My husband and I suffered a devastating loss on July 22, 2018. Our son Franklin tragically passed away six days after being admitted to Children’s Hospital of King’s Daughters (CHKD) PICU in Norfolk, VA. Prior to his hospitalization, Franklin was sick with Hands Foot and Mouth Disease. We had a family vacation planned for the Outer Banks. Our pediatrician in Pennsylvania, the state we live in, assured us the trip was safe despite his illness. This made us feel comfortable and we met my mom and my sister’s family for vacation in North Carolina.
That vacation turned into our family’s worst nightmare when my son Franklin was found unresponsive face down on a couch cushion in the middle of the night. This was followed by a traumatic rescue effort provided by my husband, brother-in-law, an officer, and EMS workers.
The first night in the hospital detectives from Currituck County spent six hours of what we thought was an interview to help our son. In reality, they were interrogating my husband, Thomas Imschweiler, who it turns out they decided was a suspect. All of this was occurring while our son was in the hospital fighting for his life.
The detectives, and an agenda driven staff member known as a “child abuse pediatrician” decided Franklin had been a victim of abusive head trauma without considering alternative reasons for his critical state. My son had a subdural hematoma, retinal hemorrhages, and brain swelling. Those three symptoms, better known as the “triad” are commonly present in ABT cases. What the detective and child abuse pediatrician did not know, or ignored, was that they are also found in cases of accidental suffocation, which tragically is what happened to Franklin.
Three days after Franklin’s passing, Tom was arrested and charged with murder. He was incarcerated in a Currituck County jail for almost four months. At the end of November 2018, our family and friends rallied together so that Tom could return home on bail, which was set at $2.7 million by the Superior Court. It was a steep price to pay, but worth it in order to bring an innocent man home. With the help of family and friends, 15 homes were put up as collateral to cover the cost of bail.
For the next three years Tom and I were able to grieve together, grow together, and understand the value of life, despite having a dark cloud - the impending charges - hanging over our heads. We didn’t want our circumstances to define us so we worked hard to maintain a sense of normalcy in our lives.
During those three years, our team of medical professionals and attorneys worked day and night to prove Tom’s innocence. Among the experts was Dr. Mary Gilliland, a retired medical examiner in Northeastern North Carolina, including Currituck County. She is also one of the most highly respected pathologists in history. Dr. Gilliland heard about Tom’s case. The diagnosis did not match the story of how Franklin died. She was concerned they got it wrong. Although Dr. Gilliland was now retired; she agreed to look at Tom’s file and offer an independent analysis on Franklin’s death. She did this at no cost to our family as she believed in my husband to be a worthy charitable endeavor.
She concluded this was not a case of Shaken Baby Syndrome, but instead a case of accidental suffocation, similar to what is known as SIDS. Dr. Gilliland found critical evidence was not considered by the doctors who diagnosed Franklin’s death as abusive head trauma. If they had known about the accidental suffocation, it would have explained Franklin’s “triad” of injuries. It was our family’s hope that District Attorney Andrew Womble would agree with his county’s former medical examiner of thirty years.
A video was created of Dr. Gilliland explaining her findings in detail. The video included a recreation animation of Franklin’s suffocation, excerpts from Franklin’s medical records corroborating the suffocation and over a half hour of detailed testimony by Gilliland.
DA Womble reviewed the video. It did not change his mind despite the undeniable credibility of Dr. Gilliland. He fixed his conviction on Tom’s guilt based on a collection of letters Tom sent home when he was in jail and believed what doctors and detectives had told him; that he had killed our son. He didn’t know how, but he began to question everything he ever did with Franklin. His only conclusion was at some point he must have been too rough with him, which couldn’t be farther from the truth. But Tom was in the depths of deep depression and despair and vented to me and his parents through the letters.
The DA’s office considered the letters a confession. Nothing could be done to change their mind. And so, Tom remained charged with our son’s murder. Facing life in prison without parole if a jury agreed with the DA and not with Dr. Gilliland.
A trial date was set for November 2021. In the second week of November, Tom was offered a plea for voluntary manslaughter and a minimum sentence of five years. This was the first time in three years a plea was ever offered. It wasn’t until after DA Womble reviewed Dr. Gilliland’s testimony that they presented this.
I was seven months pregnant with our second child, a daughter who was due in January 2022. If Tom didn’t accept the plea, he would be putting his life in the hands of a jury. As tough of a decision it was to make, it came down to this - life in prison without parole, or have a guarantee to be home in five years? Tom would agree to plead guilty but he would never say he intentionally killed our son. He knew it was not true. I knew it was not true. We knew what happened was a tragic accident. The mechanism for this predicament is known as the “Alford Plea” and it allows Tom to maintain his innocence.
Today, Tom has been in a North Carolina State Prison for just over two and a half years. We now have a toddler who only knows her daddy through countless phone calls and a handful of visits. Although he is halfway through this unjust sentence, it has not gotten any easier. I have worked tirelessly over the years advocating for Tom’s innocence. We have received over 38,000 supporters on our Change.org petition along with investigative pieces written and produced locally to Central Pennsylvania, Norfolk Virginia, the Outer Banks, and on a national level through Slate.com.
A formal petition of Commutation of Tom’s sentence has been submitted to you, Governor Roy Cooper. In February 2024, I received notice that it has been assigned case number C-24-0013 and is currently in the review process. I’m asking you through this op-ed, to please review all of the relevant information and do the right thing. Bring my husband home. Allow our daughter to not miss any more time with her father. Reunite our family. Commute this innocent man’s sentence.