Slaying Probe Focuses on Two Areas, Two Homes of Suspect

As California State University Prof. Max Bernard Franc was being held without bail in Los Angeles on Sunday in connection with the killing of a teen-age boy whose body parts were found in Madera County last week, sheriff’s and coroner’s investigators continued efforts to identify the victim, authorities said.

Officials in both Los Angeles and Madera counties were also trying to determine whether some body parts found in Madera County on Tuesday and others found near the Golden State Freeway in Valencia on Thursday belonged to the same victim.

A head and torso were found along a rural Madera County road about 20 miles north of Fresno, and two arms hacked at the shoulders and two legs cut off just below the knee were discovered in Valencia.

Sheriff’s Deputy Steve Lee also disclosed Sunday that there was a “possibility” that a second male suspect could be involved in the grisly slaying.

Los Angeles sheriff’s investigators went to Fresno on Sunday, Sgt. Bryan Williams said, seeking more information.

Franc, 57, a political science professor at California State University, Fresno, has two residences: a house in Fresno and an apartment in West Hollywood.

When the Fresno home was searched Sunday, Williams said, investigators found “one of the largest collections of pornographic homosexual films ever seen.”

Franc was arrested Saturday after employees at an equipment rental shop notified Los Angeles police that a chain saw rented to Franc had been returned after three hours with bloody residue on it.

According to the Fresno Bee, police sources said Franc claimed that the chain saw was bloody because he had run over a dog, then used the saw to cut up the carcass for burial.