A tale of drugs, divorce, custody and maybe murder By Roland Krekeler Gazette courts reporter Denise Fraley spent the evening of Sept. 11, 1982, singing with a band at a private Cedar Rapids party. Her relatives in Missouri haven't seen or heard from ! her since. Her ex-husband, David, who lives in Cedar Rapids, testified at one time that there's reason to believe she met with foul play because of certain drug-related matters. He testified later that he thinks she just left town. But her sister and mother are convinced the then-30-year-old woman was murdered, and they presented evidence to support that theory in court proceedings seeking custody of the couple's child. Fraley was recently given custody, in spite of the judge's belief that Mrs. Fraley's sister would provide a better home for the child and allegations from Mrs. Fraley's family that the child, Haley Jo, 4, was in danger while living with her father. The family cited statements he had made about threats against him and the child reportedly from people who claimed Mrs. Fraley had failed to pay for a large quantity of illegal drugs and wanted Fraley to help them locate her. A spokesman for the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, which is investigating the case, said last week that foul play has not been ruled out in Mrs. Fraley's disappearance. Denise The case was originally investigated by Fraley the Cedar Rapids Police Department after Mrs. Fraley's mother reported her as missing Oct. 18, 1982. The two agencies worked together on the case for several months last year, then the case was turned over to the DCI in January. THE DCI spokesman would not give any details about the investigation, but material in a voluminous dissolution of marriage file provides reason to suspect Mrs. Fraley may have met with foul play. The file shows, for example, that the 28-year-old Fraley has given several explanations for her disappearance, one involving allegations that she, may have been harmed by agents of drug dealers. The dealers reportedly believed she had cheated them. Fraley, who filed for divorce four months before his wife disappeared, also indicated she might have left to further her singing career. He described their marriage as "stormy." He said he last saw Denise Sept. 11, 1982, when she sang at the private Cedar Rapids party. He had made arrangements to provide music. In pretrial testimony, he gave differing accounts about the party with Denise and whether he was with her when she explained the differences by saying he had been drinking, that he also may have been smoking marijuana. He said Denise called him two days after the party and was in Kansas City and had been "ripped off in a drug deal. told him to take care of Haley Jo. He said he hadn't heard • Please turn to 15A: Fraley who left left. He adding said she She also from her
