Episode 135: Daisha Fry – Bite-Sized Crime

When a mother is beaten and left for dead, investigators must uncover the truth of the night’s events. Who killed Daisha Fry?

Episode Media

Douglas Elton Hawkins, Jr. *(Colorado Springs Police Department)*

Episode Sources

Episode Transcript

Welcome back to Bite-Sized Crime. This week I’m bringing you a case that didn’t receive much attention at the time, just a few articles in a local newspaper. But it’s a reminder that every victim needs a voice, that their story deserves to be told. This episode discusses sensitive topics, so listener discretion is advised.

In the early morning hours of February 9, 2022, a call came into the Colorado Springs Police Department dispatch center. The young girl who had called 911 told the dispatcher that her mother was bleeding, that her boyfriend had hit her in the head with a baseball bat. The girl said her mother was still breathing and to please send help. Then, another voice came on the line; a woman had taken the phone from the girl and told the dispatcher, “They need to come right now, it’s bad.”

The dispatcher calmly walked the woman through the steps to render aid, but sadly, it didn’t help. The woman cried out, “Oh my god, he killed my sister…”

Minutes later, sirens pierced the silence of the cold winter night as police arrived at the scene. Inside the house, they found 41-year-old Daisha Fry lying on the floor of a downstairs bedroom, covered in her own blood. She had significant injuries to the right side of her face, so severe that officers later described it as being disfigured. Blood covered the walls and ceiling of the room, and on the bed lay an aluminum baseball bat with blood on the barrel.

Daisha was pronounced dead at the scene and her body was transported to the El Paso County Coroner’s Office for autopsy. Her death was ultimately ruled a homicide, the result of blunt force injuries to the head.

Investigators now had the task of finding out exactly what had happened that night. Several houses in the neighborhood had security cameras that captured a dark figure walking down the street at 2:02am, followed by screaming at 2:05, presumably Daisha’s loved ones finding her body. The 911 call came in at 2:06. Whoever had killed Daisha had done it in a small window of time.

Investigators’ next step was to interview everyone who had been at the house, starting with Daisha’s 14-year-old daughter.

Daisha’s daughter told detectives that on the night of February 8th, she had been hanging out in her mom’s room with Daisha and Daisha’s boyfriend. At some point during the night, the couple had started to argue, and Daisha told the man to leave. But according to Daisha’s daughter, the fight didn’t last long, and eventually the couple made up. The girl eventually left to go take a shower and watch some movies in her own room. Around 1:30am, she went upstairs to the kitchen to make a snack, and knocked on her mom’s door to offer her some food. When Daisha’s boyfriend answered the door, the girl noticed that her mom was lying on the bed facing the wall. The only light in the room came from the flickering television.

Daisha’s daughter handed over the food and went back to her bedroom, but about half an hour later, she heard a loud banging noise, which she described as the sound of metal hitting something. When she poked her head out into the hallway, she didn’t see anything. Crossing the hall, she put her ear up against the door to her mom’s room. All she could hear was the sound of the TV. Sensing that something was wrong, she pushed the door open and was shocked to find her mother slumped on the floor, blood pouring from her head. The window above the bed was open, and Daisha’s boyfriend was nowhere to be seen.

The girl ran upstairs to her Aunt Brittany’s room and shook her awake, telling her that something bad had happened. When Brittany entered Daisha’s room and saw the horrific scene, she told her niece to call 911 while she tried to administer CPR and waited for help to arrive.

When Brittany told the dispatcher that she believed Daisha’s boyfriend Kyle had killed her sister, Daisha’s daughter spoke up, admitting to Brittany that the man Daisha had called Kyle was actually Douglas Hawkins. Brittany did not approve of Douglas and had told her sister that he wasn’t allowed in the house. But Douglas had been sneaking in through the bedroom window for months, right under Brittany’s nose.

Daisha had met Douglas Hawkins back in 2019 when she was living in Spokane, Washington. Douglas had been serving time in state prison for kidnapping and raping a 14-year-old girl. Daisha’s brother was in the same prison and had introduced Douglas to his sister. Daisha and Douglas exchanged letters until the day Douglas was released.

At the time, Daisha and her two youngest children had been living with her mother in Spokane. But when Douglas got out of prison and they could finally be together, they decided to leave Washington and travel the country, spending time in Colorado, Florida, and Michigan. In January of 2020, Daisha updated her Facebook page to say that she had gotten married, commenting, “I’m in love with Douglas”.

But underneath the surface, Douglas and Daisha’s relationship was marred by violence. Daisha’s children recalled several incidents in which Douglas had choked Daisha, resulting in calls to the police. Douglas was arrested for domestic abuse in Washington and in Michigan. After the second arrest in early 2020, Daisha called Brittany and asked if they could stay with her in Colorado Springs to get a fresh start. Brittany agreed with the stipulation that when Douglas got out of jail, he would not be welcome in her home.

Brittany told detectives that for a while, everything was going smoothly. Then, in the fall of 2021, Daisha started talking about a man she was seeing named Kyle. She said that Kyle was a military officer and that he had lots of tattoos. But as much as Daisha talked about Kyle, she didn’t introduce him to Brittany. In fact, it wasn’t until late January of 2022 that Brittany had any interaction with Kyle, and when she did, it left her feeling unsettled.

According to Brittany, about 2 weeks before Daisha’s murder, she walked into Daisha’s room to find a strange man sitting on the bed. Startled, Brittany apologized for coming in unannounced and left the room. She assumed the man must be Daisha’s boyfriend Kyle, and although she wondered why Daisha hadn’t introduced him earlier, she wanted to respect her sister’s privacy.

Oddly, Brittany’s husband Michael had a similar experience. He went downstairs one day to check on the kids and found a strange man in Daisha’s room. Michael told detectives that the man had introduced himself as Kyle, which surprised him. Daisha had told them that Kyle was a military officer, but the man in front of him looked dirty and disheveled, as if he hadn’t showered in weeks. Michael also recalled a time when Daisha had asked him to give her a ride to a motel where she was meeting Kyle. The motel had been dingy and run-down; surely a military man could afford better accommodations.

Now, in the wake of everything that had happened, Michael and Brittany felt sure that the man they knew as Kyle was actually Douglas Hawkins. They hadn’t seen Douglas in years, and even those interactions had been brief, so they hadn’t recognized him during their encounters with Kyle. Daisha’s daughter’s confession that Douglas had been sneaking into the house through the windows confirmed their suspicions.

Investigators found documents in Daisha’s room with the name “Kyle William Hendley”, but when they ran the name through police databases, they couldn’t find anyone matching that name. However, they also found a piece of paper with the name Douglas written next to a social security number. Running that number through the system brought them to 32-year-old Douglas Elton Hawkins, Jr. Detectives showed Douglas’ picture to Brittany and Michael, and they confirmed that it was the same man they had seen in Daisha’s room, the man who called himself Kyle.

Investigators learned that Douglas Hawkins already had a warrant out for his arrest for a parole violation in Washington State. The Colorado Springs Police Department filed for an arrest warrant in El Paso County, identifying Douglas Hawkins as the main suspect in the death of Daisha Fry.

Thankfully, they wouldn’t have to wait long – Douglas turned himself in on February 15th and was charged with murder in the first degree. He pleaded not guilty, and his trial was scheduled for February 21, 2023. However, it appears that he may have taken a plea deal. According to the Colorado Department of Corrections website, on February 2, 2023, Douglas was sentenced to 70 years in prison. He will be eligible for parole in 2074 when he is 87 years old.

Tragically, Daisha’s story is all too familiar. According to the CDC, nearly half of women in the United States will experience violence at the hands of an intimate partner in their lifetime, an epidemic so common that these women’s stories often get overlooked. Daisha was a loving mother, sister, and daughter. A friend described her as having “a genuine heart and a spirit that bestowed ease and light.” But Daisha was caught in a violent relationship that ultimately led to her death and left her family to grieve her loss. She deserved better – she deserved to live.

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic abuse, please contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or text START to 88788 for free and confidential help.