April 20th, 2017 by WCBC Radio
On 04/20/2017 Investigators with the Allegany County Combined Criminal Investigation Unit (C3I) arrested 78 year old Clarence Julius Frech, Jr. and charged him in connection with the murder of his 76 year old wife, Sheila Joyce Frech.
On Sunday morning, 03/12/2017, at 10:13 am, the Cumberland Police responded to a private residence in the 1900 block of Frederick Street for a reported gunshot victim. Personnel with the Cumberland Fire Department ambulance were also on the scene.
When Officers arrived they found two subjects lying in a bed in one of the bedrooms. The female was deceased and the male was unresponsive, but still breathing. After initial emergency treatment at the scene, the male was transported to the Western Maryland Regional Medical Center, in critical condition, for further treatment.
The Allegany County Combined Criminal Investigation Unit (C3I) was contacted and Investigators responded to assist in the investigation.
Through investigation that included interviews of family members, Investigators learned that the couple lived alone. A sitter had stopped by the house to stay with them for the day, but found all the doors to the residence locked when they arrived. The sitter contacted a family member who came to the home and unlocked the door to enter the residence. Upon entering the master bedroom, they discovered the couple in the bed.
A search warrant for the residence was obtained and the scene was processed by members of the Maryland State Police Forensic Sciences Division. The handgun believed to have been used has been recovered by law enforcement.
Interviews, and the recovery of notes left by the male, helped Investigators to determine that the male subject had shot the female victim first before turning the gun on himself. The female was shot twice in the chest. The male victim had shot himself twice in the abdomen.
Frech, who has been under medical care since the incident, was arrested, after being released medically, and charged with Murder and the Use of a Firearm During Commission of a Felony. He was taken before a District Court Commissioner for an initial appearance and is currently being held at the Allegany County Detention Center without bond, pending his next court appearance.
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