Two men accused of shooting a teenager who was in foster care and leaving her dead in an Atlanta street are in the DeKalb County jail on aggravated assault charges in a separate attempted armed robbery case.
Police believe slain 17-year-old Dennetta Franks may have been involved in the Sept. 19 armed robbery with her accused shooters, Wayne Rendell Bailey, 19, of Newnan, and Eddie Byrd, 18, of Atlanta, according to police reports obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Credit: DeKalb County Sheriff's Office
Credit: DeKalb County Sheriff's Office
The trio, along with two other suspects — Sharelle Pollock, 18, and Dijawan Physean Adams, 18 — shot and attempted to rob a man at gunpoint two nights before Franks was killed, police said.
Franks, 17, of Carrollton, was reported missing Sept. 7 from a Holiday Inn Express in Columbus. She was found dead from multiple gunshot wounds Sept. 21 in the 1700 block of Hortense Place. Franks was in foster care at the time of her death, the Division of Family and Children Services confirmed to The AJC.
She was identified by her father, Michael Franks Sr., after detectives released two sketches.
Two nights before Franks was killed, Atlanta police found Roque Clendinen Jr. lying in the northbound lanes of Mellrich Avenue with his gun in his hand, according to the police report. Clendinen, 43, of Snellville, told officers he was shot by two men and two women, later identified as Bailey, Byrd, Franks and Pollock.
Clendinen said he fired back, injuring a fifth suspect, Adams, as they were running away. Adams was found nearby yelling for help, police said.
Two days later, Franks was shot at close range, described by Atlanta police in the report as a “willful killing.”
Murder warrants were taken out for Bailey and Byrd on Nov. 4 after “probable cause was ascertained,” according to a police report.
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