GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A moment between a grieving woman and a deputy still working through emotions of his own has allowed a chance at healing for both of them - at a time when it was needed most.
"I get emotional thinking about the care that they took with me," Erin Zachary said of the deputies who helped her during a difficult time.
Erin lost her brother Brett after, police say, he was stabbed to death by his wife, Roxanne. But, in order to bury brett, Georgia law requires the body to be released to next of kin. In this case, that meant his wife.
Erin went from the Gwinnett County Courthouse to the jail trying to get the proper documents to get her brother’s body.
"When I got to the jail, I didn’t have much hope that this would work," Erin said. "It was my last shot."
She said that when she went in, they listened to her.
"They didn’t cut me off, they didn’t dismiss me," she said.
And that's when she met Gwinnett County Sheriff's Deputy John Franklin, who started giving her directions.
"He said, 'Better yet, I’m going with you'," Erin said.
"I walked with her down the hallway, went down the stairs and I just talked to her," Deputy Franklin said. "I said, 'Listen, you know I know what you’re going through personally because, two months ago, I just lost my brother'."
Deputy Franklin's brother Ryan was also murdered. He recalled the moment Erin shared her story and how he felt.
"It took me back," Deputy Franklin said. "It took me there; so, I knew exactly how she felt."
"It’s very painful. I would have never in a million years imagined I would lose my little brother," he added. "It’s times where I just think about my brother and just calling him."
Erin needed her brother’s wife to sign the paperwork. So Deputy Franklin stayed with her while another deputy went to get the signature.
Erin said Franklin stayed with her until the papers were signed.
"Once it was signed, they sent it back to me, gave me their condolences," she said. "He even gave me a little bit of counseling and said, 'This will pass and you will get through this'."
She said they went "above and beyond" their job that day.
"Like many of our deputies, he’s just a very caring, empathetic person who genuinely wants to serve others," sheriff's office spokesperson Shannon Volkodav said. "That service comes in many different forms."
Volkodav said Deputy Franklin was also part of a team of deputies who saved a man who tried to jump off the second floor of a building after an unfavorable court hearing just a few weeks earlier.
Now, once again, that deputy's heart has shown through.
"I can’t even explain what it meant, how much compassion they showed me and how helpful they were," Erin said.