When Na'ila Franklin went missing in September 2007, police quickly narrowed in on a suspect.

Less than three months later, he was arrested, but it would take eight years for the case

to go to trial as he continued to proclaim his innocence and assert his right to defend himself in court.

Would Na'ila Franklin's family ever find justice? I'm Charlie and welcome to Crime Lines.

Welcome back to the show. This week's episode is one I've wanted to cover for a while,

and I'm glad I have finally gotten to it. I just wanted to give a heads up that I will not have

episodes for the next two Mondays because I will be out of the country. I'm taking a trip with

just my 18-year-old who is a senior in high school. I'm really looking forward to having some one

on one time with him. He's on the verge of flying the coop. I will be releasing the usual third Thursday

episode on a murdered indigenous woman case, and it will come out while I'm gone.

So let's go ahead and get into tonight's case, the case of Na'ila Franklin.

One of the things that drew me to this case was Na'ila's family, so let's start there.

When she was growing up, Na'ila's parents split up, but she remained close to both of them.

So she ended up with this large, expanding family of siblings and half siblings and step

siblings and such, but they all just considered themselves brothers and sisters. They did not use

words like half and step. It was pretty much as ideal as any divorced family dynamic could be,

and it's kind of funny because through this melting pot of a family,

Na'ila actually ended up with two sisters named Ashley. She adored them both, and she adored

everyone else in her family. When Na'ila was born, her mother chose that name because it means

one who succeeds, and that's what she wanted for her daughter. During the pregnancy, there was

a complication, and they weren't sure if Na'ila would be carried to term. So after she was born

healthy, it seemed like such a fitting name. Na'ila then went on to succeed at everything she did,

...