Police arrested a couple from Wisconsin last month in connection with the killing of a Bossier City man. Now, the woman has written a letter to a judge pleading for her freedom. The letter is part of the public record in the case.
Roman Fudge, 28, and Shandrea Francis, 23, of Milwaukee were arrested in Indianapolis last month and transferred to the Bossier Parish Maximum Security Facility after being charged in connection with the the killing of Bossier City resident Frankie Gatlin, according to Bossier City Police.
Gatlin was killed in the 4600 block of Birdwell Lane Feb. 11. Police said he was shot once in the left eye.
Fudge has been charged with first-degree murder and illegal transmission of monetary funds. His bond has been set at a combined $1.1 million, according to jail records.
Francis has been charged with second-degree murder and illegal transmission of monetary funds. Her bond has been set at a combined $900,000, according to jail records.
On April 1, Francis sent a 13-page letter to 26th Judicial District Court Judge Michael Craig, saying that she couldn't have killed Gatlin because she wasn't involved in Gatlin's murder. In the letter, Francis said that Fudge, who she describes as her boyfriend at the time, and her younger brother were responsible for the killing.
"I've never been a troublemaker and this is my first offense, and honestly, it isn't mine, I never came to Bossier City and did anything to Frankie Gatlin," Francis wrote. “I am not a criminal and I had nothing to do with this. I didn’t know anything about this until after the fact otherwise I would’ve told.”
A request for comment on the case made to counsel at the Bossier Parish Public Defender's Office was not returned before publication.
Twenty-sixth Judicial District Assistant District Attorney Andrew Jacobs said that the narrative in her letter doesn't align with things she told investigators.
"We cannot comment on specific matters at this time. However, I have seen the letter," Jacobs said. " The Bossier City Police Department investigated this matter for a considerable period of time prior to seeking an arrest warrant for Mrs. Francis and Mr. Fudge. They gathered evidence and obtained statements in Bossier, the Monroe area and in Wisconsin by personally conducting investigations in all of those areas with assistance from law enforcement in the other jurisdictions. They kept this office informed of the status of their investigation, and this office concurred with the arrests of both persons for murder. It now appears that Mrs. Francis has wrote a letter that is materially different from statements she and others willingly provided to officers. The Grand Jury will evaluate the evidence in this matter within the next thirty to forty-five days and determine if either or both defendants should face prosecution for murder."
Francis wrote that Gatlin was her relative and she was afraid of him. She wrote that she had avoided Gatlin for years — too frightened to be in the same room with him.
"I would never want to be in the presence of him ever in my life after what it took for me to get away from him," she wrote. "Frankie Gatlin made my life a living hell. I stopped talking, trusting, visiting or even wanting to be around my family anymore."
In the letter, Francis told the judge that she and Fudge were in Monroe visiting her family when Fudge saw a text Gatlin sent to her and another family member saying that he had a large amount of money for them.
In her letter, Francis told the judge that Fudge confessed to killing Gatlin with her brother for that money.
“Roman told me that they went to Frankie’s house and got him to come outside by setting off the alarm to his truck and then they walked him back inside,“ Francis wrote. “They didn’t do this for me. They did this because of the message Frankie sent saying I have $30,000 that could be worth my while.”
Francis wrote that she was asleep at her grandmother’s house in Monroe when the murder is believed to have been committed.
“Help me Judge Craig, please,“ Francis wrote.