KANSAS CITY, Mo. — For the first time, Coryion Franklin is sharing the horrifying details of the abuse he endured and how he’s finding strength to rebuild his life.
Now 18 years old, the young man is on a mission to inspire others through the pain he once thought would kill him.
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“It’s like you being in jail, like doing 30 days in the hole, but I’m doing two years in the hole,” he said.
Franklin was only 17 when he was rescued from what doctors called one of the worst cases of child abuse they had ever seen.
It was May of last year when he arrived at the hospital, barely clinging to life.
He was covered in cuts, bruises, and abrasions. His ear was so infected it had nearly swollen shut. He was missing almost all of his teeth. Malnourished and hypothermic, he had fluid in his lungs, second-degree burns on his forehead, and a fracture in his spine.
Doctors noticed signs he had been tied up, and said his shoulder blades were in such poor condition they usually only see similar trauma in victims of high-speed car crashes.
And it gets worse.
“He had my sister scratch me with her nails,” Franklin said, detailing how his younger sister was manipulated into participating in the abuse.
If she didn’t, she was threatened with a beating. After each assault, Franklin said, he was forced to clean up his own blood.
With no one to turn to, no one to call, and no way out, Franklin says he began talking to himself — his only form of hope.
“You don’t have no support, you don’t have nobody you can call on, you don’t have nobody to talk to, to vent to. I was just sitting there talking to myself hoping one day I could get myself out, I never had the strength to go, when I did try to go I always got stopped in my tracks,” he said.
Police arrested Penny Woods and James Griffin, who had custody of Franklin while his biological mother battled addiction. Both now face multiple felony charges and are awaiting trial.
When asked what would he say if you could address the suspects in this case Franklin responded, “I would ask them why – because there’s nothing really I can say – besides why?”
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After nearly dying three times, Franklin spent 90 days at Children’s Mercy, including time on a ventilator. But he survived.
Now, he proudly says, “my scars are my trophies.”
He’s working, back in school, and reclaiming the life that was nearly stolen from him.
“To go back and see the pictures of me – like wow – and then look at me now it’s like crazy,” Franklin said.
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