Earnest Lee Franklin disappeared from his Shreveport, Louisiana home in the days after Christmas 2003. Reports conflict on whether his last confirmed contact was December 25 or December 27; on the evening in question, about 11:45 p.m., the 57-year-old retired forklift operator called his sister in California from the 1600 block of Audrey Lane and said he was going out to meet a friend. He left the house and was never seen or heard from again.

Franklin’s white four-door 1995 Cadillac DeVille, Louisiana plate IJG 528, also went missing and has never been recovered. He was described as a Black man, five feet six inches tall, about 210 pounds, with brown eyes, balding black hair, wearing a full set of dentures and reading glasses. Concern grew when he missed a planned New Year’s dinner with siblings and was reported missing in early January.

Investigators reviewed phone records but were unable to identify suspects, and there has been no activity on his bank accounts since his disappearance. A detective on the case said the lack of clues prompted suspicion of foul play. In 2022 a volunteer sonar team searched waterways including the Red River and Cross Lake for his Cadillac without success.

Did anyone in Shreveport or the surrounding area know who Earnest was meeting that night or ever see his Cadillac after December 2003?