OSHKOSH, Wis. (Court TV) — A Wisconsin man was sentenced to spend the rest of his life behind bars after he was found guilty of beating another man to death with a brick.
Rodney Franklin was sentenced for killing Keith Rieskamp. (WBAY)
A jury convicted Rodney Franklin, 54, of first-degree intentional homicide and theft from a corpse in the death of Keith Rieskamp, who was found beaten to death.
Prosecutors said that officers were called to the scene on Nov. 24, 2024, by a passerby who saw the victim; officers described Rieskamp as “covered in blood,” with no shirt and his pants around his knees near two dumpsters. First responders immediately noticed massive amounts of blood at the scene, not only on the ground but also on the handle of a nearby shed, clothing found nearby, a silver aluminum post and a red brick.
The trail of blood appeared to lead to the basement of the nearby apartment building. When officers went inside to investigate and knocked on the door, Franklin answered completely naked and said he had only just gotten home an hour earlier and hadn’t heard anything the night before. When asked if he knew the victim, Franklin denied any knowledge of the name or individual.
Witnesses interviewed by police told a different story and said that Rieskamp, who was homeless, had been staying with Franklin until he had been kicked out days before the incident. One witness said he saw the two arguing the day before Rieskamp was found.
When officers served a search warrant at Franklin’s apartment, they once again found him naked inside his home. Detectives soon found a pair of white high-tops Franklin had been seen wearing in surveillance video; the shoes were stained with blood that matched the victim’s DNA. In a kitchen drawer, officers found a large wristwatch and copper-colored bracelet the victim was known to wear, both covered in blood. On the kitchen table, police found “a financial transaction card with [Rieskamp’s] name on it in a stack of documents with Franklin’s name on it.” Franklin denied any knowledge of how the objects came to be in his home.
A medical examiner ruled Rieskamp’s death was a homicide caused by blunt force trauma and hypothermia. Among the injuries the victim suffered were facial lacerations, fractures to his nose and jaw, and a ruptured right eye.
Franklin’s sister, Lada Felicia Chick, wrote a letter to Judge Scott Woldt ahead of Wednesday’s sentencing. Chick said that her brother is the youngest of six, most of whom were separated by adoption as children. She said her brother suffered sexual and physical abuse in foster homes before he was kicked out for bad grades.
Chick said her brother suffers from colon cancer and described him as ill and frail. “I am just so confused about this case, because I know my brother and he is a gentle, fragile soul who would never commit murder,” she wrote. “He tries to act tough, but it’s just that, an act.”
Woldt showed no mercy, sentencing Franklin to life without the possibility of parole for homicide. A sentence of five years for theft will run concurrently with the life sentence.
