Nearly 50 years later, Frankie Carnes’s family still seeks answers
One night in November of 1976, 33-year-old Frankie Carnes allegedly visited a beer joint in the Cokesbury area. He was later at Smith-McGee Bridge with a large quantity of money on him, for an unclear purpose. Then he never came home.
“That was the last time he was seen, until whatever happened to him when he came into Hartwell,” Janice Loggins, one of Carnes’s sisters, told The Sun.
So goes one of many rumors about Carnes’s disappearance. Others include that he went to South America, the plane was shot down or crashed when he tried to leave, and he died in the hospital there; he changed his name and identity; his body and his car were pushed into Lake Hartwell; his body is in a well on private property near where he was last seen; and numerous other rumors. Today, his family still seeks the full truth about what happened to him as more time continues to pass.
Another of Carnes’s sisters, who wished to remain anonymous, attested to how the many rumors that have circulated for years have provided more questions than answers.
“There were numerous stories that came out from people saying what they thought or what they said happened to him, but no one could ever give any information that led to any facts as to what happened,” she said.
Loggins described her brother as “the kind of person you couldn’t help but love.”
“He was funny and would do things for you. His nickname was Roam, that’s what Mama would call him. Everybody that met him was a friend to him,” she said.
Carnes grew up in Elberton and went to Elbert County High School, where he was involved in the 4-H Club, and attended a local Holiness church with his family. As one of five siblings, family was one of the most important components of his life (evidenced by their persistence in finding closure even 50 years later). He married young, at the age of 16, had one daughter, and worked hard to provide for his family (he later remarried). He was also close with his grandparents and with his father, who raced cars—influencing his own love for racing.
Despite Carnes’s father’s death in a car accident—which was “a torment” for him, said Loggins—he inherited his father’s love for racing and was undeterred in pursuing this passion.
“He had lots of friends, and they were always around, tinkering with cars and stuff like that,” Carnes’s other sister told The Sun. “He was a character. He had personality plus.”
Carnes soon became a well-known race car driver in Hartwell and the surrounding area; he had sponsors including Morris Partain and competed in races in Lavonia and South Carolina.
“We used to go watch him race—he loved things like that. He loved driving fast,” Loggins said. “When he was driving, I couldn’t watch the race. I was terrified that something would happen to him.”
That November evening in 1976, something did happen. To those closest to Carnes, though, the details of this are still as shrouded as ever. Although obituaries from some family members list Carnes as preceding his family members in death, the precise date by which he would have died is still unknown, as are any other specifics.
“We heard so many stories, because we never found his car,” Carnes’s sister said.
His sisters and other relatives believe his sense of friendliness could potentially have led to him becoming “messed up with some people who were not good.” This could include the Dixie Mafia, a Southern criminal organization founded in the 1960s, specializing in illegal drug trafficking and bootlegging, larceny, fraud, murder, and a host of other crimes.
“A lot of people laugh at us, but that’s what we’ve been told,” Loggins said. “I could see [them] doing something like that.”
The circumstances after Carnes’s disappearance seem to support his association with, or proximity to, people involved in crime. According to Loggins, who was in her twenties at the time, her mother reported Carnes’s disappearance to the Hart County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO)--which was then led by Sheriff Larry Sanders--and was going to report it to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation as well, when she received a phone call.
“She got threatened and told that if she did anything to try and find him, they’d harm her and us,” Loggins said. “She never would tell us--or didn’t know--who it was. Right after that, her house was broken into and ransacked and someone went through all her papers...So Mama got scared to press on and try to find him. She never would do anything because she was terrified that we would all get hurt. Of course, we heard all kinds of stories.”
Carnes’s mother, who he was very close with, died in 2011. Over the years, the family has hit dead end after dead end trying to find out precisely what happened to Carnes--a task made more difficult as the years go on, and more people and memories are lost to time. According to another rumor, one man allegedly made a deathbed confession to Carnes’s murder, but the family has been unable to confirm this.
“It’s horrible when something like this happens in a family. It really grieved everybody, but my mother, the grief my mother had to bear, even up until she died—she kept thinking he would come home for Christmas or for her birthday,” Carnes’s sister said. “The family really suffered. For many years, my mother would still buy him a birthday present and a Christmas present in hopes that he would come home.”
Within recent years, several of Carnes’s family members decided to look into a rumor that he had been put into a well on what is now someone’s private property. The owner gave permission for the sheriff’s office to look at two different places--not including the location the family desired. However, the sheriff’s office stated that they could not look further as they did not find sufficient evidence. (The Hartwell Sun was unable to get in contact with Sheriff Mike Cleveland for this story before press time.)
“We were real disappointed that day because we thought we might find something,” Loggins said. “Now my [other] sister has also passed away...I guess I’m just reaching for straws, but we’ve just heard so many things.”
As more time goes by, several of Carnes’s family members still cling to their memories of him and are hopeful that someone who knows what happened to their loved one will come forward. Carnes would be 81 now.
Anyone with information about Carnes’s disappearance may email frankiecarnesinfo@gmail.com, or contact The Hartwell Sun and leave their name and contact information.
“I don’t know why, but it’s been so strong on my brother [lately]. It’s like we just need to know,” Loggins said. “We still have people that ask us about it. So many of our family are gone now; so many people in that time frame have passed away. But it would just bring peace of mind and some kind of closure.”