Michael Anthony Hughes From Netflix's 'Girl In The Picture' Is Still Missing
The highly anticipated Netflix true crime documentary, Girl in the Picture, has finally dropped, and there's a lot to unpack.
In case you need a refresher, the film re-examines the crimes of Franklin Delano Floyd, who was eventually put on death row for murder and kidnapping. But, his story is not easy to follow, in part, because Floyd was known for taking on new aliases for himself and his abducted "daughter," Suzanne Marie Sevakis.
Here's the short version: In 1975, Floyd married a woman named Sandi Chipman, who had four children. Floyd kidnapped her kids and released all except one, Suzanne. Over the years, Floyd took care of Suzanne, who he renamed Sharon Marshall, and raised her as his daughter.
Years later, Sharon got pregnant with her boyfriend and fled to Alabama, per the Tampa Bay Times. But one day, her boyfriend found a note stating that she was taken back by her "father" (a.k.a. Floyd).
Floyd then forced Sharon to marry him, and changed her name again to Tonya Hughes, while he took on the name Clarence Hughes. Sharon, 20, was later found dead as the suspected result of a hit-and-run accident, but the circumstances of her death have been called into question in the new doc.
And people also have a lot of questions about her son. So, what happened to Sharon's child, Michael Anthony Hughes? Read on for all the details.
Who is Michael Anthony Hughes?
Michael Anthony Hughes is the son of Sharon Marshall (a.k.a. Tonya Hughes). He is not related to Sharon's kidnapper-turned-husband, Franklin Floyd. In the documentary, it says that Sharon got pregnant and had Michael just before she was supposed to go off to college.
However, in 1990, Sharon, or "Tonya," was found on the side of the highway with life-threatening injuries that police assumed were from a hit-and-run. The documentary suggests that Floyd may have been involved in her death.
Michael was only two at the time.
Who took care of Michael Hughes?
Because Michael was not related to Floyd, he was sent to a foster home, where he lived with foster parents Merle and Ernest Bean for four years, per Newsweek. Then, in September 1994, Michael was kidnapped from his elementary school by Floyd.
What happened to Michael Hughes?
For years, authorities were unsure what happened to young Michael. However, after decades of speculation, Floyd claimed he shot and killed the boy after abducting him, per The Oklahoman.
Floyd was apparently pushed “over the edge” by the fact that Michael behaved like a “typical 6-year-old,” according to FBI Special Agent Scott Lobb, who worked on Marshall’s case in 2013 out of the FBI’s Oklahoma City Division, per an FBI release. “Floyd felt the pressure, and he just ran out of patience,” Lobb said. “He turned and looked at me and said, ‘I shot him twice in the back of the head to make it real quick.’”
Floyd was found guilty of several other crimes, including the murder of Cheryl Ann Commesso, Sharon's coworker and friend. He's currently on death row.
Was Michael Hughes ever found?
Although Floyd admitted to murdering Michael, his body has never been found.
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