After involvement in murder case, Fryling released

A Verona man who is charged with multiple crimes stemming from the murder of a man in Miller last November was released from the Lawrence County Jail on Friday, April 17. According to court documents, Raymond S. Fryling is currently under house arrest.
Fryling was charged in December of 2019 with the murder of Coy A. Cole, 52, of Miller. Those charges were dropped the following month. He was instead charged with first-degree burglary, abandonment of a corpse, witness tampering and two counts of tampering with physical evidence. Matthew Abney, also of Verona, was charged with the murder of Cole.
According to the probable cause statement in the case, the investigation into Cole’s murder began on Dec. 1, 2019, when a sibling of his called the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office to file a missing person’s report. Investigators from the LCSO monitored Cole’s financial transactions, and determined Abney, 36, allegedly used Cole’s debit card on Nov. 22, 2019; Cole was not present during the transaction. Abney was a former roommate of Cole’s.
A witness to Cole’s murder said that on Nov. 19, 2019, Abney came to Cole’s residence in Miller and forced both her and Cole, 52, to get on their knees. She said Abney shot Cole in the arm, and that he shot at her also but missed. She also reported that Abney fired several shots, and she heard Cole shout, “No, Matt!” and then saw him dead in his chair in the living room. Abney also allegedly took Cole’s keys and also allegedly destroyed Cole’s and the witness’s cellphones.
The witness said that Fryling and Abney wrapped Cole’s body in a shower curtain and loaded it into a small trailer with two chairs that belonged to Cole. Fryling and Abney also allegedly discussed removing the bullet which Abney shot Cole with in the arm; it reportedly had gone into a wall. According to the probable cause statement, it was removed and given to Fryling. She also stated Fryling threatened to kill the witness’s family members in front of her and make her watch, and then kill her if she told anyone about what had happened.
The report also stated that, on Dec. 5, Abney drove the witness to a residence he was staying at with Fryling in Verona, where he allegedly struck her with a silver .32 caliber revolver and his fist, causing her to have facial fractures and breaking her right hand, resulting in her going to the emergency room.
Allegedly, Abney wanted a white SUV belonging to Cole for himself. Investigators spoke to Abney, who admitted to being at Cole’s residence when he was shot, and helping to load Cole’s body on the truck. He also said he assisted in taking the body to Fryling’s residence, where it was burned. When he’d been questioned in an earlier investigation, he allegedly said Fryling had committed the murder.
Cole’s SUV was found at Fryling’s residence, and a loaded .32 caliber silver handgun was also found there.
According to the probable cause statement, the LCSO executed a search warrant at Fryling’s property on Dec. 9, where they found a fresh burn pile, human remains and parts of a tan chair.
Fryling is being electronically monitored by LBS while on house arrest; he must have their prior approval before leaving his home for any travel. He is scheduled to be arraigned on June 8.
Abney is currently being held at the South Central Correctional Center in Licking where, according to online records, he is serving four years for unlawful use of a weapon and three years for resisting arrest. In addition to first-degree murder in the case involving Cole, he is also charged with first-degree robbery, two counts of first-degree assault, two counts of armed criminal action, tampering with a witness, two counts of tampering with evidence and abandoning a corpse. He is scheduled to appear at a preliminary hearing in Lawrence County on Monday, May 18.