Report: Wife took out $1M insurance policy on husband in alleged murder plot

RALEIGH, N.C. -- A North Carolina woman charged with plotting with her son to kill her husband last month took out a $1 million life insurance policy on the victim a few months ago, reports CBS affiliate WRAL, citing search warrants released Monday.

Media outlets report 45-year-old Tammy Franklin and 23-year-old Steven Franklin were charged Nov. 9 with felony conspiracy. Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison says Donald Franklin called 911 on Oct. 31 to report that he had been assaulted by his son with a knife. Steven Franklin attacked his father with a four-inch paring knife at a suburban Raleigh home, but the man escaped with only cuts on one hand, Harrison told WRAL.

Donald Franklin reportedly told deputies that his son first tried to push him down a flight of stairs, where a "spiked rake" had been placed at the bottom, according to the warrants. When Donald Franklin was able to break his fall, his son yelled, "You won't get away from me this time," and ran at him with the paring knife, the warrants state.

Investigators later discovered Tammy Franklin had taken out a $1 million life insurance policy on her husband in May, but the warrants allege she lied to investigators and said both she and her husband purchased the extra life insurance in March, the state says.

The warrants reportedly say Donald Franklin said his son had tried to kill him twice before. In one instance, the younger Franklin allegedly walked up behind his father with a leather belt "looped like a noose," but Tammy Franklin told their son, "Not now, Steven. Let's take him to work."

On another occasion, WRAL reports, the younger Franklin is accused of rushing his father and trying to attack him but stopped when his mother told him "not yet."

Police say Tammy Franklin threatened to kill her husband if he didn't drop an assault charge against their son, ordered her son to hide out at her parents' home before the Oct. 31 attack, and tried to wipe information from her iPhone remotely before investigators could examine it, according to the station.

Family members reportedly claim Donald Franklin had abused the family for years and concocted the alleged attacks as a way to get even with his wife, who had separated from him.

Steven Franklin is also charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, inflicting serious injury, and Tammy Franklin is reportedly charged with intimidating a state's witness, communicating threats and accessory after the fact of a felony.

Mother and son remain jailed in Wake County under $1 million bonds.