Journalist and documentary filmmaker Jo Franklin deceived her loved ones into believing she was a millionaire throughout her homelessness for many years, according to a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Franklin, whose profession was centered on reporting from the Middle East, moved from having a comfortable life to being homeless and rejecting reality. According to the site, she spent some nights living in a South Florida hotel parking garage. It is said that she made friends at a nearby Starbucks and revealed to them that she lived on Jupiter Island and had a personal driver. According to the site, she told them that she stayed at a nearby hotel to be close to her place of employment.
According to The WSJ, the regulars at Starbucks gradually noticed that she frequently wore the same outfits and had holes in her shoes. According to reports, Franklin said she didn’t have a phone so the Saudis couldn’t follow her.
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Her brother George Franklin wrote to his family back in 2014, stating, “She is very ill and we need to have her put into a medical treatment facility of some type before she harms other people and herself,” according to the site.
Franklin “wasn’t ever going to admit she had a problem,” according to what he allegedly said.
According to The WSJ, Franklin was married and had a son and a daughter. It is reported that she separated from her spouse in 1996 and relocated to California by herself. It is said by her relatives that soon after the divorce, she lost herself in her dreams.
Franklin’s daughter Ashley Trout told The WSJ that her mother went over budget in California, worrying more about her reputation than her career. According to reports, Ashley confronted her mother about lying and overspending.
She said, “I don’t think she had the ability to stop lying,” according to the publication.
Franklin’s son Hugh Trout told The Wall Street Journal, “It would get very, very dark when anyone started to tamper with that fantasyland.”
According to The WSJ, Franklin’s siblings last saw her in 2009 during their father’s death. Her younger sister states that although he trusted her claims to wealth, she was to be excluded from his will and instead received an estimated $400,000 in inheritance.
According to The WSJ, Franklin was jailed several times for allegedly stealing from stores and having marijuana. According to reports, she moved to Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, after being kicked out of her California rental in 2013.
In 2022, Franklin’s siblings and her Starbucks pals devised a scheme, according to the publication. In an attempt to get his sister to move in, her brother George allegedly rented an apartment and made her friends offer her a job housesitting. It is said that she resided there till her passing. She passed away on July 19, 2023, as stated in her obituary.
Her son reportedly told The Wall Street Journal, “She hurt so many people,” and that “nobody was more of a victim of whatever this illness was than herself.”