New details in the murder of PDHS math teacher Jill Grant

In days, the family of murdered teacher Jill Grant will get what they’ve been asking for the last three years — a trial for the man accused in her death.

KESQ News Channel / CBS Local 2 dug into newly filed documents and discovered despite his “not guilty” plea Michael Franco may have already confessed to killing her.

Court papers filed days before the trial’s scheduled start outline the details around the popular Palm Desert High School teacher’s death.

Two days before Christmas in 2013, Jill Grant was supposed to host a party with her boyfriend of one year, Michael Franco. Instead, friends showed up at their home at Terra Lago and were turned away at the gate. Franco told them by phone the couple had argued.

Earlier that day, an employee of Terra Lago’s golf course found a woman’s body lying in the brush. It was later identified as Grant’s.

Prosecutors say they found tire marks on the grass of the golf course, Converse shoe prints and a bloody rag. In the couple’s home, more Converse shoe prints and traces of blood. According to the documents, investigators reported”Many places tested positive for the possible presence of blood.” This included two couch pillow cushions, the washing machine and a load of towels found inside.

Grant’s car was missing, investigators noted. The document details video footage of Franco at an Indio AM-PM the morning of Grant’s murder. It reportedly shows the driver of the vehicle removing a piece of brush from the bumper of Grant’s Prius and cleaning it off.

When officers processed the Prius later, they would find handprints on the hood of the car and blood on the front bumper. Documents outline that shrubbery was stuck in the front grill of the car and golf course grass was found under the wheel well. Investigators say that shrubbery was “consistent with the brush at the scene where Grant’s body was discovered.”

The Prius was also caught on surveillance video at a drive-thru ATM machine, investigators say. The court document says photographs show Franco using the machine and that bank records confirm $400 was withdrawn using Grant’s ATM card.

Officers also outlined Franco’s arrest. Officers located Grant by tracking his cell phone. When a detective approached him, Franco allegedly said he would not be captured alive and the officer would have to shoot him.

Prosecutors say Franco was tazed when he said he had a gun.

After he was taken into custody, officers say Franco told them he “knew he was going to spend the rest of his life in prison.” Franco said he had cleaned out his bank accounts, packed up everything and was planning to flee to Mexico.

According to court records, Franco was taken to the Indio Police Department, telling officers “I am really not a violent person,” and “I really want to get this off my chest… but I just can’t.”

Detectives also claim they got a call from a longtime friend of Franco’s who showed them text messages from the night before Grant’s body was found.

Prosecutors say the messages reveal that Grant had become upset at Thompson because she believed this friend was influencing Thompson to use methamphetamine again. The messages also revealed Grant was trying to kick Thompson out of the home they shared.

Other phone evidence revealed what appeared to be an accidental voice mail message left on the same friend’s phone the night of the murder.

According to court documents, that friend said he could hear what “appeared to be a female begging for her life” when he heard the voice message.

The friend allowed detectives to download the message, who say the message was hard to hear but they could hear Thompson saying, “All I wanted to do. I will take you to the hospital. I will call 911.” Grant can be heard responding, “Wait until I can think of, another idea. What if I drive the car someplace and call myself and say I was attacked? Would that work?”

Prosecutors also claim Franco confessed to the murder to a man he was housed with in jail. The man claims that Franco told him that he slit his girlfriend’s throat, tried to dump the body, but when his girlfriend got back up, he ran her over. The man claims that at certain points while telling the story, Franco would laugh and cry. Franco finished by telling the man that, “…he was going to beat the case because he was going to act crazy and go to Patton for seven years.” Patton is a psychiatric hospital located in San Bernardino.

Jury selection is expected to take a couple of weeks with evidence in the trial starting next month.