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By EARL NEWLIN Tribune Staff Writer A wide spread search for a four-year-old boy missing since early Sunday afternoon came to a halt Monday morning when the child’s mother opened a picnic sized icebox in the family garage and found her son’s body cramp ed inside. Dead is Dana Frye, son of Mr. and Mrs. Donald Frye, 5723 Fraz ier. Searchers overlooked the small ice box in the garage adjoining the one-story frame residence Sunday, police said. Police said the death was ac cidental. The child was wearing a white T-shirt and brown shorts he had been seen in before he disappear ed. Monday morning Mrs. Frye, looking hopelessly through the garage for her son, unlatched the cooler's lid and raised it. The boy was lying inside on his back, his knees led up and arms across his chest, Chief of Police Henry Wisrodt said at the scene. Wisrodt said the box is 22 inches long, 13 inches wide, and 14 inches high. He said the child was three and a half to four feet tall. Mrs. Frye was under sedation Monday morning. The family doc tor said an autopsy on the child would not be necessary. He said the boy apparently suffocated in less than three minutes inside the rubber - gasketened cooler. Wisrodt said the child apparent ly climbed into the box to play when the self-latching, hinged lid slammed shut. The boy apparently was last seen alive by his father about noon Sunday while the family was preparing for a beach outing. By 4:30 p. m. Sunday the search had spread from family and friends to police and detective units. A Houston television news cast broadcast a description of the child. Observers feared the boy might have fallen into Offat’s Bayou, a block from his residence. Five boats from the Galveston Ski Club joined the search on the bayou later Sunday. All available police and de tective units were thrown into the search for the missing boy. After an afternoon-long search proved futile, members of the Texas Department of Public Safe ty were called in by Police Com missioner Walter B. Rourke Jr. Warden H. H. Husbands of the Central Penitentiary at Sugar land arrived late Sunday eve ning with horses and bloodhounds to track the boy. Shortly after 11 p.m., the hounds were released from their wagon and taken in read by the warden and another mounted officer. The father is an employe of Rotan Mosse Co., investment brokers. Mr. and Mrs. Frye were too shaken to talk to reporters Monday morning but expressed through a friend of the family their gratitude to searchers. Funeral services are pending at 3. Levy Bro. funeral home. THE PICNIC-SIZED ICEBOX cooler which accidentally imprisoned the body of four-year-old Dana Frye while law enforcement officers combed the area is pictured above, superimposed on a scene of the family garage. The box was sitting beside the bicycle when the child’s mother, Mrs. Donald Frye, 5723 Frazier, opened it Monday morning and discovered her son’s body cramped in side. Police said the bar is 22 inches long, 13 inches wide, and 14 inches’ high. There was no evi dence of foul play, police said. DANA FRYE, four-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Donald Frye, #9723 Frazier, is pictured in a recent snapshot. The boy's body was found in a picnic-sized icebox in a garage adjoining the residence Monday.
Newspaper Details
Galveston Tribune
Galveston, Texas, US
Mon, Jun 13, 1960
Page 1
Full Page
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USA 25 Apr 2026
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