeks went by, he seemed quite eager to help.
Detective or Investigator
And he continuously called me on my cell phone.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
Really?
Detective or Investigator
Yes.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Called you to tell you what?
Detective or Investigator
Tried to direct an investigation. Why haven't we talked to Hugh Eckles and Caster Echols?
Narrator / Lester Holt
His friends? The Echols were with him much of the day.
Detective or Investigator
He said they were at a Target store, shopping.
Narrator / Lester Holt
And sure enough, Mr. Echols confirmed his account. There they are. On surveillance cameras at the Target store. Which would seem to exclude Potts as a suspect. If he was shopping, he wasn't kidnapping and killing Nailah. But this was curious. For some reason, Reginald did not show up on camera.
Family Friend or Witness
So if you're ever going to commit a crime, do not do it at Target because they're going to have everything down to your sign this transaction on the keypad. Very clear.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Meaning either he managed somehow to investigate, avoid every camera in the store, or his friend lied for him. So they hauled Reginald's buddy down to the station, and after a few go rounds, he admitted not only that Reginald wasn't at the Target, but he did.
Family Friend or Witness
Receive a phone call from Reginald Potts and then traveled to Hammond in order to pick him up because he needed a ride.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Hammond, Indiana, the town where Niela's car was found found on the 6th of December, 2007. Reginald Potts was arrested for the murder of Niela Franklin. But Reginald quite vehemently denied killing her.
Detective or Investigator
This is the evidence.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
Okay, we can put you let me the fabrication.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Fabrication? Yes, said Reginald. He was being framed.
Detective Greg Jacobson
Coming up, a suspect bears all.
Detective or Investigator
Why are you taking your clothes off?
Andre Wright
What's that?
Detective Greg Jacobson
Okay, but would he reveal the truth? When dateline continues.
Narrator / Lester Holt
The McDonald's snack wrap is back. You brought it back. Ranch snack wrap. Spicy snack wrap.
Detective or Investigator
You broke the Internet for a snack?
Narrator / Lester Holt
Snack wrap is back.
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Narrator / Lester Holt
Here we are in a little room in a Chicago police station.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
Let's say that is what you're saying.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Reginald Potts is under arrest for the murder of Nailah Franklin. The detectives are certain they have their man.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
But Mr. Potts, I am adamantly denying that I was ever there, period.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Reginald Potts appears to be insulted they even asked.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
And I can tell you you're lying.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Nailah, he was nowhere near her. He said the day she vanished.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
Listen to me. I was not in her apartment on the 18th period. Or her building or apartment building.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Of course they told him they had evidence.
Detective or Investigator
Distinctive Bentley in her parking garage or building.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
And I can tell you it's a.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Police frame up to which the detectives said.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
Reginald, do you understand about video cases?
Narrator / Lester Holt
Yes. Including Nailah's apartment building. And there Is Reginald plain as day with Niela arriving and leaving with her on that very day she disappeared. So you knew he was there? Yes, but Reginald doubled down on his denial.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
I am certain that I am nowhere near inside of Naida Franklin's apartment building.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Accused the police of fabricating evidence.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
And if you have, you have been very creative with Photoshop. I guarantee you cannot bring me getting off in an elevator at Nyla Franklin's house. If you have, you've been very creative with Photoshop.
Narrator / Lester Holt
He talked and talked. Denied and denied.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
We can put you in, letting you.
Narrator / Lester Holt
All without any apparent desire for an attorney. But when they asked him to stand in a lineup so witnesses could have a look, if there's no lawyer here.
Andre Wright
That can bear witness to what is.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
Going on and you speaking to whom in the lineup room, the person who's viewing me, I definitely not feel wrong.
Detective or Investigator
There's a Warner here with the state's attorney here from Cook County.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
State's attorney is at representing the people and representing the case. I would not feel comfortable at all.
Narrator / Lester Holt
At all. So they waited for Reginald's attorney to arrive, and then it got odd.
Detective or Investigator
Attorney's right there.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
Yes, sir.
Detective or Investigator
Why are you taking clothes on?
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
Because I am.
Detective or Investigator
What's that?
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
Because I am.
Detective or Investigator
Okay, your attorney's right here. We want to take you for a lineup right now.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
We stepped in the other room.
Detective or Investigator
Reginald removed all his clothing and refused to stand in the lineup.
Narrator / Lester Holt
That's an interesting tactic.
Detective or Investigator
Yes.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Have you ever seen that before?
Detective or Investigator
No.
Narrator / Lester Holt
So no lineup, but they charged him anyway with capital murder. Nailah by then, had been dead three months.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
I was definitely relieved. I was kind of surprised that it took so long, but I was relieved.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Relieved, too, that Reginald Potts, as was his right, demanded a speedy trial. But then Reginald Potts used every resource.
Detective or Investigator
At his disposal to delay the process.
Narrator / Lester Holt
NBC Chicago's Charlie Vorjahewski watched in something like amazement as Reginald turned speedy justice into something else altogether.
Detective or Investigator
He hired lawyers. He fired lawyers. He tried to act as his own attorney at each step of the process. The trial itself had to be reset.
Narrator / Lester Holt
One, two, three years passed that way. In the fourth year after the murder, Illinois abolished capital punishment. So that was off the table. And still Reginald's actions forced delays.
Detective or Investigator
This is one of the most bizarre cases we've seen in Chicago.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Just as Nailah's family had reached out to the media, Reginald Potts tried to launch a PR campaign from behind bars.
Detective or Investigator
His family reached out, trying to convince me that there may be some way that he's not associated with this Crime, that it might be someone else, that there was a rush to judgment.
Narrator / Lester Holt
He talked to a newspaper columnist who wrote sympathetically about his treatment in jail. And every delay, every move, manipulation was slow torture.
Leah Franklin
I very much believe that everyone should have a fair and just trial and that too often people who are poor or people of color do not. Or most often they don't get proper representation and they don't get a fair shake in our court system. But this was not that.
Narrator / Lester Holt
And then finally, on October 28, 2015, on a cross on a crisp fall day in Chicago, the State vs. Reginald Potts began. It had taken eight years to get here. Cook county assistant State's attorneys Maria McCarthy and Fabio Valentini brought the case against Potts.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
This was a case with no eyewitnesses, no confession, no video of the crime, no physical evidence linking Reginald Potts to the crime, and a cause of death that was based on primarily exclusion. We don't try many cases like that.
Narrator / Lester Holt
And not many cases with a defendant quite like Reginald Potts.
Detective Greg Jacobson
Coming up, an accused killer's defense.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
I'm not a monster.
Narrator / Lester Holt
He's smarter than the average criminal, but not as smart as he thinks he is.
Detective Greg Jacobson
And after eight years, a verdict.
Narrator / Lester Holt
What really tormented me all these years.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
Is that there's a possibility that justice won't be done.
Narrator / Lester Holt
For eight years. Daila Frank Franklin's family struggled through their incomplete grief. What really tormented me all these years.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
Is that there's a possibility that justice won't be done.
Narrator / Lester Holt
There was no real forensic evidence, only circumstantial things. Though, according to the prosecutors, there was a whole smorgasbord of proof. That video, Reginald Potts with Diela the day she vanished, the video at the time, Target store that did not show him and thus blew up his alibi. Nailah's friends testified she showed them emails and played a voicemail in which he threatened her.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
Nailah played that voicemail for them because.
Leah Franklin
She was so terrified.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
And essentially in that voicemail, he said to Nailah, I'm going to have you erased. I'm going to make you disappear.
Narrator / Lester Holt
In fact, the prosecutor, that's exactly what he did. Snuck into her building, led her, terrified, to the garage where he strangled her, stuffed her body in the trunk of her own car. And how did they know he took her out to the suburbs to dump her body and her car? Cell towers linked their phones together like a trail of breadcrumbs.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
From the moment that they walked out of that vestibule to the garage, she's not seen by anybody. She's not calling anybody.
Detective or Investigator
She's not answering calls. Her texts are all odd, but her phone and his phone are together.
Narrator / Lester Holt
Lockstep the entire rest of the day right to the abandoned video store behind which they finally found Nailah's body. No coincidence he chose that particular spot so far from Chicago, said the prosecutors.
Detective or Investigator
And we find out that the video.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
Max store is owned by Potts is.
Narrator / Lester Holt
A brother in law, his friend. The alibi witness now testified for the prosecution that yes, he initially lied for Reginald, but didn't know it was to cover up a murder. And remember those three strange hang up calls to 911 and those odd texts her family and boyfriend received? It was Reginald Potts using Nailah's phone hours after he murdered her, said the prosecution. A clever killer's attempt to throw off a missing person's investigation.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
He's smarter than the average criminal, but not as smart as he thinks he is.
Narrator / Lester Holt
But Reginald Potts was nothing if not strategic. His defense was to refute their evidence and discredit the prosecution.
Detective or Investigator
Defense attorneys need to create reasonable doubt in this case. It was very difficult to determine cause of death. So immediately the defense is going to rush to that idea and say, well, you can't really tell how they died. And it's little things like that. In the hopes that one juror or two jurors will latch onto that and say, I can't convict.
Narrator / Lester Holt
They even disputed the cell phone evidence the prosecution believed cinched the case.
Detective or Investigator
The defense has alleged that the idea that you can triangulate a cell phone signal based on the cell it pings on a tower is somehow flawed.
Narrator / Lester Holt
After two weeks of testimony and argument, the jury had the case. Did Reginald's arguments persuade them? 2 hours and 15 minutes after they began, the jury answered no. They pronounced Reginald Potts guilty of first degree murder.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
Whew. I was so relieved. It's like, okay, that's passed, now it's the next thing.
Narrator / Lester Holt
So the next thing was sentencing nearly.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
Four months later, still waiting and hoping he doesn't get like four years or something stupid like that.
Detective or Investigator
Mr. Potts is present.
Narrator / Lester Holt
But again, they had no idea. What was this man all about? There was a hearing to help the judge make a decision about sentence. Normally just arguments, recommendations from both sides, but not this time. The prosecution called 35 witnesses to tell the judge a hair raising story about Reginald Potts. Reginald was not quite the gold plated success story he appeared to be.
Family Friend or Witness
He lived a life of a lot of smoke and mirrors.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
He's a con man who fooled a lot of People.
Narrator / Lester Holt
And when the con man was challenged, everybody, even law enforcement, was a target.
Detective or Investigator
He would kill me. He'd kill my family. My family would never be safe. When he was struck three times by Mr. Potts in the face.
Narrator / Lester Holt
He spent much of his adult life in prison where he assaulted guards.
Detective or Investigator
I was struck in the right eye by detaining Potts.
Narrator / Lester Holt
All of that was too prejudicial to present at trial, but now absolutely relevant.
Detective or Investigator
And he took her back by the elevator, and I heard slap.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
This guy has been an absolute menace his entire adult life. Do you see Mr. Potts in court today?
Narrator / Lester Holt
And when a woman stood up to witness after witness testified that Reginald betrayed them, bullied them, and much worse, he.
Detective or Investigator
Choked her, choked her out and threw.
Detective Greg Jacobson
Her on the bed.
Detective or Investigator
This guy not only had a propensity for violence against women, but he had.
Narrator / Lester Holt
A propensity specifically to choke and strangle them.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
He's a sociopath. He lies as easily as he breathes about anything, no matter how stupid. If he tells you what time it is, look at your wife.
Narrator / Lester Holt
That bad, huh?
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
Yes. Guy's a monster.
Narrator / Lester Holt
A monster who, however briefly, fooled even the sophisticated, successful Nailah to her mother's eternal sorrow.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
You don't know who you're letting into your life.
DSW Advertiser
They could. They don't always come looking like a monster.
Narrator / Lester Holt
There's a kind of ceremony about these things. Everyone gets to talk.
Leah Franklin
Nailah's murder stole from our community.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
A bright light nightmare still taunt me with her screaming, moaning and reaching out, begging for her life.
Narrator / Lester Holt
But Reginald. Reginald cried, denied everything.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
The jury of my peers came back with the verdict that I believe is false, and I believe it is invalid. And I believe that a court of appeals will overturn that. But for now, this court has to honor what they said and impose a sentence. But I tell you, your honor, I am not the person that Ms. McCarthy has tried to paint in this courtroom.
Narrator / Lester Holt
I'm not a monster.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
I'm not a monster.
Narrator / Lester Holt
We waited to see if the judge would buy Reginald's story or the prosecutors. And here it was.
Detective or Investigator
You are a cold, calculating, conniving coward of a con man who must be punished.
Narrator / Lester Holt
And indeed he was. Life without parole.
Detective or Investigator
Take him away.
Narrator / Lester Holt
So that was justice the most naive's family could hope for. Terribly important and strangely empty.
Defense Attorney or Legal Expert
It's still not done. She's still not back. You still can't talk with her.
Narrator / Lester Holt
No. They try to remember Nailah not as a murder victim, but as the beautiful young woman she was, the vibrant center of her family. But grief, real and painful, comes to visit every day.
Leah Franklin
You know, people say, oh, well, she's your spouse and she's your angel and she's in a better place and all this other stuff. I'm like, yeah, but I want her here. I don't want my 28 year old sister to be my angel. I want her to be right here in the thick of it with me.
Detective Greg Jacobson
That's all for now. I'm Lester Holt. Thanks for joining us.
Narrator / Lester Holt
The McDonald's Snack Wrap is back. You brought it back. Ranch snack wrap. Spicy snack wrap.
Detective or Investigator
You broke the Internet for a snack?
Narrator / Lester Holt
Snack wrap is back.
Original Air Date: December 31, 2025
Host: Lester Holt
Reporter/Narrator: Keith Morrison
"Smoke and Mirrors" unravels the heartbreaking case of Nailah Franklin, a successful young pharmaceutical representative from Chicago who vanished without a trace in September 2007. The episode follows her family's frantic search, the twisting investigation that exposed one suspect’s deceptive life, and the long fight for justice. This is a story not only of a crime, but of the resilience of family in the face of tragedy, and the frustrating realities of whose stories get attention in the media.
[00:58 - 11:06]
[11:06 - 15:31]
[03:31 - 06:13]
[16:57 - 23:18]
[25:42 - 28:17]
[24:10 - 29:39]
[36:05 - 44:42]
[44:46 - End]
On Media Attention:
“Quite frankly, I don’t know of a lot of women of color or people of color who get the same attention by the public in general.” – Leah Franklin [11:48]
On Realization of Loss:
“In my heart I knew. I was like, you know what? She’s not coming back.” – Leah Franklin [24:10]
On the Suspect’s Character:
"He lived a life of a lot of smoke and mirrors." – Family Friend [26:25]
“He’s a sociopath. He lies as easily as he breathes about anything.” – Legal Expert [43:03]
On the Killer in Court:
“I am not the person that Ms. McCarthy has tried to paint in this courtroom. I’m not a monster.” – Reginald Potts [44:18]
On Justice and Grief:
“It’s still not done. She’s still not back. You still can’t talk with her.” – Defense Attorney / Family [44:57]
“I don’t want my 28-year-old sister to be my angel. I want her to be right here in the thick of it with me.” – Leah Franklin [45:19]
The episode features the measured, detailed storytelling characteristic of Dateline NBC, blending poignant recollections from family with matter-of-fact procedural updates from detectives and legal experts. Lester Holt and Keith Morrison's narration is both sensitive and suspenseful, ensuring that the victim’s humanity remains central while the investigation and court dramas are presented with clarity and gravity.
"Smoke and Mirrors" is a gripping yet sobering exploration of the disappearance and murder of Nailah Franklin, illustrating the complexities of investigating violent crime, the resilience of a devastated family, and the troubling persistence of “smoke and mirrors”–the deceits and manipulative facades that can mask monstrous intentions. The episode delivers both a compelling true-crime narrative and a meditation on justice, remembrance, and the lingering presence of grief.