MARYSVILLE — Police continued on Thursday to search for a murder suspect who may have robbed a Marysville pharmacy just hours after he failed to show up for a court hearing.
James Douglas Fryberg, 21, is wanted on a $1 million bail.
Police around the county have been trying to locate Fryberg since Tuesday afternoon when he skipped a bail review hearing in Snohomish Superior Court. Marysville police believe that a few hours later Fryberg held up a pharmacy, leaving with prescription drugs.
“We’re out here right now, tracking down leads,” Tulalip Tribal Police Chief J.A. Goss said Thursday afternoon.
Goss asked that anyone with information about Fryberg’s whereabouts contact police. He also had a message for the 21-year-old man.
“He should make it easier on himself and turn himself in,” Goss said. “It’s the right and correct thing to do.”
Police have received some tips suggesting that Fryberg is still in the area, Marysville Police Cmdr. Robb Lamoureux said.
Fryberg is accused of killing 15-month-old Damoniko Ashby in May while the boy’s mother was working. Fryberg told investigators the boy fell down some stairs.
Medical investigators told detectives the boy’s injuries weren’t consistent with a fall.
Fryberg had been out on $100,000 bail since his arrest.
Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Halley Hupp asked last week that Fryberg’s bail be revoked and reset at $1 million. Hupp alleged that Fryberg violated conditions of his release, including contacting the boy’s mother and living with children.
The boy’s mother recently told investigators that she and Fryberg had stayed at hotels together. She also alleged that he was using Oxycontin, a prescription pain killer, and pawning his family’s property, court papers said.
Fryberg denied the allegations at the court hearing March 5.
Superior Court Judge Linda Krese said she needed more than the woman’s statement to police that Fryberg had violated the terms of his release. She continued the hearing for Tuesday. That’s when Judge Larry McKeeman ordered the $1 million arrest warrant after Fryberg didn’t show up.
Marysville police believe that same day Fryberg robbed the Haggen Pharmacy in Marysville. The suspect told employees he was armed and demanded prescription drugs.
Several witnesses later identified Fryberg from a photo lineup, police said.
“The court will decide guilt or innocence,” Goss said Thursday. “The fact of the matter is no one is above the law. This tribe certainly believes that.”
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com.
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