Case Signal's List: Zaylee Fryar - News Articles & Videos

• The third reward is for $5,000 for information leading to the whereabouts of Zaylee Grace Fryer, who was 4 months old at the time of her disappearance. 

   

  The baby and her mother, Shauna Fryar, were reported missing from their home in Millersville on May 5. 

   

  On May 7, the mother's body was recovered from the Cumberland River in downtown Nashville around the area of the Shelby Street Bridge. 

   

  Zaylee has not been seen since May 1, 2011.  An Amber Alert was issued for her on May 10. 

   

  The governor is making the reward available at the request of District Attorney General for the 18th District Ray Whitley.     

• "That still to this day is my concern. The baby. The welfare of the baby," said Millersville Police Chief Ronnie Williams. "I've got two children of my own, two little girls, so it touches home."

• He said his officers, along with the TBI, FBI, and the National Center For Missing & Exploited Children, have devoted countless hours to the search for Zaylee.

   

• They've scoured the Millersville mobile home park where mother and daughter were last seen.  Investigators also spent several days searching the waters of the Cumberland River, but never saw any signs of the baby.

   
• "I'm not going to give up, because I want to find out where she is," said Zaylee's father, Thurman McMurry. "I don't call her Zaylee, I call her my angel."
• "Just please if anyone has my kid, if you know anything, let someone know," he said. "Don't be scared, just come forward and let somebody know you know something."
• Police said the fact that Shauna left behind her car, cell phone, wallet, and the baby's diaper bag is one of several things about this case that just doesn't make sense.
• While hundreds of tips have come in, Williams said people can help by making those tips a bit more specific.
• "If you see a child that fits Zaylee's description, don't just call and give us the car description.  Get the tag number if at all possible," he said.

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• Zaylee Grace Fryar was born five months ago to a mother with a long history of drug addiction and abusive boyfriends.
• In Zaylee’s first days of life, her mom was beaten by Zaylee’s biological father, police said.
• The mother and daughter were homeless, couch-surfing from her great-grandparents’ house to a motel room to a $135-a-week trailer home in Millersville.
• Shauna left her cellphone and car keys in the trailer home where she was living with Michael Fryar, her long-estranged husband and friend. She left her late-model Honda Accord. And she left Zaylee’s diaper bag.
• Michael Fryar didn’t report them missing until four days later.
• The first time she left without a word, 38-year-old Michael Fryar said he called the police, and when they wouldn’t help for 72 hours, he feverishly searched government housing areas, high-crime stretches of Dickerson Pike, anywhere he thought she might go to get money for a fix.
• But she’d always come back, a week later, maybe two.
• Michael Fryar was called in to the Millersville Police Department to identify his wife’s body through pictures of her tattoos.
• “We don’t know if Zaylee is still alive,” said Millersville Police Chief Ronnie Williams. “But we are hoping and praying that she is. We are tracking down every lead, every spotting of the baby.”
• It could be another six weeks before medical examiner toxicology reports return to give police any answer as to what caused Shauna’s death.
• According to Shauna Fryar’s criminal record provided to The Tennessean by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Fryar had convictions of reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon and felony child abuse and neglect in 2009, plus charges of violating her probation, two counts of aggravated assault in 2008, and another charge of child neglect in 2007.
• Williams said Fryar was a known drug abuser, and that information was included in a TBI media release about Shauna and Zaylee Fryar going missing.
• It was little Zaylee, Michael Fryar said, who gave Shauna the inspiration to improve her life.
• “She just hung around with the wrong people,” said Fryar, who was 25 when he met and started dating 15-year-old Shauna. “She was a good person. She really was. Zaylee was everything to her.”
• In the wee hours of April 7, less than a month before her body was found in the river, Shauna Fryar posted on her Facebook page: “Thankful for every blessing God gives me, including every smile my baby gives me. Even if it is 3 in the morning.”
• Michael Fryar remembers her often telling Zaylee: “You’re the reason I’m living, baby girl.”
• Married in 1999, the Fryars separated in 2005 but never formally divorced.
• Both were dating other people and had children by other people, but he was the one she turned to when she had been beaten up by another boyfriend, needed to be picked up from prison or needed a place to stay, Michael Fryar said.
• “I think she was finally at a point where she was realizing drugs were not doing any good for her,” he said. “Her past was her past. That wasn’t her anymore. Yes, she had a secret life, but she loved that baby too much to have done anything to herself.”
• Michael’s mother, Cheryl Fryar, raises two of Shauna and Michael’s children. A Department of Children’s Services spokesman confirmed the agency had worked with Shauna Fryar over concerns with her other children.
• Cheryl Fryar said she and her husband can’t grieve for Shauna until Zaylee is found.
• “I feel like everyone has forgotten about little Zaylee,” the Greenbrier woman said. “No one is really out searching. I’m just so worried about her.”

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• The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation will offer a $1,000 reward for anyone with information relevant to the death of 28-year-old Shauna Fryar or information as to the whereabouts of her 4-month-old daughter Zaylee Fryar.
• On May 7, Shauna Fryar's body was recovered from the Cumberland River near the Shelby Street Bridge in Nashville. The cause of death remains undetermined.

• Zaylee's whereabouts are still unknown.
• There is currently an active AMBER Alert issued for Zaylee Fryar. Anyone with information is asked to call the TBI at 1-800-TBI-FIND.

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• Police tell us they're still investigating the case and searching for Zaylee.
• Police said Shauna Fryar had a history with drugs, but whether it played a role in her death is unknown.
• An autopsy concluded her body showed no signs of trauma. Police are waiting on the results of toxicology tests to see if drugs were involved.
• Metro Police said helicopters and boats are still being used to search the Cumberland River for the child's body.

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• People held white balloons with "We love you, Shauna" written on them.

• It's now been 18 days, and still no sign of missing four-month-old Zaylee Fryar.
• The family was joined by about two dozen people at a church in Springfield. They shared stories about Shauna Fryar and the baby girl they say she loved more than anything in the world. Also in the crowd was Zaylee's father, Thurman McMurry.
• "Just please bring my baby home safe to me, and find out who did this to Shauna, because I really want to know," McMurry said. "Because whoever done it should pay for what they did. And whoever has my baby should bring her to me, or let someone know where she is at."
• The location of the vigil was significant because Shauna Fryar used to live just across the street here in Springfield. She and the baby had only recently moved into a mobile home in Millersville
• A memorial and balloon release in Shauna's honor is set for Thursday at 2:00 p.m. at J. Travis Price Park in Springfield.

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• Shauna Fryar's body was found in the Cumberland River near the Jefferson Street Bridge in Nashville.
• Pamela Hamilton grew up with the baby's biological father, Thurman McMurry.
• "All I know is that with Thurman, he's missing his child, and if this was me, I would want somebody to help me," said Pamela Hamilton.
• On Monday, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agents were back at the trailer where Zaylee was last seen, searching for clues to her whereabouts.
• Family members and strangers have been questioned about the missing child and her dead mother. Police said time is the enemy, the longer Zaylee is missing, but those who love her cling to hope.
• The candlelight vigil for Zaylee is at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Deeper Praise Outreach Ministry in Springfield.

   

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• Zaylee Grace Fryar went last seen at her home in Millersville, located about 20 miles north of Nashville, on May 1 with her mother, Shauna.
• Fryar's husband, who is not the child's father, told Millersville police that he left their mobile home to go to the store around 9 a.m. that morning and when he returned, his wife and Zaylee were gone.
• On Monday, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's mobile lab, along side Metro's canine team searched a wooded area and creek near the family's home.
• TBI spokesperson Kristin Helm told Nashville's News 2 investigators are leaving no stone unturned in their effort to find the missing child. 

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• The FBI has joined the search for 4-month old Zaylee Fryar.
• An FBI agent whose specialty is examining bodies found in water is helping Metro Police.
• On Monday morning, crime scene investigators with the TBI searched the child's house in Millersville for the first time.
• Neighbors watched while crime scene investigators searched the Millersville home of Shauna and Michael Fryar.
• "There's nothing specific we're looking for in connection to the baby's whereabouts.  It's more of a blanket go through comb everything  to see if there's anything unusual that we can find that might lead us to believe what happened to her," said TBI spokeswoman Kristin Helm.
• The TBI issued an Amber Alert last Tuesday and it remains in effect for Zaylee.

• Police said Michael Fryar was the last person to see Shauna and Zaylee on May 1. They had just moved into the house two days earlier.

   
• "They didn't take any personal belongings with them.  We don't know if they left against their will or not," said Helm.
• Police said Fryar moved out of the home over the weekend. On Sunday, cadaver dogs sniffed out the area.
• "They were out here yesterday.  They had the dogs run the creek and around the trailer and all that," Hood said.
• Stephanie Fudge watched the dogs from the window of her home.
  
• "They searched the trailer and he (Michael Fryar) came back and moved his stuff out," said Fudge.
• An autopsy concluded her body showed no signs of trauma. Police are waiting on the results of toxicology tests to see if drugs were involved.
• Metro Police said helicopters and boats are still being used to search the Cumberland River for the child's body.

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• Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agents had an audience of curious onlookers in Millersville on Monday while searching the last place they'd been told 4-month-old Zaylee Fryar and her mother, Shauna, were seen.
• "We don't have any indication now whether the baby is alive or dead," said Kristin Helm of the TBI.
• Police said what does appear unusual is the fact that Fryar left home without her car, cellphone, purse and Zaylee's diaper bag.
• On Monday, TBI agents were examining the door of the trailer home and taking pictures outside.
• Over the weekend, neighbors said, police were also using canine dogs to search nearby Slater Creek for any clues about the missing child.
• TBI agents wouldn't say if they found anything at the trailer Monday.

   

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• "Anybody that have my baby, I need my daughter here with me," said Thurman McMurry.
• McMurry spoke from his home in Springfield on Friday night.
• McMurry was in jail at the time that Shauna and Zaylee disappeared, but knew something was wrong in the days before she was reported missing.
• "I knew something was wrong when she did not answer the phone, let me know something," McMurry added.
• Fryar lived with her estranged husband at the time, but McMurry said they were planning on getting married.
• Fryar's husband, Michael Fryar, reported her missing on May 4, four days after he had last seen her. He told police that he left their apartment around 9 p.m. Sunday, May 1, to go to the store. When he returned, his wife and Zaylee were gone, although her vehicle, cell phone, wallet and the child's diaper bag were still at the residence.
• Police said Shauna Fryar had seven children, including Zaylee, ranging in age from four months to 12-years who live with other relatives.
• Police said Fryar had a history of drug addiction, and that she may have been trying to obtain illegal drugs at around the time she was last seen.

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• Zaylee Fryar has been missing for more than a week. Her mother's body was pulled from the Cumberland River over the weekend.
• “But I want my daughter here with me. She ain’t got her mother. She needs to be here with her daddy,” said Zaylee's father, Thurman McMurry.
• This was supposed to be the day McMurry reunited with his daughter after a month apart, but 4-month-old Zaylee Grace Fryar is missing.
• “If anybody has her or knows where's she at, I wish they would at least bring her to me, so she could at least be with her daddy,” said McMurry.
• McMurry was released from the Robertson County Jail on Friday where he'd been since mid-April for an unrelated assault charge.
• McMurry said he and Fryar had planned to continue their relationship and live in Millersville once he was released.
• Police don't consider McMurry a suspect because he was in jail when the mother and baby disappeared.
• “Do you have any idea who could be involved? Who might be responsible?” asked Channel 4 reporter Jonathan Martin.
• “I don't know anybody. To be honest, I wish I wouldn't have been in jail. Maybe it wouldn't have ever have happened,” said McMurry.
• Detectives are waiting on toxicology results to find out how Shauna Fryar died. They're also interviewing more people who recently saw or heard from her.
• McMurry said he doesn't believe Fryar would have done anything to harm Zaylee.
• “She had a history of doing drugs, but still, she never left that baby, and I don't think she would do nothing to that baby,” said McMurry.
• McMurry said, during the past couple weeks while he was in jail, he tried reaching his girlfriend to check on her and the baby but had trouble reaching her and had a feeling something could be wrong.

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• The husband of a Robertson County mother whose body was pulled from the Cumberland River last weekend doubts she committed suicide and told Nashville's News 2 it's likely his wife was murdered.
• "She was at the house.  I was leaving for the store and I think she was feeding the baby," he recalled.
• In an interview Thursday, Michael Fryar admitted that Shauna had struggled with drug abuse and may have been searching for cocaine at the time of their disappearance.
• He told Nashville's News 2 the three of them lived in a trailer he rented in hopes of creating a safe place for the mother and daughter.
• "She had been living in motels here and there so we got the trailer so she'd have a safe place.  It wasn't a husband and wife thing.  It was more of a roommate [thing].  We'd been split up for five years now.  She was my best friend so I got us a place so she wouldn't be running around," he explained.
• Fryar is not Zaylee's biological father but he said he cared for the child like she was his own and was at the hospital when she was born.
• He said he is hopeful Zaylee will be found safe and that he and his family can get custody of the child.  He said he and Shauna have two children together and his parents currently have custody of them.
• "You hear about this stuff happening and you never expect it to happen to you," Fryar said.
• Zaylee's biological father is in jail in Rutherford County and has been since the mother and daughter went missing.

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• Police spent Thursday interviewing more than a dozen people, hoping to find even a bit of information that may lead to baby Zaylee Grace Fryar. They also started gathering surveillance video from businesses around Millersville, where the baby lived, and Nashville, where Zaylee's mother was found.
• "We're hoping somebody just finds her or turns her in or anything, anything that could help," said family friend Emily Schendel.
• On Thursday, police interviewed more than 20 people who recently saw or spoke to the mother. They're checking her phone records, Facebook posts and following dozens of tips, but police said nothing so far is solid.
• Investigators said they hope medical examiners can speed up the autopsy on Fryar. They said they think finding out how she died will be key to finding out what happened to her daughter.
• Police said no one has been ruled out as a suspect. They've already questioned Fryar's husband and the baby's biological father. Police don't believe Zaylee's father was involved because he's been in Robertson County Jail on an unrelated case.
• Friends and family of Zaylee said they are confident Fryar wouldn't have done anything to harm Zaylee.
• "She was nice," said Schendel. "She always had an open mind. She would give her last for anybody and everybody."
• Crews said they did not do much searching along the Cumberland River on Thursday but plan to resume searching there Friday and through the weekend, if needed.

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• Millersville Police on Wednesday questioned anyone and everyone who knows Shauna and little Zaylee Grace Fryar.  Metro Police, meanwhile, continue to scour the waters of the Cumberland River.
• "We're praying about it, praying about my grandbaby," said Sandra McMurry.
• Her son, Thurman McMurry, is Zaylee's biological father.  He's not a suspect in the case because he's currently behind bars at the Robertson County Jail, serving time on an unrelated assault charge.
• On Tuesday, Millersville police visited his jail cell to deliver the bad news, first about Shauna's death, and then about Zaylee's disappearance.
• "I talked to him on the phone and he was sad.  He was crying and I told him, 'just think good things about the baby, maybe she's still living,'" said McMurry.
• She said Fryar and her son had dated on and off for over a year, and that Shauna would often bring Zaylee by their home to visit with her relatives.  Their last visit came at the end of April.
• "I called her every day after that and she didn't answer the phone, and I knew something was wrong then, because that wasn't Shauna.  Shauna always answered the phone when we called," said McMurry.
• Thurman McMurry is due to be released from jail on Friday.  His mother said he was looking forward to spending more time with Zaylee.
• "She was a good baby, she really was," said McMurry. "And Shauna was just like my daughter."
• Investigators said one of their biggest questions right now is whether Shauna Fryar died before or after her body hit the waters of the Cumberland River, but they won't know that answer until her autopsy is complete.

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• On Saturday night, someone walking on the Shelby Street Pedestrian Bridge called police to report a body floating in the water. Investigators said they believe the body had been in the water for some time. Police have identified the woman as 28-year-old Shauna Marie Fryar, the missing baby's mother, through her fingerprints.
• Police said there was no sign of trauma to her body, and her cause of death isn't yet known. They said they don't know if she died before entering the water.
• Metro police said there's no evidence to suggest Zaylee is in the water.
• The baby has black hair and brown eyes and weighs 12 pounds. She has a quarter-size brown birthmark on her right leg. She was last seen with Fryar on May 1 at their home.
• On May 5, Fryar's husband, who isn't Zaylee's father, reported his wife and Zaylee missing. Millersville police said the man told them he went to a store at about 9 a.m. on May 1 and that Fryar and Zaylee were gone when he returned.
• Police said no personal belongings for the baby or Fryar were missing, that Fryar's purse, cellphone and diaper bag were still at the apartment complex. They said Fryar had a history of drug addiction and that she may have been trying to get illegal drugs about the time she was last seen.
• Millersville police said the baby's biological father isn't a suspect because he was in the Robertson County Jail when the two went missing, and he's still there.

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• Metro Police Lt. Steve Lewis said people told police that they thought they saw a body floating in the river on Saturday. Authorities recovered the body late Saturday afternoon and the medical examiner’s office is looking at the cause of death. Police said there were no signs of trauma.

• Metro police helicopters continue to fly over the river in search of the baby, but there is no evidence that the girl is in the water, Lewis said.

• “There are not a whole lot of leads,” he said.

• Fryar and the baby moved to Millersville from Nashville in late April; three days later, they were missing, Millersville Police Chief Ronnie Williams said.
• “Our main concern is finding the baby,” he said.
• The husband told police he was accustomed to Fryar disappearing for days at a time.
• Fryar had seven children, including the baby. The others live with grandparents and relatives, police said.

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• At this point, investigators said everyone is a suspect until they can figure out if they're dealing with an accident or foul play. 
• Millersville police have questioned Fryar's husband, Michael Fryar. He told NewsChannel 5 on Tuesday evening that he wants everyone to know that he was not involved in their disappearance.
• "My son would never hurt anyone like that, and especially, they were friends," said Michael's father, Cliff.
• Fryar, who is not Zaylee's father, told Millersville Police that he left their apartment around 9 p.m. Sunday, May 1, to go to the store. When he returned, his wife and Zaylee were gone, although her vehicle, cell phone, wallet and the child's diaper bag were still at the residence.
• "We're still just in shock, but we trust God will keep the baby safe and bring her back," Cliff Fryar added.

• Cliff  Fryar also said that Michael and Fryar separated years ago, but remained close friends who could always count on each other.

   
• "You know, Mike wanted to help her out and give her a place to stay because she was more or less homeless," Cliff said.
• On April 29, they moved into this Millersville mobile home park along with Zaylee. Neighbors remember when they arrived.
• "They just moved in, they sat on their porch, walked their baby around, that's about it. They didn't really talk to nobody," said neighbor Rachel Dixon.
• "She was love with life and in love with that baby. I mean that was her life that baby," Cliff added. 
• On Tuesday, Metro police confirmed that the body found in the Cumberland River on Saturday night was Shauna Marie Fryar. Michael Fryar had reported her and Zaylee missing on Thursday, May 5.
• The body was spotted by someone on the Shelby Street Pedestrian Bridge who called 911 on Saturday night. Dive teams recovered the body.
• Police said there was no trauma to her body that suggested the cause of death, which remains undetermined. Police have also not determined whether Shauna died before entering the water. An autopsy is underway.
• Metro police have been checking the area around the Cumberland River for Zaylee with helicopters, though they said there is no evidence at this point that she is in the water.
• "If we get more information then we may put boats in, but right now its just aerial and if it gets down to the point where we need to use divers we will," said Metro Police Lt. Steven Lewis.
• Millersville police had originally issued an endangered child alert for Zaylee on Monday. It was upgraded on Tuesday after police identified Shauna's body.
• Detectives have confirmed that Fryar and the child were fine on Saturday, April 30, when they visited a relative in Pegram.
• Police said Fryar has a history of drug addiction, and that she may have been trying to obtain illegal drugs at around the time she was last seen.
• In all, police said Fryar had seven children, including Zaylee, ranging in age from four months to 12-years who live with other relatives.
• Zaylee's biological father was incarcerated in the Robertson County Jail at the time mother and daughter disappeared. He remains in jail on unrelated charges, and is not a suspect at this time.

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