a former FBI The investigator described breaking through a murder suspect’s defense to unravel the mystery of The Girl in the Picture’s kidnapping, while also discovering how he killed the victim’s son.
Scott Lobb, who was investigating the two-decade-old murder of Suzanne Sevakis, was one of the FBI agents who questioned death row inmate Franlink Delano Floyd, 78, whose 30-year criminal career includes kidnappings, murders, rapes and a bank robbery.
During their investigation, Lobb learned that Sevakis was actually one of four children Floyd kidnapped and raised to be his wife in 1975 before she was murdered in Oklahoma City in a hit-and-run in 1990.
Although Floyd declined to talk about Sevakis, Lobb said he used a variety of tactics — such as dressing neatly and invading the suspect’s personal space — to find out what happened to the Sevakis’ son, Michael. The sun reported.
After days of pushing, Lobb said “a switch was turned” and an emotionless Floyd confessed to the kidnapping and murder of the six-year-old boy.
“I shot him in the back of the head to do it real quick,” Floyd is said to have said, stunned the FBI agent.
Lobb told The Sun there was “no regrets, no tears, it was very factual and creepy.”
FranklinDelano Floyd, a death row inmate, had kidnapped his daughter, Suzanne Sevakis, and forced her to marry him before she was murdered in a hit-and-run crime in 1990. Floyd then confessed to the kidnapping and murder of her son, Michael. Pictured: Floyd and Sevakis as a child
Floyd, now 78, made the chilling confession that he shot Michael (right) in the back of the head
Former FBI investigator Scott Lobb said there was no regret in Floyd’s confession. The retired cop said he and his partner were able to turn the tables on the ‘master manipulator’ to make him confess after decades of silence
Floyd was sentenced to death. He is now 78 years old and currently on death row in a Florida prison
The chilling case, which was explored in the new Netflix crime documentary, The Girl in the Picture, details the mystery of the surrounding Sevakis, who was taken with her three siblings from their mother, Sandi.
While the other children were eventually found, Floyd kept Sevakis and raised her as his own daughter, changed her name to Sharon Marshall and spent years pretending to be her father before forcing her to marry him.
Sevakis eventually had a son, Michael, with another man, and Floyd had the family relocated to Oklahoma, where Sevakis was killed in 1990 after being hit from behind by a car.
Michael was placed in foster care and later adopted. But in September 1994, when he was in first grade, Floyd walked into his elementary school with a gun and took Michael with him.
Police searched for Floyd and Michael for weeks, and he was eventually arrested in Louisville, Kentucky, after he tried to get a new license and the DMV realized who he was and alerted the FBI.
He was found guilty of kidnapping and sentenced to 55 years in prison. He was also later charged with first-degree murder for killing a friend of Sevakis, and given the death penalty in Florida.
For years it was unknown what happened to Michael, but in 2015, Lobb discovered the truth with his partner, Special Agent Nate Furr.
Although Floyd seemed unwilling to talk to the investigators, who described him as a “master manipulator,” Lobb said the agents were able to turn the tables and lead the convicted killer to the truth.
A simple tactic they used was coordinating their outfits, dressing Lobb as an authority figure that Floyd could trust as opposed to Furr, who would be dressed more casually.
“I went to see Nate a few days before and I said, ‘Listen, he’s got this respect, whether it’s pseudo-respect for people in authority or not, but he seems to be responding better,’ so we’re going to tell him I I’m in charge,” Lobb told The Sun.
“We also contrasted the way we dressed, so on the first day I was wearing a full suit and an FBI uniform, and Nate was wearing slacks, a sport coat and a shirt without a tie, and so on.
“We always made Nate look a little less dressed than me…and Floyd seemed to respond well to that.
“Don’t get me wrong, there was still a fight in that room with him every day, but he seemed to respond well to that perception.”
He was found guilty of kidnapping Michael (pictured) and sentenced to 55 years in prison. He was also later charged with first degree murder for killing a friend of Sevakis
Floyd then became the suspect in a disappearance case of an 18-year-old woman named Cheryl Ann Commesso (pictured right) – a colleague of Suzanne’s (pictured left) who argued with Floyd before she went missing
For years, it was unknown what happened to Michael, but in an interview with the FBI in 2015, Floyd admitted that he shot and killed the little boy the day he kidnapped him.
During a series of interrogations in 2015, Lobb said his patience with Floyd was running out as the killer continued to dodge investigators’ questions.
While grilling Floyd, Lobb discovered that the death row inmate couldn’t stand being cornered by the officers, so on the third day of the intense interrogation, Lobb went on the attack.
“During this whole process, if he was going to sit back and try to get away from me, I would lean forward to try and keep that space really tight,” he told The Sun.
“When he sat back and just had a good time chatting with us, I would sit back, I was relaxed — so I reflected his body language.
“But he told me to leave him when I got back, so I did. I went to the back of the room and let Nate talk about Michael,” he added.
It was then that Floydd confessed to the kidnapping and murder of the six-year-old boy.
The criminal was a pro at escaping the law — using false aliases, constantly moving from state to state, and changing his name and persona. Some of his aliases are seen
He kidnapped a little girl named Suzanne from a woman named Sandi Chapman. He kept Suzanne (pictured) and raised her as his own daughter, changing her name to Sharon Marshall
Though investigators have finally uncovered the truth, the full details of what happened to Sevakis continue to elude Lobb.
For his part, the former FBI agent said he would still be open to discussing the matter with Lobb, who is on death row, to see what else they could get out of him.
“I would like to have a dialogue with him about Suzanne’s death,” Lobb told The Sun.
‘I don’t know how he would receive me and I don’t know what his mental faculties are now.
“It’s been seven years since I last spoke to him, but yes, I’d like to talk to him more,” Lobb said. “I’d like to sit across from him again to hear the rest of the truth.”