Published: Friday, August 20, 2010, 5:55 AM Updated: Friday, August 20, 2010, 7:16 AM
Barton Deiters | The Grand Rapids Press
The Grand Rapids Press
WYOMING -- Tears turned to anger for some, and relief for others, who packed Wyoming District Court Thursday where a medical examiner cast doubt on a woman's version of how her boyfriend died last month.
Chiquita Fizer sat in handcuffs and a blue jail uniform, wiping away tears as she listened to police recount the details of July 18 when her live-in boyfriend, Jeffrey Dryden, died from a stab wound to the neck that severed his jugular. She is charged with second-degree murder in his death.
Wyoming Detective Timothy Pols said he talked to Fizer, 21, within a couple hours of her boyfriend's death.
He said Fizer claimed Dryden, 28, came back to the apartment they shared near 44th Street SW and Clyde Park Avenue after spending the night out. He was angry with her and looking for a fight, she said.
Pols said Fizer described the spat in which Dryden took her cellular phone and smashed it to the ground before heading to the kitchen and getting a steak knife. The two began struggling with their hands raised above their heads, she told police.
"She said her hand was on his wrist and the knife slipped and he got cut," Pols said the woman revealed during an interview at police headquarters.
Pols said he began asking Fizer about how the knife slipped, but she then decided to end the interview.
Later, Pols listened as the 911 call from Fizer was played in court. In it, Fizer says she had the knife during the frantic call, punctuated by pleas that help come quickly.
"She said she never said that," Pols said.
Kent County Medical Examiner Dr. Stephen Cohle did the autopsy on Dryden and said the knife came straight down and cut through the jugular vein, proceeded to cut the cartilage that makes up the Adam's apple and then cut through the trachea -- a depth of 2.75 inches.
"It would take a forceful offensive thrust to penetrate that deep into the body," Cohle said. "It would take a considerable amount of force."
Under questioning by Assistant Kent County Prosecutor Monica Janiskee, Cohle said the wound was unlikely to have been caused by Dryden himself.
In his examination, Cohle said Dryden's body had numerous scratches -- likely caused by fingernails -- around his neck and eyes and also bite marks of various depths that likely occurred within a short time of his death.
Pols said Fizer was on probation for a previous assault conviction against Dryden.
As Cohle looked at a photo of Dryden's body, the slain man's step-dad, Tony Leverich, wept as he sat next to the victim's mother, Paula Dryden.
After hearing the testimony, District Judge Steven Timmers ruled there was enough evidence to send the case to Kent County Circuit Court, where Fizer faces up to life in prison if she's convicted.
After the hearing, several family members and supporters of Fizer stormed out of the court building where they loudly decried the process that has jailed their loved one.
Dryden's parents said later that this was far from the first physical confrontation the couple had been involved in.
"We begged him to get out of there, to get away from her," said a tearful Leverich.
But they said they are also remembering the son they lost. Jeffrey Dryden and his identical twin both finished in the top five of their class at Lee High School. He left behind five siblings.
They said he was hard-working, a talented 10-year employee at his factory job at Comprx in Byron Center. He was a good son who brought his parents many moments of joy during his life.
"He always had a smile on his face," said his mother.
"He could brighten up your day no matter how bad it was," Leverich said.
E-mail Barton Deiters: bdeiters@grpress.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/GRPBarton
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