NC NC/VA/MD - Fred Howard COFFEY, Jr, Child Killer/Rapist, 1970's-80's

watcher9

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I ran across this guy while on another thread.
It should be for NC/VA/MD but I didn't know how to put it in.

Fred Howard Coffey, Jr. is currently serving a life term in NC for the 1979 murder of a 10 year NC girl. He may have been involved in the Lyon Sisters abduction, and possibly in the 24 July 1975 abduction/murder of 15 year-old Kathy Lynn Beatty, also of Montgomery County, Maryland.

He is a prime suspect in numerous other murder cases, including 8 yr old boy Travis King in VA (1986) and 5 yr old girl Neely Smith in NC (1981).

Coffey currently resides in Pender Prison, NC. He comes up for Parole every year in July.

http://www.bluelineradio.com/FredHowardCoffey
 
The other state abbreviations are in the thread title now.

This guy is the worst of the worst. I've never understood why LE was unable to charge him in Travis King's murder. Several eyewitnesses saw him walking with the boy. When he showed up in the neighborhood after Travis was found dead, a neighbor took down the license number of his car.

“He bounced around his whole life. And wherever he was, kids ended up dead,” said Bristol Virginia Police Sgt. Steve Crawford, part of the third generation of detectives to inherit the case.
Fred Howard Coffey, 66, is in prison six hours away for murdering a 10-year-old North Carolina girl seven years before Shane was killed. Coffey is suspected of killing others – maybe one little girl, maybe more – and reportedly confessed to molesting 100 kids.


A lanky gray-haired man pulled his Pontiac Sunbird into the Eastridge Apartments parking lot on the afternoon of Thursday, Aug. 21, 1986. A woman leaving for work watched as he got out, opened the trunk and removed a metal detector. She thought it was odd.


About 3 p.m., Shane King was sitting in a recliner watching cartoons at his family’s apartment in the C building. His grandmother needed a part for her car so she and her daughter, Shane’s mother, Terry King, left for the store. It was hot and Shane didn’t want to go with them, Miller said. He’d been sick; his mother made him goulash and they left him alone with the door unlocked. Two hours later, when the women came home, the door was locked but the boy was gone.


“He was such a good boy,” a neighbor told the Herald Courier. “He was the first little boy I knew who washed clothes and folded clothes. An 8-year-old boy that would do something like that.”


http://www.tricities.com/news/article_16913ed3-c313-5883-950a-1b64766d1cc0.html
 
Thank you so much for fixing the thread title.

I am glad to see that Travis King's murder case is still classified as an open file after all these years.
 
I would like to give our own WSer Richard the credit for the information provided in the link with which I opened this thread. Apparently, his postings were used as the source for it.
 
I am related to Neely Smith by marriage and it's so obvious Fred Coffey murdered her I wish he would be charged with it! This man makes me sick! He is definitely the worst if the worst!
 
I am related to Neely Smith by marriage and it's so obvious Fred Coffey murdered her I wish he would be charged with it! This man makes me sick! He is definitely the worst if the worst!


I am so sorry that no justice has been done for Neely. It must be so heartbreaking to live with the horrific death of a small child while knowing that her killer is still alive and kicking and seeking parole every year. Prayers to you and Neely's family.

Have the LE ever found any evidence linking him to her or is it based on suspicion only?
 
According to the North Carolina Prison Inmate Locator, Fred Coffey will be up for a Parole Hearing on 1 November 2018.

Please take the time to let your thoughts on this matter be known.

LINK:

NC DPS Offender Public Information
 
Fred Howard COFFEY, Jr. (incarcerated)
- Known child molester and killer
- Worked in Wheaton for Vitro Labs April thru July 1975
- Pre and Post offenses against children
- had several vehicles
- former Navy
Fred Howard Coffey, Jr. is currently serving a life term in NC for the 1979 murder of a 10 year NC girl. He may have been involved in the Lyon Sisters abduction, and possibly in the 24 July 1975 abduction/murder of 15 year-old Kathy Lynn Beatty, also of Montgomery County, Maryland... Post # 5 and several subsequent ones.

LINK:

Potential Suspects and Persons of Interest
 
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Fred Howard Coffey, Jr. Inmate At Pender Prison, Burgaw, NC

Coffey was convicted of the murder of little 10 year old Amanda Ray. He was originally sentenced to Death, and after a second trial was again convicted and sentenced to Death. At a third trial, the sentence was changed to Life in Prison, with him immediately eligible for Parole consideration. He has been denied Parole each time since 1995.

Although convicted of only one murder, it is very likely that he also murdered Travis King, age 8, and Neely Smith, age 5. He has convictions of crimes against other children, and is a suspect in others.

LINK:

The Edward Coffey Project: Fred Howard Coffey, Jr.
 
Besides the several murders of children previously mentioned in posts to this thread, Fred Howard Coffey, Jr. should be considered a potential suspect in the murder of Kathy Lynn Beatty, age 14.

Kathy went missing from her Aspen Hill neighborhood in Montgomery County, Maryland one evening in July, 1975. She was found early the next morning badly beaten and near death, but still alive in a rocky, littered field adjacent to a K Mart parking lot. She lingered in a coma in hospital for 12 days before succumbing to her injuries.

Many more details on Kathy's case can be seen in the Lyon Sisters threads here on Websleuths.

Kathy was walking around her neighborhood, barefoot and alone that early summer evening, according to several eye witnesses. A shortcut to the K Mart shopping center passed through the grounds and parking lot of Vitro Industries, a government contracting firm. Working at Vitro for a few months was Fred Coffey, who had previously been discharged from the Navy for raping a 13 year old girl (daughter of another Navy man).

When news of Kathy being found alive was published in the papers, Fred Coffey immediately left the state without notice to his employer, Vitro. When later news stories stated that Kathy had died without regaining consciousness, Coffey called Vitro with the explanation for his exit being that his wife and daughter had been in an auto accident in Kentucky. He asked that his last paycheck be mailed to him.

The story about the Kentucky auto accident was later proven to be a lie.
 
Fred Howard Coffey, Jr. was transferred on 27 June 2023 from Pender Prison to Greene Correctional Institution.

Greene Correctional Institution is a designated reentry facility, where a variety of programs and services are offered to assist offenders nearing their release dates to transition back to their communities.

Hopefully, this move is not in anticipation of releasing Coffey into the community.

He is serving a life sentence for the murder of 10 year old Amanda Ray.
 
Last edited:
FRED H COFFEY
Offender Number:
0081135​
Inmate Status:
ACTIVE​
Gender:
MALE​
Race:
WHITE​
Ethnic Group:
NOT HISPANIC/LATINO​
Birth Date:
03/20/1945​
Age:
78​
Current Location:
GREENE CI​
 
In June of 2023, Fred Howard Coffey, Jr. was transferred from Pender Prison to Greene Correctional Institution in North Carolina. Here is a description of that institution from the prison website:

"Greene Correctional Institution is a designated reentry facility, where a variety of programs and services are offered to assist offenders nearing their release dates to transition back to their communities."

"The prison also offers various rehabilitative programs that include religious services, Narcotics Anonymous, Alcoholics Anonymous, Think Smart, Strive Transition Program, Home Leaves, Community Volunteer Leaves, Work Release, independent studies, cognitive behavior intervention, Father accountability and library and recreation along with the Offender Service Club. There are approximately 100 active community volunteers who offer their services in the facility's various rehabilitative and religious services."

Hopefully this is not an indication that Mr. Coffey will be back on the street any time soon. He is a serial offender whose sexual proclivities have obviously continued while in prison.

LINK:

 
There are some interesting marriage and divorce records concerning Fred Howard Coffey at the link below.

LINK:
 

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