I haven't really kept up with the Nailah Franklin beat

Especially since her body was found earlier this month. Mary Mitchell's column today talk about the man who's linked in the Chicago Police investigation of her murder...

Reginald Potts Jr., the 30-year-old Chicago man whose name has been linked to the Chicago Police Department's investigation into the death of Nailah Franklin, knows his life is messy.

His criminal past includes car theft and escaping from FBI custody. He's separated from his wife and two children, and has a 4-month-old daughter with another woman. Both women have been granted orders of protection for run-ins revolving around child visitation.

At the same time, he was living the single life.

Quite a mess. But that doesn't mean he should be suspected of murder, he says.

"I may talk a lot of s - - - -- pardon my language -- but me putting my hands on somebody isn't really happening.

"Making somebody disappear -- having something to do with their abduction -- having something to do with a murder, that's kind of extreme. That is a huge leap," Potts told me during a three-hour exclusive interview.

Potts has not been charged with the murder of Franklin, a pharmaceutical representative from Chicago whose body was found in a wooded area of Calumet City on Sept. 27. Nor have investigators named him as a person of interest or a suspect. But his name was linked to the Franklin case when he was arrested for an unrelated matter two weeks ago. A BP security guard at a station near his home accused Potts of threatening him.