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Secret Identities, Elaborate Lies — The Case of Franklin Delano Floyd
He raised a little girl as his daughter, only to marry her as a woman
Sharon Marshall never stayed in one place long. She was often the center of attention but had difficulty holding onto or forming meaningful friendships, melancholy expressions speaking a sadness beyond her years. Franklin Delano Floyd would distort her story into one of many twists and turns, capitalizing on missteps by police, domestic abuse and unwavering perversion.
Her name was not really hers. His name would be known forever as a career criminal.
Born on June 17th, 1943 in Barnesville, Georgia, Floyd was the youngest of five siblings. His father died very early in his life from organ failures, causing his mother, Della, to give up the children to a religious children’s home. There, Floyd was allegedly sodomized by other boys and punished by the staff for everything from fighting to masturbating. He ran away due to the harsh treatment and the home virtually expelled him.
Over the next few years, Floyd flitted between stints in prison and varying residences, his criminal career beginning with breaking into a Sears department store. Police shot at him in a non-lethal exchange of fire that wounded him in the stomach. In 1962, he…
