Son of Man Found Dead in Trunk Speaks Out

By: Sarah Batista

Ricky Dell Simonds, Sr. was found dead in the trunk of his ex-girlfriend's car this past Sunday. The discovery came just two months after 22-year-old Jamie Fraley vanished. So is their a link?Both families believe Simonds knew what happened to Fraley.

"He was hiding something and we couldn't never get that out of him," said Kim Fraley, Jamie's mother.

Kim Fraley says she cried Sunday-- the day she learned 49-year-old Ricky Dell Simonds, Sr. was dead.

Simonds was the last person to see her daughter, Jamie, before she disappeared from her apartment on Lowell-Bethesda road in early April.

Detectives on the case considered him a person of interest.

"I knew any questions we had for him, any information we could've got out of him, was gone," said Fraley.

Simonds' ex-girlfriend found him dead in the trunk of her car Sunday evening.

Police believe he climbed inside, planning to harm her, but died from the heat instead.

And if the story wasn't bizarre enough, it turns out Simonds was also the father of Jamie Fraley's fiance.

"We was friends more than we were father and son," said Ricky Dell Simonds, Jr.

Simonds admits the whole story is full of twists and turns, but he says he too believes his father may have had a hand in Jamie's disappearance.

He said,  "first my fiance goes missing, then my dad climbs in a trunk and dies? Does that make sense to anybody?"

Kim Fraley says it doesn't make sense, but she's not letting Simonds' death distract her from finding her daughter who she believes might still be alive.

"Until somebody shows me different, I'm not going to think otherwise," said Fraley.

"I'm going to still hand out flyers, I'm going to still look for her, I'm gonna do whatever I got to do, I love her, I'll always love her," said Simonds, Jr.

Simonds was never charged in Fraley's disappearance, but police say he served time in prison years ago for strangling a girlfriend.

Jamie Fraley was never found.