Pod Insights Dark Downeast The Murder of Christine Grega (Vermont) About this episode When Christine Grega and her husband, John Grega, set off for a family vacation to Vermont with their young son, it was a trip meant to mend their relationship. Instead, the weekend ended in devastation when Christine was found in their borrowed ski condo, the victim of a violent attack.
After two decades filled with investigations, prosecutions, an exoneration, and lawsuits, it still isn’t clear what really happened on the night of September 12, 1994.
Transcript Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:01 Kylie Low? Every case starts somewhere. A small town, a missing persons report, a family asking the same questions over and over. But sometimes, a story reaches beyond its own community. Its impact extends further, calling for more attention, more conversation, and a wider audience. That's what Crime Junkie does every Monday. Ashley Flowers and Brett Preawat cover the cases you can't stop thinking about, from unsolved murders to missing people to investigations that still need answers. Because every new person who hears the story is another chance to uncover the truth. Listen to Crime Junkie every Monday, wherever you get your podcasts.
0:45 Kylie Low? When Christine Grega and her husband, John Grega, set off for a family vacation to Vermont with their young son, it was a trip meant to mend their relationship. Instead, the weekend ended in devastation when Christine was found in their borrowed ski condo, the victim of a violent attack. After two decades filled with investigations, prosecutions, and exoneration and lawsuits, it still isn't clear what really happened on the night of September 12, 1994. I'm Kylie Low, and this is the case of Christine Grega, on Dark Down East.
1:33 Kylie Low? It was around 8:30 PM on the night of September 12, 1994, when a couple inside Unit 72 at the Timber Creek condominium complex in Dover, Vermont, were jolted from their late-evening relaxation. A man was pounding on their front door in a frenzy, yelling and screaming. And at first, the couple inside refused to open the door for this stranger until they realized he was shouting something about his wife falling in the tub and his son being asleep in the car. The couple told the guy to go get his son to prove he wasn't a dangerous intruder. He returned with a toddler and handed the child over to the couple, frantically telling them to call 911 before he sprinted off.
2:15 Kylie Low? The emergency call was placed at approximately 8:30 PM. But the couple didn't realize just how serious the situation was. They told the dispatcher a woman had simply fallen in the bathroom, when the reality was far more severe. A Dover police officer was first to arrive at the scene around 8:36 PM. The officer heard loud crying and pleading coming from the downstairs and followed the sobs to the bathroom, where he found 32-year-old John Greca straddling the body of his wife, 31-year-old Christine Greca. John cried as he called out her name and shook her. Christine was lying face up on the bathroom floor with her head near the door and her feet near the toilet. She was nude but had been covered up by a towel and blanket,
3:00 Kylie Low? and her body was "purpleish, bluish gray and extremely cold." This surprised the officer because the heater was running, making it very hot in the bathroom. The first responding officer, though trained to do so as a matter of standard protocol, did not immediately start CPR on Christine. Instead, the officer called dispatch to report a fatality. A few minutes later, around 8:40 PM, the first EMT arrived and performed an initial evaluation of vital signs. He thought he felt a pulse, so he instructed the officer to help him start CPR. According to court records, the officer's initial chest compressions caused, "copious amounts of water flowing out of Christine's mouth and nose,
3:44 Kylie Low? followed by large quantities of vomit." The EMT was unable to establish a clear airway, so he stopped CPR relatively quickly and waited for the Deerfield Valley Rescue ambulance to arrive. A senior EMT came with the ambulance, who noted hearing a "primal scream" upon arrival. The scream was John, who was crying in the downstairs bedroom as the officer tried to console him. The senior EMT was shocked to find no CPR being performed. According to the senior EMT, the first EMT on the scene looked overwhelmed and disoriented by the urgency of the situation. The senior EMT immediately took charge and ordered CPR to recommence, and when it
4:27 Kylie Low? still proved unsuccessful, Christine was carried to the ambulance for transport to the hospital. At 8:52 PM, now 20 minutes after the 911 call was placed, a regional medical examiner intercepted the ambulance and jumped in the back. They assessed and continued lifesaving efforts for several minutes without success. With no positive response, the medical examiner pronounced Christine dead at 9:10 PM. What John would soon tell police about what he did earlier on the day of his wife's death, his actions before pounding on the door of a neighboring condo, and before EMTs and police arrived at the scene to find Christine unresponsive, that's all hazy information at best.
5:10 Kylie Low? Only John Grega knows the truth about that night, and it's unclear to this day if his account reflects reality, because it surely doesn't line up with what the investigation claimed to find and what the prosecution would present to a jury later on. But what we know to be fact, based on evidence at the scene and the autopsy, is that Christine was murdered. Autopsy results show that Christine suffered blunt force trauma to the head, face, trunk, and extremities, as well as extensive internal and external injuries on the neck. She had broken ribs, bruises, and abrasions all over, and evidence of choking. Ultimately, the cause of death was determined to be asphyxiation.
5:52 Kylie Low? In fact, the injuries to Christine's neck were so bad that her hyoid bone had been fractured, a fact that the deputy chief medical examiner initially missed, but a state expert found upon inspecting the results. However, police subsequently, quote, "lost track" of Christine's larynx and hyoid bone. One of the most disturbing facts of this case is the evidence of a horrific sexual assault Christine endured in her last moments. Christine's body had several severe vaginal and rectal injuries. Christine's life ended violently and painfully, and police quickly zeroed in on someone who they believed was responsible for all of it.
6:34 Kylie Low? John Grega and Christine Veal were both raised in devout Catholic families on Long Island, New York. They met in 1983 as students at St. John's University in Queens and got to know each other after John offered to help with organic chemistry homework. They fell in love, but agreed to finish their degrees before getting married. John graduated in 1984 with a toxicology degree and a minor in analytics chemistry. Christine graduated the following year from a five-year program with a certification as a licensed physician's assistant. They got married the same year, in 1985. John worked a few years after college as a chemist and toxicologist, first in New York,
7:16 Kylie Low? and later briefly for NASA contractors in the Houston, Texas area. That is, until John's brother Jeff made an attractive offer, starting a window cleaning business back on Long Island. Their father already had a series of similar companies throughout Long Island. In 1987, the couple moved back to Lake Grove, New York, so John could work in the family business, and he and Christine could put down roots in the same community where they both grew up. And then, after years of trying, John and Christine welcomed their son in 1992. They called him a miracle baby. In the fall of 1994, life in the Grega home seemed good from the outside looking in.
7:57 Kylie Low? John's future business prospects were bright, Christine liked her job at a local rehabilitation center, their son was happy and healthy, and they lived in a community they loved, surrounded by family and friends. They were in the process of buying a larger home in a community with better schools for their son and any future children. Behind closed doors, though, they were once again facing infertility issues and experienced a non-viable pregnancy. At the same time, as John later explained to investigators, they'd also been discussing divorce in the midst of trying to repair their crumbling relationship. "That's actually why they were in Vermont that weekend," he said. They decided to take a family trip in an attempt to get their marriage back on track,
8:42 Kylie Low? ahead of their 10-year anniversary.
8:45 Kylie Low? In the first day and a half of the investigation, several officers interviewed John on at least five different occasions. He was questioned long into the night and the next morning, but according to court documents, was never informed of his Miranda rights. John told police that the condo where they were staying, Unit 69 at the Timber Creek condominium complex, it actually belonged to a former business associate of his. They were supposed to spend a few days there before continuing on to a family cabin in upstate New York. As he explained to police, they set off for the road trip on that Saturday, September 10, and the 11th was their first full day in Vermont. He said they shopped, watched the downhill mountain bike race at Mount Snow,
9:30 Kylie Low? had dinner at a local restaurant, and headed to bed early. The next day, September 12, they spent the morning with their son at Santa's Land in Putney. They captured some smiling family photos together at the park. An employee at Santa's Land later recalled that they looked happy and seemed to be enjoying their day. Later on, Christine called her dad to tell him they'd arrived in Vermont, and he too reported that she sounded happy during the call. The rest of the afternoon was uneventful, according to John. They went from Santa's Land to a fast food restaurant for lunch before returning to the condo. According to John, their son refused to nap that day. And toddler caregivers, you know the struggle. Christine reportedly wanted a little kid free time
10:14 Kylie Low? to take a bath and do some laundry, so John said he offered to take the kiddo out and give his wife some alone time. John told police that he left the condo with his son in the family car and drove around until he found a playground. John then looked for a place to eat, but couldn't find a spot that was open or that looked very good, so he eventually gave up on dinner and instead tried to get ice cream, but the ice cream shop was closed too. So, as he told police, he just drove around until his son fell asleep in the car seat. According to John, it was while he and his son were out for the day that an unknown assailant must have entered their vacation condo and surprised Christine in the tub. He said that when he returned to the unit, he temporarily left his son asleep in the
10:59 Kylie Low? car seat while he went inside to get the bed ready for him. He claims he found the front door of the unit closed but unlocked. He didn't see or hear Christine anywhere, even as he searched the rooms throughout the first floor. He called Christine the name as he made his way downstairs, and he began to worry when he got no response. John said he noticed the bathroom door was closed. When he opened it, that's when he found Christine. His wife was lying motionless in a partially filled bathtub. He could not see the extent or cause of her injuries as he jumped into the tub and pulled her out, placing her face up on the floor, and frantically attempted CPR. But John said he was never taught CPR. John said that when he couldn't resuscitate her himself, he ran off to find help and
11:44 Kylie Low? pounded on the door of the closest occupied unit to call 911 because the condo they were staying in didn't have its own telephone. John's story didn't pass the sniff test for the lead investigator on the case. On September 13, 1994, the day after Christine's murder, Vermont State Police Detective Sergeant William Pettingill held a briefing with fellow law enforcement officers, including lab technicians. During that meeting, he focused exclusively on John Greger as the sole suspect in Christine's death. In hindsight, that decision may have come at the expense of true justice.
12:29 Kylie Low? I've been trying to get a head start on holiday shopping this year, and I've realized that some of the best gifts are just really nice versions of things people already use every day, which is why I always turn to my BFF, Quince. I got my daughter the cutest lightweight puffer jacket, which is perfect for layering during these colder months, and don't worry, she doesn't know how to find the podcast app yet, so she won't hear this and spoil her gift. As a New England High-quality outerwear is key, but I can't justify paying triple digits for a jacket that'll fit her for like two snowstorms. Quince is high-quality, everyday essentials, not high prices, because they work directly with factories and cut out the middleman. I know you can find what you're looking for from Quince:
13:14 Kylie Low? cashmere sweaters, organic cotton basics, bedding, luggage, a gift for everyone. And hey, pal, you deserve to treat yourself too. Gold hoop earrings. Add to cart. Give the gift of quality this holiday season. Download the Quince app for app-exclusive offers, or go to quince.com. Get free shipping on your order and 365-day returns, now available in Canada and the UK, too. And when Quince asks where you heard about them, let them know it was Dark Down East. It's the best way to support the show.
13:43 Speaker 01 You know that thing where you're scrolling the internet and suddenly you're three hours deep into a celebrity lawsuit?
13:48 Speaker 02 Or you hear a courtroom term and think, wait, what does that actually mean?
13:52 Speaker 01 I'm Eliza Orland, career public defender.
13:55 Speaker 02 And I'm Taya Johnson, law professor and legal analyst.
13:58 Speaker 01 And on our brand-new podcast, Criminally Online, we break down the law behind the stories you can't stop talking about.
14:04 Speaker 02 No legal degree required, just curiosity. Find Criminally Online wherever you get your podcasts.
14:21 Kylie Low? In future court documents, John Rega's lawyer would detail how traumatized and disoriented he was during questioning. He repeatedly told police he didn't know how Christine died and explained his whereabouts that day. John was shocked and angry as police continually suggested he was responsible for Christine's murder and has he faced questions about domestic abuse in their relationship.
14:44 Kylie Low? That being said, it is not surprising that some of what John said in these initial interviews raised eyebrows among detectives. John claimed he got back to the condo after about an hour and a half that night, but wasn't sure exactly what time he returned. "Maybe sometime around 7 o'clock and it was getting dark outside," he said. However, the 911 call wasn't placed until 8:30 p.m.
15:09 Kylie Low? John also couldn't remember certain details like how full the tub was, or if Christine was face up or down when he found her. This could be chalked up to being in shock and moving quickly to help his wife. But his response to learning about Christine's injuries was interesting. An officer asked John about his and Christine's sex life. At first, John said they had sex twice that morning, but later in the same interview said they had vaginal sex once in the morning and anal sex once that afternoon, before John left with his son. He also had a possible explanation for some of Christine's injuries. John felt it relevant to tell detectives that his penis was much larger than average. For what it's worth, officers examined John and did not note
15:53 Kylie Low? any signs of blood on his genitals that indicated he may have caused Christine's injuries. In another interview, officers asked John about the injuries on his wife's neck, and John explained he sometimes grasped Christine's neck during sex. He said he did this on the day his wife died, and that her head injury might be from hitting it on a wall or headboard during intercourse. It wasn't just John's statements to police that raised eyebrows. As investigators processed the crime scene, several suspicious findings seemed to support the theory that John was responsible for Christine's violent death. On September 13th, John consented to a search of the condo.
16:34 Kylie Low? That same day, an officer got a warrant to search the condo and the family car. John left Vermont and returned to Long Island that night. Now, one of the first things police noted about the crime scene was how clean it was. It was clear to investigators that things had been wiped down and there were no signs of struggle or forced entry. They also found the washing machine stopped mid-cycle, half-full of soapy water. Soaking inside were several towels and a full set of both women's and men's clothes. These outfits matched those that John and Christine were wearing in pictures taken at Santa's Land amusement park on the day of the murder. The men's shorts found in the washer were missing a button
17:16 Kylie Low? that had been still attached to the shorts in the photos. Money and keys were found in the woman's jeans. The woman's underwear, men's shorts, and a towel all tested positive for blood. However, according to court documents, forensic testing was hindered by the clothes being soaked in soapy water, which apparently dissolves proteins in the blood, making it untestable. Investigators visited the next day and did not seize anything but checked the mattress for bloodstains and tested the operation of the bathtub. Then on September 15th, two officers returned to check the sewer lines for foreign objects. They also checked the trash for clothing worn by the victim in those family photos.
18:01 Kylie Low? They found other items in trash bags, but no clothing. However, they seized two articles of women's clothing from the condo. The following week, on September 19th, police sought and received a second warrant to search the condo and seized more evidence, mostly clothing. Investigators also searched the condo complex's shared trash receptacle, and they found a trash bag identical to the one in the Grega's unit. The trash bag contained beer cans, some empty and some full, and one of the cans had John's fingerprints on it. The trash bag also held paper towels that appeared to be stained with blood and a pantyliner that tested positive for blood.
18:43 Kylie Low? A rescue worker also discovered earlier that the toilet in the condo was clogged. Investigators broke open the toilet and found a wad of paper towels and a piece of cardboard from a box of Marlboro cigarettes inside. About a month into the investigation, with attorneys present, John gave his final statement to investigators. This time, his description of the timing of events changed. First, John claimed that consensual sex with Christine and his trip out of the condo with his son all happened later in the day than he originally said. He also stated that he actually did not have his hands around his wife's neck while having sex with her that day, and that she was in fine condition and in no pain afterwards.
19:28 Kylie Low? He said Christine changed into her jeans and a golf shirt after. It was a different outfit than what Christine was wearing in the family photos taken at the amusement park earlier that day, and different from the soaking wet clothing police had found in the washing machine. John's changing stories, the evidence at the scene, it all amounted to probable cause in the eyes of investigators. On December 21, 1994, police arrested John Greger on charges of second-degree murder. Later, the charges were amended to aggravated murder and aggravated sexual assault.
20:08 Kylie Low? The first thing the state set forth in their case against John Greger was that he and Christine were having marital problems, something John himself told investigators. However, the state further elaborated on the couple's turmoil, claiming discussions of divorce were in part due to John's drinking. This was corroborated in court by a lifelong friend of Christine's. Monty Moran reports for the Rutland Daily Herald that the friend testified that John would "guzzle beers to spite his wife" and that he often drank between six and 10 beers. When his wife told him to stop, he would tell her to be quiet or leave him alone. She said, "He got mean, nasty, and aggressive sometimes."
20:50 Kylie Low? Prosecutors claimed John's drinking was the primary problem in their nine-year marriage and that Christine had cut the vacation short when she found her husband had violated an agreement to not drink on the trip. Prosecutor Dan Davis theorized John killed his wife when she said she planned to return home and file for divorce. Christine's friend and another couple that knew John and Christine from New York corroborated this speculation of divorce threats. They characterized Christine as a woman "on the verge of leaving her husband." The friend testified that in recent years, John neglected his family responsibilities and pined for the days when they had no children. The worst offense to Christine, the friend said,
21:35 Kylie Low? was an instance the spring before her murder, when John was drinking and failed to comfort her when she suffered a miscarriage. She also said he told her he did not want another child. John admitted to drinking the day of the murder, and police found those beer cans, some empty and some full, in the trash. Police also found the Grega's suitcases were neatly and tightly packed. The prosecution also argued that physical evidence from the condo implicated John, specifically the clothes in the washing machine and the unusual cleanliness of the crime scene. The person who sexually assaulted and murdered Christine took time to clean up and wipe down
22:17 Kylie Low? surfaces in the condo, and placed bloody clothes in the washing machine, letting the machine fill up, only to stop it mid-cycle so the clothing would soak in soapy water. The prosecution claimed that only John would have been free to take his time cleaning up the scene, knowing that no one else would be returning to the condo to catch him in the act. They also took John's isolated fingerprint on the washing machine as evidence he had put the bloody clothes in the washer. They went on to argue that John's own statement to police was strong evidence against him. While he claimed he took his son to a local playground, nobody saw him there. This included one person who had a habit of looking for out-of-state plates. Now, side note, this
22:59 Kylie Low? might sound weird and unreliable, but in small-town Vermont, out-of-staters rarely go unnoticed. That being said, not being seen really isn't concrete evidence that he wasn't there. More witness testimony also shed doubt on John. A claims agent with Northwest Mutual testified that John would frequently ask when he would receive payments on Christine's $150,000 life insurance policy in the weeks following her murder, and that John initially told her Christine died of a heart attack. According to the claims agent, she sold two separate life insurance policies for Christine
23:38 Kylie Low? to the couple. The first for $50,000 in 1986, and another for $100,000 in 1993, a year before the murder. She said John asked her about the policies, quote, "all the time", and that he told her he was having financial troubles and needed the money. However, during cross-examination by the defense, the claims agent said it was not unusual for people to ask about payments on claims. Perhaps the most damaging evidence against John was his attempt to explain his wife's death as an accident. According to investigators, John tried to provide explanations for the injuries to her head and throat, and then there were those claims that he may have caused her
24:21 Kylie Low? to bleed after consensual anal sex. This explanation for the injuries was disproved in court when forensic evidence showed the victim's injuries were much too serious to have been caused accidentally or during consensual sex. The state's forensic pathologist testified the rectal injuries were caused by something the size of a fist, a pipe, or a baseball bat. The state tried to introduce a photo of a lone beer bottle that was supposedly found in the fridge of the condo. The prosecution presented this beer bottle as the possible assault weapon with no basis. Prosecutor Dan Davis told the jury that John used the bottle to assault Christine,
25:04 Kylie Low? yet no forensic tests were run on the bottle. From the trial transcript, quote, "The photo of the long trail ale, there is one out of the six-pack on the shelf of the refrigerator. The state submits that the defendant, when he came back, put the long trail ale there. Ask yourself, why is the one beer off to the side there? Looks just a little smaller than the head of a baseball bat." When it was John's turn to defend himself, in addition to his attempts to raise doubts about the nature of Christine's injuries and explaining them away as the possible result of consensual acts, John Greger also presented an alternate suspect defense, or rather, two alternate suspects.
25:56 Speaker 01 You know that thing where you're scrolling the internet and suddenly you're three hours deep into a celebrity lawsuit?
26:01 Speaker 02 Where you hear a courtroom term and think, wait, what does that actually mean?
26:05 Speaker 01 I'm Eliza Orland, career public defender.
26:07 Speaker 02 And I'm Taya Johnson, law professor and legal analyst.
26:10 Speaker 01 And on our brand new podcast, Criminally Online, we break down the law behind the stories you can't stop talking about.
26:16 Speaker 02 No legal degree required, just curiosity. Find Criminally Online wherever you get your podcasts.
26:33 Kylie Low? Enter Bryant Comey and Michael Carpenter. The defense's main argument at trial focused on these two men, who were working as painters at the condo complex on the day of Christine's murder. It is relevant to note that prior to trial, the court granted the state's motion to exclude evidence relating to Bryant and Michael's alleged sexual practices and their histories of assaults, criminal records, threatening behavior, and theft. At the time of the trial, both men were incarcerated for other offenses. But in September of 1994, the men had been seasonal workers painting the building Unit 69 was in. When interviewed by police,
27:14 Kylie Low? they provided false addresses and conflicting stories of their movements the day of the murder. They were not forthright about what parts of the condo complex they had been painting. They also both lied about when they arrived home, saying they left the condos at 4:00 or 5:00 p.m. for the hour drive back to Bennington. But Michael's then-wife testified that he arrived home unusually late, around 8:00 or 8:30 p.m. She also said Michael was unusually agitated the night of the murder, and they got in a big fight. Michael Carpenter admitted to working at the condo that day with Bryant Comey, and admitted that he gave police the wrong address when they interviewed him. He also admitted to smoking Marlboro cigarettes on the day of the murder.
27:57 Kylie Low? Remember, a piece of a box of Marlboros was found in the clogged toilet, but Michael denied murdering Christine. Another painter, Bryant Comey, admitted on the stand that he too gave police a made-up address when he was questioned. Bryant denied the sexual assault and murder, but he did admit to joking about sexually assaulting and killing a woman in the condo complex.
28:23 Kylie Low? According to the state, the physical evidence was not consistent with the defense theory that Christine was killed by a stranger or strangers who broke into the condo. There was no sign of forced entry or struggle. Assuming a stranger took time to clean up the scene, the defense could not explain why someone else would wash John's clothes as well as Christine's. On August 4, 1995, a jury of 10 women and two men convicted John of aggravated murder and aggravated sexual assault against his wife Christine. He was sentenced to life without parole on the aggravated murder charge and 50 years to life on the aggravated sexual assault charge.
29:05 Kylie Low? John immediately moved to fight his conviction, insistent that he had been wrongfully convicted. Throughout the 17 years and eight months that John spent in jail, he repeatedly attempted to appeal. John raised multiple concerns about jury selection in his case. However, the appeals court found no evidence of prejudice, bias among seated jurors, or community sentiment strong enough to justify a venue change, and upheld the trial court's handling of jury selection. John also argued that the judge of his trial was "extremely sensitive to the cross-examination of law enforcement officers and hostile to the defendant's theory of the case because she was married to a law enforcement officer."
29:50 Kylie Low? However, the appeals court found nothing in trial transcripts to support this belief. John also claimed that the condo searches after the first one he consented to were "non-consensual," and therefore he should have been granted a motion to suppress what was found during these searches in trial. However, according to the court's appeal decision, it is likely that John was already under suspicion at the time he gave consent, and therefore police did not exceed scope by continuing their search. But John's most substantive claim was that the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to support his conviction. John argued it amounted to nothing more than suspicion and conjecture, and that each piece of the circumstantial evidence may be explained in a way that does not link him to the murder.
30:35 Kylie Low? I want to go back for a moment to discuss the alternate suspects that John Greger and his defense attorney introduced at trial. To be clear, these individuals have not been charged with any crimes as it relates to the murder and sexual assault of Christine Greger. Now, according to the court, much of John's story of Bryant and Michael committing the crime falls apart when the defendant's concrete evidence is examined. They said John established no direct link between the two men and the murder. Instead, he merely gathered together a number of "remote acts, unsubstantiated statements, and unconnected activities or proclivities in an unsuccessful attempt to implicate them." Most of the evidence the defense sought to introduce about Bryant and Michael was labeled
31:19 Kylie Low? as "propensity evidence." That means they were trying to say that because the men had a history of violent behavior and criminal activity, that they were probably involved in Christine's murder. But evidence of a person's character is not admissible for the purpose of proving that they acted in a certain way on a certain occasion. What the jury didn't hear was that Bryant had a substantial violent criminal record and a history of sexual aggression towards women. He admitted he burglarized at least one other condo unit in the complex in the past and was unaccounted for at the time of the murder. According to court records, Bryant had once grabbed his girlfriend by the windpipe and
32:00 Kylie Low? squeezed hard enough to cut off her air and leave finger marks on her throat. It did not occur in the context of sexual activity. The court found that this evidence is not nearly strong enough or distinctive enough to show that the circumstances of Christine's assault forced anal sex with an object accompanied by choking was representative of Bryant's "signature." Bryant's girlfriend at the time was a 15-year-old juvenile in the custody of the Department of Children and Families. Her caseworker testified that the girlfriend told her Bryant had confessed to the murder that night when he arrived home. However, the court excluded the caseworker's testimony, saying it was hearsay.
32:46 Kylie Low? According to a future lawsuit, prosecutor Dan Davis refused to give the teenager immunity to testify, so the jury did not hear how Bryant admitted the crime to her. Bryant had testified that he “may have joked about the death of a lady and joked that he had killed the lady to his girlfriend.” When the juvenile witness herself was deposed, she denied telling her caseworker that and denied any knowledge incriminating or negative about Bryant. When asked to review the deposition where she denied Bryant’s admissions to her, the witness refused to sign it, indicating that she may not have been truthful. The juvenile’s attorney later explained she was terrified of Bryant and had suffered
33:29 Kylie Low? physical and sexual abuse from him. Lead investigator William Petten Gill testified he was aware of the inconsistencies in Bryant and Michael’s stories but did nothing to investigate them. Despite knowing they lied during police interviews, there was never an attempt to uncover the truth of their movements, including never fully investigating everyone who was with them that day. John’s attorney would go on to call the investigation into the men “superficial and last minute,” pointing out that the state did not even interview them until June of 1995, nine months after the murder, six months after John had been formally charged, and just two weeks before trial.
34:10 Kylie Low? John argued that he was unable to fully pursue his theory against Bryant Comey and Michael Carpenter because the trial court excluded evidence that would have pointed to them as the perpetrators. That appeal failed. However, John later successfully appealed the aggravated sexual assault charge, arguing that convicting him of both charges violated double jeopardy laws. Still, John remained in prison for nearly two decades. That is, until John’s lawyer Ian Carlton filed a petition for DNA testing of previously untested biological samples from the crime scene.
34:51 Kylie Low? In 2008, Vermont passed a law stating that persons convicted of qualifying crimes are entitled to seek post-conviction DNA testing on “any evidence which may contain biological evidence that was obtained during the investigation or prosecution of the crime.” So in the spring of 2010, after 15 years of unsuccessful appeals, John made a request under the Innocence Protection Act for the state of Vermont to search for and disclose any biological specimens, including never-before-tested body cavity swabs taken during Christine’s autopsy. On November 5, 2010, John filed a petition for post-conviction DNA testing.
35:36 Kylie Low? The Assistant Attorney General for the state of Vermont discounted John’s request as a “fishing expedition,” but arguments began over what DNA could and should be tested. There were 70 biological samples in dispute that John’s petition specified, which were then narrowed down to 32. The state tried to argue that any DNA might be too old to yield substantial findings, but acknowledged at the bench trial that finding a DNA profile from a biological sample taken from the victim’s body would raise doubts as to John’s culpability for the crime. Of the refined list of 32 samples, the state acknowledged its duty to submit five of them for further DNA testing.
36:19 Kylie Low? The samples included vaginal swabs, anal swabs, oral swabs, and fingernail scraping from both of the victim’s hands. Disputed samples not tested included hair samples found, a piece of Marlboro carton and paper towels clogging the upstairs toilet, and samples from clothing. On May 14, 2012, the Vermont Forensic Laboratory issued a laboratory examination report. The results changed everything in John’s pursuit to reverse the injustice he believed he had faced. The testing revealed a complete DNA profile from an unknown male on the anal swab taken during the autopsy. John was excluded as the source of that DNA.
37:04 Kylie Low? With that, on August 21st, 2012, the court vacated John's conviction. And the next day, he walked out of jail after approximately 17 years and eight months behind bars. But the state of Vermont was not finished with John just yet.
37:29 Speaker 01 You know that thing where you're scrolling the internet and suddenly you're three hours deep into a celebrity lawsuit?
37:34 Speaker 02 Or you hear a courtroom term and think, wait, what does that actually mean?
37:38 Speaker 01 I'm Eliza Orland, career public defender.
37:40 Speaker 02 And I'm Taya Johnson, law professor and legal analyst.
37:43 Speaker 01 And on our brand new podcast, Criminally Online, we break down the law behind the stories you can't stop talking about.
37:50 Speaker 02 No legal degree required, just curiosity. Find Criminally Online wherever you get your podcasts.
38:06 Kylie Low? John was finally free. And then the state decided to re-prosecute him for Christine's murder. They kept trying to collect enough evidence against him and even asked for an additional nine months to build the case. On August 12th, 2013, during the state's attempted re-prosecution of John, the detective sergeant in charge of the collection of evidence was deposed. He stated under oath that the supposed bottle of beer found in the fridge, the one suggested as being used in the assault on Christine despite never being tested, was from a full six-pack, not a singular bottle, as was previously stated during John's original trial. According to John's attorney, Ian Carlton, it means that the picture
38:50 Kylie Low? the prosecutor showed the jury at trial of a single bottle was staged. The prosecution never admitted to this, though. On August 21st, 2013, two days before the court's deadline to complete testing that the Wyndham County State's Attorney claimed was necessary for the case, the State's Attorney actually filed for dismissal without prejudice, ending John's re-prosecution. In her own words, the State Attorney confirmed the State's inability to prosecute John due to lack of evidence, but said during a televised interview with WCAX, "What I believe or do not believe is not relevant. What's relevant is what I could prove in a court of law, and right now, it's an ongoing investigation."
39:35 Kylie Low? End quote. In 2014, John filed a lawsuit against officials who handled his case, including Vermont State Police Detective Sergeant William Pettingill, Wyndham County State's Attorney Dan Davis, two other State Police detectives, and the town of Dover. In the lawsuit, John argued he was not wrongfully convicted by accident, but as a result of unconstitutional and tortious acts by state troopers in prosecution, and that certain policies, customs, and practices were deliberately indifferent to John's civil rights. First of all, according to the complaint filed by John's attorney, the condo unit was never cordoned off, even though the earliest responding officers testified that they immediately recognized it as a crime scene.
40:18 Kylie Low? This led to officers deciding only the downstairs of Unit 69 was a designated crime scene, and they permitted people to remain and move freely throughout the upstairs. According to this complaint, there was no log maintained to document exactly who entered and exited the scene and at what times. These actions are direct breaches of established Dover and State Police policy. While the State would go on to use the contents of the fridge as evidence against John in trial, a Dover Police detective testified that if there was evidence upstairs, it was not collected because the investigators did not consider it part of the crime scene. A VSP detective sergeant also testified that by the time he arrived around midnight, the upstairs had already been "contaminated."
41:03 Kylie Low? According to court documents, doorknobs and surfaces were touched, and some of the investigative team wore gloves while some didn't. Nobody on the team wore protective booties on their feet. According to John's lawyer, no pictures were taken of Unit 69 that first night. Rooms were disturbed, personal items moved, one EMT even used the bathroom and flushed the toilet. The fixtures and drain on the bathtub Christine was found in were fiddled with, and no forensic samples were collected from the tub, toilet, or bathroom floor where she was found. There was also nothing done to preserve and collect forensic samples of what appeared to be dried vomit in the shape of a shoe print in the downstairs bathroom. No one attempted to find the source.
41:45 Kylie Low? Particularly insensitive, an empty potato chip bag was apparently tossed into a bundle of forensically sensitive sheets on which Christine was carried out to the ambulance. According to the complaint, the most egregious and damaging act to evidence was that several EMTs wiped down and cleaned up the area where Christine's body was found, destroying any biological evidence around it. They also failed to collect and preserve a pool of blood on the backboard where Christine was treated in the downstairs hallway. Law enforcement officers were present for the time of the cleanup and didn't stop it. The first Dover officer on the scene admitted this was a breach in the investigation and regretted allowing it to happen.
42:26 Kylie Low? John's attorney argued that Detective Sergeant Petten Gill's immediate bias towards John led to all the investigators collecting and not collecting evidence based on inculpating John, and therefore missed evidence from the real perpetrator. For example, fingerprints were only collected from one location, the washing machine, and those weren't examined until May 4, 1995, six months after John was arrested. No doorknobs, switches, or surfaces in the bathroom were ever fingerprinted, and even though Christine was strangled, there was apparently no attempt to obtain fingerprints from her body. A detective sergeant supposedly overseeing the collection of evidence from Unit 69 testified that prior to this investigation, one or more of the civilian lab technicians
43:11 Kylie Low? had engaged in professional misconduct in processing a crime scene. These technicians were among those processing the scene of Christine's murder. After their involvement in the case, one of the technicians was even decertified as a fingerprint expert for giving erroneous opinions in another trial. Detective Sergeant Petten Gill testified he never considered the possibility that someone other than John entered Unit 69 and killed Christine. Yet, according to the complaint, the key to the unit had recently gone missing, the locks were not secure, they could actually be opened with a key not meant for the lock. There were also multiple yet-to-be-identified workers who had access to a lockbox with keys to the condos, and other condos had recently been broken into.
43:55 Kylie Low? The complaint states that even after a DNA profile was found and it did not match John's DNA profile, prosecutors continued to try and reconvict John, but failed to adequately and reasonably reinvestigate the case and immediately rushed to re-prosecution for aggravated murder, even though they lacked probable cause and continued to rely on false evidence from the first trial. John argued in the lawsuit that his wife's real killer is still at large, leaving Christine's loved ones hurting, denying them justice, and allowing the perpetrator to terrorize other victims. John never got to see the lawsuit through to the end himself. On the night of Friday, January 23rd, 2015, John died in a car accident when his van
44:38 Kylie Low? hit a telephone pole in New York. A few months later, in August 2015, a federal judge dismissed the town of Dover from the suit, as well as several claims against the other defendants, but the judge upheld claims that the prosecutor Dan Davis and the investigators conspired to fabricate evidence that contributed to John's conviction. The lawsuit continued in honor of John's estate. Robert Audette reports for the Bennington Banner that it was set to go to trial in June of 2016, but the state agreed to pay out just over $1.5 million to John's family to resolve the federal lawsuit against state and county officials. Vermont Attorney General at the time, Bill Sorrell,
45:23 Kylie Low? said in a press release that the state would have taken it to trial. He noted that those new test results didn't conclusively establish John Grega's innocence. The state is adamant that the settlement is in no way an admission of wrongdoing by the state and has refused to say that the DNA exonerated John. John's lawyer in the lawsuit, Ian Carlton, said he was disappointed by how the settlement was characterized in the press release, saying essentially that "the state doesn't pay out that kind of money to guilty people." "So to suggest this settlement is indicative of anything other than total exoneration is questionable."
46:03 Kylie Low? Friends and family described Christine Grega as "good-natured and energetic with a quick wit, kind heart, and infectious smile. She was athletic and loved swimming. She also loved being a mother and hoped to have more children someday." As a teenager living on Long Island, Christine began volunteering at a nursing home, and that inspired her to go into the medical field. At the time of her death, she worked at the Center for Rehabilitation on Long Island as a physician's assistant. According to her boss, Christine was an "excellent, loyal employee." Patients she worked with often sent her "thank you" letters. Christine's sister, Mary Beth, spoke about her work with patients, including paraplegic
46:45 Kylie Low? veterans and people with terminal cancer. Christine was "dedicated to her career and praised by her colleagues. Her family was so proud of her."
46:57 Kylie Low? The Veale family went on to honor their daughter by creating a scholarship at her alma mater, St. John's University. The scholarship funds students with financial needs enrolled in the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Physician Assistant Program. It was the same program Christine graduated from in 1985.
47:16 Kylie Low? Dark Down East reporter Jackie O'Brien reached out to Vermont State Police to see if there were any plans to further test the unknown DNA against other suspects. We were told by VSP Public Information Officer Adam Silverman via email that the agency has no updates on the case. Vermont State Police keeps an online database of all the state's unsolved homicide cases. Christine Grega does not appear on the list. If you know anything about the murder of Christine Grega, you can submit a tip anonymously by texting the word VTIPS to 274637. That spells crimes. Or via the form linked in the description of this episode.
48:06 Kylie Low? Thank you for listening to Dark Down East. You can find all source material for this case at darkdowneast.com. Be sure to follow the show on Instagram, at Dark Down East. This platform is for the families and friends who have lost their loved ones and for those who are still searching for answers. I'm not about to let those names or their stories get lost with time. I'm Kylie Low, and this is Dark Down East.
48:37 Kylie Low? Dark Down East is a production of Kylie Media and AudioChuck. I think Chuck would approve.
48:48 Kylie Low? In New England, investigations can shift with the tide. And my friend Delia Diambra, host of Park Predators, knows just how the landscape can shape a case. From beaches to national parks around the world, Delia investigates true crime cases as compelling as the places where they occurred. Through her signature boots-on-the-ground reporting, she goes beyond the headlines and speaks directly with those closest to the case. If you're ready to follow the evidence beyond the trail, listen to Park Predators every Tuesday, wherever you get your podcasts.
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