FRANKLIN, Pa. (EYT) — The morning of November 20th, 1972, started out as a typical day in Franklin. Parents struggled to rouse their children from their beds, anxious to get them fed and on their way to school.

This is part one in a three-part series on the murder of Janie Manning and the prosecution of Frank Sydlowski.

The activities inside the home of Cyrena Jane Manning at 804 Elk Street were slightly different. Working two jobs was exhausting for the mother of five and recent divorcée. She slept-in while her children ate breakfast, readied themselves for school, and headed out to face the day. She awakened a couple of hours after they left, put a pot of coffee on, and sat down at her dining room table to read her Bible. The Bible had become important to Janie over the past several months.

Cyrena Jane “Janie” Manning in 1972.

At about 10:30 that morning, Janie’s neighbor, James Mortimer, said he saw a blue 1967 Chevy with a black vinyl top and an Ohio license plate parked on the street. It was an unfamiliar car, but it wasn’t uncommon to see cars he didn’t recognize. But, the car stayed in his memory for some reason, and he remembered later that the license plate number was “G322 something.”

At 11:20, James’ wife, Marion, was preparing lunch for herself, James, and their son when she saw a man walking from the direction of Janie Manning’s house. He got into the blue Chevy with the black top and drove away. She recognized the man as “Mrs. Manning’s boyfriend from Ohio.” He’d no sooner pulled away when Janie’s dog began howling.

James, tired of the noise, walked over to hush the dog. The usual call into the backyard didn’t work, so he went up onto the porch and knocked on the door. After receiving no answer, he went to the front window, peered inside, and saw what looked like his neighbor unconscious on the floor of her kitchen in the back of the house. He went back to Marion and told her what he saw. She went across the street to get another neighbor to accompany her back to Janie’s house. Finding the door unlocked, they went inside.

Walking directly to the kitchen, Marion and her friend, Johanna Blattner, found Janie lying in a pool of her own blood.

She was dead.

As authorities investigated the scene and interviewed witnesses, a suspect began to emerge. Until just a couple of weeks prior, Janie was in a romantic relationship with a man who’d been in town to work on Route 8’s expansion. Frank Howard Sydlowski, of Brookfield, Ohio, had moved into her house earlier in the year and was known to Janie’s family and friends as her boyfriend. They had broken up. He’d taken it hard.

Frank was a welder and worked the late shift on Route 8. Twenty years Janie’s senior, he’d told her and the kids that he was a widower–that his wife had died during childbirth. At first, he seemed like a good match for Janie. But, as time went on, Frank’s polish faded, revealing an angry patina. Janie thought it best to end the relationship.

Frank Sydlowski’s booking photo, November 23, 1972

Franklin Police Officers tracked down Frank Sydlowski to Bedford Road in Brookfield, and, with the help of Trumbull County, Ohio Sheriff’s deputies, they went to his house and knocked on the door.

When the door opened, Frank’s wife answered.

Caroline “Grace” Sydlowski tied the knot with Frank on April 14, 1939. On the day police knocked on their door, they’d been married 33 years. She had not, in fact, died during childbirth. Their two sons were grown and married.

Frank went voluntarily back to the Trumbull County Sheriff’s Station where he was interviewed by Franklin Police. The story of his relationship with Janie Manning was different than what her children and friends told. He claimed to be a boarder, paying Mrs. Manning $37.50 a week for room and board. He said he had not been in Franklin that day and had no idea what happened to his housemistress.

It didn’t take long for police to find out that Frank had been in a fender bender the day before and that his car was in the shop. When officers went to the shop, they found Frank’s car there. They interviewed the shop owner who told them that Frank had rented his car for the day, taking it at about 9:00 a.m. and returning it that afternoon at 4:30 p.m. When he showed them the car, it was a 1967 blue Chevrolet with a black vinyl top.

With the car in hand, police had enough probable cause to get search and arrest warrants. They were served and two days later, Frank was arrested and booked into Trumbull County Jail.

There was a problem brewing for police, though. Something that would come back to haunt them as the prosecution of Frank Sydlowski got underway.

The previous day when officers interviewed Frank after he voluntarily met them at the Sheriff’s station, both Franklin Police officers and Trumbull Sheriff’s deputies forgot one tiny but significant detail: they never read Frank his rights.

Read the original news articles, police files, and court documents upon which this series is based.