Fryer operated a salvage yard on about 10 acres of land and routinely cut propane tanks apart with a torch to sell the scrap metal, said Sgt. Fryer, who was working alone when the accident occurred, was pronounced dead at Northern Michigan Hospital after being transported there by Life Link ambulance. One of the defendants who police suspect instigated the damage was not offered a deal. Raymond Korb was pronounced dead at the scene when Michigan State Police and emergency medical personal arrived at Tower Automotive at the Hughes Industrial Park. Federal agents executed a search warrant on Grant's home last June as part of an investigation by the U.S. Customs Service into an alleged worldwide child pornography ring that operated via the Internet.
Grant faces the charges in federal court in Grand Rapids.
Fifty thousand dollars of state money is targeted for evaluation of soil and groundwater to determine if partially burned tires and ash have created underground contamination of the site. Carl's Retreading, located along Sawyer Road in western Blair Township, was the site of a major tire fire that began in late December of 1995 and burned for 23 days. Raymond Korb died after a steel projectile exploded from a die press Thursday evening at Tower Automotive in the Hughes Industrial Park. Korb left behind a wife and three children, and his father, Aron, who also works at Tower and was working when the accident took place, said Jim Marx, a representative of Tower in Traverse City. Marx, visibly shaken by the event, referred all other questions to a letter to employees from the company's president, Dug Campbell, who is based in Grand Rapids.