WHO SAYS “FLUID?”

    Two reliable sources told me that Cortney Fry’s body was “badly burned.”  It takes a lot to burn a human body. 

    If you start a bonfire and tell a friend about it, do you say you poured a “fluid” on it?  Or do you say you poured “gasoline” or “charcoal lighter” or “lighter fluid” on it and then lit it?

    “’He said he poured some kind of fluid on her,’ James said.”  That is the way I quoted Lemuel James in his testimony in the preliminary hearing of Micah Stewart on this website. (Click here.)   Brett Lovelace of the Intell, in his article, “Stewart faces trial in Fry death,” quoted James this way, “He choked her, took her to some woods and poured liquid on her before burning her.”  Janet Kelley of the New Era, in her article “DA not seeking death for Stewart,” quoted James this way, “He just said he poured some kind of flammable liquid on her and burned her.”  I believe that my quote using the word “fluid” is correct and I’m sure he didn’t use the word “flammable,” but the point is the “fluid” or “liquid” that was used is not named in anyone’s article.  It was not stated in testimony. 

    I don’t believe it.  Does an 18-year old boy say to a 21-year old boy, “I poured fluid on her?”  No.  He would have named the fluid.

    So what could it have been?  Gasoline?  Of course.  Charcoal lighter?  Possibly.  Paint thinner? Maybe?  It is very doubtful anyone would have a large enough container of cigarette-lighter fluid to burn a human body. 

    Has the accelerant used to burn her body been identified?  Did the police find a container of gasoline or charcoal lighter in Stewart’s car or apartment?  Or is that why Assistant District Attorney Christopher Hackman made a point of asking George Fry if David Stewart, Micah’s father, owned the apartment building where Micah and Cortney lived? (He did.) Does that mean that Micah had access to the room where gasoline or kerosene and other possible flammable building maintenance items, such as paint thinner, might have been kept?

     James was never questioned further regarding the nature of the “fluid” in the preliminary hearing.  And I don’t believe that Micah Stewart told James that he “poured some kind of fluid” on her.  He would have named the “fluid.”  So how much of James’s testimony can be believed?