NC NC - Neely Smith, 5, Charlotte, 18 Feb 1981

[deanna82437]

Bump .. please write letters.

 

[Richard]

PAROLE HAS BEEN DENIED to convicted child killer, Fred Howard Coffey Jr.

He won't be moving into the house next door any time soon.

The following is from Amanda Ray's mother:

-------------------------------------------

Thank you again from the bottom of our hearts to those of you who took the time to send a letter to the parole board on Amanda's behalf.

Fred H. Coffey will remain behind bars for another three years. He will come up for possible parole again in July 2015.

I spoke with his case analyst and she assured me that she read every letter that was sent in (received over 100) and that they were each taken into consideration when making the decision.

We will need your help again in 2015 and our goal is to get MANY more than 100 letters sent... Let's send THOUSANDS!!With deepest gratitude,

Jennifer Ray

A parole review date is set for July 21, 2015

LINK:

http://justice4amanda.tripod.com/

 

[missrugby]

I am family of Neelys and I am very happy to see this thread and that someone actually cares. I can't begin to tell you what this has done to the family all these years later. I will never understand how there are people like this sicko in the world and how they could hurt innocent children but it's a sad truth we have to live with. I hope he stays in prison although if he were released I am pretty sure there would be justice. Thank you for starting this thread about Neely. It seems so many people have forgotten about her but we never will.

 

[AnonymousD]

In looking at his Offender Info, it looks like he's had a sexual infraction on 09/26/12

http://webapps6.doc.state.nc.us/opi...fenderID=0081135&listpage=&listurl=&obscure=Y

 

[Richard]

In looking at his Offender Info, it looks like he's had a sexual infraction on 09/26/12...

Given Coffey's past history of sex crimes with children, the truly amazing thing is that this is his first infraction in 26 years of prison life.

It will be hard for him to claim that he is reformed and ready for parole now.

 

[AnonymousD]

Given Coffey's past history of sex crimes with children, the truly amazing thing is that this is his first infraction in 26 years of prison life.

It will be hard for him to claim that he is reformed and ready for parole now.

BBM

I completely agree

 

[carole]

I am family of Neelys and I am very happy to see this thread and that someone actually cares. I can't begin to tell you what this has done to the family all these years later. I will never understand how there are people like this sicko in the world and how they could hurt innocent children but it's a sad truth we have to live with. I hope he stays in prison although if he were released I am pretty sure there would be justice. Thank you for starting this thread about Neely. It seems so many people have forgotten about her but we never will.

I am from Charlotte and I remember Neely and Amanda. I was horrified that this could have happened in the town where I grew up, or anywhere for that matter. I now live in Huntersville, very near the place Amanda was found.

Neely and Amanda are always in my heart - two sweet angels. I just wanted you to know that this 63 year old grandma remembers your Neely.

 

[missrugby]

I am from Charlotte and I remember Neely and Amanda. I was horrified that this could have happened in the town where I grew up, or anywhere for that matter. I now live in Huntersville, very near the place Amanda was found.

Neely and Amanda are always in my heart - two sweet angels. I just wanted you to know that this 63 year old grandma remembers your Neely.

Thank you so much. That means so much to me, and you brought tears to my eyes.

 

[missrugby]

He comes up for parole again in May, and I am sure it will be denied, but I am going to go ahead and start writing my letter just to be sure. It just blows my mind that he has gotten out of the death penalty TWICE! However, lethan injection isn't cruel enough for this sicko in my opinion, and ole sparky would be much better for him!!

 

[Richard]

He comes up for parole again in May, and I am sure it will be denied, but I am going to go ahead and start writing my letter just to be sure. It just blows my mind that he has gotten out of the death penalty TWICE! However, lethan injection isn't cruel enough for this sicko in my opinion, and ole sparky would be much better for him!!

Coffey was given two separate trials for the murder of Amanda Ray which both resulted in guilty verdicts and death sentences.

In 1995, he appealed on the basis that the juries had been allowed to hear about his 1986 conviction on 9 counts of child molestation. The molestation incidents had occurred in 1986, and therefor (Coffey claimed) they were not germaine to the murder of Amanda, which occurred in 1979.

The convoluted "logic" behind this appeal must have been something along the line that Child Molestation and the Murder of a Child could be separate and unrelated crimes. Or perhaps that Coffey Could have become a serial child molester seven years AFTER he killed Amanda.

Regardless of the logic or lack therof, The appeal went in his favor, and a third trial was convened in 1995. This time, all mention of the molestation convictions was withheld from the Jurors. Coffey was still convicted of murder, but because 2 of the 12 jurors would not vote for the death penalty, he got a life sentence instead.

With the new Life sentence, North Carolina law allowed for him to be immediately elligible for parole, and so in July 1995, he first came before the parole board. Parole was denied, but he then came up for parole again every year after that and was each time denied parole.

After his Parole Hearing (and denial of parole) in July 2009, it was decided that he would come up for parole every THREE years instead of every year. This put him on the schedule again for July 2012 - and he was again turned down.

Unless there has been a recent change, he is scheduled again for a Parole Hearing in July 2015 when he will be 70 years old.

That said, go ahead and write to the NC parole board early and often with your thoughts and feelings regarding whether or not Mr. Coffey should be released. Any letters they receive will be kept in his file and considered whenever he is again up for parole.

 

[missrugby]

Coffey was given two separate trials for the murder of Amanda Ray which both resulted in guilty verdicts and death sentences.

In 1995, he appealed on the basis that the juries had been allowed to hear about his 1986 conviction on 9 counts of child molestation. The molestation incidents had occurred in 1986, and therefor (Coffey claimed) they were not germaine to the murder of Amanda, which occurred in 1979.

The convoluted "logic" behind this appeal must have been something along the line that Child Molestation and the Murder of a Child could be separate and unrelated crimes. Or perhaps that Coffey Could have become a serial child molester seven years AFTER he killed Amanda.

Regardless of the logic or lack therof, The appeal went in his favor, and a third trial was convened in 1995. This time, all mention of the molestation convictions was withheld from the Jurors. Coffey was still convicted of murder, but because 2 of the 12 jurors would not vote for the death penalty, he got a life sentence instead.

With the new Life sentence, North Carolina law allowed for him to be immediately elligible for parole, and so in July 1995, he first came before the parole board. Parole was denied, but he then came up for parole again every year after that and was each time denied parole.

After his Parole Hearing (and denial of parole) in July 2009, it was decided that he would come up for parole every THREE years instead of every year. This put him on the schedule again for July 2012 - and he was again turned down.

Unless there has been a recent change, he is scheduled again for a Parole Hearing in July 2015 when he will be 70 years old.

That said, go ahead and write to the NC parole board early and often with your thoughts and feelings regarding whether or not Mr. Coffey should be released. Any letters they receive will be kept in his file and considered whenever he is again up for parole.

I may have misread the information I will have to go look again. Every three years is better than every year. Thank you for the information!

 

[Angels_Not_Forgotten]

Bumping for Neely...

Fred Coffey comes up for parole again in May:
Next Custody Review: 05/01/2013

Please everyone, contact the parole board and let them know we don't want him back out!

Coffey Parole Board Information


Chairman Charles L. Mann Sr.
NC Post Release Supervision & Parole Commission
P.O. Box 29540
Raleigh, NC 27626-0540
RE: Fred Howard Coffey, DOC# 0081135PRINT THE SAMPLE LETTER, SIGN YOUR NAME AND SEND IT TO THE ADDRESS LISTED ABOVE.

YOU CAN ALSO EMAIL YOUR LETTER TO: parole@doc.state.nc.us

 

[Angels_Not_Forgotten]

Email I sent to the parole board:

To Whom it May Concern,

I have been alerted that inmate Fred Howard Coffey, DOC# 0081135 will be eligible for parole (once again) on May 1, 2013. I wanted to inform you that I do not support his release. Fred Coffey was sentenced to death twice, and ended up with Life in prison. He is a child molester and murderer. He was tried and convicted in murder of Amanda Ray, but please believe, he has harmed many, many more.

My son saw a picture of Amanda Ray last week. My son is 8. He wanted to know who she was. How do you explain to an 8 year old that a child was viciously murdered? Children are pure, innocent. They are our future and our everything. I can't help but wonder if Amanda Ray were alive, would she have found a cure for cancer? Aids? Alzheimer's? Fred Coffey robbed Amanda Ray's mother of her beautiful, innocent child, but he has robbed us all, taken a piece of our future.

I beg you, do not let this man out of jail. He admitted to molesting over 100 children. You can't rehabilitate something that vile. I also noticed on his prison record that he has a recent infraction (in 2012) for a sexual offense. I say that Mr. Fred Coffey may have escaped his death sentence, but we the community, people who love children, need to put our foot down about his being anywhere but where he is now.

Thank you for taking the time to read this email. I know this isn't a decision that comes easy, and it shouldn't be. As much as I hate Fred Coffey for what he has done, I love our country, and I love our rights. I pray that you will do what is right and just, and protect our children. God bless.

Sincerely,
Tiffany ******-*******

 

[Angels_Not_Forgotten]

oops, upon further viewing of the profile, I don't think he is up for parole yet. That will teach me not to post when tired however my message is still the same, when he IS up for parole, let's make our voices heard!

 

[Richard]

Today marks the 35 year anniversary of the brutal murder of little Amanda Ray by Fred Howard Coffey, Jr. She was abducted and murdered by him on 18 July 1979. It took eight years before he was tried and convicted of her murder.

Coffey was origionally sentenced to Death. In a subsequent trial he was again sentenced to Death. He sat on death row until he was granted a re-trial in 1995. In that trial, the prosecutors were not allowed to submit into the sentencing portion all previous convictions for child molestation. The jury voted 10 to 2 in favor of the death penalty, but without a unanimous vote, Coffey was awarded a Life sentence with immediate elligibility for parole.

He has been denied Parole on all subsequent occasions. His next Parole hearing will be in July 2015.

Coffey is the primary suspect in the abduction and murder of two other children: Neely Smith, 5, in 1981 in North Carolina, and Travis Shane King, 8, in Bristol, VA. Although he has not been brought to trial for those two murders, evidence against him is quite compelling. Coffey is also suspected of a number of other abductions and murders in a range of several states.

He is currently serving his sentence in the North Carolina state prison system.

 

[JuliaW]

Hi Everyone,
My name is Julia and Serena up there could have /almost/ told my story in regards to Neely. I may even have known Serena (though I don't remember anyone with that name) I was 9 in 1981. The night she went missing, she came to my house next, after being told her friend had a cold. She ate dinner with us and I offered to walk her home in the rain but she said no, she would be alright. We only lived one building up from her so she really only had to walk around the corner and in to her front door. She was just gone after that and for years her death haunted me. It still does. If I had gone with her, could I have stopped him, would she still be alive. Is it my fault she's gone? These drove me for years, haunted my psyche and tormented me. I doubt anyone in her family still remembers me or would want to, as my only tie to them was Neely and I would bring all of that back up. For days after she went missing, our parents held us inside. The rain that week was torrential and after about 4 days, I was stir crazy and badgered my mother until she finally relented and let me go outside. We had this playground in the complex, just a bare thing, with a swing system in it, the round tire you sit on, held up by three chains and I remember sitting in it, with a broom handle I'd picked up from god knows where across my lap. Sullen and determined to play, though I was the only child around. I was at SO MUCH RISK, right then and I was mostly unaware of it. I remember Coffey. I'd seen him for days before her disappearance. We all had. He'd wander up on us as we were playing, in the creek or at the playground, try to be friendly and normally only strike it off with the youngest of us, the older ones, more jaded would move away pulling the smaller children with us. I saw him that day, at the playground, watching me, standing there, just watching me, alone, on the swing. I raised my stick and him and started yelling for help and he took off running. My aunt came out from where she'd been watching me in secret, my mother having sent her out behind me to make sure I was okay and just stroked my hair and pushed the swing for a bit. I never saw him again, but I remember them coming to question us, and coming again when they found her. I have a memory of her having a photo on her that I'd written the alphabet on, so she could learn it, but I may be blurring events.

Neely's death impacted all of us who fell in to her peer group, we were all too young to know how to heal from the loss, how to escape the fear and the dread and the darkness it brought upon us. For years I've wanted to reach out to her family, to tell them that I haven't forgotten her, that I will NEVER forget her but I haven't known how.

I loved Neely, she was my best friend and even now I still mourn for her.

Julia

 

[Richard]

If the parole board schedule has not changed, Fred Coffey should be up for Parole again this coming July 2015.

 

[Tulessa]

If the parole board schedule has not changed, Fred Coffey should be up for Parole again this coming July 2015.

Thanks Richard. My letter is ready.

 

[Richard]

Coffey is up for Parole yet again. But instead of July, it is earlier this time around: 1 May 2015.

Please take the time to write and express your thoughts and recommendations on the subject.

Send them to:

Chairman
NC Post Release Supervision & Parole Commission
P.O. Box 29540
Raleigh, NC 27626-0540

RE: Fred Howard Coffey, DOC# 0081135

YOU CAN ALSO EMAIL YOUR LETTER TO: parole@doc.state.nc.us

 

[ashesofangels]

Richard, I have tried to send you a private message but the system says your mailbox is full and it can't be delivered until you clear it.