Nicholle Coppler probably found

The police have located human remains in a crawl space at the former home of Glen Fryer, the prime suspect in the thirteen-year-old disappearance of Nicholle Coppler from Lima, Ohio. Fryer hanged himself in jail in 2002, just after he pleaded guilty to an unrelated rape charge.

Authorities believe Nicholle, who was 14 at the time she went missing, ran away from home at first, then Fryer prevented her from returning and either killed her or forced her into prostitution (or both). Obviously, right now they’re leaning towards the “he killed her” theory.

This article from last month talks about the case and about human trafficking and teen prostitution in general. A friend of mine told me he knew a girl who’d been forced into prostitution in Nevada and had met Nicholle out there, but I didn’t give much credence to the story.

This case touches me more than most because my old stomping grounds are in Lima. I have gone to Ohio State University at Lima off and on since I was fourteen, my father worked at the university for 37 years and now lives in an apartment downtown, and I have driven on Elizabeth Street (where Fryer’s house is) many a time. Probably passed that house scores of times.

Book about football players lost at sea

I just found out about the book Not Without Hope by Nick Schuyler, which was published in March 2010. Schuyler was the sole survivor of a tragic accident off the coast of Florida that claimed the lives of his friends Marquis Cooper, Corey Smith and William Bleakley. The three men’s bodies were never found, hence their profiles on the Charley Project.

From the product description:

Schulyer shares the full story of the accident for the first time. Recounting the events that led up to the fateful day and the four lives that became inextricably intertwined, he relives those intense 45 traumatic hours and probes the psychological and physiological depths he endured to survive. In addition, he tells the remarkable tale of the search and rescue mission that saved him. An incredible tale of courage, grief, strength, and love, “Not Without Hope” is an unforgettable true story of one man’s incredible survival and a moving tribute to the friends he lost-and will never forget.

The accident got more press attention than most, because Marquis Cooper and Corey Smith were both professional football players. Marquis played with the Oakland Raiders and Corey with the Detroit Lions. William Bleakley had played football in college, but not professionally.

My library has the book. I’ll have to see about reading it and mining it for information to put on Charley.

I’ll be darned

Elizabeth Smart will be coming to Fort Wayne for a speech at the Scottish Rite Center on March 8. (Michael just texted me to inform me of this, then I looked it up online and found the article.)

I will see if I can get tickets, or whatever. I pretty much am obligated to go.

Why does this always happen to me?

This morning, before treatment started at the Cleveland Clinic, I went to their pop machine, inserted my money and pressed a button, hoping it would deliver the Pepsi I asked for. I wasn’t sure because yesterday, when I tried to get pop, the machine made the clunky noise but didn’t drop a bottle into the slot and I had to get a refund from the cafeteria cashier.

Well, today it vomited: SIX drinks (including my Pepsi) fell into the slot at the bottom. So many, in fact, that in spite of my struggles I could only extract one. The other five were wedged in too tightly. Later, however, a cafeteria employee got them out and gave them all to me. I protested that I had only paid for one drink, and he said, “Well, you are the lucky winner on the slot machine today.”

I think perhaps all the drinks the machine wasn’t handing out yesterday got backed up or something and that’s why so many came down at once. I’ve never seen anything like this before.

Why does this always happen to me?

Seventy years ago today…

…one Icchok or Izchok Malmed, a Jew from Bialystok, Poland, was executed for throwing acid in a Nazi’s face. Blinded and in pain, the Nazi reflexively fired his gun, killing one of his comrades. Malmed escaped the scene, but turned himself in after he found out the Germans planned to kill everyone in the ghetto in his place if he didn’t.

I have commemorated his death on Executed Today. It was a botched hanging: the rope broke, and they had to shoot him.