Just before her death in 1995, Lolita Frye told her daughter a family secret: Lolita’s son had confessed to killing his wife two decades earlier, according to an affidavit.
The alleged confession and other evidence, detailed in court records, helped Arapahoe County sheriff’s investigators solve the 33-year-old homicide, the office announced Tuesday.
A grand jury last month returned an indictment for first-degree murder against Herbert Duane Frye, 81, in the fatal beating of Elizabeth Katherine Frye on June 9, 1973.
Frye’s attorney said late Tuesday that Frye did not kill his wife. Frye had been indicted in the 1970s in the case, but the charges were dropped at the time when contradictory evidence was found.
But authorities say this time, they believe they can prove the murder charge.
“It’s just a case where a lot of little pieces of the puzzle came together,” Robinson said.
Frye was released Tuesday on a $100,000 bond, said Sheriff Grayson Robinson.
Barbara Frye, who married Herbert after Elizabeth’s death, said she was aware of the indictment. “It’s a real shocker,” said Barbara Frye, adding that she expects her husband to return to their home in Summerfield, Fla., today. Frye is not restricted from traveling out of state.
Elizabeth’s sister, Jean Brickell, 80, was elated when she learned of the indictment.
“Thank God,” Brickell said. “It’s been a long time coming.”
“Cold Case” team enters
The body of Elizabeth Frye, who was 45 at the time, was found by her husband in the garage of the family’s home at 6696 S. Lafayette St. in present- day Centennial. The coroner later determined she died from multiple blows to the head.
Herbert Frye told investigators he had just returned from Boulder with his son and found the body.
Investigators initially speculated that the victim surprised a burglar, according to an arrest affidavit.
Herbert Frye was later indicted, but charges were dismissed before the case was to go to trial, according to newspaper clippings.
Then-District Attorney Robert Gallagher was quoted as saying “further investigation has disclosed certain evidence which contradicts evidence offered before the grand jury.” The details of that evidence were was not available.
In late 2005, Arapahoe County’s “Cold Case” team began investigating the case.
Last September, five teams of investigators interviewed witnesses around the country, Robinson said.
One of the elements of the case the grand jury recently considered was a confession that Herbert Frye’s sister, Cherrie Otto, had described to investigators. Otto told investigators that her brother had confessed to their mother, the affidavit said.
Otto declined to talk about the case when contacted Tuesday.
Children’s support
Frye, a retired engineer and entrepreneur, denies involvement in the slaying and still has the support of his four children, his attorney Gary Lozow said.
“What’s most cold about this case is that they filed it without any new and competent evidence to suggest that the decision made by prosecutors on the heels of the homicide was wrong,” Lozow said. “This is quite a step to take against a man of this age.”
Lozow also said Frye’s alleged confession is untrue. “It goes back to 1995, when Mr. Frye’s mother would have been in her early 90s in a care setting,” he said.
According to the affidavit, Lolita Frye was “lucid at the time she reported the confession.”
Stephanie Kane, who was living with Herbert Frye’s son at the time of the homicide, claimed to have seen Herbert Frye in Boulder the afternoon of the killing. She said that he seemed distracted, uncharacteristically quiet and had an “injury to his head,” according to the affidavit.
Frye is scheduled to appear in court at 1:30 p.m. March 15, said district attorney spokeswoman Kathleen Walsh.
Staff writer Manny Gonzales can be reached at 303-954-1537 or mgonzales@denverpost.com.
