Professor to Name Friend as Youth’s Killer, Paper Says

A local college professor charged with killing a young male prostitute and dismembering his body with a chain saw will claim in court that the slaying was committed by a tall, young blond man who once lived with him, it was reported Sunday.

The Fresno Bee, quoting sources involved in the court case against Max Bernard Franc, said Franc claims that he stood by helplessly as his friend shot Tracy Leroy Nute, 19, in the head.

Nute’s torso was found on a remote ranch about 30 miles north of here Aug. 25. His arms and legs were found near the Golden State Freeway in the Los Angeles suburb of Valencia two days later.

Opening Arguments

In his opening arguments Friday at a preliminary hearing in the case in Los Angeles Municipal Court, Franc’s attorney argued that Franc only rented the chain saw used to dismember Nute’s body, but that someone else shot him.

Franc’s attorney refused to identify the person, but the Bee said Franc blames the murder on a tall, young, blond man named Terry Adams.

The Bee said Franc has claimed that he had known Adams for about five years and that Adams had lived with him for a time in Fresno where Franc taught public administration at the California State University campus.

2nd Suspect Not Ruled Out

Los Angeles authorities, who believe Nute was killed in Franc’s West Hollywood apartment, have not ruled out a second suspect. But they have been unable to locate Adams, if he exists, the Bee said.

Prosectors claim Franc shot Nute, a Kansas City, Mo., native who authorities said had turned to prostitution when he needed money, in a “homosexual rage” and then dismembered his body with a rented chain saw.

In court Friday employees of a rental shop identified Franc as the man who rented a gas-powered saw Aug. 21, saying he had cut “some stuff in his backyard.”