CULLMAN, Ala. – On Aug. 13, 2009, Cullman County resident Tabitha Lynn Franklin, then 27, vanished.
She was a mother of three. She was known to family and friends as “Tabby.” She was someone who, according to family accounts shared over the years, stayed in contact with her children and her loved ones.
When the phone calls stopped, when days passed and when she did not show up as expected, her family knew something was wrong.
Nearly 17 years later, Franklin’s case remains active.
The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency lists Franklin as an endangered missing person. The agency’s public alert says she was last seen Aug. 13, 2009, in Cullman and may have traveled to the Hueytown area. The Cullman County Sheriff’s Office remains the investigating agency.
Franklin has not been seen or heard from since.
The basic facts of the case have remained largely unchanged since the first days after her disappearance. Franklin was last seen in the Vinemont/West Point area of Cullman County.
Published reports and missing person summaries say she was picked up by an ex-boyfriend or adult male acquaintance. He reportedly told investigators he drove her to his place of business in Hueytown, left to run errands and returned to find her gone.
She never came home.
No one has been charged in connection with Franklin’s disappearance, and public records reviewed by The Tribune continue to list the case as unresolved. But the absence of an arrest has never meant the absence of effort.
For Franklin’s family, investigators and the people who have followed her case, the years since 2009 have been marked by searches, tips, renewed pleas for information and one painful constant: Tabitha is still missing.
In the early months and years after Franklin disappeared, her family searched wherever they believed answers might be found.
Relatives organized awareness efforts and followed leads. They spoke publicly about their fear that something had happened to her, and they pushed to keep her name from fading into the background of unsolved cases.
By 2011, the search had moved to Smith Lake, where family members and search teams looked into reports of clothing appearing near the water.
ABC 33/40 reported at the time that family members were still spending weekends searching the area, looking for clothing or any other item that might be connected to Franklin. Walker County Search and Rescue assisted in that effort.
The Smith Lake search did not bring Franklin home, but it showed something that would continue for years: her family was not waiting quietly. They were searching.
In March 2014, the case drew renewed public attention when Cullman County Sheriff’s Office investigators served a search warrant at 1140 County Road 1136.
The property had been connected to Franklin in prior reporting, and family members said she had lived there at one point and had been seen there before she disappeared.
The search was focused on a front porch.
Then-Sheriff Mike Rainey told WBRC that investigators had developed new information during a three-month investigation, giving them probable cause to search the property.
Crews used jackhammers, sledgehammers and saws to break through thick concrete. Investigators removed concrete and examined the ground below, searching for any evidence that might explain what happened to Franklin.
The Cullman Tribune, then operating as CullmanSense, was at the scene and documented the excavation.
A later Tribune report noted that the 2014 excavation followed two indications by cadaver dogs from HEMSI and a ground-penetrating radar analysis that showed anomalies.
Investigators removed concrete, gravel and material beneath the porch until they reached solid earth. No evidence connected to Franklin was found.
Even so, the 2014 search made clear that law enforcement had not closed the door on the case. Rainey said then that the case was still classified as a missing-person case, but investigators believed Franklin had met with foul play.
The search continued.
In March 2016, investigators searched a property on Mulga Loop Road after receiving another tip. That search also failed to locate Franklin or produce a public break in the case.
Later that year, published reports said Cullman County investigators traveled to Illinois to question multiple people connected to a person of interest who had been questioned in 2009 and later left the area.
Sheriff Matt Gentry said at the time that the case remained a priority for the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office.
Years passed. Leads came and went. Franklin’s children grew up.
In 2019, ABC 33/40 revisited the case on the 10-year mark of Franklin’s disappearance. Hannah and Dawson Franklin, two of her children, spoke publicly about growing up without their mother.
The report noted that Franklin’s children, who were young when she disappeared, had become adults. Franklin also has grandchildren she has never met.
That is the weight of a missing person case. It is not just one night. It is not just one report. It is birthdays, school days, graduations, weddings, children and grandchildren. It is every ordinary family moment that happens with one chair still empty.
Franklin’s family has long said they want answers. They want to know what happened. They want to bring her home.
In October 2025, the case received another public push when Cullman County District Attorney Champ Crocker announced that a reward for information had been doubled to $20,000.
According to the DA’s announcement, the Governor’s Office had posted the maximum $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for Franklin’s disappearance.
Crocker said that, after consultation with the Governor’s Office and Sheriff Matt Gentry, an anonymous donor agreed to add another $10,000.
The donor, Crocker said, wanted justice for Tabitha and her family.
Crocker asked anyone with information to contact the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office or Investigator David Nassetta with the Cullman County District Attorney’s Office at 256-736-2800. Tips may also be emailed to tips@cullmanda.org.
The Cullman County Sheriff’s Office can be reached at 256-734-0342. Anonymous tips may be reported through the CCSO Secret Witness line at 256-734-0210.
As of 2026, ALEA’s public missing person alert remains active. The state alert lists Franklin’s case number as 090800281 and asks anyone with information to contact law enforcement or the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office.
The public details remain painfully brief.
Last seen: Cullman
Possible travel: Hueytown
Status: Missing
Case: Active
For Franklin’s family, however, the case has never been only a case number. It is a daughter, a mother, a sister and a friend.
Later this year, those who loved her and those who continue to seek justice will gather again to remember her. A remembrance for Franklin is planned for Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026, from 2-4 p.m. at Sportsman Lake Park. The gathering will include barbecue, food, fellowship and memories.
The flyer for the event reads, “Remembering Tabitha Franklin,” and describes her as “forever in our hearts.” It invites women to wear blue jean miniskirts in her memory and closes with the words, “Honoring her life. Seeking justice. Never giving up hope. Until we find her.”
Aug. 13, 2026, will mark 17 years since Franklin disappeared.
Seventeen years since the last confirmed sighting.
Seventeen years since a mother of three vanished.
Seventeen years of searches, tips, heartbreak and waiting.
And still, her family keeps her name alive.
Timeline: The disappearance of Tabitha Lynn Franklin
Aug. 13, 2009: Tabitha Lynn Franklin disappears from Cullman County. She is last seen in the Vinemont/West Point area. Published reports say she was picked up by an ex-boyfriend or adult male acquaintance, who later told investigators he dropped her off at his place of business in Hueytown and returned to find her gone.
Sept. 17, 2009: ALEA’s missing-person alert is issued. The alert lists Franklin as endangered and says she was last seen in Cullman and may have traveled to Hueytown. The alert lists the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office as the contact agency.
2011: Family members and searchers look in the Smith Lake area after reports of clothing being found near the water. The search does not resolve the case.
March 2014: Cullman County Sheriff’s Office investigators search 1140 County Road 1136. Crews excavate a front porch after new information, cadaver-dog indications and ground-penetrating radar findings. No evidence connected to Franklin is found.
March 2016: Investigators search a Mulga Loop Road property after receiving a tip. The search does not produce a public break in the case.
November 2016: Published reports say Cullman County investigators travel to Illinois to question people connected to a person of interest in the case. Sheriff Matt Gentry says the case remains a priority.
October 2019: Franklin’s family speaks publicly about the case 10 years after her disappearance. Her children, adults by then, continue asking for answers.
Oct. 14, 2025: District Attorney Champ Crocker announces the reward has been doubled to $20,000, with an anonymous donor adding $10,000 to the Governor’s Office reward.
2026: ALEA continues to list Franklin as an active endangered missing person.
Aug. 22, 2026: A remembrance for Franklin is scheduled from 2-4 p.m. at Sportsman Lake Park, with barbecue, fellowship and a continued call for justice.
