Michael Chadwick Fry: Cemetery Thefts, Charges, and Motive

Michael Chadwick Fry is a 41-year-old man from Bartonville, Texas, arrested on March 18, 2026, after authorities accused him of stealing human remains from cemeteries in Texas and Oklahoma and throwing a bucket of bones over the fence of the FBI’s Dallas field office. He faces two counts of abuse of a corpse and one count of tampering with evidence in Texas, plus a separate charge of unauthorized removal of a dead body in Oklahoma. According to the probable cause affidavit, he filmed his actions and posted the videos to YouTube, saying he wanted to force federal agents to act on what he described as corruption by Denton County officials.¹

What Fry Is Accused of Doing

On or around March 16, 2026, Fry recorded himself throwing a large, closed white bucket over a fence into the secure parking lot of the FBI’s Dallas field office. An FBI special agent confirmed the bucket contained “numerous bones” that appeared to be human. He posted the footage under the title “We send Elizabeth over the FBI fence to summon them by force.”¹

Investigators found additional videos on the same account. In one, Fry appeared at his Bartonville home holding a human skull with dirt and organic matter on it, referring to it as “Elizabeth Virginia Lyon.”² Police believed the skull was part of the same set of remains that ended up in the bucket at the FBI office.³

The Two Cemetery Thefts

The investigation tied Fry to grave and niche thefts in two states.

Denton, Texas

At the IOOF (Independent Order of Odd Fellows) Cemetery in Denton, police found a damaged mausoleum with a casket missing. Reporters observed visible damage to the Magee mausoleum, which held the remains of Jasper P. Magee (died 1942) and Mary Myrtle Wright Magee (died 1940). Although Fry called the skull he displayed “Elizabeth Virginia Lyon,” Denton police confirmed that a person by that name is buried at the IOOF Cemetery but her grave was undisturbed.⁴ Bartonville police later recovered the stolen remains buried in a large field in Justin, Texas, off FM 407.⁵

Oklahoma City

The second theft involved the cremated remains of Cheryl Ann Camp, a journalist who died on July 20, 2023, at age 61. Her urn was taken from a niche in a brick wall at Rose Hill Burial Park in Oklahoma City. A cemetery worker discovered the theft on February 9, 2026, after finding Camp’s bronze plaque on the ground.⁶

YouTube videos linked the theft to Fry. On February 4, 2026, he posted footage focusing on Camp’s niche. On February 10, he filmed himself behind a bronze urn, saying, “Her name is Cheryl Ann Camp.” On March 2, he recorded himself saying he was reaching out to the Camp family to force officials to pursue “corrupt officials in Texas.”⁶⁷ As of late March 2026, Camp’s remains had not been recovered.

The Charges He Faces

Fry was initially charged with a single count of abuse of a corpse when Bartonville police arrested him on March 18, 2026, and booked into the Denton County Jail on a $30,000 bond.⁸⁴ By late March, that had grown to two counts of abuse of a corpse without legal authority, both state jail felonies, and one count of tampering with evidence with intent to impair a human corpse, a third-degree felony. His total Texas bond rose to $70,000.⁹¹⁰ Oklahoma City police separately charged him with unauthorized removal of a dead body over Camp’s urn; no bond was listed for that charge.

Under Texas Penal Code § 42.08, abuse of a corpse is a state jail felony covering the knowing disinterment, disturbance, carrying away, or offensive treatment of a human corpse without legal authority. The statute defines “human corpse” to include any portion of a corpse or cremated remains.¹¹ According to police, Fry admitted taking a casket from Denton and an urn from Oklahoma but refused to disclose where the remains were, reportedly demanding that authorities meet unspecified conditions first.¹⁰

How Police Identified Him

The Bartonville Police Department was tipped off by Fry’s own family. On March 16, 2026, his mother called officers to report that her son had asked her for money to rent a U-Haul, telling her he “had a body that needed to be moved.”¹ She said he had become irate and that she suspected he was experiencing a psychotic episode.³ After Fry left the house, his sister alerted police to his YouTube posts, which led investigators to the FBI-fence video and the rest of the account. Bartonville police and FBI agents executed a search warrant at his residence on Oakwood Drive in Bartonville on March 18 and took him into custody.⁸

What Fry Says He Was Trying to Do

Fry’s stated motivations were tangled but consistent in theme. In the FBI field office video, he said he was trying to compel federal agents to intervene regarding alleged “wrongdoing by Denton County officials from a past arrest.”¹ The nature of that alleged wrongdoing was not made clear in the reporting. Regarding Cheryl Camp’s remains, he told police he was trying to coerce her family into helping him get “high-level politicians” arrested.⁶ No reporting explained any connection between Camp’s family and the Denton County officials he blamed. His mother told police she believed he was in the middle of a psychotic episode.³

Prior Criminal Record

Fry has a long history with local law enforcement. Denton County jail records show he had been booked into the county jail 26 times since 2003, on charges ranging from arson, assault, and burglary of a habitation to disorderly conduct, criminal mischief, terroristic threat, and resisting arrest. He served roughly six months in jail on a 2005 arson charge and one month in April 2018 on an assault charge brought by Bartonville police.¹²

His most high-profile prior incident came on September 5, 2018, when he repeatedly rammed a rented pickup truck into the KDFW-TV (Fox 4) building in downtown Dallas at about 6 a.m. while anchors were on the air. He scattered papers on the street referencing a 2012 police shooting in Krum, Texas, in which a Denton County sheriff’s deputy fatally shot a friend of Fry’s while Fry was a passenger in the vehicle.¹³ The handwritten flyers included claims of “high treason” and statements like “They tried to kill me. And they missed. And hit him.”¹² No one was injured, and he did not gain entry to the building. He was charged with felony criminal mischief. That 2012 shooting appears to be the same “past arrest” Fry cited on YouTube as the reason for the 2026 cemetery thefts and the bucket at the FBI office.¹

1
NBC News. Man Arrested After Human Remains Found at FBI Field Office
2
Fox 4 News. Man Accused of Abusing Corpse Asked Mom for U-Haul Money to Move Body
3
Cross Timbers Gazette. Bartonville Man Posted Human Remains Online, Dumped Bucket of Bones at Dallas FBI Office
4
Denton Record-Chronicle. Denton Police: After Grave Robbery at IOOF Cemetery, Remains May Have Been Delivered to FBI
5
Denton Record-Chronicle. After Denton Grave Robbery, Community Rallies to Restore Dignity for Socialite Who Died in 1940
6
The Oklahoman. Texas, Oklahoma Police Use YouTube to Solve Cemetery Thefts
7
KFOR. Man Accused of Stealing Remains From Oklahoma Cemetery
8
Cross Timbers Gazette. Bartonville Man Arrested in FBI Operation for Removing Body From Cemetery
9
Cross Timbers Gazette. More Charges Added for Bartonville Man That Stole and Dumped Human Remains
10
Denton Record-Chronicle. Denton County, Oklahoma Police Add Charges for Grave Robbery Suspect
11
FindLaw. Texas Penal Code § 42.08 – Abuse of Corpse
12
Denton Record-Chronicle. Man Accused of Ramming Fox 4 Studios Has Lengthy Rap Sheet in Denton County
13
NBC News. Ranting Man Arrested After Crashing Truck Into Dallas TV Station