In the early morning hours of a cold February day in 2014, the life of 23-year-old Franklin Spottedtail was tragically cut short in Lawrence, Kansas. Responding to a 911 call about a possible stabbing at the Northwinds Apartments, police instead discovered a grimly different scene. Spottedtail, a male of reported white and Native American heritage, was found inside an apartment, the victim of a fatal gunshot wound.
Medical personnel arrived, but it was too late; he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The initial hours of the investigation were filled with uncertainty. The Lawrence Police Department, while confirming the cause of death was a traumatic gunshot injury, was initially hesitant to label the case a homicide. They processed the crime scene, which was located in an apartment a relative of Spottedtail's reportedly lived in, and conducted numerous interviews. An autopsy was performed as authorities worked to piece together the events that led to the young man's violent death.
Despite their efforts, the days immediately following the discovery of Spottedtail's body did not bring any arrests or the naming of any suspects. Police indicated that while they had spoken to most of the individuals they believed were necessary to their investigation, they still urged the public to come forward with any information. As the initial investigation unfolded, public records revealed a troubled past for Spottedtail, including a prior conviction for attempted armed robbery for which he had been released from prison the previous October. In the years that have passed, there have been no publicly available reports of arrests made or suspects identified in connection with the death of Franklin Spottedtail, leaving his case unsolved.
