Christina Franke, a 25-year-old white female student at the University of Central Florida, was found dead on October 21, 2001, in her Orlando apartment. She was discovered lying face down and partially undressed with a single gunshot wound to her head. Approximately $300 in tip money she had likely earned that day while working at Cigarz Bar at Universal Orlando CityWalk was missing from her apartment.
The medical examiner's office found no indication of rape, but investigators discovered drops of seminal fluid on her body, believed to be left by the man who shot her.
For nearly two decades, the case remained unsolved despite extensive efforts by the Orlando Police Department. Detectives collected DNA samples from numerous friends, neighbors, co-workers, customers, and other potential suspects, but none matched the DNA found at the crime scene. In 2018, advances in DNA technology and the use of genealogy databases provided a breakthrough. Orlando detectives, inspired by the arrest of the Golden State Killer, uploaded DNA data from the Franke crime scene to a genealogy database called GEDmatch. This led to promising matches and eventually identified Benjamin Lee Holmes as a suspect.
Holmes, a 42-year-old African American male, was arrested in 2018. During his trial, his defense attorney argued that someone else had planted Holmes's DNA at the crime scene to frame him. Despite this claim, prosecutors presented circumstantial evidence pointing to Holmes as the killer. The jury found Holmes guilty of first-degree murder, and he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Holmes continues to deny any involvement in Christina Franke's murder.
