Francine’s Law, co-authored by Bergstrom, heads to governor’s desk

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – Legislation that would change the way missing person cases in Oklahoma are handled is now heading to the governor’s desk after the measure passed unanimously on the Senate floor Monday.

            House Bill 2640, also known as Francine’s Law, was authored by Rep. Rhonda Baker and Sen. Julie Daniels and co-authored by Sen. Micheal Bergstrom and Sen. Stephanie Bice.  The legislation would require the Oklahoma Chief Medical Examiner and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation to enter all missing persons and unidentified bodies into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) within 30 days. The measure allows for the process to be rushed for those under the age of 18 or those who have gone missing under suspicious circumstances. Those cases must be entered into the system immediately. 

Francine’s Law was written to honor Francine Frost, a nurse who was also a wife, mother and grandmother who went missing from a Tulsa grocery store in 1981.  Her remains were found two years later, but it was more than 30 years before they could be identified as Francine’s.  It wasn’t until her grandson looked through the public National Missing and Unidentified Persons System and discovered a missing persons’ case from Muskogee County where a woman had been murdered, dumped in field and her remains found in 1983.  After her grandson’s findings just a few years ago, the body was then exhumed and found to be that of Francine Frost.

“No one should have to go through what the Frost family suffered, the not knowing for decades if the remains that have been found are those of their loved one,” said Bergstrom, R-Adair. “This bill requires that DNA be entered in a timely manner into a national database.  Not only will this bill help families gain closure after the loss of a loved one, it will also require that the information for missing children be entered within two hours.”

If HB 2640 is signed by the governor, Oklahoma will be the sixth state to enact similar legislation, following Connecticut, Michigan, New Jersey, New York and Tennessee.

Francine Frost’s grandson, Cory Curl (left), daughter Vicki Frost Curl,
and husband Malcolm Frost, visit with Sen. Bergstrom (right) on Monday after
Francine’s Law passed unanimously in the Senate.