KY - Faith Callahan, 18, raped & murdered, Louisville, 9 Jan 1969

Kentucky court denies appeal in 45-year-old case

An inmate who has been in prison since 1969 for murder and rape has lost a bid for freedom after the Kentucky Court of Appeals concluded that age and ill health did not warrant his release.

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Fryrear also noted that Kentucky did away with life in prison without parole as a sentence for rape in 1975.

Maze said lawmakers didn't make the law retroactive, so it didn't apply to Fryrear.

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I saw this story this morning and have been looking into it. I found a little about the murder, but many of my search results were from somewhere that needed a subscription (i.e. newspaperarchives.com, the archives of individual newspapers or e-books).



The e-book I found, Book of Leroy (Lee Creek, 2013), claims his innocence (per the synopsis) and goes over his life in prison.

The story of Leroy Fryrear, who has spent 44 years in prison for a murder and rape he did not commit. Leroy gives an inside look at the brutality that is a part of everyday prison life.

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(synopsis from Amazon)

This is a slightly more detailed story about his appeal being denied. Oddly enough, it is from a CT newspaper. It is the same as one in the Lexington newspaper (Lexington Herald Leader) but it needs a subcription.


Kentucky court denies appeal in 45-year-old case

Maze said lawmakers didn't make the law retroactive, so it didn't apply to Fryrear.

Fryrear's claims about his health are may for the basis for a clemency request, but not a legal argument, Maze said.

"Without intending to seem callous, Fryrear's age and infirmity are not results of his life sentence, nor are they related to the trial proceedings that precipitated it," Maze wrote.

"They are the results of the mere passage of time; time spent in prison following a crime for which he was tried, convicted and sentenced according to the laws as they existed at the time."

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There are a few articles about Death Row that mention Fryrear. That is because he was sentenced to death shortly before Furman vs. Georgia (1972), which basically stopped the Death Penalty for a few years.

Besides the execution matter, as noted by the judge who denied the appeal, the sentencing guidelines for rape changed. When he was convicted, you could get Life Without Parole (or Death?) for rape, which is no longer the case. That was a big part of his appeal.



This is the only story I've found (thus far) about the actual crime. It's short enough that I am including a snip and the link.

Man Held In Rape-Slaying (Kentucky New Era, Hopkinsville, Ky, 1/13/1969)




*** If anyone has access to e-books or some kind of Kindle subscription...

Please check up on the "innocent" aspect of the book (Book of Leroy, Creek, 2013) and elaborate if any of it rings true. For the moment, I'm just a broke boy in Kentucky and don't really want to pay for any info at the time being. I understand his argument about the sentence, but haven't found anything else that mentions the "innocence" part.

I found a website (Smashwords) that has snippets/previews of Book of Leroy.

Here is the first page, which has a map with the homes of various players marked. You can navigate the book below the text
http://www.smashwords.com/extreader/read/295790/9/book-of-leroy

About noon, Ruth Gower took some trash outside to place in an incinerator behind her garage. Between the garage and the incinerator, Gower was terrified to see the body of a girl she recognized—Faith Ann Callahan—and it was obvious she was dead.

The girl’s throat had been slashed, she had stab wounds on her chest, and she wore only a bra. The terrified neighbor immediately ran back into her house and called police.

It was only a few minutes before the St. Matthews’ police arrived. They gave the murder site a cursory look before deciding to call in the Jefferson County Police Department, one more used to handling such crimes. St. Matthews’ police proceeded to secure the murder scene, and Jefferson County officers arrived in a few minutes to take over the investigation.

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Apparently rape was not a Capital offense in Kentucky. I'm not sure about the "Life Without Parole" though.

Ruling On Rape May Be A Blessing (Kentucky New Era, Hopkinsville, Ky, 7/29/1977)

I found out about 3 years ago that Leroy Fryrear is my biological father. I’ve met him and also researched this murder as much as I could. He, of course, maintains his innocence. I think he’s 100% guilty.