Roommate Says Burglar Was Slain : Evans’ Accused Slayer Tells of Earlier Murder

The day Orange County authorities learned convicted insurance swindler Arthur Lee Evans was missing, Philip Dean Fry, his roommate and the man now charged with Evans’ murder, came forward to confess that he was an accomplice with Evans in a murder, documents filed in the case reveal.

But after helping the one-time insurance executive to load a dead body in a car, Fry told Orange County homicide detectives, he dropped Arthur Evans off near the Mexican border and has not seen him since, according to affidavits filed in Superior Court in support of search warrants at Evans’ Cowan Heights home.

At a July 31 meeting with sheriff’s homicide investigators, Fry, 34, said through an attorney that on July 29 he helped Evans load the dead body of a burglar into a car and advised the one-time insurance executive to “bury it,” according to the affidavit filed by sheriff’s investigator Richard Matura.

Fry, through Orange attorney Floyd R. Brown, said he stayed at Evans’ Cowan Heights home and “cleaned up blood in the garage” while Evans drove off with the dead body in the car trunk.

Drove to Border

Later, after Evans’ return to the house on July 29, the attorney said Fry drove Evans “to the San Diego area, adjacent to the Mexican border and dropped Art Evans off at that location; Philip Fry has not seen Art Evans since that time.”

The same day, July 31, records show that Evans’ stepdaughter told investigators he had not been heard from since July 29 and that his house had been robbed of furniture, clothing and personal possessions.

Sheriff’s officials have said Evans was reported missing July 31 by “friends” who said they had last seen him at his home on the afternoon of July 29. His headless body was found July 30 in the Angeles National Forest, missing hands and feet with several gunshot wounds to the torso.

A 23-inch machete encased in a scabbard has been seized as evidence in a search of Fry’s two rented storage units in Santa Ana, according to court documents.

Fry, who lived with Evans at 10492 Ridgeway Drive and apparently worked for him, was arrested July 31 after he went to the sheriff’s office for questioning in connection with his roommate’s disappearance.

Orange County prosecutor Guy Ormes said the two apparently met in jail last year.

Evans pleaded guilty in January, 1984, to grand theft in connection with close to $2 million missing from the now bankrupt Republic Insurance Brokers Inc., at one time the largest brokerage in Orange County. Evans was believed to have swindled as much as $11 million from more than 100 investors, Ormes said.

After his guilty plea, Evans’ bail was revoked and he spent about two months in jail. He posted bail again and was eventually sentenced in January, 1985, to a year in prison and five years of probation, during which time he was to begin paying back numerous creditors.

He had not spent any more time in jail because of repeated legal maneuvers.

Fry’s arraignment is scheduled for Monday.

Evans’ stepdaughter, identified as Mary Cerajewski, told a sheriff’s investigator that she had first found the house stripped of Evans’ belongings and some of her own toiletries on the evening of July 30. When she returned the following day, according to the affidavit, Cerajewski said she “opened the trunk” of Evans’ Honda, where she found “several areas of a red substance which she opined was blood.”

“In addition,” the affidavit said, “she located a shovel which she felt had blood on it.” She later found bloodstains on the kitchen floor, on steps leading from the kitchen to the garage, and elsewhere at the residence.

Recognized Clothes

In the washing machine, she found trousers and a shirt she recognized as belonging to Evans, the affidavit said.

Among the items believed missing from Evans’ home were television sets, lamps and end tables, a dining room table and a set of six upholstered chairs, stereo speakers, dresser and bed frames.

Search warrants were obtained for Evans’ residence and vehicles on or near the premises, including Fry’s 1975 Datsun sedan, as well as for two storage units rented by Fry at A-1 Self Storage in Santa Ana.

A search of Fry’s car turned up a rental agreement dated July 30, 1985, for a second storage unit at A-1. The agreement showed that Fry had paid rent through Aug. 31. Fry also had been renting another storage unit since Sept. 25, 1981.

Among the items seized by authorities from Fry’s rented storage units were numerous pieces of furniture and appliances, a rifle and shotgun cartridges, and the 23-inch machete.

Times staff writer Maria L. La Ganga contributed to this story.