Emily Coleman was 69 years old when someone walked into her home on Warren Avenue in Franklin, Ohio, and shot her four times in the back of the head as she slept. That was on Aug. 27, 1968. Nearly six decades later, no one has ever been arrested, and her granddaughter is still asking Franklin police to find out who did it.
Cindy Hubbard was 13 years old at the time of the killing, according to WKRC, which reports that Hubbard’s 16-year-old sister discovered Coleman’s body the day after the shooting. Franklin police say nothing was missing from Coleman’s home, and a door had been left open — details that have never fit neatly into a motive. Hubbard has described her grandmother as a woman devoted to God, church, family and community, the station reports.
Accounts of the earliest investigation differ. WHIO reports the initial probe lasted about two weeks before investigators ran out of evidence and had no suspects, while the WKRC report, attributed to Capt. Brian Pacifico, says police worked the case for several weeks before it stalled without leads that could establish a suspect’s guilt. Either way, Franklin police investigated Coleman’s murder but never made an arrest, per WHIO.
A Case Reopened Again and Again
The Coleman file hasn’t stayed closed. Pacifico, who has 30 years with the Franklin Police Department, says the case has been reopened three times during his tenure, including about two years before the WKRC story published this week. WHIO reports that in 2024, Franklin Police Detective David Hatfield reopened Coleman’s murder case; that timing aligns with Pacifico’s account. The department hasn’t offered a public explanation for why the case keeps getting a second look, and none is available in the record…