Quebec’s Most Famous Cold Case
Sharron Prior’s name echoes profoundly in the halls of Quebec’s unsolved mysteries, her case standing out as one of the province’s most high-profile cold cases.
On the unfortunate day of March 29, 1975, the peace of a suburb in Montreal was brutally shattered. The crime was horrific – a rape and murder that would leave an indelible scar on the community, and above all, on the family of young Sharron Prior. Only 16 years old, Sharron was a bright light in the lives of those who knew her. She was the girl next door, with dreams as vast as the sky and a smile that warmed hearts.
On that fateful evening, Sharron set out to meet her friends at a nearby pizza parlor in the Pointe-St-Charles neighborhood of Montreal. This was a journey she never completed, disappearing into thin air, never to be seen alive again. The following days were fraught with anxiety and desperate searches, culminating in the heart-wrenching discovery of Sharron’s lifeless body three days later in a wooded area in Longueuil, on Montreal’s South Shore. She had been raped and then murdered. The vibrant young girl with dreams and aspirations was reduced to another tragic crime statistic.
In the subsequent years, investigators found themselves hitting numerous dead ends. Sharron Prior’s case quickly turned cold, but it was far from forgotten. The local law enforcement rigorously pursued every lead, questioned over 100 potential suspects, but each time, they were met with disappointment. The perpetrator of this heinous crime remained elusive, the pieces of the puzzle scattered and the picture unclear.
Introduction of Franklin Maywood Romine
Decades passed after the horrifying incident, the name Franklin Maywood Romine surfaced in the lengthy investigation of Sharron Prior’s cold case. Romine, a man from the far reaches of West Virginia, emerged from the shadows of obscurity and into the bright, revealing lights of forensic science and dogged investigative work.
Franklin Maywood Romine was no stranger to a life of violence and crime. His past was riddled with a dark history that stretched back to at least 1964, when he first attempted to evade justice by breaking out of the West Virginia penitentiary. A decade later, in 1974, he once again found himself on the wrong side of the law, arrested for breaking into a house and committing a heinous act of sexual violence against a woman in Parkersburg, West Virginia. However, Romine’s criminal activities did not cease with this arrest.
As we look deeper into Franklin Maywood Romine’s life of crime, a disturbing picture emerges of a man who knew no boundaries when it came to violence and evasion of justice. His arrest in 1974 marked one of his most brutal crimes — a violent home invasion and rape in Parkersburg, West Virginia.
Shockingly, despite the gravity of this crime, Romine managed to secure his release on a $2,500 bond just two months after his arrest. Rather than face his day in court and answer for his actions, Romine took advantage of this freedom and disappeared from West Virginia. His destination? The Great White North, a place he hoped would be far removed from his criminal past.
However, Canada did not provide a fresh start for Romine, but rather a new hunting ground. In a chilling turn of events, Romine’s arrival in Canada coincided with the tragic murder of Sharron Prior in 1975. The timing was more than a coincidence; it was a disturbing hint at a possible connection between Romine’s criminal activities and the tragic fate of Sharron Prior.
This revelation marked a significant breakthrough in the case. Romine’s presence in Canada during the time of Sharron’s murder, his known history of sexual violence, and his propensity for evading justice presented a compelling, albeit horrifying, link to the tragic loss of young Sharron Prior. While this connection was not enough to convict, it was a lead that law enforcement couldn’t ignore, bringing them one step closer to solving the long-standing mystery of Sharron Prior’s untimely death.
Capture, Extradition, and Death of Romine
Just as Franklin Maywood Romine seemed to be slipping further away from the grasp of justice, a twist of fate led to his capture. A few months following Sharron Prior’s murder, Romine was apprehended by vigilant Canadian border officials. His run from the law was over, but the full extent of his crimes was yet to be discovered.
Following his capture, Romine was extradited back to his home state of West Virginia, facing the consequences of the sexual assault case he had initially evaded. The courts recognized the severity of his violent actions, sentencing him to five to ten years in prison. It seemed, at last, Romine would pay for his crimes.
However, the mysteries surrounding Romine were far from over. After serving his sentence, Romine died under mysterious circumstances in Canada in 1982. His death left many questions unanswered, notably his potential connection to Sharron Prior’s case. With Romine’s death, the cold case seemed destined to remain unsolved.
Romine’s body was returned to his family in West Virginia and was laid to rest in Pine Grove cemetery, Putnam County. As he was buried, so too seemed the hopes of ever confirming his connection to Sharron Prior’s murder. For decades, the mystery lingered on, a heartbreaking reminder of the justice that seemed forever out of reach for Sharron and her family.
Breakthrough in the Case and Conclusion
Fast forward 41 years, and the evolution of DNA evidence brought an unexpected yet long-awaited development in Sharron Prior’s case. Modern scientific advancements proved to be a game-changer in the field of criminology, providing detectives with a powerful tool to revisit cold cases. Despite the passage of time, justice was knocking on the door for Sharron Prior.
With the potential DNA evidence linking Franklin Maywood Romine to the murder, officials took the extraordinary step, rare and indicative of their commitment, of exhuming Romine’s body in May 2023. His mortal remains would provide the crucial answers that had eluded investigators for decades. The DNA tests conducted proved definitive: Romine was undoubtedly linked to Sharron Prior’s murder.
The official announcement was a bitter-sweet moment. It brought a sense of closure to a case that had been a high-profile mystery in Quebec for nearly half a century. While it didn’t take away the pain and loss that Sharron’s family had endured, it did provide them with answers. The cloud of uncertainty had finally been lifted.
Reflecting on the crime, local prosecutor Mark Sorsaia rightfully labeled it as “the most evil element in the human race.” It brought to the forefront the heartrending grief and devastation that the murder of a child inflicts upon a family. Sharron’s mother, Yvonne, now well into her 80’s, had lived through an unimaginable ordeal, her agony persisting for all these years.
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