UPDATE: Fry 'Incoherent, In Shock' When First Questioned

When police first interviewed Kimberly Fry about the events surrounding her daughter's death, she appeared to be in a state of shock and spoke in incoherent sentences, according to testimony Thursday afternoon in Fry's murder trial.

Sgt. John MacCoy, then a patrolman with the North Kingstown Police Department, was the first to arrive on the scene on Aug. 11, 2009 after receiving a call of an unresponsive child. He said on the stand Thursday morning that he found two "hysterical" parents kneeling over Camden Fry in her bedroom.

After escorting the parents from Camden's bedroom, MacCoy first interviewed the girl's father, Timothy Fry, before questioning Kimberly, who, he said, was sitting on the floor leaning against the couch. On cross examination Thursday afternoon, it was revealed that Kimberly Fry was holding her knees to her chest, rocking back and forth and speaking "in a very low tone," MacCoy said, responding to questions from defense attorney John Lavoy. "She had a very distant look in her eyes and appeared to be in a state of shock."

In grand jury testimony last year, Lavoy noted, MacCoy testified that Kimerly Fry was using "incoherent sentences" and seemed to be in shock.

MacCoy said he sat on the floor next to Kimberly Fry to ask about the night before. She first said that Camden had fallen on the bathroom floor, and "she motioned with both hands and her facial expression that she had to pull Camden back to her bedroom," MacCoy said.

Prosecutor Stephen Regine directed MacCoy to leave the stand Wednesday and demonstrate to the jury the pulling motion Kimberly Fry showed him. Sitting on the floor of the courtroom, with palms up, MacCoy made several pulling motions toward his body. He said Fry contorted her face into a grimace while she was demonstrating.

Immediately after, Fry broke down and became unresponsive, so he backed off to allow her to calm down, he said. When he returned, he asked her again what had happened. This time, MacCoy testified, Fry told him Camden had fallen in the shower at 8:10 p.m. the previous evening, and that she had found her daughter conscious on the bathroom floor. Fry told him the two watched shows on TV and read stories until about 9:10 p.m., when she put Camden to bed.

Kimberly Fry then broke down again and MacCoy ended his interview at that point, he said.

When police arrived at the Fry home on Ricci Lane in North Kingstown that morning, they found no signs of a struggle, and nothing to indicate why a healthy 8-year-old girl lay dead in her bed.

MacCoy said the girl's skin appeared to be a pale blue, and lividity had set in, making it clear the young girl had died. Her mother, Kimberly Fry, is charged with second-degree murder, accused of strangling her daughter the night before during a temper tantrum over not wanting to take a bath.

Sgt. Joel Mulligan, then a detective with the department, confirmed much of MacCoy's testimony, and began to describe his own observations of the scene when Judge William Carnes recessed for the day. Regine was about to show the video Mulligan made of Camden and her bedroom on the morning she was found. It is expected Mulligan's video will be shown when the trial resumes Friday morning.

During MacCoy's testimony, prosecutor Stephen Regine showed the court photographs of the young girl as officers found her — lying on her back in her bed, wearing pajamas, with her head tilted to the left. Timothy Fry testified earlier that he found his daughter lying on her side under the covers with her stuffed elephant tucked into her arm. He said he rolled his daughter onto her back to attempt CPR but already "knew she was gone."

While questioning the parents, MacCoy said Kimberly Fry was mostly responsive, if emotional. He said she was able to walk on her own and did not appear to need medical attention at the time. Timothy Fry has testified his wife was mostly unresponsive after he found Camden's body. He can be heard on the 911 call yelling for Kimberly to "wake up" several times.

Soon after MacCoy's questioning, Kimberly Fry was rushed to South County Hospital, after her husband and MacCoy noted her condition had deteriorated. Timothy Fry discovered several empty bottles of anti-anxiety medication, pain killers and sleeping pills. She had apparently taken the cocktail of drugs in a failed bid to kill herself, leaving a suicide note her husband found days later.