Interview with Wanda Valdes Whose Husband was Murdered by Florida State Prison Guards

"Early in the morning of July 17, 1999, nine guards at Florida State Prison in Starke, Florida, entered the cell of Frank Valdes. Trying to justify their behavior, they were screaming, "Where's the knife?" Armed with stun-guns, pepper, mace, and shields, they took turns beating him and stomping on his body with their boots, crushing every bone in his body and destroying every organ.

Nobody should die like Frank did. Witnesses heard him moan like a wounded animal. They could tell, with his last breaths, that his lungs had collapsed. One prisoner, looking out from the bottom of his door, saw an unidentified object. He realized after staring at it that it was Frank's bloody head. After he was dead, they tried to clean him and up and put him on a food cart. At about 10.00 a.m., the guards passed the visiting park on the way to the medical area. Prisoners and visitors saw a corpse with his eyes rolled back. The Medical Dept. said that he didn't need medical care." Source, Carol Strick

Some text was taken from the Frank Valdes Website with permission from Wanda Valdes.

Wanda, can you give us a bio about yourself.

My name is Wanda Valdes.I am 64 years old now.I live in West Palm Beach, Florida I have lived in West Palm Beach for most of my life. I was born in Atlantic City New Jersey Jan 11, 1943. My mother was full blooded LAKOTA INDIAN. Her name was Georgia, my father was Roger Eads. My mother was from the Rosebud Reservation in the Dakotas. My father was from Tennessee. How they met and ended up in New Jersey I have no idea. When I was born, my mother left my father and I did not see him again til I was 8 years old. By the time I was 8 years old I had lived in 150 foster homes. As a child I was a pawn between my mother and my father. Neither wanted me but they did not want each other to have me. I was 8 years old and my mother left my two small brothers and myself in a bus station in Abeline Texas. We were placed in Hendricks Home for children in Abeline.

I loved living in the orphanage I felt loved and wanted. My real father showed up in Abeline and found me through the red cross. He went to court and won custody of me. He was in the AirForce a military policeman. When they took me from the orphanage, I kept asking about my two little brothers? My father promised me they would follow us later. So I went with them. Of course I never saw my brothers again til we were adults. I was not with my father 2 months and he started molesting me. He told me if i ever told he would cut me up and flush me down the toilet. I was only 8 and terrified. I think that was when I started not liking policemen. I suffered with a step mother who hated me and a sick father until I turned 18, The day I could leave home I did.

I met this young guy named Mike Fungone. I got pregenant and we married. He ended up becoming a so called preacher. I stayed with him 18 years. Not one year that I was married to him was he faithful even 1 year. He picked up prostitutes and still preached. In 18 years I stayed pregenant and had 5 kids. Finally one day I just got fed up and left him. For two years I drank drugged and partied. I did my best to ignore him. He chased me and I got deeper and deeper into trouble.

Pretty soon I was robbing and doing breaking and entering. In my two year crime spree I ended up going to prison for a stolen gun . I spent 2 years in jail and 5 years in prison. I was locked up for a gun that I did not steal. Some of my sons friends broke into a house stole this gun and hid it at my house and I got the charge. If I did not go away for that it would have been something else.

Where and when did you meet your late husband Frank Valdes? How long were you together?

My son Frank went away to state school 3 times. I would go out to see him every week I could. And that is how I met my husband Frank. I was 18 years older than he was. I knew his family. I did not see him again for years. I went to prison and I got out and went into a drug and alcohol treatment place called Wayside House in Delray Beach Florida. This is the place that I learned who I was and what I was doing and where I could go with my life. I have now been sober for 27 years thank God and I have a life. I think if id of had good loving parents who taught me right from wrong and who guided me. My life may have been so much different. Our parents are our first guide in life they are who show us how to live by how they live.

I was watching TV one day and there was Frank being arrested for murder. I hadn't seen him in year and I felt compelled to write him and share how I changed my life and I did. We wrote and became close friends. We both shared our troubled childhood's and he shared with me that his father had molested him. I knew frank from 1980 until 1999 when he was murdered. I got to know the person. We both felt that we were always unwanted and he teamed up with gangsters and we on with his life and I did the same

Where did you get married to Frank?

Stark prison, Florida. "After battling the DOC for 4 years Frank and Wanda were allowed to marry. They were not permitted to take photos of their wedding, and had no private time before or after the ceremony."

Your husband was on death row in Florida? What was he convicted of and what unit was he on?

"Frankie was on death row, but he was never proven to have been the killer. He had been offered a plea deal to testify against his co-defendant. He refused, so they gave him death."

"I remember when I spoke to Frank from jail before he went to FSP, and he told me that the guards had sent a message to him that they would beat him when he arrived at the prison, and he would be put on X wing, just because of who died in his case. X wing means no contact with others. That is where he was when he was murdered"

Did your husband have any mental illnesses?

When I married Frank I had no idea he had mental problems and his family assured me he was so wonderful. Later I found out that he was an antisocial personality. The way I found out upset me. I was taking psychology in college and we studied the criteria to be anti social and Frankie had just about all those traits. Frankie spent endless hours wanting his father to love him and come home, to his mother, it never happened. I spent all my life trying to find love and not knowing how to find real love. Frank and I bonded together like cement.

I understand your husband was murdered, beaten to death by the correction officers at that unit. Who did this and why?

"From the day Frankie entered the prison they did all they could to destroy him emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. They created what he turned out to be. They isolated him and got rid of all that was dear to him. Then like a wolfpack, a gang of guards went into his cell and killed him. Not because he was being prejudiced but he was demanding medical help for his fellow inmates who had been beaten by the guards. They stole Frank's life for doing the right thing. Frank demanded they get medical help for one inmate with a broken jaw, Willie Matthew's. They told him to shut up or he would get the same, and when he would not shut up, they went in and beat him. Then the next day they went into his cell and beat him until he was dead."

What injuries did your husband sustain?

His jaw, arms, legs, and back were all broken. All of his ribs were broken. Four guards claim he repeatedly threw himself off his bunk on X wing. He had a cement bed. His was a planned premeditated murder.

Were you contacted by the prison when this happened?

When Frank was murdered, I was moving to a new place and my phone was off. So my girlfriend came over and told me. It was on the front page of the paper. I called the prison they told me he had a heart attack. I just went into shock. I could not eat sleep or even think.

Did this incident ever go to court?

They had a trial all right it was a horse and pony show. In an area with 7 prisons we knew we would loose and they acquitted all the guards who beat Frankie to death. My life has changed so much. I trust very few people and I'm alone. I have God and I am calling the US Dept. of Justice to a Doug Kern who is supposed to seek justice for the murder of Frank. But so far nothing. We had a lawsuit and you may as well say the lawyer won at $400,000 and the family got the highest amount and I got this minor amount. And we still do not have justice for Frank. God put me in Franks life and I will keep on fighting for justice. I do not regret marrying Frank. We had some wonderful moments together

What are the names of the correction officers involved, and what punishment did they receive?

http://www.geocities.com/prisonmurder/frank_valdes.html

Facts on this case are documented on this website owned by Linda Tant Miller

Wanda, now a prison rights activist, and speaker on behalf of her husband Frank Valdes is loved and respected by many people. She is strong, brave and honest. She has shared her private life with us, and I thank her from the bottom of my heart for this interview. I urge everyone to go to Frank's website, and read about this case.