FBI analyst survived cancer only to fall victim to sniper

When Linda Franklin discovered she had breast cancer several years ago, she faced her mortality head-on, just as she had with every other challenge.

The 47-year-old underwent a double mastectomy and overcame the brutal rehabilitation that followed, all with the attitude of a fighter who had survived a war zone and raised two children while putting herself through college.

But Franklin had no chance against the sniper's bullet that struck her outside a Home Depot store last October, tearing away the right side of her face and leaving her husband spattered with her blood.

On Monday, the 18-year-old who authorities believe killed her goes on trial in Chesapeake, Va., charged with capital murder. Prosecutors believe Lee Boyd Malvo shot Franklin from a hiding place in the trunk of a car as his alleged accomplice, John Allen Muhammad, waited behind the wheel.

Muhammad is already on trial in nearby Virginia Beach in another of the 10 sniper killings that terrified the Washington area last fall.

Malvo's lawyers plan an insanity defense, arguing the young man was so indoctrinated by Muhammad, 42, that he no longer knew right from wrong.

As an FBI analyst in Washington, Linda Franklin studied terror threats. It was a job she loved, friends say, and one at which she excelled.

Katrina Hannum, Franklin's 24-year-old daughter, described her mother as "good at everything that she did."

"She was an amazing, amazing woman who touched everyone that she came into contact with," a tearful Hannum testified at Muhammad's trial. She did not respond to requests for an interview.

Growing up in Gainesville, Fla., Franklin was always curious, asking about everything from religion to how to dress, said her father, Charles Moore.

"Every summer she would come home for vacation and bring a list of questions," Moore told mourners at Franklin's funeral. "She confounded me, frustrated me, tormented me. But I loved her."

Difficult task

Franklin earned a bachelor's degree in education from the University of Florida, a task made more difficult by the fact that she was raising a son and daughter practically on her own. Franklin divorced her first husband eight months after Katrina was born.

Hannum remembered her mother's determination to work overseas, first for the Guatemalan government when the country was embroiled in civil war, then as a teacher for the U.S. Department of Defense.

At first, Hannum said, the department was hesitant to take a chance on Franklin because, as a single mother, "they didn't think that she could handle it." She said her mother proved herself by moving to Guatemala on her own.

Once, when a man with a machete jumped in her Jeep and demanded her car, Franklin refused, but volunteered to drive the man where he needed to go.

Franklin traveled the world teaching, spending time in Germany before moving to Japan for six years, where Hannum said, "she met a handsome Marine that turned out to be the love of her life." Linda married William "Ted" Franklin in Hawaii in 1995, then moved to Europe, where Linda continued to teach.

The Franklins eventually settled in Arlington, Va. Linda Franklin, gregarious and fun-loving, quickly made friends.

"I felt really welcomed by her," said Peggy Hulseberg, whose husband worked with Franklin in the FBI's counterterrorism unit. "She had a unique way of making everyone feel included."

Hulseberg grew close to Franklin when she developed breast cancer.

"She wanted to meet it head-on. She wasn't fearful at all," Hulseberg said. "Ted was more fearful than she was. ... She was so strong about it."

When one of Franklin's cats got cancer, she did everything she could to save him, too. Rocky underwent a biopsy and chemotherapy, but died of the disease.

Linda Franklin was with her husband outside the Home Depot on Oct. 14, 2002, when Ted heard a sound like wood cracking concrete, then felt something hit his face that he later learned was his wife's blood, he testified at Muhammad's trial.

Katrina Hassum was 5 1/2 months pregnant with her son, Connor, when she learned her mother had been killed.

"I remember screaming and throwing myself on the bed, and all I could do was scream," she testified.

Franklin's death was one of three her family has dealt with in the last year and a half. Her niece was killed in a car accident months before the sniper attack, and Franklin's mother succumbed to cancer in February.

"I worry about (Franklin's) dad," Hulseberg said. "Three important women in his life died so close together. It's just been pretty hard."

Hulseberg misses her friend and often recalls their Friday outings for a movie and beer.

"I wish I'd told her how much she meant to me," she said.