When an Oregon teen disappears, investigators discover her forbidden relationship led to murder. Natalie Morales reports. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What happened on October 2nd, 2017 that shocked Medford, Oregon?
911, what is the address at the emergency? 911 call came in October 2nd, 2017.
It was called in as a welfare check.
Something happened at my ex-husband's house over the evening, and my two children came to my house this morning. OK. And what did they tell you exactly? Their dad's gone. Their older sister's gone.
Where are we, officer? Set the scene for us.
This is Benson Street. And for me, this is just another welfare check. But we don't know what we're walking into.
What is your ex-husband's name? Aaron Fryer.
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Chapter 2: Who are the key members of the Fryer family involved in the case?
I learned that he was a good guy. He was a good dad.
What is your daughter's name? My oldest daughter's name is Ellen Fryer. How old is she? She's 15.
Ellie was in the marching band. Very bright, very intelligent.
With the older daughter missing, it was very suspicious. We didn't really know how suspicious it was until we saw what we saw when we got here. Left for police. Bounce yourself if you're in here. We clear the house and in the living room, based on the blood splatter, there was a serious assault, probable murder that occurred.
So time was of the essence in this case.
Absolutely. Time is always of the essence, you know. The only information I had was from the patrol officers and what Sierra was able to tell us on scene.
I remember waking up in the middle of the night
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Chapter 3: What did the initial police investigation reveal at the Fryer home?
We know at around 5.30 that Sierra heard the glass breaking.
I just started listening, just listening to try and understand what was happening.
I was certain she had heard the assault, but she hadn't realized that. Thank God she didn't walk out and interrupt this thing. I was very terrified. Based on what she had seen at the house, she knew somebody wasn't okay. She went over to the couch. She felt something wet, and when she pulled her hand up, it was covered in blood. I just was in like a state of shock.
Sierra could not locate her father, Aaron, and her teenage sister, Ellie. We treated it as a missing person serious assault until we know otherwise. Everyone was out looking. There was also a potential that this was what we could refer to as a no-body homicide. And those cases are always tough to work.
As of right now in my family, there are two family members missing. It's still like an open wound every day.
Natalie Morales reports, first love, then murder.
The quiet city of Medford, Oregon was shaken by Maggie Fryer's desperate 911 call in the early morning hours of October 2nd, 2017.
I don't know where my ex-husband or my oldest daughter is. I understand that. Something happened at the house. Something happened over there.
Maggie Fryer's ex-husband, Aaron Fryer, and their 15-year-old daughter, Ellen, nicknamed Ellie, were missing.
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Chapter 4: How did Sierra Fryer's eyewitness account impact the investigation?
Detective Shannon Reynolds, Bill Ford's colleague and wife of 20 years, had a different take.
In my mind, I automatically assumed that the 15-year-old daughter was the victim of a homicide.
So a case like this, where did this one sort of fit in?
Probably one of the most interesting, heinous crimes I've seen in my career.
Investigators hoped Ellie's younger sister, 11-year-old Sierra, might shed light on the unknown. Detective Reynolds, who specializes in crimes against children, was tasked with interviewing her.
Sierra wasn't, like, outright crying, but you could tell she was worried. Who was she worried about? Her dad and Ellie.
I try not to really think about that time a lot.
Sierra, 18 years old at the time of this exclusive interview, still finds it difficult to speak about the day her father and sister vanished.
I was, you know, just a child, and I'm sorry.
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Chapter 5: Who is Gavin McFarlane and why was he significant to the case?
I woke up, and it was just pitch black. I remember waking up to like a dinging noise over and over and over again. Then I heard glass shatter and I heard the fight that occurred.
The sound was coming from the living room. So then what does she hear? Because she really is sort of an ear witness to all that happened.
She heard her dad yell the F word. She heard dragging. She heard things being moved. After that, it was completely silent. Did she have any idea what was going on at the time? No. She was frightened enough to stay in her room until she felt like it was okay to come out.
When Sierra finally did come out, she found that horrific scene. It had to be so scary, though. So scary. Sierra told Detective Reynolds that before leaving her room, she had seen something out of her bedroom window.
She could see people walking back and forth.
Sierra saw two young men outside of her dad's house. One was a person Sierra didn't know. The second was someone Sierra immediately recognized. It was Gavin McFarlane. He was Ellen's boyfriend at the time.
This was her big love. According to her, he was a great guy, but according to my parents, he was not a great guy.
Sierra insinuated this was a little bit of a forbidden love. Dad had forbade Ellie from seeing Gavin.
This was the break investigators had been hoping for.
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Chapter 6: What discoveries did detectives make about Aaron Fryer's disappearance?
The search for Aaron and Ellie Fryer, and now Gavin McFarlane, was on.
We probably had 70, 75 people out on the streets of Medford.
Ellie and Aaron's phones were found in the house. Investigators now began tracking Gavin's phone.
We started getting cell phone tower hits up in the East Medford area.
Patrol officers immediately headed in that direction.
A patrol sergeant locates the car. That was huge.
As the officers approached Aaron Fryer's vehicle, they realized that something wasn't right.
We could see there was blood on the outside of the bumper that had been dripping down. When this trunk is opened up, there is large amounts of blood. I mean, it is soaked into the carpet.
But no Aaron and no Ellie. But the car was still warm, so the police knew they were close.
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Chapter 7: How was Ellie Fryer found and what was her condition?
And then just an hour later, investigators couldn't believe who they found next.
In 2009, three days before Halloween, a grisly crime stunned the seaport town of Anacortes, Washington.
Mark was known as the dog whisperer of Anacortes.
They soon discovered a story tangled in obsession. Who was the hunter and who was the hunted? Follow and listen to Train to Kill, the dog trainer, the heiress, and the bodyguard on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Their dad's gone. Their older sister's gone.
Then, just four hours after that 911 call reporting her missing, Medford police found Ellie Fryer. She was alive, seemingly unharmed, and had been walking down a busy street with Gavin McFarlane.
They're walking down the sidewalk.
In plain sight.
Plain sight. So now we know Ellie's safe.
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Chapter 8: What information did Russell Jones provide during interrogation?
Do you have ID with your name on there? No, I don't. I hardly ever carry my ID around. Okay.
He turned out to be Russell Jones, a friend of Gavin's.
I won't make it hard on you. All right.
Russell had apparently made an impression on Sierra Fryer, says Detective Shannon Reynolds. He matched the description of that second young man she saw at her father's house that morning. So she got a really good look at this person. Yes, yes. Investigators now had a witness placing Gavin and Russell at the crime scene.
Detective Ford says he wasn't sure what to make of Ellie being found with them.
That doesn't mean that Ellie's involved in something.
But Ford says that she, Gavin, or Russell might hold the key to finding Aaron.
Ellie, Gavin, and Russell are separated, detained, and transported to the Medford Police Department for questioning.
Hi. Hello. Detective Stephanie Jackson was tasked with getting Ellie Fryer's account of the previous 24 hours.
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