Oregon Lawmakers Call for New FBI Investigation into 1989 Murder of Michael Francke
SALEM, Ore. – In a rare show of bipartisan support, Oregon House leaders Ben Bowman and Christine Drazen have formally requested the FBI to reopen the investigation into the 1989 murder of Michael Francke, the then-Director of the Oregon Department of Corrections. Francke was shot and killed outside the department’s Salem headquarters on January 17, 1989.
Frank Gable was convicted of the murder in 1991 based largely on circumstantial evidence and without any physical proof linking him to the crime. He received a life sentence but was released in 2019 when U.S. Magistrate Judge John V. Acosta highlighted serious doubts regarding Gable’s guilt, citing newly discovered evidence, including witness recantations. In May 2023, the court officially overturned Gable’s conviction, with a federal appeals court affirming that the testimony of the state’s main witness had been compromised by coercive investigative practices.
The U.S. Supreme Court subsequently denied a petition from the State of Oregon to reinstate Gable’s conviction. Following this series of legal developments, the judge barred the state from retrying Gable for the murder and cleared his record in June 2023.
In their appeal to FBI Director Kash Patel, Bowman and Drazen emphasized the absence of any active investigation into Francke’s murder despite the significant changes in Gable’s case. They expressed the Francke family’s ongoing support for a renewed inquiry, underlining the need for justice in this long-standing cold case.
As calls for accountability grow, the request for federal involvement could potentially shed new light on a murder that has haunted Oregon for over three decades.
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