Police: Patient left hospital, killed woman
Stabbing of attorney in home came during apparent burglary, authorities say
A patient at Orlando Regional Medical Center walked out of the hospital early Sunday morning, then broke into a home in the nearby Delaney Park neighborhood and stabbed a 44-year-old woman to death, according to an arrest affidavit.
William Franklin, 33, was arrested and faces charges of first-degree murder and burglary with a battery therein in the death of Erin Hartigan, who was an assistant attorney for Orange County government, Orlando police said Monday afternoon at a press conference.
The incident appears to be random, said Sgt. William Cail.
“We have not been able to establish any connection between the victim and the suspect,” he said.
Franklin was at the hospital because of a bad reaction to drugs he received for his birthday, according to his missing person’s report. He was last seen by a nurse at ORMC sometime before 2 a.m. Sunday and reported missing. Video surveillance showed him leaving the hospital shortly after 1 a.m., the report said.
At 4:30 a.m., Hartigan’s mother called 911 to say her daughter was attacked and lying on the floor in their home in the 300 block of Jasmine Avenue, which is less than a half-mile from the hospital.
She told detectives she heard what sounded like a struggle and a man she did
not know repeatedly saying “whoop,” an arrest affidavit said. She went out to the hallway and saw her daughter on the ground and a man standing over her, the affidavit said.
The man walked out of the home, and Hartigan’s mother ran to call police.
“There’s so much blood on the floor I can’t believe it,” she said in a 911 call. “You need to come now with an ambulance.”
Firefighters pronounced Hartigan deceased at the home.
There was no sign of forced entry at Hartigan’s home, Detective Brian Ferrara said.
“There was not a lot of information forthcoming from him as far as why that residence, why he did what he did,” Ferrara said.
About five hours after the initial 911 call, a neighbor alerted police about a man who was hiding in the backyard of a home in the 200 block of E. Miller Street, which is behind Hartigan’s home.
Officers found the man, later identified as Franklin, at the shoreline of Lake Lurna just south of Miller Street. He was wet and wearing only a T-shirt and boxer shorts and told officers he was swimming in the lake, the affidavit said. He also had cuts on the palm of his right hand, detectives said.
Franklin was then taken to the Orlando police headquarters where he told detectives he went to ORMC for a COVID-19 test and was given a drug that caused him to lose his memory, the affidavit said. He claimed he didn’t remember anything from the time he left the hospital until he was approached by the officers by the lake, but said anything was possible.
When he was alone in the interview room, Franklin blurted out that he “did not mean to kill that lady,” according to the affidavit.
A K-9 unit found a “hot trail” from the emergency room at ORMC to Hartigan’s front door, the affidavit said. The trail also led to a neighbor’s house where a pair of bloody knives were found. Detectives recovered a pair of shorts Franklin was wearing in the lake near where he was found, the affidavit said.
According to Hartigan’s Florida Bar Association member profile, she graduated from the University of North Carolina Law School in 2005 and started practicing law in Florida two years later. She started working with the county in 2016.
Mayor Jerry Demings said he spoke with Hartigan’s mother who helped him to “truly understand what a tragic loss we all share with the passing of such a loving person.”
“Erin will be greatly missed by many and we appreciate her four years of service as an assistant county attorney,” Demings said in a statement.
Jeffrey Newton, attorney Orange County government, called Hartigan a “cherished employee.”
“Her tragic death represents an enormous loss to each and every one of us,” he said