PANAMA CITY BEACH — A Tallahassee doctor was arrested Saturday after he triggered an Amber Alert in the hours after his estranged wife was found dead in the pool of one of their houses.
Bay County Sheriff’s deputies, acting as part of the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force, made contact with Adam Frasch Saturday at a Panama City Beach home around 4 p.m., said BCSO spokeswoman Ruth Corley. Deputies at that point were primarily concerned for the safety of Frasch’s two children, she said.
Frasch was a suspect in the cases involving his missing two children, and the Leon County Sheriff’s Office alerted deputies here that he owned a home on Nancee Drive.
“We didn’t have a warrant, but we had an Amber Alert,” Corley said.
The Tallahassee Democrat reported 38-year-old former model Samira Frasch had recently filed for divorce and been granted temporary sole custody of the couple’s two young children. A maintenance worker found her body in the swimming pool of the couple’s house in Tallassee around 11 a.m. Saturday, hours after the children were seen getting into an SUV and leaving the home.
Deputies found Hyrah Frasch and Skynnah Frasch in their car seats in an SUV parked in the driveway on the Nancee Drive home. They were unharmed, and they were turned over to the state Department of Children and Families after Frasch was arrested.
Frasch agreed to come with deputies to talk about the situation, but Corley was not sure if he gave a statement to local deputies or Leon County deputies, who arrested Frasch around 5:15 p.m. on a warrant for interfering with child custody.
It is not clear if deputies suspect foul play in Samira Frasch’s death. A LCSO spokesman could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Frasch is being held without bond in the Bay County Jail. Corley said the warrant included the provision that Frasch be held without bond. The Clerk of Courts’ website gives no indication that Frasch has seen a judge since his arrest.
Staff at the Bay County Jail said Frasch declined to be interviewed.