Does anyone have or know where I can find a picture of Coffey when he was younger? Say from the early 80's? I am fairly confident that this is the man who molested me in Goldsboro, NC in the summer of 1981. I can't prove it, but a lot of the information I've been reading points to him (description, car, methodology, location, etc.) I'm sure that it's beyond the statute of limitations, but it would give me some sense of closure because I know I would recognize him for sure if I saw an earlier picture. I'm already fairly sure with the picture that is currently available.
This man ruined my life.
Can you say how he initially approached you? Did he use any kind of ruse or enticements? Was he someone you had seen or met before?
Fred Coffey moved around a lot and owned a number of vehicles. He was married three times.
His "hometown" is usually said to be Bristol, Virginia. That is right on the border of western Virginia and eastern Tennessee. It is not far from Kentucky and North Carolina state lines.
Coffey's mother lived in Bristol throughout the time of his entry into the Navy in 1962, through his trial and imprisonment in 1986-87. So Bristol was always a place which he could travel to and stay for periods of time.
Coffey was stationed at several places during his Navy career (1962-1974). At one time, he was on the West Coast, and he served a tour of duty in Viet Nam. His last duty station was Norfolk, VA. While there, he abducted a 13 year-old girl, the daughter of another Navy man, and raped her in the Virginia Beach, VA area. This crime was dealt with by civil authorities, and when the Navy learned of it, Coffey was discharged and given a code which prevented him from re-enlisting. He left the Navy in September 1974, but may have still had a home, and certainly contacts in the Virginia Beach area for some time afterward.
Some time between September 1974 and possibly February/March 1975, Coffey moved to Montgomery County, Maryland which is just north of Washington DC. There he began work at Vitro Laboratories, which was a Department of Defense Contractor. His address (listed in Vitro employment documents) was the Holiday Motel in Rockville, MD. It is not known for certain if this was where he lived during his entire stay in Maryland which ended abruptly in late July 1975.
By October 1975, Coffey was back in Virginia Beach, VA where he was arrested and charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor with a 15 year-old girl.
Before 1975 was over, Coffey had enlisted in the North Carolina National Guard, so he may have moved there by the end of 75.
Coffey was known to have lived in Charlotte, NC between 1979 and 1986, but he is also believed to have abducted and murdered Travis Shane King (age 8) in Bristol in summer of 1986.
He was arrested late in 1986 in Charlotte, NC and was first tried in a multiple child molestation case and found guilty. Then in 1987, he was tried and convicted of murdering Amanda Ray (1979). He was initially sentenced to death in two separate trials and to life in prison in a third trial. He has remained in the NC prison system, moving several times over the years since 1986.
Coffey's current residence is Pender Prison in Burgaw, NC.
As to photos of Coffey, there are links in Websleuths to two prison photos of him. One was taken about 2002 and the other more recerntly.
I have seen photos of him which were published in the Washington Post newspaper in 1987 taken during his arrest and trials. By that time his hair was mostly gray.
I have also seen a 1975 photo of him taken for his Vitro ID card, which was printed in a Maryland newspaper many years ago. In this photo, his hair was dark brown or black, but it is possible that he had dyed it prior to starting work with Vitro. There is a lot of testimony from various people who knew him that his hair was "salt and pepper" or graying at an early age.
There are some posts and photo links in the Websleuths threads on the missing Lyon Sisters, but I think only the two prison photos mentioned are on there.
It is likely that other photos exist of Coffey, taken at the time of his arrests and bookings, but I have not been able to get copies of them.
It is also possible that his Navy record or National Guard records have ID photos of him.
