Beautiful Child

Enigma · Senior Member

Beautiful Child

atlanta girl · Senior Member

no i have not read this book could yo tell us what type of bookthis is.ex. true crime.also what book is about. and the author of book.perhaps those of us that hasnt read it can find it and read.

Enigma · Senior Member

This is true crime by Matt Birkbeck. This sicko apparently kidnapped this little girl and raised her as his own, then when she got older her married her. He sexually abused her all her life. She had a baby by someone else and was getting ready to run away and he killed her. He was a federal fugitive and they both used many aliases and moved around a lot. She was beautiful and very intelligent.

To this day they have never found her son, (whom he kidnapped from his foster family) or have found out who she really is. Here is the info from the Doe Network. You can also find info on Matt's website. If you read it let me know what you think.

The Doe Network:
Case File 8UFTX

Left: Floyd and "Davis," circa mid-70's; Center: Close-up of "Davis," approximately age six, circa mid-70's; Right: "Davis" as an adult

Unidentified White Female
Known as "Suzanne Davis"; "Sharon Marshall"; "Tonya Hughes"

Died as a result of a suspicious hit-and-run accident in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in April 1990

Vital Statistics

Date Of Birth: Around 1969

DNA: Available

Case History
"Suzanne Davis'" case is incredibly complicated. She was abducted by Franklin Delano Floyd between June 1973 and August 1975. Her background is unknown, as is her age and true identity. Floyd claims to have taken over as her parent when she was abandoned and raised her under aliases in several states. She was born around 1969.
"Davis" attended school in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1975. She graduated from high school in Forest Park, Georgia in 1986. "Davis" then moved to Phoenix, Arizona later in the year and began using the alias "Sharon Marshall."
Investigators discovered child pornography in a pickup truck Floyd used. About 40 photographs depict "Davis" from the age of 4 to a pre-teen, displaying her genitals and engaging in sexually explicit conduct. These photographs reveal that the defendant was sexually abusing her for a considerable length of time and memorializing the offense conduct. The photographs also included 33 pictures of another female child and 16 of a beaten and tied adult female displaying her genitals.
Floyd and this unidentified female were married in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1989 under the aliases of "Clarence Marcus Hughes" and "Tonya Dawn Tadlock." Both of then were wanted in connection with a Florida homicide by April 1990; before any legal proceedings began against them, "Tonya" was killed in a suspicious hit-and-run accident in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Floyd is the main suspect in her death.
"Tonya" gave birth to a son in Tampa, Florida in 1988. The child, Michael Anthony Hughes, was abducted by Floyd on September 12, 1994 -- four years after "Tonya's" death. Floyd walked in to Michael's school in Choctaw, Oklahoma and abducted the child at gunpoint. Floyd also kidnapped Michael's school principal and tied him to a tree. He was found hours later by people working in a nearby yard.
Michael Hughes was living with foster parents when Floyd kidnapped him. Michael has never been found. Floyd has claimed he is living in a foreign country, but authorities presume he is dead. Floyd was arrested and charged with Michael's kidnapping. Floyd is not Michael's biological father. Floyd confessed to his sister in a telephone call from the county jail that he drowned the first-grader in a motel bathtub. A formerly sealed court document alleges Floyd confessed to three people, including his sister, that he killed Michael in Georgia. Another person linked to Floyd during the kidnapping claims to have seen Floyd bury Michael in a cemetery.
The sentencing memo describes Floyd as a "violent sexual predator and a career criminal. When he was 17 in 1960, he got in a shoot out with police who confronted him during a burglary. He was convicted of child molestation in 1962 for abducting a 4-year-old girl from a bowling alley and raping and sodomizing her.

Floyd has never provided any details about "Tonya's" history. A search of missing persons' databases has turned up zero leads as to "Tonya's" true identity. Her son remains missing as well. Floyd used the aliases "Trenton Davis"; "Charles Hughes"; "Warren Judson Marshall"; "Preston Morgan"; and "Kingfish Floyd." He was employed as a painter before his arrest.

Investigators
If you have any information as to the identity of this unidentified female, please contact:
Texas Missing Persons' Clearinghouse
800-346-3243
OR
Federal Bureau Of Investigation (FBI)
202-324-3000 (Washington DC Office)
You can remain anonymous if you wish.

Source Information:
Texas Department of Public Safety
The National Center For Missing and Exploited Children

atlanta girl · Senior Member

thanks for the info on book actually i had run across this authour on another websitewhich sentme to amazon to find another book this author wrote. this beautiful child was also on amazon i figured it was the one you were talking about so i put it on my long so verylong wish at amazonewill be there tonight looking for cannibal.but think by time i get any of these books the discussion will be over.butthanks for pointing to 2 more books i thinkid love to read

annarocket · Guru

I saw this book yesterday at Barnes and Noble but I didn't buy it,I was afraid it would freak me out too much!

atlanta girl · Senior Member

dang i was at barnes and noble today did not see either child or cannible . actually didnt see any true crime i havent read.but both are available at amazon.com.hope to get them soon.

HeatherJ · Pre-Newbie

Here's a recent review of A BEAUTIFUL CHILD...i suggesting visiting the authors website at www.mattbirkbeck.com

A Crushed Bloom That Grows Nonetheless
Mar 29 '05 (Updated Mar 30 '05)

Pros
Well written, intriguing, pulls you in and won't let you go.

Cons
This is a true story with dead ends and no answers.

The Bottom Line
This is an excellent read not just for true crime buffs but for anyone who wants to read a story about amazing perseverence in the face of extreme adversity.

Full Review

It was a mix of self-confessed morbid curiosity, and a desire to know more, that drew me to the story of "Sharon Marshall." I have perseverated on the subject of missing children for many years, prayed for the return or at least the closure of those who have been long out of the reach of their loving parents' arms.

Sharon's story is different: We know how things ended for her... but we do not know the truth of her beginnings. Sharon Marshall is not even her real name. She has also been known as Suzanne Davis, and later died under the moniker of Tonya Hughes.

Franklin Floyd is the nightmare that is behind her ordeal. He kidnapped her at an early age, already a convicted child molester, having done unspeakable things to a 4 year old in an alley. Sharon was simply his next victim.

From there he claimed to be her father. Then her husband. Eventually he became her Grim Reaper (he is the primary suspect in her murder).

He was always her worst enemy, treating her like a toy, an object, and then discarding of her when she was so close to escaping to any possibility of normalcy. Floyd later kidnapped her son, claiming to be his real father when he wasn't. The boy, Michael Hughes, is also now missing, and again, Floyd is the primary suspect in his murder as well.

Franklin Floyd is now in prison awaiting the death penalty for another woman's murder. He won't tell the truth about Sharon, and he may never will.

To the rest of the world, Sharon remains without a connection to the former home and family to where she belonged at one time. She still cries out for someone, somewhere, to be able to bring her back to where she belonged, 15 years after her death.

Matt Birkbeck has made an astounding effort at putting together the pieces of Sharon's incomplete puzzle and identity in his book A Beautiful Child: A True Story of Hope, Horror, and an Enduring Human Spirit. Thanks to his work, we discover a strong young woman that emerged from Sharon Marshall despite the torture and abuse Floyd put her through. We discover her true humanity.

With meticulous detail, Birkbeck has traced her known history. We go back to a high school she attended in Georgia, where she met the one true best friend she ever had, and how she was a source of inspiration to that friend.

We find out she was an honor student, a Lt. Colonel in the ROTC, we learn of her goals, hopes and dreams. In the face of what we also learn of the sick world in which she was raised, those hopes and dreams are amazing - one would never expect someone in her situation to have and strive for such aspirations.

We learn about her dedication as a mother to her little boy, Michael. We learn, too, about her final determination to escape the physical, emotional and sexual prison Floyd has created for her... and how that tragically cost her life.

Unfortunately Sharon was known only as a strip club dancer when she died, someone to be regarded as trash and not much more. It is thanks to the work of detectives who wouldn't give up on her, and especially thanks to Matt Birkbeck, that the public has the opportunity to discover Sharon was much more. She was, indeed, beautiful.

Birkbeck deserves much aplomb for being able to bring back to life someone Franklin Floyd attempted to erase and crush. He does so in a way that, weeks after reading this book, I am still thinking about daily, and continuing to hope and pray for closure, for someone to bring Sharon "home."

Note: Several attempts have been made by authorities over the past several years to match up Sharon's DNA with that of missing children matching her physical description and profile at the time of her abduction in an attempt to discover her true identity. Sadly, each attempt has resulted in a dead end.

If you have any information leading to Sharon's true identity, please contact The Doe Network: http://www.doenetwork.org.

The Doe Network's profile for Sharon Marshall: http://www.doenetwork.us/cases/8uftx.html

Matt Birkbeck's Web Site, including a forum where he provides updates on Sharon's case: http://www.mattbirkbeck.com/

Recommended
Yes