Did Oscar Winner 'Manchester By The Sea' Inspire A Real Life Murder? Couple Kills Son After Watching Movie

The Oscar-winning movie “Manchester by the Sea” inspired an upstate New York couple, Ernest Franklin II, 35, and Heather Franklin, 33, to murder their adopted, special needs son and then set their home on fire to cover up the crime, reports said Wednesday.

The prosecutor claimed that the couple watched the film just hours before the child’s death. “Within two hours of that movie playing to this defendant and her husband, Jeffrey’s deceased,” Chenango County District Attorney Joseph McBride said Friday during their hearing.

Ernest Franklin’s bail has been set at $250,000 and his wife’s at $125,000. Neither of them posted bail as of Wednesday.

The couple have been accused of killing their son Jeffrey Franklin at their Guilford, Connecticut home on Feb. 28 — two days after the movie starring Casey Affleck won the best original screenplay and best actor at the academy awards.

Following an autopsy, prosecutors said that the fire did not kill the boy and that he was dead before the fire broke out. However, they haven’t figured out the actual cause of death yet.

“The victim was badly burned,” McBride said during the hearing, New York Daily News reported.

“Because of the damage to the body by the fire, the pathologist is not able to determine the cause of death,” he added.

Heather Franklin is undergoing a critical pregnancy and so her attorney Michael Trosset, said she should be allowed to stay in the county and take care of the unborn child.

“She’s a high-risk pregnancy. She already lost one child to a miscarriage a year and a half ago. She deserves to be let free and work toward defending herself,” Trosset told People.

"Manchester by the Sea" narrates the story of a man named Lee Chandler played by Casey Affleck who accidentally sets his house on fire that kills his children and isn't prosecuted because the police said that the fire was accidental. Affleck won the Oscar for best actor, for his portrayal of the character.

According to the Chenango County Sheriff’s Office in New York, the couple was indicted on March 24 on charges of second-degree murder, arson and tampering with physical evidence. If convicted, they could face 25 years in prison for the crime.