Stephen Grant | The Man Who Butchered His Wife
Stephen Grant
Born: 10-22-1953
Wife Slayer
American Murderer
Crime Spree: February 9, 2007
Incarcerated at the Oaks Correctional Facility, Michigan.
On February 14, 2007 Stephen Grant notified the Macomb County Sheriff’s office in Macomb County, Michigan that his wife, Tara Lynn Grant, was missing. During the interview, authorities discovered five days had lapsed between the time Grant had last seen his wife and when he finally notified police of her disappearance.
Stephen explained it was not the first time his wife had disappeared and, therefore, he didn’t immediately notify police. Grant told police that on the evening of February 9, 2007 he had overheard his wife talking with someone on the phone, telling them, “I’ll meet you at the end of the driveway.” Grant said he saw his wife get into a dark-colored vehicle which then drove away.
He told police he had not seen or heard from her since.
The Investigation
Throughout the investigation, Stephen Grant made numerous television appearances, at times accusing authorities of harassment.
The day after reporting his wife missing, Grant was stopped by police and arrested for driving on a suspended license.
Grant accused the police of using the traffic arrest solely as an excuse to take him into custody and question him about his wife’s disappearance.
Police denied the accusation.
On March 2, 2007 a search warrant was executed at the Grant home in Washington Township and a portion of Tara Grant’s dismembered body was discovered in the garage. An arrest warrant was immediately issued for Stephen Grant.
Stephen Grant’s Disappearance
According to police, Stephen Grant was less than cooperative with them throughout their investigation. He refused to answer questions. However, he did agree to take a polygraph test, as long as it was administered by someone other than the police.
On March 2, 2007, police executed a search warrant at the home of Stephen and Tara Grant in Washington Township, Michigan. A human torso, believed to be that of Tara Grant, was found in the garage. An open murder arrest warrant was immediately issued for Stephen Grant.
Grant, however, was nowhere to be found.
Stephen Grant had fled the area in a pick up truck he borrowed from an unsuspecting friend. On March 4, 2007, a cell phone call Grant made to his sister was tracked and he was located 280 miles away in Emmet County, Michigan.
With the assistance of a United States Coast Guard helicopter crew, Grant was pursued and captured by local, state, and federal authorities while hiding in the Wilderness State Park.
Clad only in pants, shirt, and socks in the frigid northern Michigan weather, Grant was suffering from minor frostbite and hypothermia at the time of his capture.
Stephen Grant Confesses To Murder
Stephen Grant was taken into custody and airlifted to Northern Michigan Hospital where he was hospitalized for a brief period of time. According to authorities, during his hospitalization Grant gave a full confession, explaining in detail how he had first fought with Tara Grant before strangling her.
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To their suburban Detroit neighbors, Stephen and Tara Grant were a happy, normal couple living amongst them. Their marriage, however was plagued by resentment and extramarital affairs.
It was held together only by their children.
Until the night Stephen snapped, strangled and dismembered his wife, then disposed of her body, piece by piece, in the very park his children played in. (Amazon)
Grant said he then took the body to a family owned tool and die shop where it was dismembered. He said he then took the remains to nearby Stony Creek Metro Park in Shelby Township and disposed of the body parts there. However, upon learning that police would soon be conducting a search in that area, Grant returned to the Metro Park and recovered the torso of Tara Grant. He returned home and hid the remains in black plastic garbage bags in the garage.
Grant was released from Northern Michigan Hospital and transported to Macomb County by a convoy of Sheriff Deputies.
On March 6, 2007, he was formally charged with count one homicide, murder in the first degree that is premeditated and with count two disinterment and/or mutilation of a dead body.
The charge of count one homicide in the first degree that is premeditated is punishable by life in prison. The charge of disinterment, dismemberment, is punishable by up to 10 years in prison or a $5,000 fine or both.
The Aftermath
On April 13, 2007, Stephen Grant’s confession was released to the public, including the entire conversation he had with authorities, and a written confession that he gave police. Tara’s family decided that her children will be able to read the confession when they are adults. Grant’s sister was given authority against her estate and she has filed a wrongful death suit against Stephen Grant.
The Verdict
On Friday, December 21, 2007 Stephen Grant was found guilty on the charge of murder in the second degree. Thursday, February 21, 2008, he was sentenced to a minimum of fifty years in prison. On March 30, 2010, Grant lost his final appeal in state court, leaving intact the original sentence of 50–80 years. The Michigan Supreme Court affirmed a lower court decision that found Grant’s trial was not unduly prejudiced by pretrial publicity in the widely covered case, nor was Stephen Grant improperly denied access to an attorney before making a confession to police.
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Stephen Grant swore that his wife had abandoned him and their two young children. Then the police made a gruesome discovery and his facts began to fall apart.
After his arrest, Grant confessed to strangling his wife and cutting her body into fourteen pieces while the children slept.
Detroit News reporter George Hunter interviewed Stephen Grant several times, learning the shocking details of his relationship with Tara.
This chilling account goes inside the twisted mind of a husband who snapped, and a marriage that ended in bloody carnage. (Amazon)
In March 2015, U.S. District Court Judge David Lawson denied Grant’s “petition for writ of habeas corpus,” where Stephen Grant claims that police improperly obtained his confession in his hospital bed as he was being treated for hypothermia and exposure and also denied Grant’s claim that pre-trial publicity made it impossible for him to receive a fair trial. Lawson said that officials in Macomb County took “extraordinary measures” to ensure that a fair and impartial jury was seated.
Stephen Grant is incarcerated at the Oaks Correctional Facility in Manistee Township, Michigan. His appeals have all been denied, making his earliest possible release date is March 3, 2057.
The Children
Tara Grant’s children were just 4 and 6 years old at the time of the murder of their mother. Their young lives were tossed into a nightmare they would barely understand at the time. It was Tara’s sister, Alicia, and her husband who eventually gained custody over Tara’s children and the heavy responsibility of rebuilding their lives in the face of such a terrible loss.
Source: wikipedia | murderpedia | themidwestcrimefiles.com | clickondetroit.com | thecinemaholic
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