Contrary to the seemingly perfect appearance of their marriage, the relationship between Samira Frasch and her husband, Adam Frasch, was filled with deceit and infidelity. Therefore, when Samira was murdered, authorities questioned whether their marital issues were related to the killing.
Discovery Under the Pool
On Saturday morning, February 22, 2014, Gerald Gardner entered the Golden Eagle mansion located in a residential area in Tallahassee, Florida, USA. Gerald was a maintenance worker who frequently came to perform various tasks to assist the homeowners of the mansion, Samira Frasch and Adam Frasch. Samira and Adam lived here with their two young daughters, Hyrah, 2 years old, and Skynaah, just 10 months old.
That morning at 11:00, Gerald arrived with his 14-year-old son. As he circled to the back, to the pool area, he noticed something amiss. Gerald was surprised to see the Frasch family’s small dog running around the fence next to the covered swimming pool. The dog usually stayed in the bathroom connected to the house, but the door was ajar.
Looking around, he found black sandals in the pool, one caught under the water spout on the first step, the other floating in the shallow end. Approaching the pool, he was horrified to see Samira lying face-up at the bottom of the pool, completely motionless, wearing only a leopard-print robe tied around her waist.
Gerald did not remove Samira from the pool. Instead, he called 911. “She’s dead,” the 41-year-old man told the dispatcher. The call was made at 11:02, and within minutes, the police arrived. When the police arrived, Gerald kept saying: “He killed her. He did it.“
Samira was quickly pulled out of the pool. The first responders performed CPR on her for 45 minutes but with no success.
Murder in the Mansion
Police quickly determined whether Samira’s death was an accident. At first glance, it seemed that Samira tripped over the water spout, slipped, and fell into the pool. However, upon closer examination, investigators found details at the scene inconsistent with this hypothesis.
Subsequently, the autopsy report showed that Samira died from drowning and suffered severe head trauma. There was a large bruise on her right temple, and Samira’s skull was fractured. Her death was considered a homicide.
Authorities could not determine the exact time of death, but a rescue worker who pulled Samira out of the water noted that her fingertips did not show wrinkles, indicating that the victim had not been submerged for too long.
Maintenance worker Gerald was the first to be questioned. He was the first to find Samira but did not pull her out of the pool. Gerald explained that he didn’t want to leave his DNA on the victim. The police quickly ruled out Gerald after surveillance video from the neighborhood gate showed him and his son arriving at the mansion just minutes before calling 911.
Earlier, when leading the police to the pool, Gerald kept saying, “He killed her. He did it.” The person Gerald referred to was Adam Frasch – Samira’s husband.
Investigators then looked into Adam and discovered the lesser-known truths behind the extravagant lifestyle of the couple.
Love at first sight
After the death of Samira Frasch, investigators delved into her husband – Adam Frasch, as well as their marriage.
Born in 1975 in Madagascar, Samira was a fashion model when she met her husband – Adam Frasch in 2006 at Paris Fashion Week (France). Adam was a successful American plastic surgeon who made a lot of money.
“Samira fell in love with him at first sight,” Samira’s friend said. “She truly believed that Adam was the man of her dreams.”
Samira was Adam’s third wife. At the time she met him, he was separated from his second wife. The couple maintained a long-distance relationship for three years while Adam pursued the divorce proceedings. In 2009, they got married in Las Vegas.
The couple deeply loved each other, living a luxurious and extravagant life together. They drove the most expensive cars and owned numerous houses. Adam pampered Samira, always willing to splurge on first-class plane tickets for their travels and lavishly spending on her shopping sprees in luxurious places.
In 2010, Samira moved to Tallahassee, Florida, to live with her husband.
Unhappy Marriage
But the happiness did not last long. Samira discovered that Adam had a child with another woman while she was away. Samira threatened divorce, but then the couple decided to reconcile their young marriage. They subsequently welcomed two daughters.
Samira devoted all her time to her two children. She wanted them to be successful and famous. She bought expensive clothes and items for them. On their first birthday, she organized a lavish party, more expensive than a wedding.
Despite their outward wealth, the couple’s relationship was not harmonious. Police found that Samira and Adam constantly argued and had serious physical altercations. In August 2013, Adam accused his wife of hitting him over the head with a statue and kicking him out of the house. He described his wife as a violent alcoholic. Samira was arrested, but the charges were later dropped.
A month later, Samira filed for divorce citing her husband’s infidelity. In December 2013, two months before she was murdered, Samira was granted custody of their two daughters by a judge and lived with them in the family mansion.
Samira had expressed fears of being killed by friends and neighbors. She parked her Hummer on the lawn in front of the house so she could quickly escape with her children. Samira told friends, neighbors, and assistants that Adam threatened to kill her. Meanwhile, Adam also told friends that he was threatened by Samira.
Police learned that Adam was at a house in Panama City and immediately arrived. He claimed to have just heard about his wife’s death from a friend but did not know what had happened to her and was preparing to return to Tallahassee. However, investigators noticed anomalies in this man.
Anger After Intercourse
Police noticed that Adam had a fairly fresh scratch under his eye. Adam explained that it was accidentally caused by his daughter. The man said he and his previous wives had separated, but recently they had tried to mend their relationship. He had been with Samira on the night of February 21, 2014, the night before her body was found.
According to Adam’s statement, they spent the entire day together the day before. The couple took their dog to the grooming salon and went out to lunch with their two daughters. However, the atmosphere changed when they returned home. Adam said Samira was very angry because she couldn’t find her wallet, so he had to take her to their other houses to find it.
Returning home around 11 p.m. that night, Adam did not intend to stay overnight. He put the two children to bed while Samira drank two bottles of champagne. Samira then asked her husband to look after the children the next day so she could rest. Adam agreed.
Adam said they had intercourse in the living room and went to bed at 2 a.m. on February 22. However, two hours later, Samira woke up, checked her husband’s phone, and started to get angry about his relationship with another woman. Adam admitted they argued.
That morning, Adam woke up while Samira was still asleep. He picked up some leaves from the pool, fed the dog, and drove the children.
Suspicious Man
Adam suggested to the police the possibility that Samira, while still intoxicated, stumbled upon the poolside when chasing the family dog and fell into the pool. The man also shared that his wife originally did not know how to swim.
But Adam’s story about the night before Samira’s body was found meant nothing to the police. According to Adam’s statement, Samira had drunk quite a lot, two bottles of champagne, and was still asleep when he left. However, reports showed that Samira had no alcohol in her system.
Police found that Adam had spoken to several acquaintances after leaving the house that morning. On the way to Panama City, Adam told a friend that he had argued with Samira about a video showing him having sex with his ex-girlfriend. Adam said his ex-girlfriend had sold the tape to Samira.
Although suspicious, police did not have enough evidence to arrest Adam in connection with his wife’s death. Instead, they arrested him for violating custody rights with his two children. Despite being their father, the court ruled that Samira was the temporary guardian and therefore, he was not allowed to take the children anywhere.
Adam was then released on bail. But he was soon brought back to jail after authorities investigated medical insurance fraud and found a gun in his office.
While Adam was in jail, police continued to gather evidence, compiling a case accusing Adam of murdering Samira.
Murder during an argument
The prosecutor accused Adam of having the means, motive, and opportunity to kill Samira. This man was involved with many women. His two spouses were also undergoing a divorce battle and fighting for custody. Samira had recently been awarded temporary custody of the children and was allowed to stay in the family’s mansion. She had a high chance of gaining ownership of this house along with child support money. Adam had every motivation to want his wife dead.
Considering the opportunity, the police found that just before Samira’s death, the couple had argued. Adam admitted they had argued almost all night. The day before her death, she went to several properties owned by Adam. She noticed her wallet and some items were missing and believed one of Adam’s mistresses had taken them. Surveillance cameras showed them returning home at 11 p.m., at which point Samira was still alive. Adam’s car left at 8 a.m. the next morning.
Samira suffered severe head trauma and a fractured skull. Medical examiners testified in court that they believed these injuries were not caused by a fall or a punch. Samira was still alive when she fell into the pool but lost all autonomy due to head injuries.
Adam’s DNA was found under Samira’s fingernails. Meanwhile, when the police spoke to Adam on the same day Samira’s body was found, they found he had fairly fresh scratches on his face and a wound on his hand. Investigators believed Adam attacked Samira, killing her during the argument.
Tense Relationship
Adam told the police that the couple was reconciling. But two weeks before the murder, their relationship was still tense. On February 7, 2014, on the way home, Adam kicked Samira out of the car. Samira’s assistant and children witnessed this while sitting in the car behind. On February 9, she found demanding text messages from a stripper sent to her husband and went to the hotel to find her. Besides this stripper, Adam had at least two other mistresses.
Investigators found on February 21, Samira searched for the stripper’s name on the Internet and texted her husband about the affair. The phone was found nearly six months later, stuffed in a bag that Adam took to his other house in Panama City the day Samira died.
Police also found surveillance video of the last night of Samira’s life. In it, Adam tried to talk to Samira outside an auto repair shop as she began to drive away. The tension was also captured in surveillance video at their home, with Adam once again trying to talk to Samira through the car window.
At the trial, prosecutors also presented the testimony of inmate Dale Folsom. Dale said that while in prison, Adam confessed to hitting his wife with a golf club during an argument, then throwing Samira, who was unconscious, into the pool in an attempt to remove DNA from her body. Samira’s DNA was found on a golf club at their home.
A witness stated that Adam had asked him to dispose of all golf clubs from the mansion’s garage, not to sell or give away, but to throw them into the lake.
On January 26, 2017, after less than 2 hours of deliberation, the jury convicted Adam of first-degree murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment. Adam then appealed but his appeal was denied by the appellate court.
