Confirmation Came Monday That Body Found In TX Is Arkansas Native

The Tarrant County, TX medical examiner confirmed today that skeletal remains found in a remote area nearly two weeks ago have been identified as those of a 6-year-old girl missing nearly five years. Opal Jennings was abducted in March 1999 while playing in a vacant lot beside her grandparents` yard in Saginaw, just northwest of Fort Worth. The girl was originally from Clarksville, Arkansas. Two people on horseback found part of a skull in woods and brush about 10 miles from that Saginaw neighborhood on Dec. 30. Authorities began searching the area and found more bone fragments and a pair of pink Barbie tennis shoes similar to those Opal was wearing when she disappeared. The fragments were identified using DNA testing. Opal died from a crushing blow to the head, the medical examiner`s office said. Her death is now considered a homicide. Richard Lee Franks of Fort Worth was convicted of aggravated kidnapping in Opal`s case in 2000, three months after his first trial ended with a hung jury. Franks, who was not charged with murder, was sentenced to life in prison -- the maximum penalty -- because he had a 1991 conviction of indecency with a child in nearby Wise County.