Where is Francine Stepp?: Woman Convicted Of Killing Parents With Best Friend
A successful Oklahoma couple was murdered in 1988 by their daughter. What went so wrong?
Francine Stepp [via Discovery, Inc.]
It was early in the morning on June 8, 1988, when the Wynn household in Stillwater, Oklahoma, was awoken by their neighbor’s teenage daughter, Francine Stepp. Francine was hysterical, screaming that her parents, Mark and Delores, had been murdered.
When police arrived at the scene, they found Mark and Delores nude in their bed, dead of multiple stab wounds. Mark had also been shot.
Police investigated the crime for more than a month before finally making an arrest—it was Francine, they said, who had killed her parents. She was charged with two counts of murder, which she pleaded guilty to later in 1988 and was sentenced to life in prison.
By all accounts, 18-year-old Francine was a good student and had been enrolled at Oklahoma State University prior to her parents’ murder.
Francine Didn’t Act Alone
Francine’s best friend, 18-year-old Cindy Wynn—the daughter of the neighbors she ran to for help—allegedly helped plan the murder. Wynn didn’t live with her parents. Instead, she had an apartment by herself. The motive for the murder was speculated to have been because Francine’s parents didn’t approve of her friendship with Wynn, according to Tulsa World. Wynn provided Francine’s alibi for the night of the murder; Francine told police she’d been at Wynn’s apartment all night.
Wynn was initially charged with the killings as well, but the district attorney instead charged her with two counts of accessory and two counts of solicitation of murder in the first degree. Wynn was sentenced to 10 years for her role and was released from prison in 1999, according to records.
Francine has reportedly been a model inmate during her incarceration and earned her associate’s degree in business in 2009. Still, she has been unsuccessful in all her attempts at getting parole since she began trying in 2003. Her latest bid for parole was reportedly denied in July 2021, according to records from the Oklahoma Department of Corrections. She is housed at the Mabel Bassett Correctional Center in McLoud, Oklahoma.
What else is there to know about the young woman who showed so much promise?
Find out in Season 2 Episode 1 of Where Murder Lies.
