North Kingstown police arrive at 73 Ricci Lane Thursday, where 8-year-old Camden Fry was found dead Tuesday morning. Kimberly M. Fry, the girl’s mother, has been charged with murder.

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The Providence Journal / Connie Grosch

Kimberly M. Fry, center in white, is wheeled out of District Court, South Kingstown, after being charged in her cellblock for the alleged strangulation murder of her 8-year-old daughter.

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The Providence Journal Bob Thayer

North Kingstown Police Chief Edward A. Charboneau announces the arrest of Kimberly M. Fry. Behind him is Attorney General Patrick Lynch.

The Providence Journal / Bob Thayer

NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. — The Frys blended easily into the family neighborhood on Ricci Lane when they moved in two years ago.

Timothy and Kimberly Fry attended the annual block parties, residents say, and waved at passersby when out doing yard work. Little daughter, Camden, became part of the clumps of youngsters who played in the protective circle of middle-class homes.

But on Tuesday morning, neighbors say their phones relayed tragic news: that Camden, now 8, had been found dead in her bedroom.

Then on Thursday came an inconceivable allegation: the police had charged Camden’s 36-year-old mother, a busy volunteer at her daughter’s elementary school — who taught pupils how to sneeze into their elbows so as not to spread dangerous germs — had strangled her daughter.

“It’s just an unimaginably tragic situation,” said Larry Ceresi, who lives on Ricci Lane and is chairman of the North Kingstown School Committee. “It’s a tragedy in any case but to have it happen a few houses down from you, you would never imagine such a thing.”

Thursday afternoon, as a judge and lawyers descended into a courthouse basement cellblock to charge Kimberly Fry with murder — she was confined to a wheelchair for reasons that were not disclosed — a half-dozen detectives searched the Fry’s contemporary ranch house on Ricci Lane.

In a later news conference at North Kingstown police headquarters, Police Chief Edward A. Charboneau said that Camden was discovered dead in her bedroom Tuesday morning by her father, Timothy, who reported last seeing his daughter about 12 hours beforehand in her bed, and presumed sleeping.

Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch, who attended the arraignment, called the crime “frankly incomprehensible and absolutely horrifying.”

At her initial arraignment in the cellblock in Washington County District Court, in Wakefield, Fry entered no plea, as is customary in felony cases. Assistant Attorney General Stephen A. Regine told Judge William C. Clifton that Fry had strangled her daughter and that investigators had relied on statements she had given to people whom Regine did not identify.

Clifton ordered Fry held without bail pending a formal arraignment in Superior Court. The judge also ordered a medical assessment of Fry and asked that prison officials place her on a suicide watch.

Fry’s lawyers, C. Leonard O’Brien and Lise J. Gescheidt, told Clifton that Fry was taking certain medications and asked that they be passed on to officials at the Adult Correctional Institutions, where she is be held pending a future court appearance. Clifton ordered that prison officials continue giving Fry those medications.

The police and rescue crews rushed to 73 Ricci Lane Tuesday morning after Timothy Fry called to report his daughter was unresponsive.

Rescue crews found the young girl had no vital signs and as a matter of protocol contacted the state medical examiner’s office.

On Wednesday the medical examiner’s office determined Camden’s death was a homicide. The police said their investigation determined that Kimberly Fry “was responsible for the death of the child.”

Investigators arrested Fry at South County Hospital. They did not say whether Fry was at the hospital as a patient or an employee.

Camden Fry was preparing to enter third grade at Fishing Cove Elementary School, said teacher Susanne Warburton

“She was a sweet, happy little kid,” said Warburton.

Both Timothy and Kimberly Fry volunteered at the school, and helped lead a beautification project there. Last year they created and mounted a fish sculpture on the school wall, facing the playground.

School Committee member Kimberly Page said Kimberly Fry “was very passionate about her involvement with the schools,” especially when it came to health and hygiene.

Page said Fry spoke last year to the School Committee against allowing food to be used in the curriculum, citing sanitary concerns, and she visited classrooms to teach children how to sneeze into the inside of their elbow.

“She would have this little spray bottle,” Page said, and she would demonstrate how moisture from an uncovered sneeze or cough would spread.

“She really wanted to help out the students at the school,” said Page. “She had a passion to make sure she was helping in a positive way.”

marmenta@projo.com

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