Antoinette Frank
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Antoinette Renee Frank (born 30 April 1971) is a former New Orleans police officer who, alongside her drug dealer boyfriend Rogers Lacaze, was responsible for the 1995 Kim Anh restaurant robbery during which two members of the family who owned the restaurant and one police officer were killed.
Biography edit
On 25 November 1994 Frank handled an incident in which drug dealer Rogers Lacaze was shot. After this incident Frank took Lacaze's statement and got close to him, supposedly in order to try and turn his life around. However, she soon became smitten with his "bad boy" persona and they began a sexual relationship. According to eyewitnesses Frank and Lacaze would pull over motorists and rob them at gunpoint. Frank also used her authority as a police officer to protect Lacaze after he was involved in an altercation with two men who he pulled a gun on.[1]
After midnight on 4 March 1995, Frank and Lacaze entered the Kim Anh Vietnamese restaurant run by the Vu family. Chau Vu, who had observed that Frank had stolen the front door key on a previous visit, sensed something was wrong and ran to the kitchen to hide the money. Frank used the key to open the front door and pushed Chau and her brother Quoc into the kitchen. Police officer Ronald A. Williams, who was present at the time, attempted to follow to see what was going on but was shot in the back of the neck by Lacaze, severing his spinal cord. Lacaze then continued to shoot Williams as he lay on the floor.[2]
As Lacaze killed Williams Frank turned to see what was happening, giving Chau and Quoc the opportunity to flee into a walk-in freezer and hide. Unable to find them, Lacaze and Frank held up their siblings Ha and Cuong Vu, who were sweeping the Kim Anh. When Cuong was unable to tell them where the money was Frank brutally pistol whipped him. She then began searching the kitchen, finding the money stashed in the microwave, before shooting Cuong and Ha. Frank and Lacaze made their escape.[3]
Frank dropped Lacaze off at a nearby apartment complex before returning to Kim Anh posing as a responding officer with the intention of killing Chau and Quoc in order to dispose of all witnesses. However, other officers were already there and Chau was able to identify Frank to them, resulting in her arrest.[3] Lacaze was arrested later that night after using Ronald Williams's credit card.
Frank and Lacaze both received separate trials for three counts of first-degree murder. Frank was convicted on 12 September 1995 and sentenced to death the following day. She is currently still on death row.[4]
In November 1995, a police search of Frank's house lead to the discovery of a human skull with a bullet hole in it buried beneath the house. Police believe it to be the skull of Frank's father Adam Frank, who was reported missing in 1993.[5] As Frank is already on death row, no attempt to prosecute her for her father's murder has been made.
References edit
- ↑ State of Louisiana v. Antoinette Frank, Louisiana Supreme Court
- ↑ Antoinette Frank - Women on Death Row, My Crime Library
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Killings That Broke The Spirit of a Besieged City, The New York Times
- ↑ My visit with Antoinette Frank on death row: convicted cop killer
- ↑ Human Bones Found Under House of a Killer, The New York Times