#544 - Moronic Murderers - Washington Boro, Pennsylvania

Summary

Small Town Murder - Episode #544: Moronic Murderers - Washington Boro, Pennsylvania

Hosts: James Pietragallo & Jimmie Whisman

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Introduction to Washington Borough

In this episode of Small Town Murder, hosts James Pietragallo and Jimmie Whisman delve into the tragic and perplexing case of Barbara Jean Fry's murder in Washington Borough, Pennsylvania. Situated in southeastern Pennsylvania, Washington Borough is a diminutive community with a population of just 729 residents. The town boasts a high median household income of $108,438, juxtaposed with relatively low median home prices of approximately $241,200.

James Pietragallo [06:37]:

"Our last Pennsylvania episode, the Serial Killing Nerd, which had them thinking that Dungeons and Dragons was a big part of the murder and all that kind of thing. And it was kind of a wild episode here."

The Fry Family Background

The story centers around Rod (Roderick Herman Fry) and Barbara Jean Fry. Rod, born in 1937, worked as a delivery man for Turkey Hill, a prominent dairy company, while Barbara managed the Turkey Hill Minute Market in Wrightsville, earning accolades such as the Turkey Hill Manager of the Year in 1974 and 1978 for her exceptional performance.

James Pietragallo [16:15]:

"She is twice selected as Turkey Hill manager of the year. By the way."

The couple had twin sons, Wendell and Wesley, born in 1960. Tragedy struck when their youngest son, Wesley, died in a single-car crash on Route 441 in 1977.

Marital Struggles and Divorced Separation

Following their son's death, marital strains intensified. By 1978, Rod and Barbara were facing serious marital issues, exacerbated by Rod's infidelities. Although Barbara filed for divorce, the proceedings were eventually dropped, leading to their separation on November 4, 1979.

Jimmie Whisman [19:29]:

"Losing a twin is even more uncommon."

The Night of the Murder

On the night of November 7, 1979, Barbara left for work at 4:30 AM, arriving earlier than usual. However, she failed to arrive, prompting her son Wesley to report her missing by 8:52 AM after exhaustive calls to hospitals yielded no results.

James Pietragallo [22:50]:

"She must be dead."

Discovery of the Body

At approximately 4:20 PM, Roy R. Nissley, a local farmer, discovered Barbara's car submerged in a cornfield, with signs of a violent struggle. The autopsy revealed that Barbara died from a single gunshot wound that severed a major blood vessel from her heart. Disturbingly, she also suffered blunt force injuries, large lacerations on her face and head, and human bite marks, suggesting a fierce fight for survival.

James Pietragallo [27:41]:

"They said a single gunshot wound... but there are other injuries as well."

Investigation and Suspicions

Initially, Rod Fry, although recently separated, was not considered a suspect. However, inconsistencies arose when Rod attempted to explain the missing $5,000 payment Barbara had given him, purportedly for covering expenses. Investigators soon linked Rod to Charles D. Ziering, a 22-year-old private investigator with a troubling background in exotic weaponry and anarchist literature.

James Pietragallo [51:08]:

"Charlie suggested to Rod about three months before the murder—'Maybe the solution to your wife problem is to kill her.'"

The Conspiracy Unveiled

Rod had approached Ziering, seeking to dissolve his marriage, which led to the hiring of Ziering and his accomplice, Richard Heberlig, to stage a car accident as a cover for Barbara's murder. The plan was to knock Barbara unconscious and leave her car in the cornfield to appear as though she had been involved in an accident. However, the plan went disastrously wrong when Barbara fought back, resulting in her severe injuries and death.

James Pietragallo [50:35]:

"She was fighting off two grown men on her own."

Arrests and Trial

Two days post-murder, Rod Fry was arrested alongside Ziering and Heberlig, charged with murder and conspiracy. During the trial, evidence such as Ziering's ledger detailing payments and the discovery of exotic weaponry linked the trio to the crime. Rod claimed he acted under duress, stating that Ziering had threatened him and coerced him into the murder plot.

James Pietragallo [63:58]:

"They called him a cold-blooded contract killer... purely for money, not for hate or passion."

Despite the defense's arguments of duress, the jury found Rod Fry guilty of first-degree murder after six hours of deliberation.

Sentencing and Aftermath

Rod Fry was sentenced to death by electric chair, a punishment not carried out in Pennsylvania since 1960. His co-defendants, Ziering and Heberlig, received life sentences. However, in 1997, Rod's death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole following appeals based on the constitutionality of the death penalty and equitable sentencing compared to his accomplices.

Barbara Jean Fry was laid to rest at the Masonville Mennonite Cemetery, leaving behind a community still grappling with the mystery and brutality of her murder.

James Pietragallo [73:02]:

"They ended up finding out what happened because everybody, everybody spills the beer, which is also hilarious."

Conclusion

The Moronic Murderers episode highlights the tragic downfall of a seemingly ordinary family entwined in a convoluted plot driven by desperation and coercion. Washington Borough, Pennsylvania, remains a testament to how small-town secrets can lead to unimaginable tragedies.

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Notable Quotes:

• James Pietragallo [06:37]:

  "This town is very small, population 729, okay? Tiny town."

• Jimmie Whisman [19:29]:

  "Losing a twin is even more uncommon."

• James Pietragallo [27:41]:

  "They said a single gunshot wound... but there are other injuries as well."

• James Pietragallo [63:58]:

  "They called him a cold-blooded contract killer... purely for money, not for hate or passion."

• James Pietragallo [73:02]:

  "They ended up finding out what happened because everybody, everybody spills the beer, which is also hilarious."

---

This summary captures the key points and discussions from Episode #544, providing an in-depth look into the complexities and horrors surrounding the Barbara Fry murder case in Washington Borough, Pennsylvania.

Transcript

[James Petrigallo]

Hey, everybody. Just gonna take a quick break from the show to tell you about one of my favorite things in the world. Audible.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Oh, audible.com or the app.

[James Petrigallo]

Oh, I give that app a workout. Let me tell you something. Listening on Audible helps your imagination soar. You can listen to anything. There's so many genres on there. There's more to imagine when you listen. And let me tell you something that makes my imagination soar in a terrible way. I've been listening to Secrets in the Cellar.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Oh, boy.

[James Petrigallo]

Which is by John Glatt. And it's about Joseph Fritzl and locking his daughter in the basement for decades. And as you want to talk about imagination of who's the devil in a human skin? That's the guy. So check that out. Or a whole bunch of them. As an Audible member, you can choose one title a month to keep from the entire catalog, including the latest bestsellers and new releases. Audible's the best. Let's be honest here. New members can try audible free for 30 days. Visit audible.com smalltownmurder or text small town murder to 500. 500. That's audible.com small town murder. Or text small town murder to 500. Five hundred.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Now back to the show.

[James Petrigallo]

Hey, everybody. Just going to take a quick break from the show to tell you a little bit more about Shutterfly. Reconnecting with the people in your life is so important, and sending a holiday card is a meaningful way to do that. But it could be hard to know where to start. Who knows? Shutterfly makes it easy to share custom cards that are perfectly you. I already know what I'm doing here. Yeah, yeah. Why not? We'll put the puppies on the cards this year. That's what we're doing with Shutterfly. Sen. Everybody likes pictures of the dogs.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Sure do.

[James Petrigallo]

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[Jimmy Wisman]

And now back to the show.

[James Petrigallo]

Hey, I'm Ryan Reynolds. Recently I asked Mint Mobile's legal team if big wireless companies are allowed to raise prices due to inflation. They said yes. And then when I asked if raising prices technically violates those onerous two year contracts, they said, what the are you talking about? You insane Hollywood. So to recap, we're cutting the price of mint unlimited from $30 a month to just $15 a month. Give it a [e-mail]. switch $45 upfront payment equivalent to $15 per month. New customers on first three month plan only. Taxes and fees, extra speeds lower above 40 gigabytes of details. Hello everybody and welcome back to Small Town Murder Express.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Yoo choo.

[James Petrigallo]

Oh yay indeed, Jimmy. Yay indeed. My name is James Petrigallo. I'm here with my co host.

[Jimmy Wisman]

I'm Jimmy Wisman.

[James Petrigallo]

Thank you folks so much for joining us today on another absolutely insane edition of Small Town Murder Express. You know by now this is way more murder than we can fit in an hour. We're going to cram it in there and it's ten pounds of murder in a two pound bag. Let's get it on here. All aboard the murder train pulling away from the station. Just have to say before we start, head over to shut up and give me murder dot com. Get tickets for live shows. Tons of live shows. Well, not tons of them actually. We have two that you can buy right now. There's actually more than that. Austin, you're up next. And then there's a couple tickets left for New York, few tickets left for Boston. Phoenix is sold out. And if you're listening to this and it's before like November 13th, you can still get the virtual live show. Get that right now. We had costumes. The story was insane. Just like a regular live show except in your home. And for all you know, it's live at that point. Who cares? Get it now. Check it out.

[Jimmy Wisman]

And also thank you to all, all of you that did it.

[James Petrigallo]

Absolutely.

[Jimmy Wisman]

It was so much fun to have so many people be a part of.

[James Petrigallo]

It was great. So that is shut up and give me murder.com. you also, by the way, listen to our other two shows, Crime in sports and your stupid opinions. Then when you're done with all of that, get the rest of what we do here. Head over to Patreon. Patreon.com CrimeInSports is where you get all the bonus material. Anybody $5 a month or above, you get a gigantic back catalog of bonus episodes that you've never heard before. Hundreds of them there. Then new ones every other week. One crime in sports, one small town murder. And just take them all. We just give them to you all. There you go. Have them all this week, which you're going to get. This is awesome for crime in sports. We're going to talk about pedestrianism, which was a very popular sport in the 1800s that turned into crime and drugs and it's the craziest thing you'll ever hear. I love old timey stuff like that. Then for small town murder. We're going to talk about the documentary the Devil on Trial, which is about someone trying to use demonic possession as a. A defense in court, which is crazy.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Oh, boy, is it interesting.

[James Petrigallo]

It's wild. Then we're going to talk about just in general, exorcism type things and kind of the history of that and how that goes here. So do that. That is patreon.com crime in sports is where you get all of that and more. And you get a shout out at the end of the regular show as well, where Jimmy will mispronounce your name. So that said, I think it's time, everybody, let's all sit back. What do you say here? Deep breath. Let's clear the lungs, arms to the sky. Let's all shout. Shut. Shut up and give me murder. Let's do this, everybody. Okay, let's go on a trip, shall we? Let's do it. We're going to Pennsylvania this week. There we go. We're coming. We've been in the south a little bit. Now we're gonna head up north, go to Pennsylvania. This is Washington Borough, Pennsylvania. Those are two separate words. That's why I said that like that. Washington space Borough. B O R O. Yes. Makes no sense at all here. So Washington Borough, it's in southeastern Pennsylvania, about two hours from Philly. About two hours west of Philly is how it is. So kind of towards central Pennsylvania, I guess. About an hour 25 to Bridgeport, Pennsylvania. Our last Pennsylvania episode, the Serial Killing Nerd, which had the. They thought that Dungeons and Dragons was a big part of the murder and all that kind of thing. And it was kind of a wild episode here. This town, very small, population 729, okay? Tiny town. Under a thousand. Median household income here is high. I mean real high. It's about 69,000 in the rest of the country here, $108,438 as the median household income. Not sure. Median home price here is low, too. That's the other thing. Crazy high salaries.

[Jimmy Wisman]

We are breaking the news.

[James Petrigallo]

I don't know what's going on here. $241,200 is the median home price, which is very low. So it's great. None of this makes any sense is what I'm finding here. Drop a history here. This place was started kind of, you know, first inhabited by a French Canadian fur trader named Martin Chartier and his son Peter established a trading post here in 1718. And a monument was erected on the spot in 17 or in 1925. So there's a monument of these fur trappers. I don't know what they're doing. Trapping fur.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Trapping some fur.

[James Petrigallo]

I don't know how you put that in brass or whatever, but they're copper. They did it. It's also called the Borough of Washington or Washington Borough in the past. And then they for some reason said, let's put a space between Washington and borough. That makes sense.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Bizarre idea.

[James Petrigallo]

Really weird. It was incorporated in 1827. There was a lot of river. It's right on the river, the Susquehanna, I think. So you're getting a lot of river stuff. Jobs on the river and, you know, things going in and out. Back in the day here it was the site of the first colonial era era animal powered ferry. I don't know what that means.

[Jimmy Wisman]

How do you do that?

[James Petrigallo]

How do you force. I don't know if they tied whales to it and made them swim. A couple of dolphins, I'm not sure if there's. They. They have cows that only go one trip back and forth because they're drowned.

[Jimmy Wisman]

They'll get you to the middle, then you gotta cut the rope and coast to the other.

[James Petrigallo]

Use your oars for the rest of it. I'm not sure how it works here, so. But due to the decline in river trade and jobs, the Borough of Washington was dissolved politically and became a part politically of Manor Township. So if you call the cops, the Manor Township cops show up or whatever. But they're still their own town in address form. So the reviews of this town, few of those. Here's five stars. They're all good reviews too. So here's five stars. It is a nice place to live. The location is close to other towns, cities and the highway. We can get to other places quickly and easily.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Well, that's helpful.

[James Petrigallo]

The best part of your town is that you can get other places faster. That's not saying it's not a whole. That's not five stars for your town. Pretty good place. You don't have to stay here. Is a weird thing to say.

[Jimmy Wisman]

It's like living in a cave and being like, there's a ladder.

[James Petrigallo]

Yeah, there's a ladder and it's cool. So four stars. Good, clean, healthy. Wow. Okay. This is a community that is perfect for young and growing families to live and play. It's only 700. That's it. Not many people have found it. Four stars. Although Washington Borough is a very small town, it is connected with a very close community. The neighbors are very friendly and are always willing to help out. The scenery is amazing. And sits upon the Susquehanna River. So there you go. That's the town. You can see it. It's a little tiny town. It feels like Amish people and their buggies will be passing by and you're like, okay.

[Jimmy Wisman]

And there's a river and there's a.

[James Petrigallo]

Big river next door there. So we love rivers. We like rivers. Things to do in this town. The Washington Borough Tomato Festival. Okay, this is tomato country here. That's the thing. Pennsylvania. I've said this before. My grandmother used to go once a year to Pennsylvania and her and all of her sisters would go together and fill their cars with tomatoes to the point where they had tomatoes, like around them. It was just a face. It was. The car inside of the car was just a tomato with a face. That's all it was. But that's how they drive home. And then you make sauce for the whole year.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Oh, okay. So you make it all up and then can it.

[James Petrigallo]

You jar it? Yeah, she put it in these big jars and that's. But I mean that was like. There was like a four day thing where like all the daughters would be there and I'll be peeling and boiling and fucking doing this and making it of sauce. Oh, yeah, every year. But then after that you could just reach in and grab a thing of sauce. So it was nice after that.

[Jimmy Wisman]

That's helpful.

[James Petrigallo]

Yeah. So the annual Washington Borough Tomato Festival is held every year on the second and third Saturday of. And it benefits a fire rescue organization and also celebrates the area's tomato growing heritage. There is food, games, music and plenty of fun for the whole family. In all of the summer's delights, few things compare to a fresh tomato sandwich or a blt.

[Jimmy Wisman]

A tomato sandwich.

[James Petrigallo]

Yeah. Tomatoes. Yeah. If you're not. I don't know if every ethnicity. You'll eat tomato.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Just tomato.

[James Petrigallo]

You can eat just tomato. Or like. Like my grandmother used to just slice a tomato and put a little salt on it. And that was a snack, you know what I mean? You'd sit there with that little bread, you know what I mean? So just kind of a tomato thing. The festival kicks off here. They said naturally there will be plenty of plentiful tomatoes and tomato sandwiches for sale. There'll also be live music from Borderline.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Yeah.

[James Petrigallo]

Madonna covers them before Borderline. Yeah, possibly. I don't know.

[Jimmy Wisman]

I feel like we have.

[James Petrigallo]

And then there's another. This one I think we have heard of. There's another one here. Another performance after that from three Hours Hour Tour is the name we have that we have just had absolutely heard of three hour tour.

[Jimmy Wisman]

100%. That's crazy.

[James Petrigallo]

There's a circuit. There's a. The bigger. We found the circuit. Okay. The bigger county fairs that go on that have like, you know, some population centers in them. That's ludicrous. He's there for every one of those. Okay, Nelly. If he's not available.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Yeah.

[James Petrigallo]

Then for these smaller festivals that nobody, you know in tiny towns, it's three hour tour. They're gonna. They're going to get all of those gigs.

[Jimmy Wisman]

That's amazing.

[James Petrigallo]

They're trying to work their way up to opening for Ludacris.

[Jimmy Wisman]

There are a bunch of bands that listen to our show because they travel.

[James Petrigallo]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jimmy Wisman]

And they recognize some of these towns as their travel. I bet they love. They love. I've heard from a bunch of them. They adore when we just bash these shit. Small town.

[James Petrigallo]

Well, yeah, they don't want to go there. They're going there because they need $700. They're not going there because they really want to play to the people of.

[Jimmy Wisman]

They love tomatoes.

[James Petrigallo]

Washington, Boro, Pennsylvania.

[Jimmy Wisman]

They can't wait for the tomato sandwiches.

[James Petrigallo]

Well, we're headed to Amish country anyway, so on the way, we might as well stop here, pick up a few.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Bucks and get a tomato sandwich.

[James Petrigallo]

Jesus Christ. That said, let's. Let's talk about some murder. What do you say, everybody?

[Jimmy Wisman]

Here we go.

[James Petrigallo]

Tomato sandwiches for all. Let's do. We'll give the murderer, a murderer, a nice big tomato sandwich this week. We'll send them one.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Is it like tomato slices with. Between them or is it tomato slices on bread?

[James Petrigallo]

Tomato slices on bread.

[Jimmy Wisman]

That's it.

[James Petrigallo]

Yeah. I mean, I'm sure there's, you know, seasonings or herbs or basil or something or whatever the fuck you want to put on it.

[Jimmy Wisman]

I had a tomato sandwich today. Yeah, I did. It had turkey and cheddar and there was also tomato sandwich. Right.

[James Petrigallo]

They're trying to showcase the taste of their locally grown tomatoes. So if you put turkey and bacon in it, then you fuck it all up. You don't taste. Oh, it's going to be delicious, but you don't taste it in what they so murder here. Let's talk about this. We got to talk about a couple, first of all, here. Rod and Barbara here. Okay, Rod and Barbara. Roderick Herman Fry is the husband. He's born in 1937. This guy. His parents, by the way, this is how old he is. His parents. His dad's name is Cyrus. Not a lot of that going on nowadays. Yeah, Cyrus Strickler Fry is his dad's name and his mother's name is Helen Mary Fry. So I find that hilarious. And by the way, Herman is his mom's maiden or his mom's maiden name. That's why it's his middle name. Okay, old school shit there. He marries Barbara Jean Schenck and she becomes Barbara Jean Fry after that. F R E Y. By the way, she is born November 15, 1938. So, you know, same, same deal there. She's from Manor Township, which is the town right next door and technically this town now. And she. Her parents are Benjamin and Ada. Dom back. Okay. Now, Benjamin, I have to say about this guy because he sounds like a fucking. Like a cool old guy. He was the 1985 Valley Manor Golf Champion. And from 78 to 80 he was the Pennsylvania State Bowling association senior champion.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Is that right?

[James Petrigallo]

Yeah. So dad is really good at, you know, non games that don't involve running. Yeah, well, bowling isn't rich gu. But that's what's different. You don't find guys who are great at golf and bowling. Those are two things. Golfers don't bowl, bowlers don't golf. Usually my dad's a. My dad's a bowler. If I gave him a golf club, a bag of golf clubs, he would not even know what club to hit what with. He wouldn't fucking care because he's never played his life. You know what I mean?

[Jimmy Wisman]

Yeah, sure.

[James Petrigallo]

And my stepfather is a golfer and I don't think he could fucking bowl a 50 if you gave him 10 frames pinball.

[Jimmy Wisman]

I'll bet he can do that.

[James Petrigallo]

Probably. Good. Yeah. So in October 1956, they get married. So I mean, she's 18 years old and he's 19 years old. They get married. They're going to have some kids here in the late 50s, they have a son named Kevin. Then in 1960, they have twin boys named Wendell, Lee and Wesley. So they go with the W's.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Wendell and Wesley.

[James Petrigallo]

Wendell and Wes here in 1960. Now in 1969, they both get involved with the Turkey Hill Company. And Turkey Hill does ice cream, dairy, all that kind of shit. East Coast Turkey Hill is in every grocery store for ice cream. Yeah, they have good ice cream. It's not bad at all. So that's the. It's kind of like the Tillamook of the East, I would say.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Turkey Tillamook doesn't come out. Come out East.

[James Petrigallo]

I don't know. I don't. I don't think I see it much out here. No, Is that right? No, but they do have turkey bunny.

[Jimmy Wisman]

And shit like that.

[James Petrigallo]

I don't think so. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I buy my. All my ice cream from Stewart's because that's, that's my favorite ice cream here. So I buy it from the grocery store.

[Jimmy Wisman]

You didn't even get to Turkey Creek? Turkey what?

[James Petrigallo]

Turkey Hill. No, I like Stewart's the best because it's also fresher and they ship it right to the stores right there. That's good. Yeah, and it's down the street from my house, so I like that. So she gets a job. She is the Turkey Hill Minute Market manager. Oh, Minute Market Minute. With no E, by the way. It's so fast, in and out, they don't even have time to spell it all the way because it's so fast. Convenient time for seven letters, no time. Let's go six.

[Jimmy Wisman]

How many is it?

[James Petrigallo]

She. She is twice selected as Turkey Hill manager of the year. By the way.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Manager of the year.

[James Petrigallo]

Of the year. Of their. All their corporate shit of 100 stores. She's the manager. No, no. 74 and 78.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Okay, which 74.

[James Petrigallo]

I give it to her as a clean win. 78. I feel like they might have felt bad for her. As we'll talk about here. I feel like maybe they were like, man, she's still showing up to work and she's had a tough year. So yeah, she won in 78 while working at the Wrightsville location. They say they select about four managers of the year from among 100 stores. So yeah, they're given awards for cleanliness, inventory sales, labor relations and manager attitude. Okay, there you go. Now Rod, her husband is a Turkey Hill delivery man. He delivers shit working for Turkey to the stores. Yeah, he's a four day a week guy who delivers milk to the Turkey Hill stores from the Turkey Hill dairies. So that's what he does. So yeah, they're all tied up in Turkey Hill. They have a house at 40 Mill street in Washington Borough. It's a four bedroom, two bath, 1532 square foot house that still stands today and is built in 1900. So it's old, old little house and. But with the picture of it on Zillow is just woods with an RV parked in front of it. Somewhere behind that rv. Move that rv.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Move that box.

[James Petrigallo]

Is this fucking van or is this house 1977? Wendell, their son is killed at 20. Oh no, it's just West 17. Yeah, it's just Wes. He's killed in a car crash. On Route 441 in Conaway Township. So yeah, he was driving a truck and at a high rate of speed and crashed it in a single car crash. So he did it to himself on that one.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Wow.

[James Petrigallo]

So they give her the manager of the year in 78. That's why I said I feel like maybe it's just they feel bad for her. Like she's been through a ton. Jesus Christ.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Truly.

[James Petrigallo]

So by 1978 too, the couple's having problems. They're having marital problems, which after the death of a child is very common. Yeah, Extremely common here also, this is less common. But Rod is also fucking whoever he can on the side too. So. Yeah, that doesn't help that usually that's not gonna help. Yeah, it's not like it's. The child dying is less common, but you know, when a child dies, that's a less common reason to fight is you're also fucking everybody also, so that's gross.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Losing a twin is even more uncommon.

[James Petrigallo]

Yeah.

[Jimmy Wisman]

And then depending on how you two grieve over it, it may drive the other into the arms of seven or eight different ladies.

[James Petrigallo]

He grieves with his penis and other people. That's how he grieves.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Penises.

[James Petrigallo]

Crying. It's crying out for health. That's the problem.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Gently. My penis weeps.

[James Petrigallo]

It weeps. So in 1978, while this is going on, he decide. They decide she files for divorce anyway, she's had enough. But then the proceeding is dropped at some point in 78. So they decide to get a divorce and they decide not to get a divorce. So who knows what's happening? But Rod, he keeps having affairs. It doesn't matter. So that's just a. He's not going to stop that at all. By 1979, they're having even more problems. November 4, 1979, they separate. Meaning he moves out of the house completely. He goes and moves into a trailer a few miles away and she remains in the marital home here with the 17 year old remaining live twin base. Or I think he's 19 at this point, but they live together. So yeah, they're. They're doing that. He moves out. And that's how that goes. Now, November 7, 1979, Barbara is. Wesley sees her at about 11:00pm on November 7, 1979, before they go to bed. And she's got to get up early in the morning for work. Her job sounds rough. She leaves for work at about 4:30 in the morning.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Hell yeah.

[James Petrigallo]

And gets there at 5, which sounds like a fucking nightmare. That's a nightmare. She might as well go milk cows, you know what I mean? She might as well be at that part of the operation because she's up anyway.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Be early on the end of this if you're.

[James Petrigallo]

Yeah, why not? Yeah, at least when you're done, you're done. So November 8th, the next morning she leaves for work at about 4:30am and to go to the Turkey Hill Minute Market in Wrightsville where she's working. She's usually at work by 5, but that's like when she starts her shift. But she gets there before five usually because she's a conscientious manager that wins awards.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Yeah, you gotta be that. You gotta beat every. If you can't as the manager be there early, then you don't have, you don't have a leg to stand on lecturing people.

[James Petrigallo]

You gotta be there with cow milk and gloves on. 15 minutes early. Yeah, 15 minutes before start a shift, if you're not early, you're late. That's how she works. So about 6am Wesley gets a call from people at the store wondering where she is. She's never late. I mean, that doesn't happen. So they're like hour late. An hour late. That's. Yeah. So the sign, it's, you know, a 15 minute ride. So she definitely shouldn't take an hour and a half. So he then called all the hospitals in the county to see if maybe because he looked out the window, her car's gone. So it doesn't take her an hour and a half to get to work. So he figures she must have gotten a car accident, she's probably in the hospital.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Starts calling around to all the hospitals.

[James Petrigallo]

So by the time he's done, it's 8:52am and he reports his mother missing to the Manor Township police at that point.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Took him two and a half hours to make those calls.

[James Petrigallo]

Yep, that's what I'm saying. Two and a half hours to call. I don't know how, I guess at first, I don't know. I don't know how long it takes to call. How many hospitals can there be in this county? You know what I mean? I guess a lot. These are small ones. There's.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Yeah. And what do they do? They take the name and then just go walk door to door and see if that person isn't in that room.

[James Petrigallo]

I don't know if. Also he sat there for a while going, well, I don't want to get the cops on it. If she like stopped somewhere, you know something, she's not in the hospital. Then it's her choice to not be at work. I don't know. But he ends up calling at 8:52. And there's a lady named Mrs. Wakefield. She is at the store that she works at. She's the one who called the Sun. And she said she figured something must have happened to Barbara. And she asked Wesley to, quote, to come up to Route 441 to see if there was an accident. So then she said, I'll check police departments. You call the hospitals, and we'll get back with each other. Mrs. Wakefield said, quote, I was almost certain she was dead, which is crazy. A person is an hour late for work and you're like, I'm pretty sure she's dead. I'm already making funeral arrangements, picking out a dress. This is insane. Like, you are really skipping ahead of the line here, lady. She was gone a week. I could see you go, okay, I'm pretty sure she. She's dead, but, fuck.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Hour and a half, hour and a half.

[James Petrigallo]

She must be dead. I don't know.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Yeah.

[James Petrigallo]

So they said, where the hell is she? They. The cops are looking for. They said she's 5 foot 7, 220 pounds, and wearing a brown leather. Brown leather shoes, red slacks, a heavy black pullover sweater and a dark blue windbreaker. It's November in Pennsylvania, so it's cold, but not freezing.

[Jimmy Wisman]

She's wearing nice stuff.

[James Petrigallo]

So then at 4:20pm Okay, 4:20pm There is a guy here named Roy R. Nissley, and he is. He has a farmer who's got a cornfield and all this shit out here, right? There's this guy. So it's 420 after he sparks up his afternoon doob here. He. He heads out to the corn fields here. And he. He's just looking around, and then he ends up coming upon a car in his cornfield. He found a car that looked like it had been driven into the cornfield. It's just sitting there. And, yeah, he's working on his cornfield. He started to work the west side of Franklin Road and had gone across the highway to the east side to check on a field of standing corn. There he came upon a car about 100 yards off the roadway in the cornfield. The vehicle had been driven about a car length into the standing corn, so just enough to be inside of it. The hood was up and it appeared the motor had been left running, although it was not running when it was found. It was in the. On position, the key and all that kind of shit. So there was a Circle of charred and burned corn and other viscera around there, directly beneath the engine as well. All sorts of burn shit there, like it was on fire. And he looks in the car and sees a woman inside the car.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Oh, no.

[James Petrigallo]

And Nissle said, I was shocked to see that woman laying there, which, you know, you go out to. You go out to inspect a cornfield, you don't expect to find cars and ladies. So he said that she was slumped against the door inside the car on the driver's side. And there is blood in the car that he can see. Yeah. So he goes, hey, I'm out of here. Ms. Lee says he said some of his neighbors had reported seeing headlights in the cornfield during the early morning hours and hearing a motor running in the cornfield. They told him that later. Nissle said he woke up between 4 and 5am and heard a car apparently speeding along Central Manor Road not far from this. So he reported this to the Manor police. Township, our Manor township Police at 420. And they came and they confirmed that not only was this woman dead, but it's Barbara Fry. So no gun is found at the scene, although she is bloody and appears to have bullet wounds in her along with other. Other multiple really situations. Oh, yeah, She's. She's been through the wringer here. So they said they went there. They did. They took a helicopter out and made several passes over the area where the body was found, seeking some evidence that another car may have been parked in the cornfield area. That's what they're looking for to see if they can. They can see that because they said whoever did this to her must have had transportation to and from the scene because her car's here. So unless this Roy Nissley guy did it, which they highly doubt, then, you know, it's his cornfield.

[Jimmy Wisman]

But yeah.

[James Petrigallo]

So wounds. Okay. The autopsy says that she died from a single gunshot wound that entered her left arm, then went into her chest and severed a major blood vessel from her heart. So. But there's other injuries as well. Shot through the chest, severely beaten about the face and head, and has big, nasty bite marks on her left arm.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Really big.

[James Petrigallo]

Yeah, like someone's restraint. Like Ted Bundy shit here. Like someone was trying to bite her, which is. You don't. That's not. It's not expected usually in a shooting. You don't see a shooting in a car and expect the person to be bitten up too. So they said that the fatal bullet passed through her left lung, pulmonary artery, heart, right lung, and exited from the chest. It was a large caliber weapon, by the way. He said that the woman died in a matter of seconds from massive bleeding. He said the murder weapon was certainly not a.22. I would say.30 caliber or larger.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Yeah.

[James Petrigallo]

So besides the bullet wound though, they said an extensive amount of injuries to the body, nearly all of them blunt injuries as well, including multiple large lacerations of the scalp. They said there were five lacerations on the front and another on the left side. Small to medium bruises and abrasions of the forehead, face, nose, left forearm and both hands. So there was a fight here.

[Jimmy Wisman]

She in the driver's seat?

[James Petrigallo]

Yes. Yeah, driver's seat leaned up against the door. Bruises and abrasions of the left arm, including a human bite mark. They made sure to say that. They said this woman was bitten by a human. This animal didn't come and open her car door and fucking bite her. They said the bite mark was from then. It was recent. It wasn't an old bite mark or anything. Later on he's asked, did you make a comparison of the marks to see if she bit herself? And he said no. Who the fuck would do that?

[Jimmy Wisman]

Why it's on her shoulder.

[James Petrigallo]

Doesn't make any sense. They indicated 5 to 10am was the cause was the time of death, which is they never know what the fuck when the hell the time of death is. And it's. This is. It's wild here. They said the windbreaker had one bullet hole and the sweater she wore underneath had three bullet holes, mostly in the area of the left sleeve and left chest. But there was only one bullet track through the body. And they said they learned that a bullet dropped from the woman's clothing during removal of the body. So there was more than one shot fired. The other one just didn't. Her sweater stopped it. Yeah, somehow the other one went all the way through her body. Arm, chest, lungs, hearts and out the other side. And this one didn't penetrate and fucking fell out of her clothing.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Low powder velocity or something.

[James Petrigallo]

Very, very weird here. So now the first person they want to talk to is Rod, of course, because that's, you know, he just moved out. He said he was home at the time of the murder at his trailer. He said he had not didn't hear about his wife's death until 8 or 8:30 that evening, four hours after she was found. And that was when other close relatives were told by police. And then they called him. So, yeah, he lives on Donnerville Road in a mobile home about three miles from the scene. Hey, everybody. Just gonna take a quick break from the show to tell you a little bit more about the most safe sponsor there is. SimpliSafe.

[Jimmy Wisman]

SimpliSafe.com S I M P LisaFe.com that is correct.

[James Petrigallo]

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[Jimmy Wisman]

Now back to the show.

[James Petrigallo]

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[Jimmy Wisman]

Yeah.

[James Petrigallo]

Somebody bought bad milk or shitty ice cream or something. They're upset. So the cop said there was no signs of robbery. No signs that she'd been sexually molested in any way, shape or form, really. The lieutenant said, it's really a mystery. Total mystery. Beaten and shot and bitten. Beaten, bitten and shot. Yeah, it's very fucking weird.

[Jimmy Wisman]

And then parked in a cornfield ever.

[James Petrigallo]

So gently, ever so nicely here. And the lieutenant also said that the husband lives about three miles away, and there's no evidence that he was anywhere near here. He said, quote, you can't classify him as a suspect.

[Jimmy Wisman]

No.

[James Petrigallo]

So you take him out of there. Cheating husband who just is in the middle of a divorce and he's not even a suspect. Now you really have a mystery. What the fuck? So one of the. Her friends said, I don't know anybody who didn't think she was an awfully, awfully nice person. We're still in shock over Barbara. We all. We hope. All who? We all hope whoever did this is discovered and apprehended.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Right.

[James Petrigallo]

So at this point, they believe that she was murdered prior to daylight. That's the inclination here and elsewhere, right? Well, that's what they're trying to figure out. They said they didn't feel that she'd been killed by a complete outsider. So they said, it's not a serial killer, because people started to panic. Oh, God, is this somebody doing this? And they said, no, no, we don't think this was an outsider that's gonna kill other people randomly. They said, we think we are pretty personal. Yeah. We think we are having success. We think we are focusing in the right direction. The cop said, but that means nothing because they don't have any evidence at this point. They said the chance that two people were involved in the murder is a possibility. Oh. The body was found in her own car. And it appears the killer would have needed a getaway vehicle if he acted alone. He would have had to halt her vehicle on foot and driven the woman to the cornfield where he had a second vehicle waiting. So that wouldn't make much sense.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Right.

[James Petrigallo]

It would make more sense for one, two people to be doing this.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Sure.

[James Petrigallo]

And they said, quote, it had to be someone who knew the area, knew her schedule and the way she went to work. I hope to God. I hope God forgives us for feeling the way we do, but we're Very suspicious is what her family says. The police say they have some good leads, quote, some leads. Some good leads, but not positive leads. What the fuck does that mean? Nothing. It means we talk to people. We got nothing. Get back to you later.

[Jimmy Wisman]

We have a lot of questions is what that means.

[James Petrigallo]

More questions than answers here. And this was, by the way, less than a mile from her home. This happen. I mean, my five fucking minutes here.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Also fucking hunted, right?

[James Petrigallo]

And her car windows are shattered also. Not the windshield in the back windows, only her. The door windows are shattered as well. So they talk to Roderick, the press does. And he said that he's uneasy over the fact that nobody has been arrested yet. He said, it makes you half wonder if you want to ever go out, stay inside your house. Could be some maniac out there. He said that he was home at the Times. They said, where were you? And he said, I was home at the time. Other people told me. And they said, how did you feel? And he said, quote, I was all broken up, which is the way.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Why does it keep coming?

[James Petrigallo]

I don't know. You're laughing about. We laugh about this because that's Kuklinski the Iceman. When he's found out about Roy DeMaio being killed, he said, how'd you feel about it? He goes, I was all broken up about it, with a big smile on his face.

[Jimmy Wisman]

It's a very Italian sarcastic thing. It really is when you don't give a shit.

[James Petrigallo]

My grandfather said it all the time. I'm all broken up about it just the way it is. But they said, well, do you know who could have done this? And he said, quote, she keeps things to herself. She never told me much. So he said, I don't know who she was hanging out with, what she was doing. They talked to their pastor. Now, apparently she attended the Grace Evangelical Congregational Church on Creedy Avenue in Millersville. And the pastor, Philip Ghost White. Whatever. He said the entire Fry family were members of the church. He said that he often said hello to Barb, to Barbara after Sunday services, and paid one visit to the home after he learned there were marital difficulties. Mind your business. Fuck off. I hear you guys are having problems. Okay, let's worry about your. Let's talk to your wife and see if everything's perfect. Talking about, he said, I didn't know the family situation that well. To me, she was a melancholy person. She seemed always to be pretty distraught and concerned about her marital situation, which also, she's still recovering from her son being killed also. So if you add that into the fold. You can understand why she'd be a bit of a downer.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Plenty of reason to be melancholy.

[James Petrigallo]

A little melancholy. This guy estimated there were more than 100 people at her funeral, which was held at the Kraft Funeral Home. Mac and cheese for all. Everybody. He said that Roderick, the woman's husband, was present and seemed very distraught. He said, I think he was crushed by the whole thing. It was a complete shock to him. The pastor said. They said, who do you think might be responsible? Because no one solves crimes better than pastors. Who do you think could have done this?

[Jimmy Wisman]

Yeah.

[James Petrigallo]

And he said, it sounds like she knew something about someone they didn't want her to know. Someone didn't want her to have that information and they killed her. I don't have any concrete facts except that she was indeed killed. We all have theories.

[Jimmy Wisman]

So that I'm really wildly speculating right now.

[James Petrigallo]

Just wildly throwing fucking bullshit at the wall. Throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing if it sticks. Wildly casting aspersions all around.

[Jimmy Wisman]

I think she maybe found all the messages in da Vinci's paintings.

[James Petrigallo]

Oh, my God.

[Jimmy Wisman]

They couldn't let it out.

[James Petrigallo]

I think she found the NSA's secrets. I think that the CIA is involved in this.

[Jimmy Wisman]

She's heard of some JFK stuff.

[James Petrigallo]

Wow.

[Jimmy Wisman]

So that's what left her in a cornfield.

[James Petrigallo]

And that's the pastor. So imagine what people are sitting around coming up with. You know what I mean?

[Jimmy Wisman]

Boy, is he fun.

[James Petrigallo]

Because December 5th comes up and there's no progress. So that's almost a month. Wow. So people are really going wild with their own theories now. No, To a pastor.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Just to believe anything at all.

[James Petrigallo]

That's anything. I just think that she had info. She's a fucking Turkey Hill convenience store manager. What information could she possibly have gleaned from anybody that would make her murder worthy? Yeah, she knows how the milk is stored. That's what it is.

[Jimmy Wisman]

She's seen the microfilm.

[James Petrigallo]

She knows how the ice cream is made. And you gotta take her the fuck out so it remains unsolved. Relatives and close friends said they're scared by the knowledge that the killer or killers are still at large. They also say they're in a state of shock over the death. And they said, we think. The cop said, we think we're having success. We think we're focusing in the right direction.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Yeah.

[James Petrigallo]

Which is not making me feel better. He said, we have to check a couple things this week. There's a lot of false rumors going around this week.

[Jimmy Wisman]

We're going to Run them down.

[James Petrigallo]

Yeah, there's a lot of false rumors. Apparently. He said that people have. He has talked to concerning the murder have been cooperative but scared. Her work friend said that they're surprised that there's been no arrest yet. Here's Edna Wakefield, the lady who was sure she was dead after an hour. She's mean as shit, Edna area. She's a manager here, was a close friend of Mrs. Fry and also Peggy Rhodes, an employee at the store. They're both surprised the case is still open. Edna and Peggy are both surprised. Somewhere there's high schools with secretaries missing. You know what I mean? Like those are, yeah, high school secretary.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Names and they think that all cases are solved lickety split.

[James Petrigallo]

Lickety split. And then they call Ferris Bueller's house and see why he's absent. This wasn't her name. Edna, I think. I think it was maybe Peggy or it was one of the two, I'll tell you that much. He said, I think they just had to pick up. I thought they just had to pick up the person is what Peggy said, I don't get it. Like we haven't figured out. She thought, just go pick up.

[Jimmy Wisman]

We see a dead body and we just go get.

[James Petrigallo]

We go grab somebody and pick them up. Peggy also said she didn't seem to think she was in any imminent danger. She said she saw her, they worked together on the 7th. And Barbara told her, see you tomorrow. She didn't say, not going to see you tomorrow. You have a good night. But I'll be long dead by the time you get here. So ol. Edna Wakefield recalled having a phone conversation with Barbara the evening prior to when she was killed. And she said most of it was business, a few personal things and, you know, she described her as a quiet type person and said that. She said that or. Yeah, she described him as a rod. As a quiet type person and said that Mrs. Fry was outgoing. So at work she's outgoing. At church she's melancholy. There's no who knows.

[Jimmy Wisman]

So her kids, everybody that's 10 minutes out of Edna's life is dead.

[James Petrigallo]

Dead, fucking dead. Oh, my husband, he must be dead. He's like just. I stopped at the store for a six pack. What the fuck?

[Jimmy Wisman]

I was cutting the lawn. Didn't you hear the moan?

[James Petrigallo]

Lord, man, Jesus Christ. I fell asleep in the den. What do you want? I can't. The hell's going on here? I took a nap, called the coroner. I took a nap. Next thing you know, there's a goddamn fucking slab in my room. Here they're gonna wheel me out on a gurney.

[Jimmy Wisman]

She's got a fucking headstone in the living room. She's polishing.

[James Petrigallo]

I wake up to two guys put me in a bag, for fuck's sake. Calm down, Edna. Jesus Christ.

[Jimmy Wisman]

The zipper woke me up.

[James Petrigallo]

Yeah. Hey. What are you doing? Leave me alone. So he said they talked to her son, Kevin, and he expressed concern for the safety of his family, saying it might be somebody after his family and they could all be next. And he asked the newspaper that nothing be printed about the phone conversation he has with them. Okay. He's scared. Then Wesley said, no comment. He didn't want to comment on it at all. Yeah.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Can you imagine? She's been murdered seven different ways. Sitting in a car.

[James Petrigallo]

Sitting in a car. Hitman, crazy Mafia guys. She's a fucking convenience store. This is why acting like she's got international secrets somewhere.

[Jimmy Wisman]

What an aggressive way to murder somebody when they.

[James Petrigallo]

Oh, strange.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Very little to do with much.

[James Petrigallo]

No, they talked. And Rod said that he only talked to his wife for about five minutes the whole week there, he said, because they've been, you know, separated. He said she didn't seem too scared or anything. And he said that he's been trying to contact. Rod said this, trying to contact the trooper in charge of the investigation for the past few days, but can't get ahold of him. No. And so he said, I don't know. They just said, have the police told you any progress? He goes, this guy won't call me back. He said, I got the impression they were on to a lead, so maybe they're busy.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Yeah, they're out there running around. They don't have time for the phone.

[James Petrigallo]

Yeah, he said that, you know, he thinks that the police are doing all they can to solve the murder. He said he's still in shock over the murder. And they said, do you think the killer will strike again? And he said, it's hard to say.

[Jimmy Wisman]

It's late 70s. Who knows?

[James Petrigallo]

He said, maybe they'll do this again. I don't know. I mean, it's. Everybody be careful. Two days later, he's arrested. Rod is by the police. For murder. Yes, for murdering his wife.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Boy, that was bad.

[James Petrigallo]

I don't know. I haven't decided yet. You think there'll be more murders? I don't know.

[Jimmy Wisman]

I don't know.

[James Petrigallo]

I'm gonna go look over my address book and see if anybody's pissed me off. Hold on a minute.

[Jimmy Wisman]

As soon as I get enough money to buy more ammo. Maybe.

[James Petrigallo]

Maybe. Well, no, it's he's not arrested alone. It's also Charles D. Ziering. Z E H R I N G who's 22 years old, 20 years younger than Rod. He's arrested as well. And another and a third man is also arrested here that we'll talk about. They're all charged with murder and conspiracy. So let's talk about this. What the fuck? What the fuck happened? Cause we end up finding out what happened because everybody, everybody spills the beer, which is also hilarious.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Shit, we didn't. We didn't get this far.

[James Petrigallo]

Let's tell on each other, everybody.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Yeah.

[James Petrigallo]

So going back to May of 1970, nine months before the murder, six months before, Rod meets a guy, Charles David Ziering, who's 22 years old. Ziering installs alarm systems and used to be the manager of a Turkey Hill store in Cleona. And he also. Ziering is also a private investigator. So he installs alarms. He's a private investigator. He also slings ice cream. Yeah, he's a busy guy. So they met through their employment and had a series of conversations about his marital difficulties. That's what he thought. Hey, how's it going? The fucking wife. And they talk and we're fighting. So they talk about that. Ziering who is described as a quote, paranoid schizophrenic who collects exotic weaponry and anarchists survivalist literature. So those are actual problem. Those are three separate problems rolled into one. Any one of those three things I'm going fucking. I'm worried about this guy. Paranoid schizophrenic, exotic weaponry collectors and anarchists, survivalist literature collectors. All crazy.

[Jimmy Wisman]

He's all three horrible that he could.

[James Petrigallo]

Own weaponry when he has that exotic weaponry. Jimmy, not even fucking. Not a pocket knife.

[Jimmy Wisman]

No.

[James Petrigallo]

He wanted to a Japanese samurai sword. Yeah, I got me a 17th century Japanese sword and a rocket launcher from Vietnam. Two things I got.

[Jimmy Wisman]

And a bazooka and an anarchist's fucking catapult.

[James Petrigallo]

I learned in the Anarchist Cookbook how to make the anarchist catapult. My favorite thing about the whole thing is the anarchist soup because it was delicious. Let me tell. I never thought to put the spices they use, but man, I'll tell you, they really. That cookbook is something.

[Jimmy Wisman]

It's also flammable.

[James Petrigallo]

You can make napalm in the most delicious spring soup all in one book.

[Jimmy Wisman]

You put it in a super Soaker and spray it in your enemies eyes.

[James Petrigallo]

Oh, it's the best, man. I never would have thought about it. So apparently this lunatic Zaring Suggested to Rod about three months before the murder. Maybe the solution to your wife problem is to quote waster. Maybe you just waste her. Waste. Just waste her. So Barbara apparently had refiled for divorce during this, like right before the separation. And at that point is when he said, okay, fuck this. Yeah, let's kill her. Okay, let's get rid. So now what? How does he says that? What does it cost? What will you take to kill her? You know, obviously you're not going to do it as a favor, right? I'd like to be paid in exotic weaponry, please. No, he says exotic spices. He said five grand is my price. Wow. Incredibly affordable in 1979. That's way more money than that is now.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Yeah, that's two cars.

[James Petrigallo]

That's. That's a lot back then. That's. That's actually like not a cop price back then, right? Nowadays that'd be a cop price.

[Jimmy Wisman]

No, it's two cars.

[James Petrigallo]

It's probably 30 grand, 25 grand. Probably five, six times.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Two cars for that?

[James Petrigallo]

No, no, no, but those were also awful cars. They were terrible pieces of shit.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Terrible pieces of shit now still cost 30 grand.

[James Petrigallo]

Yes, but no car is a piece of shit now. That was the thing. They're all new cars.

[Jimmy Wisman]

It's reliable. It'll get you 100,000 miles.

[James Petrigallo]

Yeah, they all have like computer systems and all this crazy shit. Back then it was like, here's your piece of shit Pinto.

[Jimmy Wisman]

The Justy does not equate to Nissan maximum today.

[James Petrigallo]

Exactly. A Pinto was 2,800 bucks. And it was because it exploded if you ran into it, you know. So he. How's he going to get five grand? Because he doesn't have five grand. He has to pay him. So what he does is he calls Barbara up, Rod does, and convinces her that he should get some money as an advance from the upcoming divorce property settlement he's getting. He had her pay for her own murder.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Get the fuck out of my life.

[James Petrigallo]

Are you kidding me?

[Jimmy Wisman]

Oh my God.

[James Petrigallo]

He said, give me money. She did. And he said, here, go kill that bitch.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Oh my God, that's the craziest thing ever.

[James Petrigallo]

The fact that they're in the middle of a divorce because he's cheating on her and she's still willing to give him an advance on the money and not tell her to fuck off. Not tell him to fuck off. Tells me that she's not murder worthy. This is not a candidate for murder here. She's a decent person.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Not the problem you are, man.

[James Petrigallo]

Yeah, so he said it was expenses for moving out and all that. I could use five grand. So she issued him a check for $5,000 drawn from the Colonial Savings and Loan Association.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Oh, my God.

[James Petrigallo]

He paid 3,000 up front to Ziering.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Didn't even give it all up.

[James Petrigallo]

He does. It's a before and after upon completion. Can't just give him the whole five grand. Yeah, but run off into the hills so he gives him an upfront, which is normal. I mean, that's fine. He gave him that about three days before the murder. Three or four days now. On the evening of November 7, Zaring met with Rod at Rod's residence, the trailer. And Rod told Zaring, this is how Barbara goes to work. This is what time she leaves. This is the route she takes. And it was his understanding rods that at the time, Zaring would be accompanied by another person. And they were going to. The whole point was to rig the car so it looks like she got in a car accident and died.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Okay.

[James Petrigallo]

That's the point. But look how it ended up. Nowhere near that. Shooting, biting, beating. Not even close.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Turned on her.

[James Petrigallo]

And the cars in fine shape, too. That's the other thing. No accident at all.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Wow.

[James Petrigallo]

She ran into a cornfield and the car fired a bullet into her chest and then beat her over the head and bit her with its human teeth.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Bitter.

[James Petrigallo]

So it was the intention. Here's what it was. They were gonna knock her unconscious.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Yeah.

[James Petrigallo]

Take her elsewhere. Run her car into her tree and put her in there. And put her head up against the steering wheel. Like she bashed her head into the fucking steering wheel and killed herself. That's the plan. Okay.

[Jimmy Wisman]

I suppose.

[James Petrigallo]

Yeah. I said 1979. Forensics. That could work.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Maybe.

[James Petrigallo]

So Rod asked his wife Barbara to meet him early in the morning at the convenience store that she managed so that she could deliver some lunch meat that she was to slice for him.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Okay.

[James Petrigallo]

I don't know what's going.

[Jimmy Wisman]

I got a chunk of cubed beef that I need you to.

[James Petrigallo]

Apparently she gave him five grand and he gave her a ham to slice for him. This is a very strange separated relationship going on here.

[Jimmy Wisman]

I'll be around to pick up my chipped ham.

[James Petrigallo]

Weird. So that same night, Rod spent the night with his girlfriend the night before the murder. Now, on November 8th, the other person involved is Richard Helberlic. I'm sorry, Heberlig. H E B E R L I G. He's 33 years old. So we got a 22 year old, a 33 year old and a 42 year old. None of These people should be hanging out with each other and they're all in the same murder plot, right? So what they did is they intercepted Barbara on her way to work to kill her. They acted as police officers. They put a fucking. They put a lights. They had a light. They put it on their car and they put the light on and pulled her over. That's how they did it. Like a fucking mob hit. Like Cara Kappa and the other guy. The mob guys that did that, the mob cops that would just arrest mobsters and then go murder them, they were gone.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Really.

[James Petrigallo]

They pull them over, take them away and kill them. They killed like 50 people for the mob in the 70s and 80s. Oh yeah. They were some of the most prolific guys in the world because they just pull some. It was like they disappeared. Their car was on the side of the road and they were gone, never to be found again. Getting engaged can be stressful. Getting the right ring won't be. @blue nile.com the jewelers@blue nile.com have sparkled down to a science with beautiful lab grown diamonds worthy of your most brilliant moments. Their lab grown diamonds are independently graded and guaranteed identical to natural diamonds and ready to ship to your door. Get $50 off your purchase of $500 or more with code audio nile.com that's bluenile.com code audio for $50 off. Remember when gaming meant dropping hundreds on a console or gaming PC? Well, those days are over. Amazon Luna lets you play your favorite video games instantly on devices you already own. Just like streaming a movie. No expensive hard hardware required. Here's the Amazon Luna Magic. All you need is an Internet connection and a screen. Your phone, tablet, laptop, fire, tv, they all instantly become your gaming oasis. No game downloads, no special hardware, just gaming. And we're talking hundreds of amazing games here. From the latest releases to beloved classics. Fortnite, Sonic, Assassin's Creed, Fallout, Batman, action adventure racing, strategy, RPGs. So much game, so little time. But the best part, if you're you're an Amazon prime member, you can play on Luna for free. That's right, free. Ready to level up your gaming? Head to Amazon.com Luna to start playing today. No console, no problem. That's cloud gaming. With Amazon Luna, fall is in the air. And that cooler weather calls for an update in your skincare. Moisturizing is key to keeping wrinkles at bay. That's why we need a skincare routine that's easy, fast, and gives us results. Plus, what if your products had thousands of five star reviews, were natural and affordable? Well, Say hello to Dime Beauty. Dime Beauty. Dime Beauty is clean, high end skincare that is affordable and it really works. Not sure where to start. I highly recommend the work system. It's everything you need in one powerful package. Take out the guesswork with a proven routine that includes a gentle yet effective cleanser, a super skin toner, two incredible serums, and two luxurious moisturizers. See what everyone is raving about. From serum sets to the always sold out retinol alternative TBT cream, you'll find your perfect skincare match. Dime has over 2 million happy customers and their product reviews are literally nearly five stars. Love your skin. Again, go to dimebeautyco.com and unlock your discount. That's dime beautyco.com that's dimebeautyco.com wow.

[Jimmy Wisman]

At what point do you think they realized that it was like, you know what I mean? At what point did they realize that they were about to be killed?

[James Petrigallo]

Probably. Well, at first, not at all, because they were detectives pulling them over.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Right. But after thrown in the back of.

[James Petrigallo]

A car, after a while, everybody knew what they were doing and they were like, oh, shit. If you got pulled over, then those two showed up, you knew you were fucking dead. At that point. You knew you were fucked. Yeah. And one of the guys was in Goodfellas too. He's one of the guys in the bar scene in Goodfellas. They used him for that. Interesting, right? So. Because he knew a bunch of mob guys. So they pulled her car over, they intended to beat her unconscious and staged a car accident. But they couldn't knock her out. These two guys beat the living shit out of her, and she kept fighting back. That's why they bit her. They bit her because she was attacking them. She was no fucking.

[Jimmy Wisman]

She's gonna win.

[James Petrigallo]

Shrinking fucking violet here she was. She weighs 220 and she's not fucking around. She will kick your goddamn ass. They couldn't knock her out. She was. She was fighting off two grown men on her own.

[Jimmy Wisman]

It's funny how if you've never knocked anybody out. How fucking hard?

[James Petrigallo]

Oh, it's real hard. It's like Funny Farm when they're beating a guy, he goes, you're not knocking him out. You're just beating the piss out of him. That's the same thing. It's so hard. He just keeps punching him.

[Jimmy Wisman]

You can't knock somebody out by hitting him in the. In the shoulder blades.

[James Petrigallo]

No. So that's what happened here. They couldn't do it.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Yeah.

[James Petrigallo]

So apparently what happened is Heberlig panicked And just took his gun out and shot her in the chest because she was. She was winning. She was fighting them and winning.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Yeah.

[James Petrigallo]

They literally resorted to biting her.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Wow.

[James Petrigallo]

Like, that's how much they. She was winning. So that fucked up the whole accident thing here. Yeah. When they pulled her over, apparently. We'll get to that in a second. But they. Then they moved it into a cornfield and tried to set the car on fire. That's why everything's burned under it.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Right?

[James Petrigallo]

They tried to burn it. The fire went out and didn't destroy any of the evidence. It was just terrible. It's just a lady laying there beat up, bitten, with a massive gunshot wound in her fucking chest.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Would you just crumble and hit the. Hit your knees and just start crying about how terrible you are at this?

[James Petrigallo]

I'm so bad at. I would go, I'm never doing this again. Obviously. I couldn't even knock out the Turkey Hill convenience store manager lady.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Very, very Sarah Boone of you going, I'll never drink again.

[James Petrigallo]

I'll never drink again. I swear to God. I'll tell you guys one thing. I'll never drink alcohol again. Oh, all right. Well, she's punished herself, everybody. Let's let her go.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Don't worry about it. Moratorium on the giant bottle of Woodbridge.

[James Petrigallo]

Jesus Christ. So during the course of their investigation, the police came across the $5,000 payment from Barber to Rod. That's what got this all going. She gave you five grand. At first, Rod told authorities, because they said, where's the money now? Because he said, I don't have it. And they go, well, where is it? And he goes, I gambled it away. Oh. And they were like, no, you didn't. We checked around. You haven't been anywhere. So then he said, fine. I paid it to Ziering not to kill my wife, though. It was an extortion payment to prevent him from killing her. That's what it was.

[Jimmy Wisman]

All right.

[James Petrigallo]

So they get xiering in there, and he says that, by the way, he wasn't certain that she was dead when they left her in the car. She was dead, though. We found out she died very quickly.

[Jimmy Wisman]

She shot her in the fucking heart.

[James Petrigallo]

Yeah. He didn't know. But we find out later that she died very quickly. I guess that Zaring told the trooper here that he was scared to death after Mrs. Fry was shot. He said her vehicle was taken to the cornfield. He said that he didn't know for sure she was dead. He said that they waited for her to travel north on Route 441. And they pulled out in front of her to stop her vehicle using the red police type lights that they installed on his vehicle. He bought it at U Haul, by the way.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Is that right? You can just buy that?

[James Petrigallo]

Apparently in the 70s, you could buy that like a bong, whatever. They had all sorts of shit there.

[Jimmy Wisman]

At the U Haul. We picked up flashing lights and some handcuffs.

[James Petrigallo]

Yeah, some uppers. They got it all. So Zaring told her to get out. Ziering told the cop that he got out of the car and asked her for her driver's license. She refused to roll down the window and give completely. She did a sovereign citizen thing. She rolled it down a crack and said, I'm not giving you my driver's license.

[Jimmy Wisman]

This is far enough.

[James Petrigallo]

She pulled.

[Jimmy Wisman]

She knew it was a bullshit.

[James Petrigallo]

She had to have. She had to have. That's why she had to have been scared. Because they're not in police uniforms. They didn't go that far to, like, rent cop uniforms. If they did that, she would have went with the ruse, probably. So she refused to roll it down. So then he broke her window out and started to hit her. And she was. Nothing was happening.

[Jimmy Wisman]

She knew for sure that this was a bullshit stop.

[James Petrigallo]

Not normal here. So he said that Rich Halberlig got excited and shot her with a.44 caliber revolver.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Golly.

[James Petrigallo]

Big old gun. So then he said that he got into her vehicle and drove to the Manor Township cornfield. Then they returned in his vehicle, the two of them, back away from the scene here. He said two days after the shooting, he paid Heber League $300 for assistance in the murder. He got five grand. He paid his boy $300. Talk about subcontractors.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Fucking cheap lord.

[James Petrigallo]

They threw away the.44 gun in the Weaver Town quarry. They could never find it, by the way. Yeah. He also said that Zaring explained details about the murder in a ledger book that was in a desk drawer located in his bedroom in a trailer. Of course.

[Jimmy Wisman]

He diaried this.

[James Petrigallo]

He diaried it? Yep. They said a search discovered the ledger book referred to by him. He uncovered the book containing the inscription. Not for anyone's eyes, Failure to adhere will cause death.

[Jimmy Wisman]

I'm sure the police will go ahead and adhere to that.

[James Petrigallo]

In there. There's also two newspaper articles concerning Barbara's murder case contained in there. In there also figure notations. Under. Under the name. Under fucking. No, under his name. What's his name? Fucking Fry. Rod. Rod Fry.

[Jimmy Wisman]

What are the figure numbers?

[James Petrigallo]

Well, they indicate the following payments. $1,000. October 29, 2000. November 2, 2000. November 9. Yeah. Also indicated the last 2,000 was made for his. For the attempt to kill. Obviously, he said this is for murder. Like he put a memo on it. Other writings.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Don't worry, Nobody will read this.

[James Petrigallo]

Showed that he had hocked a ring given to him by Rod Fry here. He also indicated in the book that he reported his.44 caliber revolver stolen to the Bethel Township police chief on November 15. So an earlier search at the residence found various weapons and ammunitions. They said they found a box of.44 caliber cartridges, some of which had an X scratched on the top of the projectile.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Oh, he's trying to get them to break apart.

[James Petrigallo]

Yes, yes. Trying to make them more deadly. They said that the bullet that killed Fry had an X cut into it. So they connect those. He also said that he examined the box of 40 bullets. 35 had an X cut into the head. He really put some time into this. He also had a 12 gauge shotgun found in his bedroom. Box of shotgun shells that was similar to a shotgun shell that they found in the cornfield because they just found one on the ground. So he must have had it in his pocket or something and dropped it. And another shotgun shell found at the berm. On the berm of Route 441, about a mile away from here. They also found a pistol grip box for a grip that would be used for a.44 caliber weapon. And he said. Zering said he had apparently purchased the.44 caliber weapon from Martin Levin Sporting Goods in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. And he said that he purchased the bullets as well and the red lights from U Haul. He's given his whole fashion outfit here. Oh, my. This from there.

[Jimmy Wisman]

And he said, who are you wearing?

[James Petrigallo]

Who are you wearing? Well, U Haul and Smith and Wesson, they make a very nice thing together.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Yeah.

[James Petrigallo]

They'Re all denied bail, obviously, here. Three. All three are arrested. Roderick's trial. All right. Seven women, five men on the jury. And they said the prosecutor said that he was anxious to kill his wife if he thought he could get away with it. He said that his wife has been talking about divorce and filing for it, and he was upset that most of the family estate would be turned over to his wife. And so that he said that he wanted. They say he wanted to kill his wife so she couldn't enjoy her money.

[Jimmy Wisman]

His money.

[James Petrigallo]

Yeah. So the defense argued that he acted under duress. Hey, you can't plan a murder in a hit and pay people under duress. That's crazy, man.

[Jimmy Wisman]

That Guy is really good under pressure.

[James Petrigallo]

Well, they said that Zaring kept pressuring him for the money. For money. And that he eventually paid him $5,000 to leave his wife alone is what he said, which is fucking amazing. Now Zaring is going to testify. That's a bad witness for Rod here. There's evidence also brought in by Rod that Zaring is a scary, domineering person while Fry was susceptible to domination. And they said that several witnesses testified that Zaring was, quote, a strange man who had a fetish for weapons and often made threats. A problem.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Yeah, or a great hit man.

[James Petrigallo]

Also they brought in a ton of inmates that testified that since he's been in jail, Zering, he scares the whole jail is scared of this fucking guy. Even though he can't knock out a 40 year old convenience store manager. They said they don't know what he's going to do. They said he's crazed and he boasts in jail that he's extorting money from Rod Fry and intended to kill Rod Fry when this is all over with.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Oh, is that right?

[James Petrigallo]

Now Rod testifies. They said, did you meet on the evening of November 7, the day before the crime with Zaring? And he said, yes. He came to my residence. Do you recall what time it was? Around 11 o'clock. Did Mr. Zaring threaten you in any way? And he said, yes. He said, how was that broad said, he told me that if I would even talk to the police about this, I would get the same thing my wife got right. What is their understanding of that? And he said that I'll be shot too. He said, did he tell you how or who this would be done by, who you'd be shot by? And he said, yes. They said, well, what was it he said? He told me that the second party that was involved in this knows what I look like and they know where I work and they can get me at any time for 300 bucks. 300? Yeah, this guy's a cheap fucking date too. He said, do you believe this to be true? Yes. Do you have a fear of Charles Airing? Yes. And would you explain to me why you fear him? And he said, because he might have me killed now because I paid him.

[Jimmy Wisman]

To murder my mom.

[James Petrigallo]

That goes. I mean, shit. So in the closing for the prosecution, they call him a cold blooded contract killing. They said the thing was purely for money, not for hate or passion. I have a hard time thinking of a contract that could be worse. They said to the jury, the defense said, hey, come on, you know. He said, Mr. Ziering is not a nice guy. Mr. Ziering, through the Commonwealth's own witnesses and through witnesses we produced, was proven to you to be a man who always had guns, always had weapons, armed bombs, had books on anarchy, et cetera, made threats. People consider him a little crazy. Did Mr. Ziering coerce Mr. Frey in any way, or Fry? He said, in this situation where there was a sequence of events, you heard about the hiring and following of Mrs. Fry for two months, was Mr. Fry suckered? Was Mr. Fry convinced maybe this was a good idea? Did it go along that kind of scenario? Is that what happened here? He said, I can't believe that Mr. Fry just suddenly decided to have his wife killed and went to Mr. Ziering and said, here's some money, kill my wife. It seems that's exactly what happened. Actually, I can believe that. He said, I don't believe that at all. I think there was duress in this case. I think when Mr. Fry tells you that he was threatened, he was threatened. Whether he was threatened before or after he paid the money or for what purpose he paid it, he was threatened. He was threatened before Mrs. Fry was killed. When he tells you that one morning at the Turkey hill parking lot, Mr. Zaring appeared with black all over his face and a sweatshirt and held a gun and flashlight in his eyes. That is a threat. That is coercion. That's duress. He said the psychologist told you about Mr. Fry and what kind of man he is. He has a 91 IQ. He's not a super intelligent person.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Oh, he's a dumb dumb.

[James Petrigallo]

That's average, by the way. 90 to 110 is right in the average range.

[Jimmy Wisman]

And they're calls him a dumb dumb.

[James Petrigallo]

Low average, they're saying he's obviously a fucking idiot and he's very average. They said. He's not someone who I don't think could coldly and calculatingly do this kind of thing without some pressure from another source. I suggest to you again the pressure for Mr. Ziering and that this thing took a sequence of events. It wasn't as if Mr. Fry went over to Mr. Ziering and said, Here's $5,000. Kill my wife. That's not what happened. The payments were sporadic payments, and the Commonwealth cannot refute that. This thing took a course of action. It went along, it got more serious, more aggravating as it went along. But there was duress, and that's all that's required in this proceeding. If you believe that Mr. Zaring coerced, threatened, place Mr. Fry under duress prior to the death of Barbara Jean Fry. That's enough. He's entitled to be in prison for the rest of his life, but that's it. If you believe that, if you believe he didn't do it at all, then do that. So, okay, the verdict comes in. They deliberate for six hours on this and they find him guilty of first degree murder. First degree murder.

[Jimmy Wisman]

He got five grand from a lady and then paid it to a man to kill her.

[James Petrigallo]

To kill him. It made her pay for her own death is crazy. You cheap fuck. So the sentencing comes around and his mother, father, brother, they all testify that his personality, he's not cold blooded. He couldn't have done this unless they were. He was under duress or was coerced. His father said he's never been in trouble before. And you know, he gets on the stand himself, Rod, and he asserts that his guilt phase testimony that Zering had threatened him and his family was true. And he stated that he had never told anyone that he would kill his wife if he could get away with it. Someone testified to that. The death penalty can only be imposed if the jury feels aggravating circumstances stances outweigh the mitigators. As we talked about all the time. Aggravators are only aggravating circumstance presented to the jury is that the defendant paid or was paid by another person or had contracted to pay or be paid by another person who has conspired to pay or be paid by another person for the victim of the killing. You hired somebody which is cold, cold shit. The mitigators are no significant history of criminal convictions. They say he's under the duress, under the influence of extreme or mental or emotional disturbance. The capacity of the defendant to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or conform to his conduct to the requirements of the law was substantially impaired. They said that he is as a 91 IQ. And his attorney said that the psychologist said that his low IQ makes him susceptible to pressure. Okay. So the judge asked him before sentencing, anything you want to say for yourself? And he said, nope, I'm good.

[Jimmy Wisman]

You didn't even say life's like a.

[James Petrigallo]

Box of chocolate fucking thing. Nothing. No dumb shit thing you could think of at all?

[Jimmy Wisman]

All right.

[James Petrigallo]

He didn't call the guy Jenny or anything. He said. Then the attorney asked the judge to reconsider the whole thing here. Yeah, and let's do a do over. The judge said the sentence of the law is that you, Roderick Herman Frey, be taken hence by the sheriff of Lancaster county to the state Correctional institute at Camp Hill and from thence to the state penitentiary at Rock, Rockview, or such other places that may be designated by law or executive order that you there suffer death during the week fixed by the governor of the Commonwealth.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Yeah.

[James Petrigallo]

In a building erected for the purpose on land owned by the Commonwealth. Such punishment be inflicted by either warden or deputy warden of said penitentiary or by person the warden shall designate by causing to pass through your body a current of electricity of intensity sufficient to cause death and application of such current to be continued until you are dead. You, sir, may fuck off. Death in the electric chair.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Electric chair.

[James Petrigallo]

Electric chair.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Jesus.

[James Petrigallo]

That's what he said. So he would be, I believe, the ninth person contemned to the electric chair here. But an electric chair. A death sentence hasn't been carried out in Pennsylvania in 19 years. Before that. The last man to die in the electric chair was Elmo Smith, convicted of the rape murder of a 16 year old in 1960. Which is much worse than what happened here. I feel like Zering and Heberlig, they have their trial. They don't have a trial. They have a non jury proceeding where they both plead guilty because they're fucked. And then they also had to testify. But they have a deal here in place to not get the death penalty. You sirs may fuck off. Life in prison for both of them.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Okay. Okay.

[James Petrigallo]

But he got the death penalty.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Yeah.

[James Petrigallo]

And they did killings and beatings. It's just strange to me.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Bummed five grand to murder.

[James Petrigallo]

That's wild.

[Jimmy Wisman]

That's unbelievable.

[James Petrigallo]

That's wild. But that's what I mean. Usually it's the person who does the hiring gets more time than the people who do the killings. Unless your name is Gypsy Rose. And then it's the opposite.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Then you get. Then you get to go have babies.

[James Petrigallo]

Then you get to fucking be an Instagram presence.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Yeah. And be a mom.

[James Petrigallo]

While your mentally challenged boyfriend sits. And I'm not saying he should be out. I'm saying they both should be in.

[Jimmy Wisman]

My point for sure. Yeah.

[James Petrigallo]

If she admitted it, that we've gone over this before. I'm on her side right up until murder. And then I'm like, hey, calm down, lady.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Yeah. Take it easy.

[James Petrigallo]

Take it easy. So then Zaring tries to pull back his guilty plea. Because, you know, why not?

[Jimmy Wisman]

That sucks. Yeah.

[James Petrigallo]

Like this sucks. And they say, you can't do that. Get in there. 1984, Rod is going to appeal this whole thing. And he has turned down. And by that they said this was on the. On the basis of his death. Sentence being excessive or disproportionate as opposed to the penalties imposed on the co defendants. There's that, there's. Does the death penalty procedure violate the 8th and 14th Amendments of the Constitution? All these different things here. So the stress factors is death penalty, Pennsylvania death penalty statute unconstitutionally in itself, the whole thing. He's going over.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Yeah.

[James Petrigallo]

In 84, they tell him, no eat dicks, you're dying, you're done. 1988 comes around, lawyer petitions the state again, and an attorney has vowed to take extraordinary steps to prevent an executioner from carrying out the state's first electrocution in 26 years. He is on the chopping block. Wow. So they file a petition. He's basically five days away from execution and he gets a stay really for another appeal? Yeah. Doesn't mean they didn't, you know, lower it, but it's for another considerate. Sure, they're going to consider it. They said that the petition said that Fry, under the Post Conviction Hearing act, which requires petition contain, not contain issues not previously raised in court. And some of these were things about. Had the jury, had these facts been presented to the jury, Roderick Herman Fry most likely would have been found innocent in the penalty save and sentenced to life in prison. Because they said that they're so stupid. What they're saying to the whole thing, they're saying that the jury didn't know that the other two weren't going to get the death penalty. Basically is how that works. So under if they found out the other two didn't get the death penalty, they may not have imposed the death penalty on him. They would have given him life to. June 12, 1988, there's a big editorial about how we should just fucking electrocute the shit out of him. The whole thing is really into there. 1992, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals vacates the order that remanded the case for further consideration. So basically told him to fuck off. 1997, the third circuit, this time based on different reasons, disagreed and said that the Fry did deserve a writ and in 1997 granted it. And they vacate the death sentence and commute his punishment to life in prison without the possibility of parole. His family's thrilled. And his family says this from Zari for them, Ziering and Helberlich to get one thing and they actually did it. And for Roderick to get this. Anyone who calls that right isn't right in the head. I don't care who thinks that. That's what I tell them, meaning he shouldn't get the death penalty while they get life. Which sort of makes sense, I guess.

[Jimmy Wisman]

It's their faith family. It's what he's going to.

[James Petrigallo]

They're going to say that his dad died the day before his sentence was commuted, by the way.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Is that right?

[James Petrigallo]

Cyrus died the day before Cyrus died.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Thinking he was going to, his son was going to ride the lightning.

[James Petrigallo]

Then 2015 comes around and Roderick Fry, 78 years old at the State Correctional Institution at Green, dies of natural causes.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Okay.

[James Petrigallo]

After 35 years in prison, Barbara is buried at the Masonville Mennonite Cemetery. I didn't know she was a Mennonite, but okay. Yeah, she was only 40 when she died. That's rough. She was a week. Her birthday was seven days away when she got killed, by the way. That sucks too. So there you go, everybody that is Washington Space Borough, Pennsylvania. Hope you like that. If you like it, tell everyone you know about it. Get on Apple podcast or this one or Spotify, whatever the fucking goddamn app you're listening on. Give five stars. It helps tremendously. Tell the world about it. Tell your friends. Tell everything. Follow us on social media. We are at Small town murder on Instagram, at what is it? Small Town Pod on Facebook. And do all of that, definitely. Also get Patreon. Patreon.com Crime and Sports, get all your bonus material. Hundreds of episodes, $5 a month. Anybody over five bucks, you get that better than a cup of coffee. Let me tell you something. This week, crime and sports, we got pedestrianism, crazy 1800 sport that turned into like violence and drugs and shit. It's wild, right? Then for small town murder, we're going to talk about exorcisms in general and the devil on trial. Someone trying to use demonic possession as an excuse for a crime. And in an actual trial, which is fun. We'll get to that. Shut up and give me murder.com tickets for live shows. Austin, Texas, you're up next. Still a few left for Boston and New York as well. And the virtual live show available till November 13th. Get that? You can watch it as many times as you want. Still available to purchase right now. It's fucking worth it. It's a lot of fun. So get in there, do that, keep coming back and seeing us and I'll have a lot of fun with all that shit.

[Jimmy Wisman]

Yeah, be safe.

[James Petrigallo]

Be safe. And until next week, everybody, it's been our pleasure. By if you like small town murder, you can listen early and ad free now by joining Wondery plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts prime members can listen early and ad free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short [e-mail] survey in November 1991, media tycoon Robert Maxwell mysteriously vanished from his luxury yacht in the Canary Islands. But it wasn't just his body that would come to the surface in the days that followed. It soon emerged that Robert's business was on the brink of collapse, and behind his facade of wealth and success was a litany of bad investments, mounting debt, and multimillion dollar fraud. Hyatt hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of Wondery Show Business Movers. We tell the true stories of business leaders who risked it all, the critical moments that defined their journey, and the ideas that transform the way we live our lives. In our latest series, a young refugee fleeing the Nazis arrives in Britain determined to make something of his life. Taking the name Robert Maxwell, he builds a publishing and newspaper empire that spans the globe. But ambition eventually curdles into desperation, and Robert's determination to succeed turns into a willingness to do anything to get ahead. Follow Business Movers wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad free on the Amazon Music or Wondry app.