Coppler's mother arrives at dig site

LIMA — Krista Coppler arrived late Thursday from Florida and immediately went to the scene where her daughter was last seen alive and where police found human bones this week.
By Friday, she still didn’t have an answer as to whether the bones were that of her daughter, Nicholle Coppler, who went missing in 1999.
She stood in the cold with temperatures around 30 degrees Friday waiting on news. Police and state agents were digging at the former home of Glen Fryer at 735 S. Elizabeth St. where Nicholle Coppler, then 14, was last seen alive.
By 2 p.m., police were done. They had taken down the tent that covered the excavating site and removed their equipment. The contractor who handled the demolition moved in to fill in the holes and level the lot for safety reasons.
Police know Coppler was there weeks after her mother last saw her. Officers found Nicholle Coppler’s diary and student identification card in a raid a few years later. Nicholle wrote in her diary she wanted to go home and was being held against her will.
Krista Coppler said Friday she believes the remains are that of her daughter.
“I don’t think she ever left the house,” she said.
Still, confirmation has not come.
Lima Police Maj. Richard Shade said all evidence has been taken to the Lucas County Coroner’s Office in Toledo for analysis. Once the information is processed, if any of it can confirm the remains are that of Nicholle Coppler, police will notify the family. But if not, it likely will take several weeks or longer for DNA analysis to make the determination, he said.
Krista Coppler said she is used to the waiting game.
“We have waited 12 years and nine months, so another day is not going to take that long,” she said.
She said she has prepared herself, as best as she can, for whatever news may come out.
“You prepare yourself, you think, until you get a phone call. But until I get the definite confirmation, I think that’s when it will actually sink in,” Coppler said. “We want to bring her home.”
She also said she plans to stay in town for whatever developments happen.
“You still think each day about her and what happened,” Krista Coppler said. “In my heart, I know what I think happened. She was very strong willed and didn’t want to do what she didn’t want to do, and, ultimately, her stubbornness got her to where she is.”
While everything has been hard on her family, Krista Coppler said she hopes some good could come out of the tragedy her family has experienced.
“I hope if it is Nicholle, she didn’t die without something coming out of it. I’ve heard, through some sources, that they have changed laws about juveniles,” she said.
She also hopes the Lima Police Department begins looking for a child soon after the child is reported missing. When her daughter disappeared, police took a report but didn’t start an investigation until 16 months later, she said.
“By that time, it was too late,” she said.
A Lima Police officer phoned Krista Coppler Wednesday to inform her they were tearing down Fryer’s old house and planning to excavate the site.
“We knew there was going to be some leads. We just didn’t know they were going to come this fast,” she said.
Fryer, 55, had agreed to talk to police in 2002 about Nicholle Coppler as part of his plea deal in a separate case involving the rape of a 12-year-old girl. He hung himself in jail before that conversation took place.
After the methodical search of the site where bones were found ended Friday, police took down the tent and an excavator turned the earth on the rest of the site. Detectives carefully watched as each scoop was dropped in case there was anything they wanted to examine closer.
They dug up the entire lot to make sure they didn’t miss anything, Shade said. They also demolished a garage and searched beneath that on Friday.
There were no new discoveries Friday. On Thursday, more bones were found — but Shade and others wouldn’t elaborate on that or say how many bones were recovered altogether.
Fryer’s daughter, Amber Brown, said Friday she believes her father was responsible for Nicholle Coppler’s disappearance and possible death, if it turns out to be her remains.
“Deep down, I believe that he did do it,” she said. “I am deeply sorry. There’s nothing I knew about it, but I hope they can put her to rest and get answers.”
Brown drove by the site Friday but didn’t stop. She said she didn’t want to make herself known out of respect to the Coppler family and realizes she or anyone from her family is the last ones they would want to see. She also knows the pain of losing someone. Her mother, Connie Ferenczi, was murdered in 1980. Police long suspected her father played a role, but he never was charged.
“I just want them to know I feel for them. I had no idea any of this was going on. Dad was like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” she said.