Trial opens for Vancouver parents accused of starving son to death; defense blames 15-year-old’s medical problems

Karreon Franks was 61 pounds when he died in November 2020

By Jessica Prokop, Columbian Assistant Metro Editor

“How much hunger can a child endure? How small can a child become before their body stops working?” Senior Deputy Prosecutor Erik Podhora asked a jury Wednesday. “For Karreon Franks, it was 61 pounds.”

Prosecutors say that’s how much a 15-year-old Vancouver boy weighed when he died from starvation and neglect in November 2020 at the hands of his adoptive mother and her husband. Their joint trial began Monday in Clark County Superior Court.

Felicia L. Adams, 54, and Jesse C. Franks, 58, are facing domestic violence charges of homicide by abuse and second-degree murder in Karreon’s death and two counts of second-degree criminal mistreatment of Karreon’s brothers, then 14 and 13 years old.

Adams legally adopted Karreon and his brothers in June 2012 in California; she is their maternal aunt, court records show. The family moved to Vancouver shortly after, the prosecution said.

Attorneys in the case told the Superior Court jury Wednesday that Karreon was severely developmentally delayed and autistic, to the point he was nearly nonverbal. He was also legally blind and used a cane to get around.