Family looks to national TV, radio on missing-woman case
Cortney Fry of Columbia disappeared 6 months ago.
By Cindy Stauffer
Lancaster New Era
Published: Jan 07, 2005
LANCASTER COUNTY, PA - As the six-month anniversary of Cortney Frys disappearance approaches, her family members are working to make sure no one forgets her.They have started a reward fund. They are talking to interviewers on national radio and television shows. They have posted two Web sites.
They are doing what they can to generate any information about Fry, a 19-year-old mother who disappeared from her Columbia apartment last July, just weeks after giving birth to a daughter.
We hope it will bring more attention to the case, said Jodi Stauffer, a local resident who is acting as spokeswoman for Frys mother. One of the main reasons we are doing this is because we need to feel like were doing something.
Two or three county detectives are working full time on the case, said Lancaster Chief County Detective Michael Landis.
We continue to get tips, Landis said.
No arrests have been made in the case.
In hopes of generating more information, Stauffer and County Detective Joseph Geesey appeared Dec. 8 on On the Record with Greta Van Sustern on the Fox News Channel. Van Sustern interviewed the pair about Frys disappearance.
Stauffer also was interviewed on nationally syndicated radio shows hosted by Ed Buggs and Liberty Broadcasting in November.
And she is hoping to appear on Montel Williams TV talk show in the next few months.
I think it will bring more attention to the case, Stauffer said. Maybe someone who lives in another state knows something. Maybe they were visiting Lancaster County and saw something, or they know someone in Lancaster County who mentioned something to them.
The family also is asking for information via two Web sites:
www.findcortney.com and
www.freewebs.com/cortney fry.
The sites both have guest books, where people from all over the country have posted messages of sympathy and theories about Frys disappearance.
The family also has held vigils in Columbia and handed out buttons with Frys photo on them.
Fry was last seen by her boyfriend, Micah J. Stewart, when he left the couples Fifth Street apartment.
Stewart told police that when he returned 45 minutes later, his girlfriend was gone, having left behind the couples then-2-week-old daughter, Giavanni. (She is now being cared for by members of the Stewart family and is seen regularly by Frys family.)
Stewart didnt report his girlfriend missing. It was her father who contacted police two days later, when he stopped at the apartment and Stewart told him Fry had disappeared.
Fry and Stewart had been having problems before her disappearance, friends said. Police had charged Stewart with disorderly conduct after being called to a dispute between the two about a week before Fry disappeared.
Stewart had questioned whether he was the babys father. The couple took a paternity test, which friends said confirmed Stewart was the father.
To make a donation to the reward fund, make checks payable to: Eric G. Warfel f/b/o Cortney Fry Reward Fund. Write for deposit only in the check notation.
Checks should be sent to: Eric G. Warfel, c/o Commerce Bank, P.O. Box 1923, 1803 Mt. Rose Ave., Suite A-7, York, PA 17405-1923.
Lancaster Crimestoppers also is $1,000 reward for information leading police to Frys whereabouts.
http://www.lancasteronline.com/pages/news/local/6/11056