PA Man Sentenced In Girlfriend's Death At NJ Hard Rock Hotel

MAYS LANDING, NJ – A Pennsylvania man was sentenced this week in connection with the stabbing death of his girlfriend at an Atlantic City hotel in 2021, authorities said.

Frankie E. Lane, 61, of Philadelphia, Pa., was sentenced Friday to 20 years in New Jersey State Prison as part of a plea deal, the Atlantic City Prosecutor’s Office said in a news release.

Lane must serve 85% of his sentence before being eligible for parole, prosecutors said.

On June 11, 2021, Atlantic City authorities responded to the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City for a report of a woman suffering from multiple stab wounds. The victim, later identified as Lane’s girlfriend, was found dead in a hotel room with a sheet covering her body and a knife on top of the sheet, prosecutors said.

Lane was seen on surveillance footage wearing clothing that was later found in a bag that had been tossed in a trash can in the city. He was also observed leaving the hotel with the bag but did not have it with him at the Atlantic City bus terminal, where he traveled back to Philadelphia.
Lane was found and surrendered to law enforcement a few days later.

Whaley’s surviving family members spoke to the sentencing and fondly remembered their loved one, the prosecutor’s office said.