Woman Sentenced in Parents’ Slayings

A Bloomington woman, tangled in a family cycle of child molestation and drug abuse, was sentenced to 22 years in prison and nearly $6,000 in fines and restitution for fatally shooting her elderly parents at the home they shared.

Alma Lorene Frakes, 36, admitted killing her mother and father Nov. 14 to San Bernardino County prosecutors, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Briye McCann.

Frakes pleaded guilty to two counts of involuntary manslaughter and use of a firearm. She is to repay the county for her parents’ burial expenses.

The bodies of William Frakes, 80, and Alba Frakes, 71, were found in the home in September 2004 when neighbors noticed a foul odor coming from the house.

The family had a troubled history, said McCann.

Several of Frakes’ siblings had accused their father of molesting them, and Frakes believed he was abusing her two adolescent daughters, McCann said.

The night of the shooting, Frakes argued with her sister, who had legal custody of the two girls but was allowing them to stay with Frakes, about their care and their grandfather’s abusive behavior, McCann said.

Frakes then confronted her parents, McCann said. “She decided he was the root of all of her problems,” McCann said.

Frakes has admitted to using methamphetamines, and William Frakes had drug convictions, McCann said. “It’s probably the most unique case I’ve handled in my career,” McCann said. “There’s a lot more to this than meets the eye.”