1990: Lieutenant Derek Frye dedicated his life to the Pine Valley Police Department. Straight-laced Derek was assigned as partner to rogue detective Trevor Dillon. Their first case together was the kidnapping of Dixie Cooney. In the standoff, Derek was shot while creating a distraction so that Tad Martin could sneak in and save her.
Derek began and dating and was engaged to Dr. Angie Hubbard.

1991: When Trevor left the force, Derek was assigned a new partner named Mimi Reed. Their first case together involved the poisoning of Palmer Cortlandt. The partners found themselves embroiled in conflict when it came to how to approach the case. Mimi proved to be a great asset when the culprit, Stan Ulatowski, attempted to get away in a private jet. After he jumped out the parachute door, the plane began to make a rapid descend. Mimi commandeered the plane and made a safe landing.
The long hours on the job brought Derek and Mimi together. But, dating was against department policy. When they were discovered, Mimi took the fall for Derek and was suspended from the force.

1992: With Mimi suspended from the force, Derek got a new partner named Taylor Roxbury Cannon. Derek’s newest case hit close to home. His nephew, Terrence Frye was attacked at the Pine Valley Sports Center. He lay near death in a coma. Derek made it his duty to track down the attackers. With Taylor’s help, he arrested the culprits. They were part of a bigger white supremacist network named Deconstruction. Derek’s job was not yet done.

1993: Derek confronted Lucas Barnes when he came back to Pine Valley to be a part of Terrence’s life. Derek was resentful of the fact that Lucas had abandoned Livia when she was pregnant with his son. Lucas now compromised Livia’s chances of happiness with her new husband, Tom Cudahy.
Derek and Taylor worked overtime to take down Deconstruction. Taylor went undercover as a white woman to penetrate their inner sanctum. She got word that the Cudahy’s were targeted for another attack for their recent decision to adopt an African America son. The Cudahys were whisked away to safety before the bomb set in their home exploded.
Derek spurned Taylor’s advances. He believed he was in a happy relationship with Mimi. But the long hours had taken its toll. Mimi had fallen into an affair with Lucas. Now, she was pregnant and unsure as to which man was the child’s father.

1994: Danielle Frye had a very exciting birthday. Mimi Reed gave birth to her unsure if Lucas Barnes or Derek Frye was her father. As they fought over her, Grace Keefer kidnapped her. Grace had just lost her son, Tony Keefer. She thought it was unfair that she had no child while everyone fought and neglected Danielle. Her older cousin, Terrence Frye, recovered Danielle. A DNA test proved that Derek was her father. Her parents married in a small ceremony at Mimi’s loft.

1995: Derek had a one-night stand with Taylor. When he admitted his infidelity to Mimi, she filed for divorce. Using Derek’s job against him, Mimi won primary custody of Danielle. Mimi moved to New York with Danielle.

1997: Derek was the lead investigator into the murder of a conman named Ricky. Ricky was linked to Laura English, who as a minor was exploited into doing child porn. Derek believed that Ricky’s overdose was not accidental and somehow linked to Laura’s ordeal.
Trevor enlisted Derek’s help to deal with Tim’s delinquency. Tim had implicated Janet in a series of recent crimes. Janet had agreed to a lie detector test, but all the results were inconclusive. Based on Janet’s history, Derek was weary to believe Janet.

1998: Derek broke up the second annual Crystal Ball to arrest Ryan Lavery for the rape of Kit Fisher Montgomery.

1999: Trevor came to Derek with an admission of guilt. Trevor allegedly murdered Sophie Malinowski, Janet’s former cellmate. Derek was hesitant to believe Trevor’s claim. In reality, Trevor had taken the fall for Janet so that she would not have to go back to prison. After taking his statement, Trevor disappeared. Derek was forced to use the Pine Valley Police Department to track down Trevor’s whereabouts.

2000: Janet confessed to Sophie’s murder to Derek. Sophie had threatened to kill Amanda. Derek was hesitant to trust Janet based on her past. Luckily, Trevor had found enough evidence to support Janet’s claim of self-defense.

2001: Teenage drug dealer Sweeney’s death was the first sign that the drug lord Proteus had landed in Pine Valley. Sweeney was the son of one of Derek’s colleagues on the force. Derek learned that Sweeney was JR Chandler’s, Tad’s stepson’s, provider. Tad took the fall for Sweeney’s death to protect JR. Before Derek to do anything, Tad went on the run. Derek had bigger fish to fry when the Federal Government got involved in the case. They sent Agent Chris Stamp to manage the investigation.

2003: Derek got wind that an assassin named Evan Flanders planned to kill Chris Stamp as Wildwind. When he arrived at the scene, he was incapacitated by Flanders. Chris died protecting Maddie Grey.
Everyone was a suspect in the murder of Michael Cambias. Derek was forced to take the lead on the investigation after Anna Devane resigned as Police Chief. He too would resign as special investigator after Livia returned as the defending attorney at the trial.

2004: Derek thought his life was coming into order when he was named Police Chief. But Livia had a bombshell for him. She found Dani hiding at Jackson Montgomery’s apartment with his son, Reggie Montgomery. Dani had run away from home. When he contacted Mimi, she told him Dani was now his problem. She dropped off all her things. Livia told Derek he needed to step up to the plate and be a father.
Dani proved to be a handful. She was constantly finding herself in trouble. But no situation was more compromising than when Dani, Reggie, and Jamie Martin were arrested on drug charges. Dani explained that had evidence that JR Chandler was responsible for Babe Chandler’s drug overdose. Derek reluctantly agreed to allow Jamie to act as an informant in the investigation.
Derek attributed Dani’s delinquency to her relationship with Reggie. It would take some time for him to warm up to their blossoming relationship.

2005: Derek was shocked to see Mimi back in Pine Valley. She had returned to reclaim Danielle. Mimi was engaged to marry Garret Williams and wanted Dani to be by her side. But Dani wanted to stay in Pine Valley.
Derek and Mimi teamed up to track down a crime lord named The Dragon. He was in Pine Valley searching for Witness Protection escapee, Julia Keeper. Neither knew Derek was The Dragon. When Mimi realized that she had been duped, she left Pine Valley without her daughter.

2006: Derek was devastated when Trevor’s dead body was found in Janet’s freezer. Janet had a break from reality after she stopped taking medication. She was responsible for the rash of crimes in Pine Valley, including the Mardi Gras Ball explosion.
Derek’s next case had him tracking down Dr. Greg Madden’s murderer. Almost everyone in town hated the devious doctor. Tad and Dixie were among the prime suspects. Derek was sympathetic towards Tad, but he made his animosity toward Dixie, who had abandoned her family for the last four years, very clear, especially after she teamed up with Zach Slater.

2007: Danielle was poisoned by the Satin Slayer in Derek’s own home. For her protection, Derek sent Danielle to Hawaii. He had Livia take Danielle’s place at the hospital so as to lure the killer. The Satin Slayer was finally revealed to be Alexander Cambias, sr. After the ordeal, Danielle decided not to come back to Pine Valley.
Livia pushed Derek to have a life outside of the force. He began to see Krystal Carey, the mother of Tad’s baby girl, Jenny Martin. The romance did not go very far.
Derek led the investigation into the disappearance of Greenlee duPres and Zach Slater. They were found in an abandoned bomb shelter in the woods outside of Pine Valley. They were the latest victim of sociopath Richie Novak.

2008: Unknowingly, Derek helped Tad in his investigation into police officer Jesse Hubbard’s death. Jesse was actually alive and living on the run. Though Jesse worried about getting more people involved, Angie assured him of Derek’s character. Derek focused his investigation into the death of John Remington, the man Jesse was pursuing when he was shot dead. Remington’s body was found in the bomb shelter Greenlee and Zach were imprisonsed in the year before.
After the investigation, Derek left Pine Valley to be with Danielle in Hawaii. Jesse was named as Derek’s replacement as Chief of Police.