An Oklahoma dentist accused of causing fatal skull fractures to his mistress’s 19-month-old son was charged Monday in a new felony case- with conspiring to have her killed so she couldn’t testify against him.
Bert Franklin, 36, was set to face trial Monday in the death of his mistress Roxanne Lewis’s son, Lincoln Von Henry Lewis. Prosecutors allege Franklin caused the deadly head injuries to the child on July 16, 2016, inside the Lewis’ Oklahoma City residence, according to OK News.
The trial was continued after prosecutors charged him with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, after they say he solicited fellow inmates to kill the boy’s mother. She is the key witness in her son’s murder case.
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Roxanne Lewis-Randall, pictured with her now deceased son Lincoln, is the key witness in her son’s murder case
Oklahoma dentist Bert Franklin, 35 (left), was charged with killing his lover’s 19-month-old son, Lincoln Van Henry Lewis (right), with a blow to the head- and now he’s charged with plotting to kill the boy’s mother from behind bars
The inmates Franklin allegedly solicited were working with law enforcement as confidential informants in unrelated cases.
He has been held without bail in the Oklahoma County jail since July 2016, as he is considered a flight risk after losing his dental practice over the toddler’s murder charge according to Koco News.
In August, Franklin approached the first informant about ‘the possibility of killing a witness in the murder case,’ an investigator with the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s Office wrote in a court affidavit.
This past week, prosecutors allege Franklin gave ‘step-by-step driving instructions’ to Randall’s house to a second informant as well as information on her home security cameras.
Roxanne Lewis-Randall told Dr Phil through tears previously about her son’s tragic death
Prosecutors allege Franklin had $300 transferred to a third inmate’s account, which was to be used as ‘compensation for the murder,’ according to the affidavit.
His defense attorney says Franklin denies the new allegations. Franklin also has denied harming Randall’s son.
Randall had been in a secret relationship with the married dentist for about a year.
CCTV footage allegedly captured him slamming her son Lincoln’s head into the ground, making a kicking motion, then carrying the child while nonchalantly getting himself a piece of pizza.
‘My mind knew logically that there was only one explanation,’ she told Dr. Phil previously. ‘I asked him, said “are you sure Lincoln didn’t fall or something whenever you guys were outside or whenever you guys were downstairs” and his exact answer was “no, and I told you that noise was me throwing a ball at the wall…” and that stuck in my mind.’
In the Tulsa hospital where Lincoln was airlifted, it all came together for Randall.
Dr. Phil says: In the hospital that you realized it all came into focus for you, there were two of us there and it damn sure wasn’t me.’
Randall says she wanted physically assault him.
‘I just was fuming, but I needed to get him away from Lincoln because he was still there, so I went back to the room and I told him that I felt like I needed a minute alone with my son, I whispered to the nurse if she could change the visiting rules to just me. She asked if there was a specific person that I didn’t want there and I told her ‘yes’, him, but I don’t want him to know.’
She tells Dr. Phil what happened in harrowing detail.
‘Lincoln was laying on the couch, looking up at the TV, so I went to walk around to give him his pacifier and Burt was on the other couch,’ she said.
She didn’t know that her child had already been fatally injured.
‘He was like “no he’s asleep,” so I put his pacifier on the arm of the couch and went back upstairs.
‘I guess that’s whenever he picked up Lincoln and carried his body around. So he carried him into the kitchen, gets another piece of pizza, and eventually takes him to my room and lays him on my bed.’
Roxanne goes on to tell how when she later picked up her son’s lifeless body, he was completely limp.
At that point, Lincoln was already brain dead.
Roxanne told Dr Phil when she picked up her son’s lifeless body, he was completely limp. At that point, Lincoln was already brain-dead
Bert Franklin, 35, was arrested and charged in 2016 with first-degree murder in the death of 19-month-old Lincoln Van Henry Lewis.
When Roxanne realized her son was unresponsive she took him to Mercy Hospital, where he was diagnosed with skull fractures.
Surveillance video was later released which gives a clue to the horrific last moments of baby Lincoln’s life.
The footage showed Franklin walking down the stairs at the home of his Ms Randall, with Lincoln in his arms.
At that point, the baby looked alert and awake.
Franklin then disappeared out of view into the living room.
It is unclear what happened next but an Oklahoma City detective told the court she believes the video showed the dentist slamming the child head first into the ground.
Franklin was then seen kicking towards something on the floor which is not visible.
When he walked back into the kitchen, in view of the camera, the child is limp in his arms. Franklin seems unaffected and casually grabbed a piece of pizza from the box on the side, Lincoln’s limp legs dangling.
The boy’s mother only noticed something was wrong after she tried to wake Lincoln up around 2am to feed.
At that point, she discovered her son unresponsive and rushed him to hospital.
Due to the severity of his injuries, the child was later flown to a Tulsa hospital where he passed away, according to police.
A doctor who initially treated Lincoln in Oklahoma City called police because the toddler’s injuries were consistent with abuse, according to a press release cited by Tulsa World.
An autopsy that was performed in the wake of the child’s death found that Lincoln had severe swelling and trauma to his brain, as well as hemorrhaging in both eyes caused by a pair of skull fractures.
Roxanne told police that on July 17, 2016, she was downstairs in her home in the 14800 block of Gravity Falls when she heard a loud ‘thud’ from an upstairs bedroom, where Franklin and Lincoln were alone at the time.
Franklin later told his girlfriend that the noise she heard was with from a small ball he was throwing to a puppy.
According to Roxanne, her boyfriend hated Lincoln’s biological father and had threatened to kill him, ‘skin him in Bricktown’ and cut off his penis, Fox 25 reported.
She also claimed that Franklin recently had begun to exhibit ‘controlling behavior.’ Investigators stated in Franklin’s arrest warrant that his wife and his mistress were not aware of one another’s existence.
Detectives said when they interviewed Bert Franklin, they found his story to be inconsistent with the evidence in the case.
Franklin later surrendered and is set to stand trial for murder starting September 25, 2017.
Prosecutors told the judge at the bail hearing that Franklin would be a flight risk because he’s lost everything after the case – including his Tulsa dental practice.
His Facebook page states that Franklin works at Signature Smiles Dental Spa in Tulsa. He reportedly was with the practice for eight years.
A bio on the dental practice’s website states that Franklin graduated from the University of Oklahoma College of Dentistry, where he received the Dental Wellness Partner Scholarship.
He also holds an undergraduate degree in biomedical chemistry from Oral Roberts University.
The court heard evidence that one of Franklin’s biological children had accused him of abuse in the past.
The judge, who also saw violent texts Franklin had sent to Lewis’ biological father, was swayed by the arguments and denied him bail.
Posts and photos shared on Roxanne’s Facebook account reveal that her son Lincoln was born prematurely in late December 2014 and spent nearly two months in NICU.
She was finally able to take him home in February of 2015, calling him in one status update her ‘miracle babe.’
She also has two older children, a son and daughter.