By: Alexandra Cowley
A father speaks out about his 8-year-old girl, strangled by her mother, for refusing to take a bath.
Almost three years after Camden Fry's death, her mother Kimberly Fry, is behind bars. Sentenced to 40 years in prison, with 20 to serve.
Now, for the first time, Camden's father is speaking out. Recalling the fear that came over him when he stood in her doorway, the day he found her dead.
"There's not a minute that goes by that I don't think about her, and wish things could be different," explained Tim Fry.
Many fathers dream of having a son, someone to play ball with, to have that special father-son bond. But not Tim Fry, a daughter was all he ever wanted.
"I got my little girl on the first shot and that was it, and now she's gone," said Fry.
On the evening of August 10, 2009, Tim Fry left for hockey practice, as he always did on Monday nights. He says Kim and Camden were watching T.V. and everything seemed fine.
Fry said, "I never had any inkling in my mind that something like this could ever happen."
While Tim was away, Kim struggled with Camden to take a bath. The pre-sentence report states Kim felt she was having a panic attack, took two pills of Klonopin to deal with the anxiety, and went back to Camden's room to find the 8-year-old lying on the floor having a tantrum. She sat on Camden and put her hands over her mouth, suffocating her for several minutes, until she died. Then, Kim lifted Camden into bed and tucked her in.
When Tim came home, he says it seemed like nothing was out of the ordinary.
"I looked in on Camden, it looked like she was tucked in like she normally would be, her night lights were on," he explained.
Tim says Kim was dozing off when he went to sleep that night. It wasn't until the next morning, when Camden never woke, that he realized something was terribly wrong. Standing in the entrance to Camden's bedroom fear swept over him.
"Trying to convince myself that she was ok, but I had a sinking feeling that she wasn't, and I went over to the bedside and as soon as I looked at her I knew that she was gone," said Tim.
Tim says he gave his daughter rescue breaths, but he knew it was too late. He called 9-1-1.
At first, he says the "how" it happened wasn't playing through his mind, he didn't want to believe it was real.
Tim explained, "I was just in so much shock, that really I think that it was probably several weeks, and I know that's hard to believe, but it was several weeks before I started to kind of come out of it and say what exactly happened here?"
Kim told him that Camden had fallen and bumped her head. Two days later, she was charged with Camden's murder, Tim's life was shattered.
Tim says, "Sometimes you feel like your doing great, and then you'll hear a song and it will just knock you off your feet."
