It Is Not A Game

Update to the story I posted about a few weeks ago. Reginald Potts has been charged with first degree murder in the Nailah Franklin case. I knew in my heart that he killed her. This is not a surprise at all but it's just so crazy to me. As I told yall, a good friend of mine recently had a child by this "man" so this story hit close to home. Couple that with the fact that when I stepped up to defend her, he called me at my job and threatened me. For those that didn't know, that is the reason why I removed the picture of my face from this blog as well as the link to my birthday list with my real name.

Anyway, here's the latest news story. Ladies, I beg you, PLEASE BE CAREFUL!

In the last two days of Nailah Franklin's life, Reginald Potts stalked her, lurking in the hallways and parking garage of her condo building, prosecutors alleged Monday.

Surveillance tape of Potts in the building, statements of witnesses, including his friends, and cell phone records all point to him as Franklin's killer, authorities said.

Potts, 31, could face the death penalty if convicted of murdering Franklin, 28. At his first court appearance since being charged, he was ordered held without bail by Judge Don Panarese.

"It was premeditated," First Assistant State's Attorney Robert Milan said after the hearing. "This defendant went through a lot of trouble and time in order to take Ms. Franklin out to an abandoned area -- a desolate area -- and take her life."

Franklin, a pharmaceutical rep for Eli Lilly, had an "on-and-off dating relationship" with Potts, Milan told Panarese. But Franklin tried to end it, sources said.

In early September, Franklin sent an e-mail to friends discussing Potts' criminal past, Milan said. When Potts found out, he made threatening calls to her. "He told her he could have her erased," Milan said.

On Sept. 10, Franklin filed a police report. She also told friends she was afraid of Potts and gave a friend her e-mail password "in case anything happened to her," Milan said. She was last seen alive Sept. 18.

Potts told police he hadn't seen Franklin since August. But several residents at Franklin's University Village condo saw Potts "lurking in the victim's hallway and in the parking garage on the evenings of Sept. 16th and 17th," Milan said. Surveillance video from the building also shows Potts on Sept. 17 and 18, Milan said.

"That stuff is really hard to deal with -- to know that she was considered prey," said Franklin's sister, Lehia Franklin Acox.

Cell phone records show Potts was within a half mile of Franklin's condo on Sept. 18, in spite of his story he was elsewhere, Milan said.

Cell records also trace Potts heading south on the Dan Ryan shortly after 7 p.m., a time when he claimed he was at Target with friends, Milan said. The records show Potts and Franklin were both near 159th Street in Calumet City, where her pharmaceuticals and jewelry were later found, he said.

The cell records depict Potts and Franklin traveling east in Calumet City at the same time that night, and show them both in the area where Franklin's body was later found, Milan said.

After dumping Franklin's body, Potts kept her cell phone and drove her car to Hammond, Ind., where he left it, Milan said.

Potts then called one of his friends who was at Target and said "he was stranded and needed a ride," Milan said. Two friends drove to Hammond to pick him up. On the way back, Potts made three aborted 911 calls from Franklin's cell phone to make it look like she was still alive, Milan said.