The Forgotten Woman of Middleburgh
Erica Franolich disappeared nearly four decades ago, and her family want answers.
The town of Cobleskill is situated a little under 12 miles from Middleburgh. Recently, it received two new sinister additions to the welcome party of billboards on the way into town. Erected in May, they contain a sad message that is bound to garner the strongest of reactions by any passer-by. The reality is that Erica Franolich wasn’t just another missing face; she had been completely forgotten.
26-year-old Erica was from a large family in Waterford, Michigan. She’d met Richard Franolich in Texas while she was still with her first son’s father. She and Richard married soon after, and together they had another son, Ricky. The pair travelled with the construction job Richard was working and eventually moved back to Michigan to be near Erica’s family in 1986.
The family stayed with Erica’s parents and siblings, moving from house to house. The couple’s relationship was turbulent, and they regularly fought, with the boys often at the epicentre of the turmoil.
During an argument in the summer before Erica went missing, Richard had taken his son and moved to Duanesburg. Despite being over 500 miles from where the couple was living in Michigan. Erica followed them in an effort to…
