Fred Andrews death happened in Cherry Creek after a hit-and-run accident. Fred Andrews, Riverdale Archie Andrews dad played by Luke Perry died in the crash after stopping alongside the road to help a stranded motorist.
The stranded motorist is played by Shannen Doherty, who co-starred with Perry on “Beverly Hills, 90210.”
Fred Andrews, Luke Perry’s character was the protective father of protagonist Archie Andrews (KJ Apa).
Fred was said to be on a business trip, with Archie’s mother and Fred’s ex-wife, Mary (Molly Ringwald), stepping in to look after the teenager.
Fred Andrews death: How Riverdale Archie Andrews dad Fred Andrews died
After Fred was struck by a car and killed in Cherry Creek, Archie received the fateful phone call in Pop’s Diner.
He was standing in the same spot where his father nearly died two seasons earlier.
He falls to his knees in disbelief.
Fred Andrews death happened right before the Fourth of July, meaning that his body won’t be transported to Riverdale until after the holiday.
Archie, in his signature fashion, decides to take matters into his own hands and recruits best friends Veronica (Camila Mendes), Betty (Lili Reinhart) and Jughead (Cole Sprouse) to help bring his father home earlier.
Archie, with his friends at his side, sets out on a quest to bring his father’s body back to Riverdale from Cherry Creek, where the accident happened.
And that was when he learns that Fred died doing what he did throughout his life: helping someone in need.
While in town visiting the site of the accident, Archie encounters the woman his father helped and learns she was almost hit by the car that killed Fred.
When the teenagers stop by the site of the accident to retrieve Fred’s truck, they encounter the distraught woman holding a bouquet of flowers.
She reveals that one of her car’s tires had blown out at that spot days earlier, and that Fred had stopped to help her while other drivers continued to zoom by.
She says to Archie:
“We were working on the tire and a car just — it came out of nowhere, speeding.”
I just froze in its path, and your dad, he pushed me out of the way. He saved my life. If he hadn’t done what he did, there’s no way I would be here right now. I know that.”
Archie’s father pushed the woman out of the way and ended up being struck himself, she tells him.
Archie, overcome with grief, briefly sets out on a quest to confront the driver who killed his father.
However, he learns that the man charged with the crime only turned himself in to protect his teenage son, who had taken the car without permission and ended up hitting Fred before fleeing the scene.
Archie, himself no stranger to immature mistakes, is deeply impacted by the revelation, as he knows his late father would have done the same for him.
Doherty’s character reinforces this notion when she tells Archie that, even in the little time she spent with Fred:
he “talked about you the entire time — his son, how he couldn’t believe that a man like him was blessed with such a thoughtful, kind boy.”
Archie and his team make it back to Riverdale and lays Fred to rest.
At his funeral, Archie remembers his dad as someone who was there “for every high and every low”, saying:
“He was the greatest man I’ve ever known. It hurts me that I never got to say goodbye, that I won’t ever get to see him again or talk to him.
But his spirit and his memory live on in this town and in everyone he’s met.
Fred Andrews will always be a part of Riverdale.”
Actor Luke Perry, who played Fred Andrews in “Riverdale, died in March 2019 after having a stroke.
After two times got shot and survived in Riverdale, Fred Andrews finally rests in peace in Riverdale season 4.