October 14, 2025 • 27 mins
Heather tells the story of Francine Hughes- Wilson. a survivor who's case made big changes when it came to domestic violence and abuse. Francine's story is a cross over from crime into badass mom territory. She did what she had to do!
Like Mother Like Murder
The good, the badass and the crime! K, love you bye!
Subscribe to YOU SHOULD BE HERE wherever you get your podcasts.
HELP YOUR FAVORITE HOSTS GET TO CRIMECON 2026 - Join Patreon today!
https://patreon.com/LikeMotherLikeMurder?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink
Or support us with PayPal
paypal.me/lmlmpod
likemotherlikemurder.com
IG - like_mother_like_murder
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/like-mother-like-murder--6210055/support.
Like Mother Like Murder
The good, the badass and the crime! K, love you bye!
Subscribe to YOU SHOULD BE HERE wherever you get your podcasts.
HELP YOUR FAVORITE HOSTS GET TO CRIMECON 2026 - Join Patreon today!
https://patreon.com/LikeMotherLikeMurder?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink
Or support us with PayPal
paypal.me/lmlmpod
likemotherlikemurder.com
IG - like_mother_like_murder
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/like-mother-like-murder--6210055/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Welcome to Like Mother Like Murder.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
I am Rachel and I'm Heather.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
We bring you the good, the badass, and the crime.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
This is Like Mother, Like Murder.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Hello everyone, and welcome to Like Mother Like Murder, your
favorite true crime mom cast. It's just me for the
opening today, So I do apologize to anyone who only
shows up because of how truly amazing my beautiful co
host is. We miss you, Heather. We have so much
going on in our work lives and personal life, so
(01:00):
we thought this would be a great opportunity to share
an episode from an incredible project we have worked on
called You Should Be Here. You Should Be Here as
a collaborative podcast that is put on by Fire Eyes Media.
All of the podcasters donate their time and effort each season,
and all of the proceeds go to a nonprofit that
(01:21):
is chosen for that season. The current season out right
now is the survivor series called Death Not Yet. The
next season to come out will be Cases That Haunt
Us and that will be available at the end of
this month. So if you are not yet subscribed to
and listening to You Should Be Here. I know we've
(01:43):
recommended it before, but this is your friendly reminder that
we are over there amongst so many other incredible podcasters
and friends. It is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. So the
episode I will be sharing with you guys is from
the You Should Be Here is called or No, which
is the season that focuses on domestic violence victims and survivors.
(02:08):
This is on Francine Hughes and Heather did cover her
story back in episode nine of this podcast, back when
we were Wine Time, and I am so happy to
be sharing it yet again in a completely different light.
So please listen to my favorite podcast or ever, our
(02:28):
very own Heather as she shares the incredible survivor's story
of Francine Hughes.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Do they love you? Love doesn't hurt you? Don't check us?
It's time to check or No. This is you Should
Be Here, a collaborative podcast. I'm Jen Rivera, one half
of Fireeyes Media. This is our second series titled or No,
and together with many of our podcasting friends, we're telling
(03:22):
stories about victims of abuse in order to raise awareness, educate,
and advocate. Please visit buy me a coffee dot com
slash you should be Here to donate. Thank you for
being here. Now let's go.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Hello everyone, It's Rachel and Heather, the hosts of your
favorite true crime mom cast, Like Mother, Like Murder. Every
week we bring mom related crime content from missing moms
to murdered moms, moms to murder survivors, and more.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
You can find us wherever you get your podcasts, and
we are so excited to be joining this a MIAs
group of true grim podcasters.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Today, we will be telling you the story of Francine Wilson,
who stood trial in nineteen seventy seven and in doing so,
would set in motion drastic changes in how domestic abuse
and violence was handled in the US.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Welcome to or No, a podcaster's give back collaboration. All
the podcasters you hear on this feed have donated their
time and research to help advocate for victims of domestic violence,
and we are raising money to give back to nonprofits
which are standing against domestic violence.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
If you or someone you love is a victim of violence,
please contact the Domestic Violence Hotline at one eight hundred
seven ninety nine seven two three three or text b
B e Gin to eight eight seven eight eight to donate.
(05:07):
Visit the link in our show notes. As you might
have imagined from the theme of this collaboration. The story
you are about to hear contains instances of domestic abuse,
sexual abuse, as well as alcohol abuse. Please take care
when listening. Danesville is a small town in the southern
part of Ingham County in Michigan. If you look up
(05:31):
a map, Danesville is an eighty bitty dot in the
southeast part of the state, and the only thing smaller
than the dot on the map is the population. In
nineteen seventy five, just two years before the crime that
I will be discussing took place, the population of Danesville
(05:53):
was five hundred and sixteen five hundred and sixteen people.
In another report in twenty fifteen, the population had grown
to six hundred and three people. If you scroll through
Wikipedia to find information on Danesville, you won't find much,
(06:15):
but under notable people you will see the name Francine
Wilson Hughes. And because of her, this small town is
known for something very big, as we will come to see.
Francine's life and legacy are everlasting, but she came from
(06:41):
very humble beginnings. She was the daughter of a blue
collar worker and a waitress. She was born in Stockbridge, Michigan,
in nineteen forty seven. She was one of several children
in the family, but unfortunately, her childchildhood and this family
(07:02):
were not free from violence. Francine's father abused alcohol and
he would regularly abuse Francine's mother. Like many young women
in the same situation, we can assume Francine wanted a
better life, and at the very young age of just sixteen,
(07:24):
Francine dropped out of high school to marry James Mickey Hughes.
We will be referring to him as Mickey throughout the
rest of the episode. Francine would later say about Mickey quote,
I thought he was sophisticated. End quote. Mickey was a
(07:49):
few years older than Francine, and he was also a
high school dropout, but he had his own car, which
was pretty uncommon among the friends that Francine knew, and seemingly,
this dashing young man quickly swept Francine off her feet.
Maybe Francine thought this was just the beginning of a
(08:11):
brand new life, her fairy tale finally come true. But
it did not take long for this fairy tale to
come crashing down around her. Now, Francine was never keen
on the publicity that would eventually follow her later in
(08:32):
her life, but people described her as upbeat, caring, loving
and with a great sense of humor, and most of all,
an amazing mother. Despite a rough childhood and, as we
(08:52):
will come to find out, a marriage that was also
plagued with violence, her role as a mom was important
into her and she did everything she could for her kids.
Her daughter Nicole said her mom was strong and provided
the family with anything they needed.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
That is a testament to her as a person and
a mother, being able to be so positive and strong
despite a less than ideal childhood.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Definitely, Unfortunately, though, despite this positive personality, Francine was not
able to escape the abuse that had plagued her childhood.
Only weeks after marrying Mickey, this new pattern of abuse began.
Mickey would lash out at her in jealous rages, and
(09:46):
Francine was plunged into yet another violent household. Francine and
Mickey had moved to Danesville and began living with his parents.
They would eventually move to their own place and have
four children, but throughout the years, Francine was still subject
to domestic abuse from Mickey. In nineteen seventy one, Francine
(10:11):
had the courage to speak to a local social worker
and decided to divorce Mickey. This was not something so
easily done at the time. There was a huge lack
of resources for women in Francine's situation, but she knew
what she needed to do. Yet again, though the prospect
(10:32):
of a new life, a better life, slipped through her fingers.
A few weeks after the divorce was finalized, Mickey was
involved in a serious car crash. As we've described, Francine
was a caring person who did what she could for
her family, and because of this caring nature, Francine took
(10:56):
Mickey back and nursed him back to health. But as
is so often the case, things quickly returned to old
patterns and the abuse continued. It actually got worse. Something
as small as the inflection of a word would set
him off. Micky would pin Francine down in a chair
(11:18):
and just pummel her. And to make matters even worse,
their four children were often witnesses to this violence. Francine's
children would recall that their mom would try to get away,
but Micky would tell her, quote, there is nowhere you
can go, bitch, that I won't find you end quote.
(11:44):
Francine's children would later recall these instances and how the
whole family lived in constant fear. So let's fast forward
a bit to nineteen seventy seven. It has now been
over thirteen years that Francie has been fighting through constant abuse.
But during this time, Francine had also gone back to
(12:07):
school where she had earned her ged and she had
started attending classes for secretary school. She continued to endure
and make positive changes, but she felt that she could
not remove Mickey from the home or move herself out,
fearing that he would make good on those constant threats
(12:31):
to kill her.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
This is absolutely heartbreaking because as true crime podcasters, we
know where these situations usually end up.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
So true, but we're about to get to a twist
in this story that is not quite the tragic story
that we unfortunately hear all the time. But first let's
talk about the night of March ninth, nineteen seven, And
(13:02):
these details may be hard to hear, so again I'm
going to add just an extra listener discretion here. Please
take care of yourselves. So, on March ninth, nineteen seventy seven,
Micky had once again lashed out on Francine. She had
come home from secretary school and she was just trying
(13:26):
to make dinner for the family. Micky began smashing food
in the kitchen, dumping out the garbage and rubbing it
into Francine's hair. This escalated into Micky physically hitting her.
Micky even forced Francine to burn her school books and
(13:46):
demanded that she drop out of school. He also threatened
to destroy her vehicle and to just make matters worse.
The cops were called to the house that night, but
they refused to arrest Mickey since they had not witnessed
the abuse themselves, a ridiculous standard to follow.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
You're telling me that the police knew that he was
physically violent with Franccene and they did nothing.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Yes, that is what I am telling you. Lee Atkinson,
who would eventually work on the case, says that at
the time, police officers would not arrest someone for a misdemeanor,
which is a whole other problem in and of itself
classifying violent domestic abuse as a misdemeanor anyway, Like I
(14:44):
was saying, police officers would not arrest someone for a
misdemeanor unless they physically saw the crime being committed. So
for Francine, this policy meant that police police came to
the house repeatedly over the years and did not arrest
(15:05):
Mickey for assaulting Francine. Reports show that he was only
ever put in handcuffs if he was aggressive with the
police officers. This is a quote from Lee Atkinson. Does
she have bruises, yes, does she look like she's been abused? Yes.
(15:27):
The police will take a report, but they wouldn't make
an arrest. End quote. So back to the night of
March ninth, nineteen seventy seven, because Francine had called the police,
Mickey told her quote it was all over. End quote.
(15:49):
Arjen Gray Danis, who would eventually work on the case
as quote. The police were there and they saw that
she was severely beaten up, and they did didn't do anything.
And then he said, right in front of the police officers,
he said, I Am going to kill you when they leave.
(16:10):
End quote. So Mickey is there threatening Francine's life in
front of the police and they just walk out the door.
So Francine is left to fend for herself. When the
cops left, Mickey continued his beating and then he forced
(16:32):
Francine to have sex with him before he fell asleep.
Francine would say, quote, I was thinking about all the
things that had happened to me, all the times he
had hurt me, how he had hurt the kids. I thought,
(16:53):
I'm never coming back, never. And then I thought, because
there won't be anything to come back to. That's when
I decided I would burn everything end quote. When Mickey
(17:14):
fell asleep drunk, Francine packed the children into the car.
She then doused the bed where Mickey was sleeping in
gasoline and lit it on fire and drove away. Francine
drove straight to the Ingham County Jail in Mason. She
walked into the guardhouse at the Sheriff's office and she
(17:37):
confessed to setting her ex husband on fire. Police and
firefighters were immediately sent to the residents, but Mickey Hughes
was found dead from smoke inhalation. Francine was charged with
first degree murder of her ex husband.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Wow, Wow, okay, So what happens now? I mean, you
have a burned house, the confession, and it's the seventies.
Do they understand the significance of the years of abuse
that she went through? Will it actually impact what happens
to her?
Speaker 2 (18:13):
So at the time, judges and juries, and society in
general regularly downplayed domestic violence and abuse. In nineteen seventy seven,
the same year that Francine Wilson Hughes killed her husband,
the FBI had reported that spousal abuse was the United
(18:36):
States' most underreported crime, and it was considered a family affair.
There were few, if any, shelters for women back then,
no safe place for her to run. Francine would go
on to say, quote, I was a beaten, down, scared animal.
(19:00):
There was no help. I thought, it doesn't matter to anyone.
It's just something I have to accept. End quote. But
what Francine did not know at the time was this
case would kickstart change. It would start a discussion about
(19:21):
domestic violence in America that would change not just Francine's life,
but the lives of many more women enduring similar circumstances.
Francine's lawyer recalls that because Mickey had been asleep, they
didn't think they could use a straight up self defense
(19:42):
argument because it wasn't in the middle of a fight, right,
So instead they pled temporary insanity. They used an idea
that would come to be known as battered women syndrome,
term coined by the psychologist Leonora Walker. Based on her
(20:04):
research with abuse women in the US and the UK,
Battered Women syndrome has now been classified as a form
of post traumatic stress disorder.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Okay, Heather, you know the psychology of this. Explain what
this means for all the listeners.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
So basically, the underlying idea is that discerning or evaluating
the level of risk in any given moment is difficult,
if not impossible, in ongoing patterns of trauma. So we
all know, self defense is when someone uses force to
(20:45):
protect themselves or others from a reasonable belief of imminent danger.
Now the key word here is reasonable. If you are
in a situation like Francine was, where there was an
abusive and traumatic environment and that abuse had the potential
(21:08):
to occur suddenly. For example, something as simple as an
inflection in your voice could result in a tirade of assault.
You never really know if and or when the risk
of being an imminent danger would necessitate self defense. When
(21:30):
you are in a constant state of trauma and fear,
your brain is literally rewired chemically, physically, and maybe in
that moment someone who has not had a history of
trauma wouldn't see a reasonable belief of imminent danger. But
(21:51):
someone like Francine and the many many others who do
have that history, the risk of danger is a constant,
it is never ending. Their life experiences have taught them
that there is always a reasonable belief of imminent danger.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
Yeah, all of that makes sense. So how did this
go over in trial? Like you said, this was the seventies,
did people understand?
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Six months later, in November of nineteen seventy seven, the
jury deliberated for just five hours and they found Francine
not guilty. This plea of temporary insanity, backed by this
concept of battered women syndrome, was successful and Francine was acquitted.
(22:46):
It was an unexpected outcome, but it was a big when,
not just for Francine, but for women all over the country.
As we mentioned at the top of the episode, the
results of this trial had far reaching and lasting effects.
(23:09):
It not only set legal precedent, but also thrust the
current understanding and handling of domestic violence into the national spotlight.
The details of the case became known as burning bed
syndrome and it began being studied by academics. Battered women
(23:31):
syndrome began being used as a defense in other cases
of women killing their abusers outside of academic and legal circles.
Popular culture was also inspired by Francine's story. They've made
books and movies about her, including one starring Farah Faucet
(23:52):
fittingly called The Burning Bed. According to reports, this nineteen
eighty four or TV movie was watched by over seventy
five million viewers when it aired on NBC. There is
even a country song that Rachel and I know and
love called Independence Day by Martina McBride. Like I said,
(24:18):
this trial drew national attention, and the evidence presented detailing
the years of domestic violence that Francine endured and the
physical and psychological trauma that it caused, forced society to
take a closer look at what used to be whispered about,
(24:38):
hidden behind closed doors or simply swept under the rug.
Social service anciencies and police departments alike across the country
began looking into more aggressive policies to prevent domestic and
spousal abuse. The number of shelters for women in situations
(24:59):
of domestic vice lence grew from a mere handful in
nineteen seventy seven to nearly seven hundred in nineteen eighty four.
The year, the burning bed was televised. As for Francine's
personal life, after her acquittal, she got remarried to a
country musician and she became a nurse. She eventually retired,
(25:24):
and after retirement she sat with the elderly and also
taught nursing classes. Franccene died in twenty seventeen from complications
of pneumonia. She was sixty nine years old. She is
survived by her children and several grandchildren and great grandchildren.
(25:47):
Francine was always pretty humble about the whole thing. She
wasn't ever trying to make a statement. She was just
doing what she felt she needed to do for herself
and for her children. At the time, Francine herself said
she was just quote an ordinary person end quote. But
(26:09):
her children recognize the impact their mom had. Nicole, her daughter, said, quote,
she changed so many lives. She changed the lives of
people we will never know. End quote. So here is
our call to action.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
Through this collaboration, we hope we can do our parts
to change people's lives, and we need your help to
do it. Watching someone you know endure an abusive situation
can be difficult, and it may be hard to know
how to respond or help. While the initial instinct is
to save them, it is almost never quite that simple.
(26:51):
So here are some things that you can do.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
Providing emotional support by validating and acknowledging the difficulty of
the situation. Do not judge their decisions, including decisions to say,
help them by identifying a support network, and encourage speaking
to people who are trained to help help them. Learn
about their legal rights through resources like Women's Law dot org.
(27:18):
Another resource we mentioned at the top of the episode
is the Domestic Violence Hotline, available twenty four to seven
at one eight hundred seven nine nine seven two three three,
or you can text begin to eight eight seven eight eight,
(27:38):
and most of all, remember you're wanted, you're needed, and
you deserve a safe love.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
Fire Eyes Media
Welcome to Like Mother Like Murder.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
I am Rachel and I'm Heather.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
We bring you the good, the badass, and the crime.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
This is Like Mother, Like Murder.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Hello everyone, and welcome to Like Mother Like Murder, your
favorite true crime mom cast. It's just me for the
opening today, So I do apologize to anyone who only
shows up because of how truly amazing my beautiful co
host is. We miss you, Heather. We have so much
going on in our work lives and personal life, so
(01:00):
we thought this would be a great opportunity to share
an episode from an incredible project we have worked on
called You Should Be Here. You Should Be Here as
a collaborative podcast that is put on by Fire Eyes Media.
All of the podcasters donate their time and effort each season,
and all of the proceeds go to a nonprofit that
(01:21):
is chosen for that season. The current season out right
now is the survivor series called Death Not Yet. The
next season to come out will be Cases That Haunt
Us and that will be available at the end of
this month. So if you are not yet subscribed to
and listening to You Should Be Here. I know we've
(01:43):
recommended it before, but this is your friendly reminder that
we are over there amongst so many other incredible podcasters
and friends. It is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. So the
episode I will be sharing with you guys is from
the You Should Be Here is called or No, which
is the season that focuses on domestic violence victims and survivors.
(02:08):
This is on Francine Hughes and Heather did cover her
story back in episode nine of this podcast, back when
we were Wine Time, and I am so happy to
be sharing it yet again in a completely different light.
So please listen to my favorite podcast or ever, our
(02:28):
very own Heather as she shares the incredible survivor's story
of Francine Hughes.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Do they love you? Love doesn't hurt you? Don't check us?
It's time to check or No. This is you Should
Be Here, a collaborative podcast. I'm Jen Rivera, one half
of Fireeyes Media. This is our second series titled or No,
and together with many of our podcasting friends, we're telling
(03:22):
stories about victims of abuse in order to raise awareness, educate,
and advocate. Please visit buy me a coffee dot com
slash you should be Here to donate. Thank you for
being here. Now let's go.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Hello everyone, It's Rachel and Heather, the hosts of your
favorite true crime mom cast, Like Mother, Like Murder. Every
week we bring mom related crime content from missing moms
to murdered moms, moms to murder survivors, and more.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
You can find us wherever you get your podcasts, and
we are so excited to be joining this a MIAs
group of true grim podcasters.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Today, we will be telling you the story of Francine Wilson,
who stood trial in nineteen seventy seven and in doing so,
would set in motion drastic changes in how domestic abuse
and violence was handled in the US.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Welcome to or No, a podcaster's give back collaboration. All
the podcasters you hear on this feed have donated their
time and research to help advocate for victims of domestic violence,
and we are raising money to give back to nonprofits
which are standing against domestic violence.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
If you or someone you love is a victim of violence,
please contact the Domestic Violence Hotline at one eight hundred
seven ninety nine seven two three three or text b
B e Gin to eight eight seven eight eight to donate.
(05:07):
Visit the link in our show notes. As you might
have imagined from the theme of this collaboration. The story
you are about to hear contains instances of domestic abuse,
sexual abuse, as well as alcohol abuse. Please take care
when listening. Danesville is a small town in the southern
part of Ingham County in Michigan. If you look up
(05:31):
a map, Danesville is an eighty bitty dot in the
southeast part of the state, and the only thing smaller
than the dot on the map is the population. In
nineteen seventy five, just two years before the crime that
I will be discussing took place, the population of Danesville
(05:53):
was five hundred and sixteen five hundred and sixteen people.
In another report in twenty fifteen, the population had grown
to six hundred and three people. If you scroll through
Wikipedia to find information on Danesville, you won't find much,
(06:15):
but under notable people you will see the name Francine
Wilson Hughes. And because of her, this small town is
known for something very big, as we will come to see.
Francine's life and legacy are everlasting, but she came from
(06:41):
very humble beginnings. She was the daughter of a blue
collar worker and a waitress. She was born in Stockbridge, Michigan,
in nineteen forty seven. She was one of several children
in the family, but unfortunately, her childchildhood and this family
(07:02):
were not free from violence. Francine's father abused alcohol and
he would regularly abuse Francine's mother. Like many young women
in the same situation, we can assume Francine wanted a
better life, and at the very young age of just sixteen,
(07:24):
Francine dropped out of high school to marry James Mickey Hughes.
We will be referring to him as Mickey throughout the
rest of the episode. Francine would later say about Mickey quote,
I thought he was sophisticated. End quote. Mickey was a
(07:49):
few years older than Francine, and he was also a
high school dropout, but he had his own car, which
was pretty uncommon among the friends that Francine knew, and seemingly,
this dashing young man quickly swept Francine off her feet.
Maybe Francine thought this was just the beginning of a
(08:11):
brand new life, her fairy tale finally come true. But
it did not take long for this fairy tale to
come crashing down around her. Now, Francine was never keen
on the publicity that would eventually follow her later in
(08:32):
her life, but people described her as upbeat, caring, loving
and with a great sense of humor, and most of all,
an amazing mother. Despite a rough childhood and, as we
(08:52):
will come to find out, a marriage that was also
plagued with violence, her role as a mom was important
into her and she did everything she could for her kids.
Her daughter Nicole said her mom was strong and provided
the family with anything they needed.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
That is a testament to her as a person and
a mother, being able to be so positive and strong
despite a less than ideal childhood.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Definitely, Unfortunately, though, despite this positive personality, Francine was not
able to escape the abuse that had plagued her childhood.
Only weeks after marrying Mickey, this new pattern of abuse began.
Mickey would lash out at her in jealous rages, and
(09:46):
Francine was plunged into yet another violent household. Francine and
Mickey had moved to Danesville and began living with his parents.
They would eventually move to their own place and have
four children, but throughout the years, Francine was still subject
to domestic abuse from Mickey. In nineteen seventy one, Francine
(10:11):
had the courage to speak to a local social worker
and decided to divorce Mickey. This was not something so
easily done at the time. There was a huge lack
of resources for women in Francine's situation, but she knew
what she needed to do. Yet again, though the prospect
(10:32):
of a new life, a better life, slipped through her fingers.
A few weeks after the divorce was finalized, Mickey was
involved in a serious car crash. As we've described, Francine
was a caring person who did what she could for
her family, and because of this caring nature, Francine took
(10:56):
Mickey back and nursed him back to health. But as
is so often the case, things quickly returned to old
patterns and the abuse continued. It actually got worse. Something
as small as the inflection of a word would set
him off. Micky would pin Francine down in a chair
(11:18):
and just pummel her. And to make matters even worse,
their four children were often witnesses to this violence. Francine's
children would recall that their mom would try to get away,
but Micky would tell her, quote, there is nowhere you
can go, bitch, that I won't find you end quote.
(11:44):
Francine's children would later recall these instances and how the
whole family lived in constant fear. So let's fast forward
a bit to nineteen seventy seven. It has now been
over thirteen years that Francie has been fighting through constant abuse.
But during this time, Francine had also gone back to
(12:07):
school where she had earned her ged and she had
started attending classes for secretary school. She continued to endure
and make positive changes, but she felt that she could
not remove Mickey from the home or move herself out,
fearing that he would make good on those constant threats
(12:31):
to kill her.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
This is absolutely heartbreaking because as true crime podcasters, we
know where these situations usually end up.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
So true, but we're about to get to a twist
in this story that is not quite the tragic story
that we unfortunately hear all the time. But first let's
talk about the night of March ninth, nineteen seven, And
(13:02):
these details may be hard to hear, so again I'm
going to add just an extra listener discretion here. Please
take care of yourselves. So, on March ninth, nineteen seventy seven,
Micky had once again lashed out on Francine. She had
come home from secretary school and she was just trying
(13:26):
to make dinner for the family. Micky began smashing food
in the kitchen, dumping out the garbage and rubbing it
into Francine's hair. This escalated into Micky physically hitting her.
Micky even forced Francine to burn her school books and
(13:46):
demanded that she drop out of school. He also threatened
to destroy her vehicle and to just make matters worse.
The cops were called to the house that night, but
they refused to arrest Mickey since they had not witnessed
the abuse themselves, a ridiculous standard to follow.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
You're telling me that the police knew that he was
physically violent with Franccene and they did nothing.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Yes, that is what I am telling you. Lee Atkinson,
who would eventually work on the case, says that at
the time, police officers would not arrest someone for a misdemeanor,
which is a whole other problem in and of itself
classifying violent domestic abuse as a misdemeanor anyway, Like I
(14:44):
was saying, police officers would not arrest someone for a
misdemeanor unless they physically saw the crime being committed. So
for Francine, this policy meant that police police came to
the house repeatedly over the years and did not arrest
(15:05):
Mickey for assaulting Francine. Reports show that he was only
ever put in handcuffs if he was aggressive with the
police officers. This is a quote from Lee Atkinson. Does
she have bruises, yes, does she look like she's been abused? Yes.
(15:27):
The police will take a report, but they wouldn't make
an arrest. End quote. So back to the night of
March ninth, nineteen seventy seven, because Francine had called the police,
Mickey told her quote it was all over. End quote.
(15:49):
Arjen Gray Danis, who would eventually work on the case
as quote. The police were there and they saw that
she was severely beaten up, and they did didn't do anything.
And then he said, right in front of the police officers,
he said, I Am going to kill you when they leave.
(16:10):
End quote. So Mickey is there threatening Francine's life in
front of the police and they just walk out the door.
So Francine is left to fend for herself. When the
cops left, Mickey continued his beating and then he forced
(16:32):
Francine to have sex with him before he fell asleep.
Francine would say, quote, I was thinking about all the
things that had happened to me, all the times he
had hurt me, how he had hurt the kids. I thought,
(16:53):
I'm never coming back, never. And then I thought, because
there won't be anything to come back to. That's when
I decided I would burn everything end quote. When Mickey
(17:14):
fell asleep drunk, Francine packed the children into the car.
She then doused the bed where Mickey was sleeping in
gasoline and lit it on fire and drove away. Francine
drove straight to the Ingham County Jail in Mason. She
walked into the guardhouse at the Sheriff's office and she
(17:37):
confessed to setting her ex husband on fire. Police and
firefighters were immediately sent to the residents, but Mickey Hughes
was found dead from smoke inhalation. Francine was charged with
first degree murder of her ex husband.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Wow, Wow, okay, So what happens now? I mean, you
have a burned house, the confession, and it's the seventies.
Do they understand the significance of the years of abuse
that she went through? Will it actually impact what happens
to her?
Speaker 2 (18:13):
So at the time, judges and juries, and society in
general regularly downplayed domestic violence and abuse. In nineteen seventy seven,
the same year that Francine Wilson Hughes killed her husband,
the FBI had reported that spousal abuse was the United
(18:36):
States' most underreported crime, and it was considered a family affair.
There were few, if any, shelters for women back then,
no safe place for her to run. Francine would go
on to say, quote, I was a beaten, down, scared animal.
(19:00):
There was no help. I thought, it doesn't matter to anyone.
It's just something I have to accept. End quote. But
what Francine did not know at the time was this
case would kickstart change. It would start a discussion about
(19:21):
domestic violence in America that would change not just Francine's life,
but the lives of many more women enduring similar circumstances.
Francine's lawyer recalls that because Mickey had been asleep, they
didn't think they could use a straight up self defense
(19:42):
argument because it wasn't in the middle of a fight, right,
So instead they pled temporary insanity. They used an idea
that would come to be known as battered women syndrome,
term coined by the psychologist Leonora Walker. Based on her
(20:04):
research with abuse women in the US and the UK,
Battered Women syndrome has now been classified as a form
of post traumatic stress disorder.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Okay, Heather, you know the psychology of this. Explain what
this means for all the listeners.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
So basically, the underlying idea is that discerning or evaluating
the level of risk in any given moment is difficult,
if not impossible, in ongoing patterns of trauma. So we
all know, self defense is when someone uses force to
(20:45):
protect themselves or others from a reasonable belief of imminent danger.
Now the key word here is reasonable. If you are
in a situation like Francine was, where there was an
abusive and traumatic environment and that abuse had the potential
(21:08):
to occur suddenly. For example, something as simple as an
inflection in your voice could result in a tirade of assault.
You never really know if and or when the risk
of being an imminent danger would necessitate self defense. When
(21:30):
you are in a constant state of trauma and fear,
your brain is literally rewired chemically, physically, and maybe in
that moment someone who has not had a history of
trauma wouldn't see a reasonable belief of imminent danger. But
(21:51):
someone like Francine and the many many others who do
have that history, the risk of danger is a constant,
it is never ending. Their life experiences have taught them
that there is always a reasonable belief of imminent danger.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
Yeah, all of that makes sense. So how did this
go over in trial? Like you said, this was the seventies,
did people understand?
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Six months later, in November of nineteen seventy seven, the
jury deliberated for just five hours and they found Francine
not guilty. This plea of temporary insanity, backed by this
concept of battered women syndrome, was successful and Francine was acquitted.
(22:46):
It was an unexpected outcome, but it was a big when,
not just for Francine, but for women all over the country.
As we mentioned at the top of the episode, the
results of this trial had far reaching and lasting effects.
(23:09):
It not only set legal precedent, but also thrust the
current understanding and handling of domestic violence into the national spotlight.
The details of the case became known as burning bed
syndrome and it began being studied by academics. Battered women
(23:31):
syndrome began being used as a defense in other cases
of women killing their abusers outside of academic and legal circles.
Popular culture was also inspired by Francine's story. They've made
books and movies about her, including one starring Farah Faucet
(23:52):
fittingly called The Burning Bed. According to reports, this nineteen
eighty four or TV movie was watched by over seventy
five million viewers when it aired on NBC. There is
even a country song that Rachel and I know and
love called Independence Day by Martina McBride. Like I said,
(24:18):
this trial drew national attention, and the evidence presented detailing
the years of domestic violence that Francine endured and the
physical and psychological trauma that it caused, forced society to
take a closer look at what used to be whispered about,
(24:38):
hidden behind closed doors or simply swept under the rug.
Social service anciencies and police departments alike across the country
began looking into more aggressive policies to prevent domestic and
spousal abuse. The number of shelters for women in situations
(24:59):
of domestic vice lence grew from a mere handful in
nineteen seventy seven to nearly seven hundred in nineteen eighty four.
The year, the burning bed was televised. As for Francine's
personal life, after her acquittal, she got remarried to a
country musician and she became a nurse. She eventually retired,
(25:24):
and after retirement she sat with the elderly and also
taught nursing classes. Franccene died in twenty seventeen from complications
of pneumonia. She was sixty nine years old. She is
survived by her children and several grandchildren and great grandchildren.
(25:47):
Francine was always pretty humble about the whole thing. She
wasn't ever trying to make a statement. She was just
doing what she felt she needed to do for herself
and for her children. At the time, Francine herself said
she was just quote an ordinary person end quote. But
(26:09):
her children recognize the impact their mom had. Nicole, her daughter, said, quote,
she changed so many lives. She changed the lives of
people we will never know. End quote. So here is
our call to action.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
Through this collaboration, we hope we can do our parts
to change people's lives, and we need your help to
do it. Watching someone you know endure an abusive situation
can be difficult, and it may be hard to know
how to respond or help. While the initial instinct is
to save them, it is almost never quite that simple.
(26:51):
So here are some things that you can do.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
Providing emotional support by validating and acknowledging the difficulty of
the situation. Do not judge their decisions, including decisions to say,
help them by identifying a support network, and encourage speaking
to people who are trained to help help them. Learn
about their legal rights through resources like Women's Law dot org.
(27:18):
Another resource we mentioned at the top of the episode
is the Domestic Violence Hotline, available twenty four to seven
at one eight hundred seven nine nine seven two three three,
or you can text begin to eight eight seven eight eight,
(27:38):
and most of all, remember you're wanted, you're needed, and
you deserve a safe love.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
Fire Eyes Media
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.