Teenager Suspects That Someone Killed Him
TAMPA – Stephanie Fry says she knew before police told her the man found in a burning sport utility vehicle Saturday was her father.
They had a lunch date Saturday, she says. James Fry was going to buy her a television for her new apartment in Sarasota. Then they were going to go to Livingstone’s to eat pizza and shoot pool.
That never happened.
Instead, she got a call on the weekend from a Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office detective. They hadn’t yet identified the body, but they suspected it was her father.
Stephanie said she knew it was him. “He never missed one of my phone calls. He will never let anyone drive his car. I knew that from years ago; he would never let anyone drive his car,” she said.
Fry, 47, of 3011 Gandy Blvd., was found Saturday after firefighters were called after a brush fire was reported about 2:10 a.m. Saturday near Taylor and Skewlee roads.
They found the Chevrolet sport utility vehicle in flames near the woods and found the body inside. Deputies later identified Fry as the owner of the charred SUV.
Stephanie Fry, 18, said she spent much of her life in foster care and that her father recently came back into her life.
Though estranged for many years, the two had become close since they reunited on July 30, she said.
She said she and her siblings were placed in foster care because of abuse from her grandmother and father.
The last time she heard from him was Friday afternoon.
“He was in a good mood, talking about what we would do this weekend,” she said.
Her father made a living buying, fixing and selling used cars.
The next day, she was watching television when the phone rang. It was the detective, telling her about the burning SUV.
She said detectives checked her father’s mobile home. It was locked. He had left his cell phone behind, but no wallet. The TV was blaring.
She said she believes her father was murdered but does not know who might have done it or why.
Without any autopsy results and no known cause of death, deputies are treating this as a death investigation, not a homicide, said sheriff’s spokesman J.D. Callaway.
Callaway said he was aware of Stephanie Fry’s suspicions about her father being murdered but would not comment further.
In the meantime, Fry says she is trying to figure out how to make funeral arrangements.
“I am only 18, I have no idea,” she said.
And to find a lawyer.
“I was told he had a whole bunch of money in a bank account that he left,” she said.
“My dad talked about using the money for child support,” she said. “Personally, I don’t care about the money, but I want to make sure it goes to my brothers and sisters still in foster care.”
Reporter Josh Poltilove contributed to this story.
