Kenosha fatality; Lawrence Franklin arrested in Texas, police say

KENOSHA, WI. – Kenosha police announced Friday, November 22, the arrest of Lawrence Franklin, a man accused of September 6, murder of a pregnant woman..

Franklin was arrested in Plano, Texas, by the U.S. Marshals Service East Texas Joint Fugitive Task Force, with assistance from the Plano Police Department, the press release said. Franklin will attend an extradition hearing in Texas before being transported back to Kenosha.

Case Details

Prosecutors say Franklin used a gun purchased by Kalia Patterson to shoot Amiya Prather.

Prater, 22, was shot and killed on 65th Street near 13th Avenue. Police responded and found her in an SUV leaning against a concrete pillar of the viaduct. She was eight months pregnant and both she and her unborn child died, according to the criminal complaint.

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Investigators believe Lawrence shot Prater; the complaint says they “seemed each other for several years.” Kenosha police said that while his actions were not random, they want everyone to know that he should be considered armed and dangerous.

Prosecutors said the video shows a man wearing a maroon sweatshirt, later identified as Franklin, running away from Prather’s SUV as it crashed into a utility pole. Shortly after, the man returned to the SUV and appeared to be holding a gun in one hand and a bottle of alcohol in the other.

Not far from the scene, officers found what appeared to be the same bottle of alcohol Franklin was holding. The gun was found 37 feet from the bottle.

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Investigators traced the gun to Patterson, according to the complaint. Records showed it was purchased earlier that day in Paddock Lake. Surveillance video from that store showed Franklin with Patterson as she purchased it. It also showed that Franklin gave Patterson a credit card to make the purchase.

While in custody, Patterson admitted that Franklin asked her to buy a gun, prosecutors said. She said she filled out the purchase form because she had never been convicted of a felony, but Franklin paid for it. She said she did not know Franklin was a convicted felon, but knew he had been previously arrested.

Patterson is charged with one count of criminal conduct in purchasing a firearm.