Family of teen missing since 1999 to lay her to rest
3/17/2012
BY JENNIFER FEEHAN
BLADE STAFF WRITER
ToledoBlade.com
Thirteen years since they last saw 14-year-old Nicholle Coppler, the Lima, Ohio, girl's family finally will lay her to rest Saturday.
Though not the outcome they'd hoped and prayed for, her memorial service -- after all these years -- is a comfort to Krista Coppler, who never gave up the search for her missing daughter.
...
On Feb. 8,
Lima police found Nicholle's skeletal remains in the crawlspace of a South Elizabeth Street home that once belonged to Glenn Fryer -- the prime suspect in her disappearance. Dental records confirmed her identity, although a forensic exam completed this week was inconclusive.
Mrs. Coppler said not a day has passed, and she doubt one ever will, when she did not think about Nicholle, the fourth of her six children.
...
"It will be declared a homicide and the cause will be 'unspecified homicidal violence/skeletal remains,' " Dr. Beasley said. "At this point in time, it's an ongoing investigation by Lima Police Department."
Nicholle was last seen with Fryer in May, 1999, and when, two years later, he was arrested on rape and child pornography charges involving four area girls, police searched his home and found some personal items belonging to Nicholle. Fryer entered into a plea agreement on the charges with the condition he cooperate on the Coppler investigation, but in February, 2002 he hanged himself in the Allen County jail before ever saying what happened to the 14-year-old.
...
Lima Police Det. Steve Stechschulte said investigators had searched the two-story, wood-frame house before, once using ground-penetrating radar, with no success. Last month, the house was being demolished after the state took possession for unpaid back taxes and
police, working with the FBI and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, were able to find her remains.
...
She said she still hopes for justice for her daughter.
"I think eventually, I may not get every answer, but I will get even more of a sense of closure at least if I know who was involved," Mrs. Coppler said. "Will I ever get a true answer of exactly what happened? Probably not, but maybe we'll get justice."
The funeral service is set for 11 a.m. Saturday at the funeral home Chamberlain-Huckeriede Funeral Home in Lima..
