Lee Selwyn Murder - What Happened After the Unsolved Mysteries Episode?

By: Shane Lambert

Episode 13 of Season 1 of the hit TV show Unsolved Mysteries from the 1980s and 1990s featured a lead story about the murder of Lee Selwyn, a man who was a disc jockey in the LA area. The show originally aired on January 15th, 1989 with Robert Stack as the host.

As depicted in the episode, Selwyn was out riding his motorcycle as part of a quartet of friends. One of the friends confronted a dangerous driver in a truck and an altercation ensued. When one of Selwyn's friends damaged the driver's truck, he, the driver, responded by attempting to run down the motorcyclists. The driver ran Selwyn off the road at high speed, leading to his loss of life when he hit a phone pole. If you are wondering what happened after the 1989 episode that featured this murder, then this article is for you.

Lee Selwyn's photo from his Findagrave memorial page.

Update in 1993: Prisoner Named as a Suspect

Selwyn was 26 years old when the murder took place on October 8th, 1988. There was an update in 1993. An inmate in the Georgia prison system was identified as a suspect in the murder. His name was Franklin Legrand (or LeGrand) Perkins, a man who was 36 years old in 1993. The clipped article below comes from the LA Times on July 30th, 1993.


This led to the conviction of Perkins according to a December 11th, 1994 article in the LA Times.


Selwyn's memorial page at Findagrave contains the following statements: "In March of 1993, Lee's case was re-aired; as a result, an anonymous tipster contacted the telecenter. She identified Lee's killer as Franklin Legrand Perkins. The tipster had remembered a story her ex-boyfriend had told her of Perkins boasting about how he killed a biker in Los Angeles. Lee's friends were shown a photo line-up and identified Perkins as the assailant. He was arrested in Moultrie, Georgia on July 30, just a few days before he was scheduled to be paroled from prison. At the time, he was serving a five-year sentence for possession of a firearm by a felon. He was returned to Los Angeles to face charges. He was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison."

The newspaper clipping says he was convicted of second-degree murder. Second-degree murder is the kind that comes without planning and would seem to fit the situation as depicted in the episode.


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