EP. 254 - MICHIGAN: When Jealousy Kills: The Senseless Murder of Tara Lynn Grant

At first, the officer tried to tell himself he was looking at a deer carcass. Everything told him it wasn’t. The black bra. The location. The missing woman, Tara Lynn Grant. He knew he was looking at her dismembered remains, tossed into a tote bin, forgotten like trash. But wrapping his mind around why seemed impossible. How could someone do this, someone who claimed to love her? And if he had… where had he put the rest of her? - Sources:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eTYeCoYyxm58DXXdoFbHQyWHlWbcH9iKGIefFcQToW4/edit?tab=t.y2yayotxnlcb Listen to our new show, "THE CONSPIRACY FILES"!: -Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5IY9nWD2MYDzlSYP48nRPl -Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-conspiracy-files/id1752719844 -Amazon/Audible - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/ab1ade99-740c-46ae-8028-b2cf41eabf58/the-conspiracy-files -Pandora - https://www.pandora.com/podcast/the-conspiracy-files/PC:1001089101 -iHeart - https://iheart.com/podcast/186907423/ -PocketCast - https://pca.st/dpdyrcca -CastBox - https://castbox.fm/channel/id6193084?country=us - Stay Connected: Join the Murder in America fam in our free Facebook Community for a behind-the-scenes look, more insights and current events in the true crime world: https://www.facebook.com/groups/4365229996855701 If you want even more Murder in America bonus content, including ad-free episodes, come join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/murderinamerica Instagram: http://instagram.com/murderinamerica/ Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/people/Murder-in-America-Podcast/100086268848682/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/MurderInAmerica TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theparanormalfiles and https://www.tiktok.com/@courtneybrowen Feeling spooky? Follow Colin as he travels state to state (and even country to country!) investigating claims of extreme paranormal activity and visiting famous haunted locations on The Paranormal Files Official Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheParanormalFilesOfficialChannel - (c) BLOOD IN THE SINK PRODUCTIONS 2026 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:45Speaker 01

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• 1:15Speaker 02

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• 1:34Speaker 03

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• 1:45Colin Brown?

  Warning: The following podcast is not suitable for all audiences. We go into great detail with every case that we cover and do our best to bring viewers even deeper into the stories by utilizing disturbing audio and sound effects.

• 1:57Courtney Brown?

  Trigger warnings from the stories we cover may include violence, rape, murder, and offenses against children.

• 2:03Colin Brown?

  This podcast is not for everyone. You have been warned.

• 2:08Courtney Brown?

  Wednesday, February 28th, 2007, would be a day that Michigan would never forget. For a local dental hygienist, that day started off like any other. She got up, made her coffee, and read the local news. Michigan had endured a particularly cold and snowy winter that year. So finally, when she could feel the sun rays warming her skin, she thought, what better way to enjoy it than with a hike? So early in the afternoon, she set out towards Stony Creek Metro Park, a vast outdoor park about 45 minutes north of Detroit. It was a path she had taken countless times before, but this time, she noticed something different. A bright flash of sunlight reflected off a piece of plastic in the distance, catching her eye.

• 2:52Courtney Brown?

  At first, she thought it was just a piece of litter, so wanting to leave the trail better than she found it, she approached it. But something wasn't right. As she got closer, she saw that the plastic bag stuck underneath some tree branches was bright red against the stark white snow. The bag was covered in a red liquid, and there was so much of it that it began pulling in the snow. Immediately, she took the plastic bag to authorities, hoping that the liquid wasn't what she thought it was. Authorities held their breath as they got the results back, and just as they suspected, it was human blood. And right then, they knew exactly who it belonged to. This is the story of Tara Grant. I'm Courtney Brown.

• 3:34Colin Brown?

  And I'm Colin Brown.

• 3:35Courtney Brown?

  And you're listening to Murder in America.

• 4:35Colin Brown?

  It was January 7th, 1972, one of the happiest days of Gerald Dusty Destramp and Mary Heinz's lives. Just three years prior, Dusty had been drafted to serve in the military during the Vietnam War. During his time serving in the US Army, Dusty had earned the Specialist Rank, SP4, and was honorably discharged after two years. Little did he know that his trip back home would change his life forever. It was there that he met the love of his life, Mary. Immediately, their sparks flew, and Dusty knew that this was the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. So, soon after, on January 7th, 1972, the two said their "I do's" and began the next chapter of their lives together, and it wasn't long before their family grew.

• 5:18Colin Brown?

  With joy, they welcomed Tara Lynn Destramp into the world on June 28th, 1972, and before long, her little sister, Alicia, joined the family in 1973.

• 5:28Courtney Brown?

  Ever since the girls were little, they were inseparable. Tara, with her contagious smile and curly pigtails, saw the good in life and was eager to make friends wherever she went. Alicia, the doting little sister, looked up to Tara. She felt a strong connection to her sister that was special, one that no one could break. The girls grew up on a 20-acre farm in Perkins, Michigan. Perkins is a quiet rural community located in a heavily wooded area that borders the Great Lakes, and Tara and Alicia absolutely loved it. They spent their days outside, enjoying time with each other and the number of animals they kept on the family farm. As the girls got older, their mother Mary worked as a dental assistant, but when she

• 6:10Courtney Brown?

  wasn't in the office, she could always be found working outside in the family garden and tending to their animals. Their father Dusty worked at the wastewater treatment plant located at the nearby Air Force Base. Dusty and Mary worked hard to provide for their girls and give them everything they needed. They also taught them responsibility from a young age.

• 6:31Colin Brown?

  Soon, Tara would start school, and she was overjoyed that she would meet so many new people. She'd always been talkative and friendly, and Alicia recalls that Tara never had a problem striking up a conversation with a perfect stranger, a trait passed down by her father. Although several of Tara's teachers would note her tendency to talk on her report cards, to Tara's family, this was just who she was, a beautiful young girl who loved life and everyone in it. Tara was eager to be active and get involved, and soon enough, she would participate in a number of activities, including Girl Scouts, cheerleading, basketball, track, and the youth group 4H. She also took piano lessons and was even the first chair clarinet in her high school band. Tara worked hard on the things she enjoyed.

• 7:13Colin Brown?

  In 1990, she had received the Grand Champion Title for one of her hogs that she raised and entered at the Upper Peninsula State Fair. Her particular pride and joy was her Appaloosa horse named RJ's Broken Finger. Together, the girls would spend their evenings and weekends taking riding lessons, collecting maple syrup from nearby trees, and playing in the river near their house. As they got older, Tara took a particular interest in shooting sports and hunting, so Dusty did everything he could to teach the girls everything he knew about gun safety and handling. Alicia remembers that Tara became an excellent marksman who participated in multiple shooting sport competitions and enjoyed going on hunting trips with the family.

• 7:52Courtney Brown?

  Before they knew it, Mary and Dusty's girls had graduated high school. Immediately, Tara knew that she wanted to study business, so after two years at community college, she enrolled in Michigan State University. The year was 1992. Her sister Alicia recalled, quote, "It was a sad day when Tara moved away from home, but I was excited for her too. She was off to experience new things, meet new people, and most importantly, follow her dreams," end quote. And Tara had big dreams at that. She seemed to have a natural talent for marketing and business, and it wasn't long before her peers noticed and started to get to know the girl with a vibrant personality and a passion for her work. But there was one person in particular who was very impressed with Tara, someone that

• 8:37Courtney Brown?

  she met in college who would change her life forever. His name was Stephen Christopher Grant.

• 8:44Colin Brown?

  Stephen was born on January 18th, 1970. He'd grown up with his sister Kelly in eastern Detroit, and unlike Tara's upbringing, their childhood hadn't been easy. Growing up, Stephen and Kelly had to witness frequent arguments between their parents that led up to their eventual divorce. Stephen was about 14 at the time. He was a quiet child and stayed mostly with his mom after the divorce. He was an average student and in his free time enjoyed working on cars and shooting in the woods near his house. Stephen hadn't really been involved in any activities in high school, and his high school friends described him as "fair but undistinguished in both school and work." Eventually, Stephen would attend Michigan State University with an interest in politics, which is where he met Tara.

• 9:27Courtney Brown?

  Tara, who had always been goal-oriented and involved in extracurricular activities, couldn't be more different from Stephen. But Stephen was instantly charmed by Tara's bright smile and bubbly personality. In the beginning of their friendship, Stephen had asked Tara out multiple times, but each time, she said no. He was so enamored by Tara that at one point in their friendship, he actually drove all the way from MSU to Escanaba for Tara's grandmother's funeral. They weren't even dating. In fact, Stephen wasn't even invited to the funeral, nor had he informed Tara or her family before making the 375-mile drive. But during the service, in the midst of her grief, Tara spotted him in the crowd.

• 10:10Courtney Brown?

  She was so surprised that he drove six hours just to support her, and it seemed as if it was that moment when Tara's feelings for him changed. In fact, the next day, Tara called him, and she told him she loved him. Stephen would later say that this unprompted trip to Tara's grandmother's funeral didn't just win her over, but also Tara's father. To them, this was a man who truly cared about her, and not long after, the two started dating. That spark between Tara and Stephen continued to grow, until finally, in September of 1995, he proposed to Tara on the steps of one of her favorite places, the Detroit Institute of Arts. Tara said yes, and she couldn't be more excited for their future.

• 10:51Colin Brown?

  By that point, she had graduated with her bachelor's degree in business administration, and shortly after, began working as a temp with Washington Group International, an engineering and construction firm. Tara, full of personality, immediately made an impression on her peers, and it wasn't long before she was hired on full-time. This was a busy time in Tara's life. She earned her degree and found a solid job, all while planning a wedding. Stephen, meanwhile, had dropped out of MSU and taken a position working for former Michigan State Senator Jack Faxon. Around 1996, Tara and Stephen took their relationship one step further and joined their lives together through marriage. In the early years of their marriage... Tara took time to travel and grow her career, all while remaining close to her sister, Alicia, despite the distance.

• 11:36Colin Brown?

  Her family was so proud of the woman she was growing into. Tara had an incredibly bright future ahead of her, and it would only get better from there.

• 11:44Courtney Brown?

  By the year 2000, Tara was ready to share her joy and grow their family. Together, they welcomed their daughter Lindsay into the world, and immediately Tara was in love. She felt the pure, unconditional love that exists between a mother and her child. Then to Tara and Stephen's surprise, in 2002, Lindsay would become a big sister when the family welcomed baby Ian into the world. Tara loved her children more than anything. She wanted nothing more than to see their faces light up with joy and happiness, and she did everything in her power to give them the love and support they needed. Tara's sister Alicia saw all of the traits she loved so much in her sister pass down to her children. She would later say, "Lindsay is little Tara.

• 12:27Courtney Brown?

  Her personality, even though she is her own person, I definitely see Tara in her all the time, no doubt. Ian is a really loving kid." And that was Tara. Now, when Tara wasn't working, she spent all of her time devoted to her children, excitedly planning birthdays and holidays so they would be extra special. And soon enough, Tara's sister Alicia was ready to start her own family. When Alicia told Tara that she and her husband were going to start a family of their own, Tara happily said, "Our kids will grow up together and be close, just like you and I."

• 13:00Colin Brown?

  Now, at this point, Tara was at a very comfortable spot in her career. She had been working with Washington Group International for more than 10 years, and had been promoted to an operations manager position, complete with a six-figure salary. So, while their kids grew up, Tara became the breadwinner, giving her family a comfortable life while Stephen stayed home to care for Lindsay and Ian. The family had purchased a large, two-story house in the Washington Township suburbs in Macomb County, about 30 miles north of downtown Detroit. This particular community was relatively high-income and peaceful, crime rates were low, and the neighbors took time to get to know each other. To Tara, this neighborhood seemed like the perfect place to raise their children.

• 13:40Courtney Brown?

  At first, Stephen seemed okay with managing the responsibility as a stay-at-home dad. While Tara was away at work, he would take the kids to their appointments and activities. He would cook for them, put them to bed each night. In his free time, he would spend a few hours each week, working in his father's small two-man machine shop, USG Babbitt, making automobile bearings. Neighbors nicknamed Stephen "Mr. Mom" because of his stay-at-home dad role, and he seemed to enjoy it. But as time went on, Tara was being called to travel for her job more and more. These trips took her across the country, and even overseas, for a significant period of time. It was hard for Tara to be away from her kids.

• 14:23Courtney Brown?

  She loved her family, and despite her time away, she did everything within her power to see them as much as possible. When she was gone, she called all the time. She visited them every weekend, and she made sure to send her kids cards from abroad to remind them just how much she loved them. Ian and Lindsay looked forward to seeing their mom, and giving her a big hug each time she came home. They kept every single card their mom sent tucked away somewhere safe. For Stephen, however, Tara's weekend visits were not enough. While she called almost every day, and visited home every opportunity she could, these periods with her away began to wear down on her and Stephen's relationship. Stephen began to feel the full weight of caring for the kids full-time, and he often

• 15:07Courtney Brown?

  complained that it was too much for him to handle. So slowly, he began to resent her. He believed Tara was not spending enough time with her children, or with him. And as Stephen's resentment grew, he and Tara argued more and more about her busy work schedule. He also struggled with the power dynamic in their relationship. It was hard for him to accept that he was not the breadwinner of the family, that he didn't have that control. And control seemed to be something he so desperately wanted. Tara's sister Alicia recounts numerous arguments she and her husband Eric had with Stephen. When they talked, Stephen was so desperate to be in control of a conversation that he frequently put people down. He did it to everyone, but especially to Tara.

• 15:51Courtney Brown?

  For Alicia, it was hard for her to hear the person who was supposed to love and protect her sister say such hurtful things. And as time went on, they grew to dislike Stephen, so much so that they started canceling plans and trips, just so they wouldn't have to be around him. Tara began to notice her sister pulling away, and eventually, Alicia decided to bring it up to her sister. She told Tara that Stephen's behavior was concerning. Alicia believed she was being emotionally abused, but Tara didn't see it that way. Sure, she and Stephen had been arguing more, but she loved him, and she wanted to make it work. So, there wasn't much Alicia could do. She would later say, "At the time, preserving my relationship with Tara was more important

• 16:36Courtney Brown?

  than speaking my mind."

• 16:38Colin Brown?

  But as time went on, Stephen and Tara's relationship only got worse. Stephen became more manipulative and paranoid. Because Tara was often away at work, he began to take control of their finances at home without Tara's knowledge. Her frequent time away also convinced him that Tara was having an affair with her boss, and this caused them to argue even more than before. Tara noticed the increased tension, so, in an attempt to mend their relationship, the two attended marriage counseling. But for Stephen, this was still not enough. He was so unhappy with Tara's work schedule and their crumbling relationship that he had actually contacted an attorney and was considering a divorce, although he never went through with it.

• 17:16Courtney Brown?

  Tara worked hard to get to where she was in her career. Although it was hard for her to be away, she wasn't going to just give it up. And after listening to Stephen's concerns, she came up with a solution to alleviate some of his stress. They decided to hire an au pair to help Stephen with the kids while she was away. Tara hoped that maybe, if he wasn't so overwhelmed, he would be happier. But when searching for the right au pair, Tara was picky. She didn't just want someone who would watch the kids, but someone who would enrich their lives, like taking them to different activities, teaching them a new language or skill. However, Stephen's priorities were much different. When he looked through the list of nannies, he wasn't focused on their skills or qualifications.

• 18:00Courtney Brown?

  He admitted that he was picking out the most attractive women. Now, in total, the Grants had hired six nannies to help, but they all quit after just a few weeks. It seemed as if they just couldn't find the right fit. For some, Tara had high expectations that they didn't meet. For others, the au pairs didn't feel right about the position, and caring for Ian and Lindsay while also being around Stephen every day was not easy for them. So by the summer of 2006, Tara and Stephen were searching for help through the agency au pair in America, and eventually, they stumbled across the profile of a 19-year-old named Farina Dirkis. Farina was a tall, slender blonde who lived in Germany.

• 18:42Courtney Brown?

  She had just graduated high school and was looking for an au pair position in the United States. Her profile also stated that she wanted to be a teacher one day. For the Grants, she seemed like the perfect fit, so they hired her.

• 18:56Colin Brown?

  In August of 2006, Farina flew across the world to start this new chapter. Upon arriving at the Grant household, everything seemed to be going well. Both Tara and Stephen got along with her, but more importantly, their children, three-year-old Ian and five-year-old Lindsay, absolutely loved her. There was one occasion Farina remembers fondly, when the entire family went out together to a baseball game. Farina seemed to fit right into the family, and something she loved was that Tara and Stephen also supported her dreams of one day becoming a teacher. In fact, on top of being an a par to the family, she was also taking classes at the Macomb Community College to work towards that goal. So, for a while, everything was working out great for both parties. However, before long, things would take a turn.

• 19:40Courtney Brown?

  While Tara was away for work, Stephen began to get flirty with the 19-year-old au pair, who was almost 20 years his junior. At first, it was just comments. Stephen would frequently compliment Farina on her appearance and her body. Then, on one occasion, he suggested a threesome between himself, Farina, and one of his friends. Farina laughed and brushed it off, thinking it was just a joke. But for Stephen, it wasn't a joke, and it was just the beginning. On another occasion, when Tara was away in London, Stephen told Farina that he wanted to kiss her. Again, she declined, brushed it off, and the two continued on. But then Stephen started to invite Farina to shower with him, and soon after that, he

• 20:24Courtney Brown?

  was inviting her to sleep with him in bed while Tara was away. Farina would later say that she declined these advances time and time again, but that didn't stop him. Stephen began to obsessively message and email Farina, telling her all about his explicit thoughts and desire to have sex with her. And while in the beginning she would decline his advances, slowly but surely, Stephen was building a relationship with her, one that he could use to manipulate and exploit her. Clearly, there was a huge power dynamic here. Stephen was her boss. Farina was vulnerable, young, and from a completely different country. Meanwhile, Tara had no idea what her husband was doing behind her back.

• 21:06Colin Brown?

  In October 2006, Tara's work took her abroad for a long-term project in San Juan, Puerto Rico. For months, Tara would commute over 1,900 miles between her job and her Michigan home. Without exception, she came home to her kids every weekend, keeping in touch throughout the week as much as she was able to. Tara and her sister also remained close despite the differences between them, and on February 9, 2007, Tara called Alicia while she was waiting in the Newark Airport to come home. The sisters talked about their lives, their children, and their plans. Together, they had planned a trip in March to go back to their family farm and teach their kids to tap maple syrup, just as they had done as kids. Tara told Alicia that she couldn't wait to get home and see her children, ready to

• 21:50Colin Brown?

  savor every moment of it. She seemed upbeat as she told Alicia her plans to return to Puerto Rico on Monday. Then, after about 40 minutes, the girls said goodbye and hung up their phones as they had countless times before. This time, however, would be different. This time would be the last time that Alicia would ever get to speak to her sister.

• 22:13Courtney Brown?

  It was Valentine's Day, February 14th, 2007. The day started off like any other, despite the gusty winds and falling snow. For Tara's loved ones, they got ready to face the day, having no idea that within the next 24 hours, their lives would change forever. This was the day that 37-year-old Steven Grant put on his shoes and coat and drove to the Macomb County Sheriff's Office. Officers watched as Steven entered the lobby. Immediately, they noticed a large scratch on Steven's nose that had already scabbed over. As Steven sat down in the office, he told the officers that he needed to file a missing persons report for his wife, 34-year-old Tara Grant.

• 22:55Courtney Brown?

  He told the officers that he and Tara had gotten into an argument in their home on Friday, February 9th, and that in the midst of their argument, she stormed out of their house. Steven said that he hadn't heard from her since. Now, the officers did a little mental math. Steven said he stormed out of their house on February 9th, and today was February 14th, meaning Tara had been gone for five whole days. They made a mental note of that and let Steven continue. But something else they noticed was that Steven was speaking so quickly that they could barely keep up with what he was saying. According to Steven, Tara had been on a work trip the week prior to her disappearance, and they started arguing before she ever even made it home.

• 23:38Courtney Brown?

  She'd been gone a lot recently, traveling to and from Puerto Rico for work. On February 9th, she called him from the airport and said that her flight was delayed, so she'd be getting home later than expected. Now Tara was only supposed to be home for a few days before she had to fly to Puerto Rico again. And on the phone with Steven, she told him that for her next trip, she actually had to fly out a day earlier than she expected. Steven was upset. They started arguing about the fact that she wasn't going to be home for very long. And soon after, when Tara finally arrived at their house, the arguing continued. In fact, it got even more heated. Steven said that in the middle of their fight, Tara grabbed her phone to call someone.

• 24:20Courtney Brown?

  He didn't know who she called, but she told the person on the other end, quote, "I'll be out in a minute." Then, according to him, she abruptly left the house, stepping into a black sedan pulled up to the edge of their driveway. And that was the last time Steven said he had seen or heard from Tara. In the days following her disappearance, Steven told the officers that he tried to contact her multiple times with no response. Now, as we mentioned, Tara was supposed to leave for Puerto Rico again that week. So on February 12th, Steven said he called her boss to see if she arrived, but she hadn't. Tara was not in Puerto Rico. Steven said that on the phone, Tara's boss urged him not to report her missing just yet,

• 25:04Courtney Brown?

  so he didn't. Instead, Steven called Tara's family members. He spoke to her sister Alicia and her mom Mary, but they hadn't seen Tara either. And finally, after five days of not hearing from her, he decided to report her missing. Now, like any investigation, the officers had some questions for Steven. One being, "What do you think happened to her?" And Steven's response was strange. He told the officers that his theory was that because of Tara's high-profile work with Washington Group International, she may have been kidnapped by terrorists, or maybe even exposed to chemical weapons in Puerto Rico. For detectives, that scenario did not seem very likely.

• 25:47Courtney Brown?

  And throughout Steven's time in the police station, they just couldn't ignore that big scratch on his nose. They asked him about it. He replied calmly that it was a work-related injury he had gotten while in his father's shop. Silently, officers noted scratches on Steven's hand and a large bruise on his leg.

• 26:05Colin Brown?

  As they listened and watched, they had a feeling that there was something Steven wasn't telling them. They were surprised when Steven abruptly remarked, "I talked to my father, and he said the first person who was always suspected in cases like this is the husband." At this point, officers had no evidence that Tara's disappearance was related to a crime. But despite this, Steven had just named himself as a suspect right in front of them. Steven continued to talk to officers about his and Tara's relationship, his suspicions at her having an affair, and he even mentioned the couple's au pair, Verena Dirkis. When Steven told officers Verena was only 19, they had a sinking suspicion. They asked if Steven was having any kind of relationship with her.

• 26:47Colin Brown?

  He admitted that he had an interest in her, but denied that he was having an affair. Eventually, Steven wrote his statement down for police and left the Macomb County Sheriff's Office, continuing on with his day as if nothing had happened.

• 27:00Courtney Brown?

  Tara's family, on the other hand, had a feeling something was terribly wrong. They knew Tara had always been an overachiever and hard worker. Her sister Alicia couldn't remember Tara even missing one day of work in the 13 years she spent at Washington Group International. But more than that was Tara's complete devotion to her children. Her family knew that she would never disappear and leave them behind, especially with no explanation. And ever since that phone call with Steven, they had this sinking feeling. On the call, Steven told Alicia that it was no big deal that Tara hadn't been heard from. Alicia listened to him in disbelief as he told her that he wouldn't be surprised if

• 27:41Courtney Brown?

  Tara was, quote, "shacked up in a motel with some guy," end quote. Alicia was floored. She knew her sister better than anyone, and immediately she knew something was wrong. So without hesitation, Alicia and her husband Eric packed up their things to make the five-hour drive north to Ohio to look for her sister. Meanwhile, officers began looking into Tara's case. They called her boss, who confirmed that Tara was supposed to fly to Puerto Rico on Monday, February 12th, not Sunday, the 11th, like Steven had claimed. Now, her boss had worked with Tara for 13 years. He knew Tara's personality, work habits, and her family.

• 28:22Courtney Brown?

  He told officers that this was so unlike Tara that he knew something was wrong. Next, officers looked into Tara's cellphone activity, email activity, and credit card charges for any clues on her whereabouts, and the results troubled them. As it turns out, Tara had not used her phone, work email, or credit card since Friday, February 9th, the night that Steven said she stormed out of their house and got into that black car. And the officers knew that in missing persons cases, every minute counts. The fact that Tara hadn't had any phone, email, or card activity was not a good sign. And this information was especially troubling because it proved that Steven lied.

• 29:06Courtney Brown?

  Remember when he told investigators that Tara called someone in the midst of their argument? Then shortly after that, she got into that black sedan? Well, there was absolutely no record of a call, and the more officers kept digging, the more discrepancies they saw in Steven's story.

• 29:22Colin Brown?

  Later that same day, the Macomb County Sheriff's Office received a call. To their surprise, it was Steven Grant calling again just a few hours after filing Tara's missing persons report. He wanted to know what they had found. This was actually really convenient for officers because, after looking into Tara's disappearance, they had a suspicion that there was something that Steven wasn't telling them. So with Steven on the line, they asked him if it would be okay if some investigators went over to the Grant family home to look around and ask some more questions. And Steven agreed. So without delay, officers Pam McLean and Brian Kozlowski soon pulled into the Grants' driveway. The two-story, taut brick home was dusted with snow, but that didn't discourage them.

• 30:07Colin Brown?

  They were greeted upon arrival by Steven, who introduced them to his two children, Ian and Lindsay, and their live-in au pair, Verena Dirkis. Verena was amicable to officers, but she seemed to be in a hurry to leave. After some insistence, Officer McLean was able to talk to Verena alone about the night of Tara's disappearance. And quickly, she told officers that the night Tara had disappeared, she had been out with some of her friends at a local bar. She said that when she returned to the Grant residence at 11:30 PM, Tara was already gone. That night, Steven told her that he and Tara had gotten into a heated argument before Tara walked out the door. Now, after telling investigators this brief story, Verena insisted she needed to leave.

• 30:50Colin Brown?

  So, from there, they were left to talk with Steven and the children.

• 30:54Courtney Brown?

  While Officer Kozlowski talked with Steven, Ian and Lindsay excitedly gave Officer McLean a tour of their home. The kids took her to their mom's room, which looked spotless. Strangely, nothing was out of place, but as Officer McLean walked around the room, something stuck out. Tara's glasses were sitting on the nightstand. All of her clothes and shoes were neatly put away. Nothing seemed to be missing. Officer McLean made a mental note of this as she continued through the house. Downstairs, Officer Kozlowski was also noting strange behavior. Steven, who seemed more than willing to invite officers to his home, was anything but calm. He was shaky and jittery as he conversed with them, jumping from one subject to the other.

• 31:39Courtney Brown?

  And his story was shifting. Remember how Tara allegedly told him that she had to leave a day early for Puerto Rico? According to Steven, she said that she needed to leave Sunday instead of Monday, which is actually why they started arguing that night. But when investigators talked to Tara's boss, he said that wasn't true. Tara wasn't supposed to leave early. So, they brought this up to Steven. Why did you tell us that? This time, he said he was mistaken. Tara was not leaving on Sunday but on Monday, like she had originally planned. Wrapping up their visit, the officers were even more convinced that Steven Grant was involved in his wife's disappearance. They were so concerned that they asked Steven if he could come down to the station later

• 32:22Courtney Brown?

  to answer questions for a third time and to take a polygraph test. Steven broke down in tears, but eventually he did agree to come down to the station the following day. From there, the officers took some photos of the home and of Steven's scratches, and then they left, hopeful that tomorrow would give them some answers.

• 32:42Colin Brown?

  But to their disappointment, Steven never took that lie detector test. The day after he filed Tara's missing persons report, Steven hired a lawyer. David Green was a well-known Metro Detroit lawyer who defended multiple high-profile cases in Macomb County. David was not only adamant that Steven refused to take the lie detector test, but that he also only communicate with officers through writing sent through his attorney's office. So, instead of receiving answers, officers received another setback in the search for Tara. So, that morning, instead of heading to the Macomb County Sheriff's Office like he had promised, Steven left his home with two envelopes full of cash. While we don't know exactly where he was headed, it was known that Tara kept envelopes of cash in her dresser to pay the bills.

• 33:27Colin Brown?

  So, maybe Steven was just running errands. Regardless, Steven never made it to his final destination. As he made a turn onto another street, he failed to signal. As luck would have it, there was a cop nearby that saw this and pulled Steven over for a traffic violation. Steven then became irate. He screamed at the officer. I know why you're pulling me over, it's because of my wife. The officer had no idea what Steven was referring to as he took Steven's license, but as it turned out, Steven had a pretty terrible driving record. Apparently, he'd been arrested multiple times in the past relating to his driving record, had multiple speeding tickets, parking fees, and traffic fines that often went unpaid,

• 34:09Colin Brown?

  as well as reports of reckless driving, and a few instances of carrying a concealed firearm without the proper permits. Since the early 2000s, Steven's license had been suspended multiple times for not paying his tickets, and this day was one of them. So, just one day after he had filed Tara's missing persons report, Steven was placed under arrest for suspicion of driving on a suspended license. The officer took Steven to the Macomb County Sheriff's Office, where he was detained for about six and a half hours. Steven was furious with the officers. They reassured him again and again that he had been arrested for his driving record and nothing more. But Steven remained convinced that he was being targeted and interrogated in connection with his wife's disappearance.

• 34:52Colin Brown?

  Eventually, Steven was released, but neither he or his lawyer believed his arrest was just a coincidence.

• 34:59Courtney Brown?

  Meanwhile, officers followed any lead they could to find Tara. They contacted O'Per America, the agency that had placed 19-year-old Verena into the Grant's home. After a brief conversation, the agencies and officers agreed that the Grant home was no longer fit for Verena because of the ongoing investigation into Tara's disappearance. So just six months after she had taken the position, Verena was asked to pack her bags and return to Germany. Now, Steven relied on Verena to care for Ian and Lindsay. As you may recall, he struggled to care for the children full-time, which is why they hired a nanny in the first place. So after Verena was sent home, Steven's sister Kelly came to help care for Ian and Lindsay

• 35:43Courtney Brown?

  while the search for their mom was ongoing. Now at this point, news about Tara's disappearance began to spread. By Saturday, February 17th, eight days since Tara was last seen, flyers were sent to local media, and Tara's story headlined in the Detroit News. By Sunday afternoon, Tara's sister Alicia, her husband Eric, and his sister Janine had arrived in town to assist search efforts. They talked with detectives. They put out flyers around town, desperately trying to find answers. That day, after a long morning handing out flyers, they decided to visit Steven with Takeout to brainstorm what could have happened to Tara. As they pulled into the Grant's driveway, the one they had visited so many times before,

• 36:27Courtney Brown?

  they had a feeling that something was wrong. Steven greeted them, but he seemed different. Alicia's husband Eric got the impression that Steven wasn't happy about their unannounced visit, almost like they were wasting his time looking for Tara. Alicia also felt uncomfortable. She and Steven had never really gotten along in the past, and this time, there was even more tension between them. She noticed that he seemed jittery, irritable, and she had the suspicion that he was hiding something. And that day, when they finally left the Grant home, they were confident that Steven was responsible for Tara's disappearance.

• 37:04Colin Brown?

  Detectives meanwhile kept looking. Unable to find any evidence that Tara had paid for a car to come pick her up on the night of the 9th, they began to believe that there wasn't a mysterious car at the Grant household that night at all. As their suspicions about Steven grew, he was increasingly distancing himself from investigators. Then, on February 20th, 11 days into Tara's disappearance, investigators got an interesting call. It was from one of Steven's ex-girlfriends. She saw the news about Tara's disappearance, and she had some information for them. As it turned out, Steven had been messaging her lately. In fact, they were emailing each other just days before Tara disappeared. Now, she handed over all the emails between them, and the authorities began looking through

• 37:49Colin Brown?

  them. In one email, sent January 25th, 2007, just 15 days before Tara disappeared, Steven wrote, "I just think of marriage vows like speed limits. Sometimes you have to break them and sometimes you get caught."

• 38:03Courtney Brown?

  In other messages, Steven told his ex that he believed Tara was having an affair with her boss. In some of the messages, Steven told his ex that he was lonely. And there were even emails that were sexual in nature. One said-

• 38:17Colin Brown?

  "I do want to see you naked."

• 38:19Courtney Brown?

  Now his ex-girlfriend confirmed that they hadn't just talked through emails. The two had even met up twice in January while Tara was out of town. This was a huge development in the investigation. These messages gave investigators concrete proof that Steven believed Tara was cheating, and that he himself was not committed to their marriage. They now had a possible motive leading to Tara's disappearance.

• 38:44Colin Brown?

  News of Steven's released emails spread quickly among the media, but Steven didn't seem to mind. At the same time that Steven was distancing himself from the police, he was actually making numerous media appearances. In one interview, Steven cried and looked into the camera, telling the world that he hoped Tara would walk through the door. Steven appeared breathless, and many who saw the footage noticed his bulging eyes and melodramatic speech. In another interview, Steven told reporters that he would rather find out that Tara was with another man than in harm's way, wishing she would come home because her kids were worried about her. On television, Steven even said that he understood why he was a suspect. Keep in mind, at this point, the police had never officially stated that a crime had even

• 39:28Colin Brown?

  taken place, let alone named any official suspects. Steven was doing all this on his own. Now, as the days went on, Steven had stopped contacting investigators completely, and he had denied their requests to search the home or provide some of Tara's clothing for dogs to trace. Sheriff Mark Hackle of the Macomb County Sheriff's Office stated, "We're getting support from other family members and from Tara's workplace. The only person who is not cooperating with us is Steven Grant." Steven Grant, who had been so willing to talk to officers, had now become a brick wall. Investigators were frustrated that they weren't able to get any more answers from him. However, Steven's frequent media appearances gave them another source of information.

• 40:12Colin Brown?

  So, the Macomb County Sheriff's Office began to watch and record every media appearance that Steven made, trying to piece it all together.

• 40:20Courtney Brown?

  By day 13 in Tara's disappearance, investigators were confident that there was foul play involved. They knew the chances of finding Tara alive were dwindling every hour that passed. Now, winter in Michigan that year had been a particularly cold one. Snow was piled up all around, making it difficult to search. So as soon as investigators heard that the upcoming weekend was going to be warmer, melting away some of the snow, they became hopeful that if Tara were out there somewhere, they would have a better chance finding her. They just didn't know where to look. Sheriff Hackle remembered a location that had come up again and again in his conversations with Stephen, the Stony Creek Metro Park. He had a hunch that this was the first place they should look.

• 41:05Courtney Brown?

  So he announced to the media that during the upcoming weekend, there would be a search. Carefully, Sheriff Hackle paid close attention to Stephen's reaction during his media appearances. At first, Stephen told the media that he would be an asset because he knew the area of Stony Creek Metro Park well. But the fact was, the sheriff's office didn't want him there. In a press conference before the search, Sheriff Hackle said that having Stephen involved would be a hindrance and that they, quote, "don't need him there unless he knows where she is," end quote. Now, that comment was not received well by Stephen or his attorney. They believed the police were negatively impacting Stephen's public image.

• 41:47Courtney Brown?

  But eventually, at his attorney's insistence, Stephen declared that he would remain home while they searched the park for his wife.

• 41:55Colin Brown?

  When the day of the search arrived, investigators were prepared. At almost 4,500 acres, the Stony Creek Metro Park is a vast outdoor recreation park. At the center of the park lies a large lake surrounded by wetlands and open prairies. The less traveled areas of the park consist of dense woodlands and trails. All this to say that the search for Tara's remains would not be easy. Teams searched by foot, on horseback, and with ATVs in an attempt to find anything hidden somewhere in the snowbanks. Helicopters flew overhead, looking for any sign of Tara in the more desolate areas of the nature preserve. And while Stephen remained at home with his sister and the kids, Tara's sister Alicia and her husband Eric spent all day searching with authorities.

• 42:40Colin Brown?

  They looked everywhere, from high-traffic areas to the desolate edges of the park. But sadly, no one was able to locate anything.

• 42:48Courtney Brown?

  At this point, all eyes were on Tara's disappearance. Authorities were so desperate for answers that the Michigan State Police and the National Center for Missing Adults became involved. Quickly, her case had garnered widespread national media attention. The media had picked up on Stephen's nickname, Mr. Mom. And soon enough, everyone knew about the stay-at-home dad with a missing wife. Stephen seemed to enjoy his notoriety. He continued giving countless interviews and statements while at the same time maintaining no contact with police. He was so focused on his public image that each morning, he would actually walk over to nearby gas stations to purchase every newspaper that had his name in the headlines.

• 43:32Courtney Brown?

  Stephen had become obsessed with his publicity. WDIV Channel 4 News reported that Stephen had called them as many as five times every day, offering comments and interviews. But at home, Stephen never really told his kids what was going on. At first, they believed their mom was out on a work trip. They missed her, but she had always come back before, so why would this time be different? However, as the days progressed, the kids were still asking about their mom. And eventually, Stephen sat them down. He asked them, "Do you remember how our dog got lost that one time?" The kids shook their heads in agreement. "Do you remember how he eventually came back home?" he asked. "Well, mommy is like the dog. She's lost right now, but eventually she'll find her way back home."

• 44:16Courtney Brown?

  His implication that Tara had simply wandered away made it seem like it was an intentional choice, one that gave them hope that she could wander back at any moment. But as you've likely suspected, that was not the case.

• 44:29Colin Brown?

  By Wednesday, February 28th, it had been almost 20 days since Tara was last seen. And soon enough, her loved ones would get the answers that they had been searching for. That afternoon, a local dental hygienist decided to take advantage of the warmer weather and take a walk along Mount Vernon Road, which led into the Stony Creek Metro Park. Just four days earlier, investigators and community volunteers had searched the park with no luck. The hiker's luck, however, would be different. She enjoyed hiking and taking in the natural beauty of her surroundings. And as she walked, she recalled the police telling hikers in the area to keep an eye out for anything suspicious. There was, after all, a missing woman in the area, so she knew to be vigilant.

• 45:13Colin Brown?

  As she followed the path she had taken countless times before, something caught her eye, the bright flash of sunlight reflecting off of plastic. It was very common to come across litter on the trails, so in an effort to leave the park cleaner than she found it, the hiker walked up to collect the trash. But as she got closer, she noticed something else, something strange. Shoved underneath the two tree branches was the clear plastic bag, but it was covered in some sort of red liquid. Around the bag, she noticed that the liquid had pooled underneath, standing out against the stark white snow. Immediately, she had a bad feeling. Taking a closer look, inside the bag, she could see a pair of rubber gloves and some metal shavings. Her heart sank.

• 45:56Colin Brown?

  She had a feeling she knew what that red substance was. She needed to get this to the authorities, but she didn't have access to a phone. So the hiker quickly picked the bag up, took it home to her garage, and immediately called the sheriff's office.

• 46:11Courtney Brown?

  Could this have been the break in Tara's case they were looking for? Not wanting to waste a second, investigators took the bag for testing and had the hiker take them to exactly where she had found it on the trail. They had a feeling this was the piece of the puzzle they had been missing, but they couldn't jump to conclusions just yet. The bag could have been discarded by poachers, which was a plausible explanation. Still, there was one thing that didn't make sense: the metal shavings in the bag. Investigators recalled that Stephen worked in a small shop with his father, producing ball bearings. Work like that would certainly produce metal shavings, similar to what was found in the bag. Upon closer inspection of the contents, they also found hair in the bag.

• 46:55Courtney Brown?

  Not human, but animal hair, and it looked like it belonged to Stephen's dog. Working on a hunch, investigators turned the bag over to MSP Crime Lab for processing. Because of the high-profile case, the bag was processed immediately, and the results arrived the following day. The news gave them the answers they had been suspecting all along. The blood in the bag was identified as human. Now, they couldn't confirm just yet if it was Tara's blood, but they had a pretty good idea. And if it was Tara's, they knew that this meant the chances of finding her alive were sadly not in their favor. But with this discovery, investigators now had enough evidence to request a search warrant for Stephen Grant's house.

• 47:38Colin Brown?

  Without delay, on Friday, March 2nd, Officers McLean and Kozlowski were once again preparing to search the Grant house and Stephen's father's workshop. At the exact same time, Stephen was across town doing an interview with Detroit News. In the interview, Stephen's public persona shifted. This time, he talked about Tara in the past tense. In front of a national audience, Stephen shared exactly what he thought of his wife. He described Tara's alleged infidelity, complained about the change in her appearance since their marriage, and criticized Tara's parenting, stating, "I was a better mom than Tara was. There's no other way to put it. I was the perfect mom, not Tara." Intimate details about their marriage, messages, and Tara's past relationships were being

• 48:23Colin Brown?

  shared without proof or consideration for the person that they belonged to. He blamed the argument they'd had on the evening of February 9th on her, claiming that she made him so tired of arguing that he didn't want to do it anymore. So tired that he let her go without another word.

• 48:38Courtney Brown?

  When he was finished, surprisingly, Stephen wasn't the only one headed back to his two-story home. It was about 5:00 PM when officers pulled into the driveway. As it turns out, Stephen had actually scheduled another interview with WDIV Channel 4 News in his garage that evening. So as police patted Stephen down and escorted him to their cruiser, cameras were rolling. Initially, Stephen was calm. At this point, officers didn't have enough to arrest him, so he was let go. And he complied with the search warrant, handing over his keys to the house. While investigators began the search, undercover officers in the area watched as Stephen grabbed a leash and took their family dog Bentley out for a walk.

• 49:20Courtney Brown?

  And because they didn't want to blow their cover, they decided not to follow him. Instead, they watched as Stephen and his dog walked away from the house and into the falling snow. As soon as Stephen was out of sight, he called a friend who lived just two miles away, asking for a ride. When he picked Stephen up, his friend noticed that Stephen was acting strangely. He said that he was, quote, "acting very nervous. He was sweating and looking over his shoulder." He asked, "Are we being followed?" end quote. Stephen told his friend that the police had impounded his vehicle, so he had no way to get around. So when they pulled up to the friend's house, he offered to let Stephen borrow his yellow truck. Without a word, Stephen took the keys, and he and his dog drove away into the cold winter night.

• 50:05Courtney Brown?

  Meanwhile, a large team of investigators were searching every inch of the Grants' home. Officer Kozlowski was standing in the garage, trying to stay out of the way of the evidence technicians. As his eyes adjusted to the light, something caught them. There was a large green container placed along the wall next to a bucket full of toys. The container was labeled "boy clothes." But to Officer Kozlowski, something about it seemed out of place. Curious, he walked over and tried to open the box, but it was tightly sealed shut. Determined, he pulled harder on the lid. Finally, when he was able to pry the top open, he saw a large black garbage bag inside. Gently, he pushed on the bag. It felt soft.

• 50:49Courtney Brown?

  He was able to push the contents around. Initially, he thought it was just some sort of sand, or maybe a heavy old bag of clothes. He almost closed the lid and moved on, but something in his mind wouldn't let it go. So just to be sure, he ripped open the bag, but he could have not been prepared for what he found. For a fleeting second, he told himself that it was just a deer carcass, but then he saw the black bra. Instinctively, he jumped away yelling, "What the fuck?", prompting the other officers to see what was going on. They all gathered around the box. Peeling away the bag, they discovered a dismembered female torso. There were still pieces of her clothing attached. Even more strange, the entire torso was covered with bits of leaves and twigs, debris

• 51:34Courtney Brown?

  that shouldn't be there. The officers were appalled, but finally, they found the answers they had been looking for. As Tara's disappearance drew on, they knew the chances of finding her alive were less and less each day. But the horrible and brutal way in which they found her remains will forever be seared into their memory. After the shock wore off, they felt a strange sense of relief. Finally, they had found her, and they had proof that Stephen Grant was not the man he said he was. But there was one problem. Stephen and his dog had walked away into the snow, nowhere to be found.

• 52:14Colin Brown?

  And now for a brief ad break.

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• 53:01Colin Brown?

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• 53:45Colin Brown?

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• 54:31Colin Brown?

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• 55:12Colin Brown?

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• 55:52Colin Brown?

  Anyways, y'all, let's get back to the show.

• 55:58Colin Brown?

  As you can imagine, the media was very invested in this case. Detectives tried to keep their discovery as quiet as possible so that Tara's loved ones did not have to hear about her brutal end through the media. Sheriff Hackle broke the news to Tara's sister, Alicia, in person, 5:30 a.m. Saturday morning, after she had driven all night from Ohio. Alicia remembers, "It was like your worst nightmare come to life. We held out a glimmer of hope that she may still be alive, but this was just the worst possible scenario. It's something you never would have imagined." While they tried to track down Stephen's location, authorities prioritized finding the rest of Tara's remains. Investigators theorized that Stephen had heard the news that the Stony Creek Metro Park

• 56:42Colin Brown?

  would be searched, so when no one was around, he made his way to the park and removed the largest portion of her remains, keeping it in his home until things cooled down. But Tara's torso was the only portion of her remains that were found at the home. So there was a chance that more of Tara's body could still be hidden within the park. The following day, investigators returned to the park to conduct another search.

• 57:05Courtney Brown?

  Sergeant King, who was familiar with the area, took a team back into the less accessible wooded area of the park, and he didn't have to search long. Walking through the forest, he noticed something pink sitting atop the white snow. With a heavy heart, he walked closer. Right in front of him, sitting atop the stark white snow, was one of Tara's thighs. He recalled that the cut looked clean. The skin was pulled back. Immediately after this discovery, another team of searchers found an even more shocking discovery. Wedged underneath an uprooted tree trunk was Tara's decapitated head. With her distinctive curly brown hair, they immediately knew it was her.

• 57:45Courtney Brown?

  And even though it had been more than three weeks since her murder, her remains were pristine. There was barely any decomposition because of the snowy February weather. So from here, investigators promptly secured the area until they could find every last piece of Tara's remains. They searched all day until it was dark, expending all of their energy to bring Tara home. By the end of that day, they had found Tara's right hand sitting behind a bush. Nearby was a large femur bone that had been picked clean by wildlife. Then they found Tara's left hand, which had also been picked down to just the bone and tendons. Tara's foot was atop the snow. Her leg was placed in a hollowed-out log.

• 58:29Courtney Brown?

  In total, police recovered 11 pieces of Tara's body, all scattered within a 3/4 square mile portion of the park. Tara's right arm, left lower leg, and her right foot were never recovered and remain missing to this day. Investigators also found a red sled covered in blood nearby, and some discarded saw blades. At that moment, they didn't know what terrible secrets these items held, and they were still missing one crucial piece of the puzzle: Stephen Grant.

• 59:02Colin Brown?

  Little did they know, Stephen was currently on the run in that yellow pickup truck. After he had borrowed the truck, Stephen first took a trip to see his sister, Kelly. She wasn't home, but he let himself in anyway. Stephen was panicked. He knew what officers had found in his garage, what they would find in the park, and he told himself he needed to run. Stephen knew that officers would be looking at his cellphone data, so quickly he powered his phone off, leaving it at Kelly's house, and in a hurry, he went through her belongings, hoping to find a gun. Instead, he left his dog inside and pocketed a bottle of Vicodin and a spare phone before leaving the house, heading west in a yellow truck. Along his route, Stephen stopped at multiple gas stations to purchase alcohol, razor blades,

• 59:46Colin Brown?

  sleeping pills, another disposable phone, a toy gun, and a black permanent marker he had used to color the bright orange cap of the toy gun black. At first, he didn't know where to go. Then, an idea struck him. He would run to one of the first places he and Tara had visited together, Michigan's Wilderness State Park, more than 200 miles north of his home. By this point, Steven was so panicked that he turned to suicide. His plan was to go out to the wilderness to die rather than go to prison, seeing no other option after he had been found out by authorities.

• 1:00:19Courtney Brown?

  To calm his nerves, Steven decided to take some Vicodin and painkillers while he was driving. He then continued to drive towards Michigan's lower peninsula at full speed ahead. Steven had some unfinished business. On the way, he called his sister Kelly. He didn't give her details, but he told her that it was really bad, that if they found him, he would be arrested. Kelly had never heard Steven act this way, so concerned, she pressed him for details. Eventually, she got Steven to tell her that he was headed towards the Wilderness State Park. Kelly became so worried that Steven was going to take his own life, she immediately contacted the police with Steven's location after they hung up. But along this drive, Steven also called his former au pair, Verena.

• 1:01:04Courtney Brown?

  He told her how sorry he was, crossing another goodbye off his list. In the late hours of the night, he also called his lawyer, David Gream. David reported that Steven called him twice, sounding incoherent and suicidal. And while he could not persuade Steven to surrender to police, he did try to convince him not to end his life. He reminded Steven of his two young children, children who had just lost one parent and couldn't lose another. Despite his best efforts, when David hung up the phone, he was convinced that Steven would attempt to take his own life. But Steven kept going. By Saturday afternoon, he pulled into the Wilderness State Park and brought the car to a stop. The park was dense and easy to get lost in.

• 1:01:48Courtney Brown?

  At this point, Steven had taken several Vicodin pills and another handful of painkillers, all washed down with whiskey. While he was still conscious, he was starting to become delirious. He sat in his car attempting to write a note to say goodbye to his children. In part, the note read:

• 1:02:06Colin Brown?

  "I know you two don't understand what happened to mom. Just know that I love you both more than anything. Things kept getting worse between your mom and me, and things got physical. I ended up hitting mom and hurting her bad. I was afraid of losing you two, so I ended up taking mom's life in a panic. I know it will be hard to lose me after your mom was taken from you. I've decided to end my life, and know it is better."

• 1:02:29Courtney Brown?

  Then Steven gathered his notepad, the toy pistol, more pills and alcohol, and he set off into the snowy wilderness.

• 1:02:37Colin Brown?

  As soon as police had an inkling of where Steven was headed, they made their way to the park to find him. Steven was on the run from a homicide and believed to be armed and dangerous. So, authorities wasted no time pushing through the snow and ice to apprehend him. Within a few hours, the park was evacuated so that officers could make sure that Steven would not hurt anyone else. The US Coast Guard helped search the park via helicopter. Men equipped with night vision goggles scoured the ground in brush, and K-9 units were on call while other officers explored on snowmobiles. Everyone in the area was looking for one person, Steven Grant. The park was large, dense, and rural, so finding Steven wouldn't be easy. On top of that, the snow kept piling up all around authorities.

• 1:03:23Courtney Brown?

  At about 8:45 PM, they came upon a discovery. Steven's bright yellow getaway vehicle was stuck in a snowbank on the side of a narrow crossroads. Officers approached cautiously, ready to move if Steven was inside. Slowly, they peered inside the vehicle, but it was empty. Steven Grant was still on the run. To make sure Steven couldn't come back and make another run for it, the officers let the air out of the tires and then continued deeper into the woods. As the night wore on, temperatures continued to drop. By midnight, it was well below 20 degrees on the shore of Lake Michigan. Officers had been prepared to search all night, but even with their specialized gear to arrest Steven, the cold wore them down.

• 1:04:07Courtney Brown?

  After 4 AM, their flashlights caught something new, Steven's shoe print in the snow. Based on the distance between prints, they figured that Steven had been sprinting. They theorized that maybe he had been trying to avoid the searchlights, jumping in and out of the trees. His path was chaotic and frantic, often going in circles and abruptly changing course. But that wasn't all. Alongside his shoe tracks, Steven left investigators with another trail. They saw his watch, the toy gun he bought, a bottle of whiskey, a notebook, a candy bar, and a pair of pliers that were all lying in the snow beside his tracks. Further along the path, they found something even more strange,

• 1:04:49Courtney Brown?

  a full body imprint where Steven had seemingly laid down right in the snow.

• 1:04:54Colin Brown?

  By this point, temperatures had dropped as low as 14 degrees Fahrenheit in the park. Officers had been prepared for the cold, but Steven had not. He'd been outside for hours with nothing more than the clothes on his back. According to the National Weather Service, "In temperatures this cold, frostbite can develop in as little as 30 minutes and hypothermia within a few hours. Without protection, it would be unlikely that anyone would survive a whole night." Steven's erratic path and lost belongings had officers suspecting that he was losing his motor control and succumbing to the cold.

• 1:05:28Courtney Brown?

  With a renewed sense of urgency, authorities quickly followed Steven's path, and his tracks led them right to him. At about 6:30 AM on Sunday morning, March 4th, officers finally spotted their target. They approached, but Steven, curled up underneath a pine tree, made no movement. Upon closer inspection, authorities noticed that not only was he barefoot, but he had no jacket, gloves, or hat as he lay in the snow. His hands were pale and waxy. They shouted at Steven to put his hands in the air, and weakly, Steven moved his arms. The officers promptly flipped him over and placed him under arrest for murder and mutilation. Finally, they had apprehended Tara's killer, but the battle wasn't over.

• 1:06:12Courtney Brown?

  Steven was not far from death himself. While he was able to identify himself, his speech was slurred and his limbs moved uncontrollably. It was clear that he was rapidly succumbing to hypothermia and frostbite, but the officers had a mission. They needed to keep Steven alive so that they could finally know what happened and give Tara's family the justice they so greatly deserved. Now Steven was unable to walk, so the officers dragged him a quarter mile through the snow to get him to the helicopter for immediate medical treatment.

• 1:06:44Colin Brown?

  By 7:30 AM, Steven had arrived at the Northern Michigan Hospital. As officers had suspected, paramedics quickly diagnosed Steven with hypothermia and frostbite, and Steven's internal temperature was only 87.8 degrees Fahrenheit, 10 degrees below normal. Steven remained strapped to his bed while doctors worked to minimize the damage, but even when they warmed Steven up, he still seemed groggy and had bloodshot eyes. When Steven was able to talk, he told his nurses that he had taken five of the Vicodin pills he had stolen from his sister and 16 Benadryl tablets. It was evident to them that Steven had tried to end his life. By that point, Tara's discovery and Steven's chase were all over the news. Steven's lawyer, David Gream,

• 1:07:29Colin Brown?

  promptly announced to reporters that he was dropping his client over irreconcilable differences. During an evening press conference, Tara's sister Alicia told the media, "As Tara's only sibling, I feel passionately about maintaining my sister's voice since it's become impossible for her to speak for herself." Those truly close to Tara remained confident throughout this whole ordeal that she would never desert her children or her employer. "While this outcome represents the worst possible scenario imaginable to anyone, we take comfort in the fact that Tara is now in a better place. We are filled with grief and are horrified at the manner which Tara's life was needlessly taken and are filled with many, many unanswered questions."

• 1:08:10Courtney Brown?

  It wouldn't be long before Tara's family and investigators would have those devastating answers. That evening, detectives sat down with Steven, and to their surprise, he confessed to everything. First, he took them back to Friday, February 9th. That night, Tara returned home late from a delayed layover. The house was quiet, the kids were asleep, and Tara was relieved to finally be home. Steven was getting ready for bed. As Tara quietly walked up to their bedroom and began unpacking, Steven questioned her about her travel schedule. A few weeks prior, Tara had told Steven that she was going to try and adjust her workload so she wasn't traveling so much. So, according to Steven, when Tara mentioned that she wanted to leave early for Puerto Rico on Sunday morning,

• 1:08:55Courtney Brown?

  a day earlier than planned, it made him upset. His jealousy quickly incited a heated argument as he accused Tara of spending way too much time with her boss and not her family. But after a long day of travel, the last thing Tara wanted to do was put up with Steven's accusations. So frustrated, Tara turned to leave the room, but Steven wasn't finished. He grabbed her wrist, forcefully pulling Tara back into the bedroom. Tara turned back and slapped Steven hard across the face, which only made him angrier. He admitted that he hit her back with enough force to knock her down, slamming her head against the floor. And at that moment, Tara had made up her mind. According to Steven, she told him, quote, "That's it.

• 1:09:39Courtney Brown?

  I'm going to take the kids. You're going to be fucking homeless. You're a piece of shit." End quote. Steven said that this pushed him over the edge. He was infuriated. Tara was threatening to take away his children, his home, his way of life. Everything that he had come to take advantage of was going to be gone, and he couldn't stand that feeling of not being in control. The only thought that broke through his clouded vision was that he wanted Tara to stop talking. Steven said he only knew one way to- To do that, he beat Tara forcefully pushing her onto the ground. Then, he wrapped his hands around her throat and began squeezing. Tara fought back. She scratched Steven and tried to reach for her phone to call the police. But Steven didn't let up.

• 1:10:22Courtney Brown?

  He kept beating her, pushing her back to the ground, wrapping his hands around her neck tighter and tighter until Tara lost consciousness. At that point, Steven covered Tara's face with a piece of clothing so he didn't have to watch the life drain from her eyes. He told investigators, quote, "I think at one point she realized I wasn't stopping, but it was too late. I couldn't stop then. I knew I was going to prison. I panicked," end quote. Steven continued squeezing Tara's neck for four agonizing minutes until finally she went limp and took her last breath. Steven felt that life leave her body. He said he didn't know what to do, so he stood up, walked downstairs, and started crying. He texted their au pair, Verena, telling her not to come home.

• 1:11:07Courtney Brown?

  Disturbingly, as his wife's body lay upstairs, he then texted Verena, quote, "You owe me a kiss," end quote. He left another handwritten note on Verena's pillow. But out of fear that Verena would come home and see what he had done, Steven went back upstairs to Tara's lifeless body to make sure she was dead. He wrapped a belt tightly around her neck. He knew that he wouldn't be able to carry Tara downstairs. So using the belt tightened around her neck, he dragged Tara down the stairs, through their home, all the way to Tara's truck in the garage. Now, keep in mind, when the argument started, Steven was getting ready for bed, meaning he had already undressed for the night. Steven admitted that the entire time he murdered Tara, dragged her body through the house,

• 1:11:52Courtney Brown?

  and hoisted her body into the truck, he had been completely naked. Standing in the garage, Steven tried, but he wasn't strong enough to lift Tara into the bed of her truck. So he got into the bed and using the belt, he tried to pull her up, but he dropped her. Steven remarked that, quote, "When she fell, it was the most disgusting, like, it sounded like dropping a watermelon on the cement," end quote.

• 1:12:17Colin Brown?

  Eventually, he was able to pull Tara's body into the back of her truck, where he covered her with a cargo liner. Steven saw headlights down the road and quickly ran upstairs and put some pajamas on as Verena pulled into the home. She had no idea what she was walking into. From another room, he yelled at her to leave, but Verena misunderstood and believed Steven was talking to Tara, not her. Steven then switched gears. He told Verena that Tara was gone, that she had just left for the airport after a heated argument. As she listened, Verena noticed the scratches all over Steven's body. He saw her suspicious glances and told her that their argument got physical. After a moment of silence, she took Steven's word that everything was okay and returned to her room.

• 1:13:01Colin Brown?

  She had no idea how wrong she was. For the rest of the night, the house was silent as Tara's body lay in the garage.

• 1:13:10Courtney Brown?

  Now, according to Steven, Ian and Lindsay had been sound asleep in their beds the entire night. He said that he had taken special care not to wake them and had even checked on them after the murder to make sure they were still asleep. Months later, however, Lindsay approached her aunt Alicia with tears in her eyes, needing to talk to someone she could trust. Lindsay confided that she and her brother had actually witnessed the horrific murder of their mother that night. According to Lindsay, she and Ian were awoken by Steven and Tara yelling. Wanting to know what was going on, they snuck down the hall, walking into a scene that would shatter their world. Lindsay, who was six years old at the time, said she saw Steven beating their mother and holding her down to the ground.

• 1:13:53Courtney Brown?

  She was in complete shock, hidden quietly while this nightmare played out in front of her. After Steven had gone downstairs, Lindsay said she went into the room, placing her hand on Tara's warm face, hoping that the person she loved the most would wake up. She stayed by her mother's side as long as she could, but when she heard her father coming back, she hid once again. Horrifically, she then watched as he put a belt around her neck and dragged their mother's body out of the room. Lindsay said she laid in bed the rest of the night not knowing what to do or who to trust. Now, to this day, Steven denies that this happened. But whether he believes it or not, within the span of just four minutes, he had taken

• 1:14:35Courtney Brown?

  the person his children loved the most and completely shattered their lives.

• 1:14:40Colin Brown?

  The morning following the murder, Steven needed to clear his head, so he went out to run errands. He visited the post office, the bank, anywhere he could to avoid the consequences of what he had done. All he could think about was where he could hide Tara's body. He knew that he wasn't strong enough to carry her and that she was too big for him to hide alone. Eventually, he returned home panicked and without a plan. What Steven wanted was a distraction, so not even 24 hours after he had murdered his wife and while her body lay in the garage, he invited Verena to spend the night with him in their bed. They kissed, cuddled, and fell asleep in each other's arms with no regard for who that bed belonged to. On Sunday, February 11th, Steven woke up early. He thought of a plan.

• 1:15:25Colin Brown?

  He left the house, telling Verena his father had asked him for help at the shop. Then, he called his father to make sure that he wouldn't be at the shop. Steven needed to be completely alone. To Steven's relief, his father confirmed that he already had plans that day. So Steven hastily grabbed a plastic tarp and bow saw from the house, and he took off down the road in Tara's truck with her body and all of her personal belongings in the trunk.

• 1:15:51Courtney Brown?

  When Steven arrived at his father's shop, he backed the truck into the bay door, closing it behind him. The shop was so small that the truck barely fit, but it didn't matter. No one could see what he was about to do. On the ground, Steven laid out a sheet of plastic so he would have a place for Tara's body. By that point, rigor mortis had set in. Tara's arms and legs were extended to the side, making it harder for Steven to pull her out of the truck bed and onto the ground. Finally, Steven quickly moved the truck back outside so he would have room to work. He weighed down the plastic with some scrap steel, took a long drink of whiskey, and then set to work, dismembering his wife limb from limb. His first thought was to use the bow saw he brought from home, starting with Tara's hand.

• 1:16:36Courtney Brown?

  Steven ground the saw against flesh and bone harder and harder, but it just didn't work. Bow saws are made to cut through wood, not bone. Steven panicked. He washed his hands and took another drink of whiskey, trying to figure out what to do next. Looking around the shop, desperate for a solution, he noticed a bandsaw. Bandsaws are powerful tools using a sharp, continuous blade to cut through metal, wood, or plastic. To put it to the test, he first used the bandsaw to destroy Tara's laptop. Instantly, the laptop shattered, sending shards of glass and pieces of hard drive everywhere. Next, Steven destroyed all of Tara's personal documents and her briefcase.

• 1:17:18Courtney Brown?

  But satisfied with the destruction, Steven collected all of the pieces of the laptop and placed them in a trash bag with Tara's purse and other personal belongings. Then, after another drink of whiskey, he was focused again on his wife's remains. At first, Steven thought he could use the high-powered bandsaw to dismember Tara, but he saw what it had done to the laptop. If that happened to Tara, he knew it would be too big of a mess for him to clean up. So instead, he broke a nearby hacksaw blade into pieces, wrapped it up in some rags, and tried to remove Tara's hand. This time, he was successful. First, he cut her hands off, then another cut at her elbows.

• 1:18:00Courtney Brown?

  From there, he worked his way up, dismembering her body joint by joint. He realized that while the blades he used worked, they got dull quickly. So as he worked, he kept breaking the blade into more and more new pieces. In his confession, Steven admitted that this wasn't easy for him. Multiple times during Tara's dismemberment, Steven threw up into a nearby trash can, unable to stomach what was in front of him. But that didn't stop him. Each time he threw up, he got back up, took a drink of whiskey, and kept going. He would later say that what surprised him was that as he left each piece of Tara lying on that plastic sheet, there wasn't more blood. After cutting her arms into multiple pieces, Steven moved Tara's legs.

• 1:18:44Courtney Brown?

  He was unable to remove Tara's pants, but that didn't slow him down. He ripped the pants from the bottom, all the way up to the waistband, and then resumed sawing Tara's legs into multiple pieces. When he was finally done, Steven had cut Tara's limbs into 12 pieces and decapitated her head. He wrapped the pieces of Tara's limbs in trash bags and placed them with her torso and head into a large blue plastic bin. In that same container, he also threw the blades and dirty rags that he had used to dismember her. Next, Steven cleaned up the floor of the shop, making sure that it was spotless. When he was finished, he loaded Tara's truck back up with a bag of her belongings and the plastic container that held her remains.

• 1:19:29Courtney Brown?

  On his way home, in an effort to cover his tracks, Steven called Tara's phone, leaving her this message.

• 1:19:38Colin Brown?

  You can't call me or your kids. This message, along with the many others he left, weren't panicked or worried. They were calculated. Steven clearly wasn't worried about what had happened to her. He wanted an alibi. Sadly, Tara's remains would stay in that truck for yet another day as Steven returned home and spent the rest of his Sunday afternoon with Ian, Lindsay, and Verena.

• 1:20:02Courtney Brown?

  3:00 AM, Monday morning, February 12th. Steven woke up early yet again to execute the next step of his plan. Grabbing a red sled from their garage, he loaded it into the truck, setting it right next to the bin that held Tara's remains. He still had no idea where to dispose of her body, so he drove around aimlessly, trying to find a good spot. Eventually, he pulled over near a power line that led into the Stony Creek Metro Park. Steven was afraid if he drove any further, the truck would get stuck. The ground was covered with inches of snow. But he had thought ahead. Out of the truck bed, he pulled out the sled and placed the container with Tara's remains on top. Then, he walked.

• 1:20:44Courtney Brown?

  He needed to hide Tara's remains in a place no one would find them. In the dark, it was difficult to see where he was going, but he pressed on, tugging the sled behind him. Eventually, he came upon a hill. Pulling the sled up the hill in the snow wasn't easy, but Steven believed he had no other choice. Exerting all of his energy, he finally reached the top. He took a moment to catch his breath, savoring the relief from pulling the sled. Now, he could let gravity do the work for him. As Steven descended the hill with the sled in tow, he let it go. He watched as the sled that carried his wife's remains go barreling down the hill. Steven ran after it, but he wasn't fast enough.

• 1:21:25Courtney Brown?

  Before he could catch it, the sled lost balance and toppled over, throwing the plastic container with Tara's remains on the ground. In the process, the container broke open, scattering Tara's remains around the area. Steven panicked. Not knowing what else to do, he decided to bury Tara's torso and the other pieces of her body in the snow and nearby woods. He also threw the saw blades, his shoes, and other physical evidence randomly around the area, right in plain sight. The blue plastic bin that held Tara's remains was left right there at the scene, right where it had fallen and broken open. Then, as every day before, Steven left and returned home to his kids and Verena before

• 1:22:08Courtney Brown?

  they woke up, as if nothing happened. But inside, Steven was paranoid that someone would find Tara. He was so obsessive that later that day, he actually drove back to the park and retraced where he had been in those early morning hours. This time, he used gloves to move all of Tara's remains around again, making sure that her torso was buried separately from the rest of her body parts. When he was finished, he picked up the broken blue plastic bin and placed it into the trunk. He then drove to a dumpster near his childhood home to dispose of Tara's personal belongings.

• 1:22:44Colin Brown?

  But Steven still wasn't satisfied. In his confession, he admitted to investigators that, "I did a very bad job of hiding anything. It's right there in the open, so Tuesday I went back." After Steven had gotten off of work the following day, he returned to the park for the third time. He once again piled up the sled with Tara's remains and moved it further down a trail across the woods. There, he took all of the pieces and hid them around the area, under logs, in trees, behind bushes, anywhere he could hide the evidence of his horrific crime. Then, he hid the plastic bag in a tree, and he threw his hat and winter gloves into the nearby river. Steven then went home, saw his children, flirted with Verena, and acted like everything was okay.

• 1:23:28Colin Brown?

  Steven didn't want the police looking at him for any reason, so, worried that something would pop up on his record, Steven decided to pay $900 worth of traffic tickets that he had accumulated over the years.

• 1:23:41Courtney Brown?

  On Wednesday morning, on the way over to make his missing persons report, Steven threw all of the clothes he had been wearing that day into another dumpster. Then from there, he filed the missing persons report, hired an attorney, and proceeded on with his life. That was until Sheriff Hackel publicly announced the search of Stony Creek Metro Park. Steven knew that they would find Tara's remains. So at 3:30 AM on Saturday, just hours before officers searched the exact same spot, Steven jogged from his house to the park. He found Tara's plastic-wrapped torso, picked it up, and carried it over to a nearby tree to hide it, but he was still terrified that they would find it.

• 1:24:22Courtney Brown?

  So later that morning, Steven returned to the park yet again, this time with Tara's truck. He placed her frozen torso into some more trash bags before loading it into the back of the truck. Then he took Tara's torso back to his father's shop, where he hid it in a loft above the office. It remained there, encased in four trash bags, unbeknownst to the people working down below. Tara's torso remained in that loft for four entire days, before Steven moved it again to a green plastic container labeled "Boys Clothes" in his garage. Steven thought this was a good place to keep it until further notice. But the very day after he stored her torso in his garage, the police would come by to search it.

• 1:25:06Colin Brown?

  Steven's recorded confession from that hospital bed was over three hours long. While relieved that they finally knew the whole story, officers were disturbed by the atrocity of Steven's crimes. They knew he needed to face justice. As soon as Steven was in stable condition, officers needed to transport him back to the Macomb County Jail. In order to do that, they would need to get past the media frenzy waiting outside the hospital doors. Not wanting Steven to receive any sympathy by being pictured in a hospital gown, Sheriff Hackel drove back to his office in Macomb County in search of something for Steven to wear. As it turns out, there were no prison uniforms available that would fit Steven. Instead, Sheriff Hackel grabbed his old inmate Halloween costume, making Steven wear

• 1:25:50Colin Brown?

  it for their trip to the Macomb County Jail. He reflected that Steven Grant was a prisoner, and I wanted to reflect that. Plus, if he escaped, I wanted him to be wearing something visible. But alas, Steven was wheeled out of the hospital in a striking black-and-white striped prison jumpsuit costume with white cloth boots to keep his frost-bitten feet warm. As Sheriff Hackel had suspected, reporters swarmed Steven, snapping pictures and asking questions. But by that evening, Steven was back at the Macomb County Jail. He was placed in a high-security solitary cell within the medical unit and placed on suicide watch. Steven was then held without bond and appointed a public defendant.

• 1:26:33Courtney Brown?

  Meanwhile, Tara's home, still sectioned off with police tape, became a gathering spot for the community. More than 200 people gathered in the snow with flowers, candles, and other mementos to honor Tara. An organization called Turning Point organized another vigil the following Saturday at the Stony Creek Metro Park, where Tara's remains were found. The organization set up a fund in Tara's name to raise awareness about domestic violence. They believe that although Steven didn't appear to be physically abusing Tara, his unhealthy obsession with power and control constituted domestic abuse against Tara and their children.

• 1:27:12Colin Brown?

  On March 25th, a funeral was held for Tara at the First Lutheran Church in Gladstone. Lindsay, wearing a pink flower dress, and Ian, in a blue and yellow shirt and tie, watched and listened with a sullen understanding of what happened. Detectives on the case paid their respects while reporters were quiet, respecting Tara's peace. To some surprise, Steven's sister Kelly and her father also attended the funeral. Shortly after, Tara was buried at Gardens of Rest Cemetery north of Eskenaba. Lindsay pressed her hand into Tara's casket, telling those watching she was leaving her fingerprints so she could be with her mom forever. Friends and family threw daisies on Tara's casket as she was lowered into her final

• 1:27:55Colin Brown?

  resting place, and her plaque read, "Loving Mother, Daughter, Sister." The crabapple tree that grows above Tara's grave was decorated with photos, wind chimes, flowers, and other mementos from those who loved her most. Following Steven's arrest, social services removed Lindsay and Ian from Steven's sister Kelly's care and placed them with Tara's sister, Alicia. On May 1st, a motion was also filed to revoke Steven's parental rights. Steven and Kelly did not agree with this decision, and an ugly custody battle ensued. Alicia also filed a wrongful death lawsuit and a motion to forfeit Steven's right to any beneficiary assets from Tara. She vowed that Steven would never make another penny off her sister, and eventually, Alicia

• 1:28:39Colin Brown?

  was awarded $50 million, approximately $750 per day in damages for Ian and Lindsay each for their expected lifespan, plus funeral expenses and Tara's salary for 30 years. The judge not only granted this, but denied Steven from collecting any money from Tara's death, including her life insurance.

• 1:29:01Courtney Brown?

  Sitting in his jail cell, Stephen watched as the media turned against him. He made multiple phone calls to his sister, where he showed no remorse for his actions. In fact, in the calls, he insisted that Tara was the abuser in their relationship, not him. Believe it or not, his sister Kelly even referred to Tara as “the most emotionally abusive bitch I’ve ever met.” Both Stephen and Kelly seemed to believe that his actions were a result of Tara’s behavior, and they never backed down. Their feelings only intensified as Stephen’s trial loomed closer.

• 1:29:37Colin Brown?

  Finally, on November 27, 2007, Stephen went to trial for first-degree murder and mutilation. Nationwide, people tuned in to watch his fate. The media attention was so intense, in fact, that the judge banned live broadcasts and photos of the proceedings. But that day, Stephen was escorted into the courtroom wearing a black business suit. Before jurors had even entered the room, Stephen stood before the judge and pleaded guilty to mutilation of a corpse. While sudden, this was not unexpected. The defense had hoped that by pleading guilty to mutilation, all details surrounding the mutilation of Tara’s body would no longer be relevant and wouldn’t be presented in front of the jury.

• 1:30:18Colin Brown?

  The judge disagreed with this, and the trial continued to determine whether or not Stephen was guilty of first-degree murder.

• 1:30:25Courtney Brown?

  Now by this point, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that Stephen had murdered Tara. So instead of proving his innocence, the defense needed to convince the jury that Tara’s murder was not premeditated, but an impulsive reaction to a strained and unhealthy marriage. They knew that a sentence for manslaughter or second-degree murder would be lower than for first-degree murder. But convincing the jury of this would not be easy.

• 1:30:51Colin Brown?

  Prosecutors believed the flirtatious messages shared between Stephen and his ex demonstrated Stephen’s volatile state of mind regarding his and Tara’s marriage. And then there was Verena. For the trial, she flew all the way from Germany to take the stand. Still only 20 years old, she had now dyed her hair brown and wore a gray suit into the courtroom. While on the stand, she confirmed that Stephen had made multiple advances towards her before Tara’s murder. She testified that the night before Tara’s murder, the two slept in Stephen’s bed and participated in oral sex for the first time. She said that Stephen then told her he loved her, demanding that she not tell a soul about their relationship because he could lose the kids.

• 1:31:32Colin Brown?

  Verena confirmed that she didn’t know what Stephen had done to Tara until he called her during his getaway chase. Feeling betrayed, she immediately called the police and told them what he had said. Despite it all, she admitted to jurors that she had, in fact, been in love with Stephen Grant. It seemed clear to prosecutors that Stephen’s own affair with Verena, along with his accusations about Tara’s infidelity, demonstrated obvious motive and intention. Next, the medical examiner testified, confirming that Tara’s cause of death was strangulation. Tara’s body had visible bruising on her neck, hands, and face, and injuries to the cartilage in her neck. There were blunt force injuries to Tara’s shoulder, chest, and lower back that indicated she had fought back.

• 1:32:17Colin Brown?

  Tara’s sternum was also broken, which they stated would have required an extreme amount of force. Based on their findings, medical examiners believed that Tara had likely lost consciousness after 90 seconds and had died within four minutes. This was important because the defense’s argument that Stephen had not intentionally killed his wife rested on whether or not there was enough time for him to consider what he was doing and then intentionally make the choice to continue anyways. In Stephen’s confession, he admitted that he made the choice to kill Tara because he knew he would go to prison for choking and beating her. His confession in its entirety was played for jurors, and from there, it was up to them to decide on his fate. For some, Stephen’s verdict seemed obvious.

• 1:33:01Colin Brown?

  So it came as a big surprise to everyone when it took jurors three days and over 15 hours to reach a consensus. Keep in mind, at this point, Lindsay had not told her aunt what she saw that night. So jurors had to rely on Stephen’s confession and the physical evidence to make their determination. Finally, after a two-week trial, on Friday, December 21, 2007, Stephen Grant was found guilty of second-degree murder. The jury had not been convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that Tara’s murder had been premeditated.

• 1:33:34Courtney Brown?

  This was not what many people wanted to hear. Tara’s sister Alicia broke down in tears, disappointed that Stephen was not found guilty of first-degree murder. But still, there was some relief that justice had finally been served. Stephen, on the other hand, seemed thrilled. According to officers, as they escorted Stephen back to his room, telling him that he would be on suicide watch, Stephen replied, “Why would I kill myself? I just hit the lottery at court today.”

• 1:34:03Colin Brown?

  Stephen’s sentencing day arrived soon after on February 21, 2008, just over a year after Tara’s murder. Stephen could still be sentenced to life in prison, but because he was convicted for second-degree murder, not first, he could still be eligible for parole. Reporters gathered around the courthouse, eager to capture the news everyone was waiting for. Stephen was escorted into the packed courtroom while wearing a blue prison jumpsuit. Before his sentencing was announced, Tara’s boss was the first to give his victim impact statement, telling the court, “Tara’s family, especially her children, was always at the front of her mind. It’s true she loved her career, but she loved her family more.

• 1:34:44Colin Brown?

  I’ve heard it said that time heals all wounds. However, this is one wound that won’t be healed.” Next, Tara’s brother-in-law Eric approached the stand. He told the court about his love for Tara and her children, stating that, “Away from Stephen, Tara was a very different person. Stephen was her Achilles’ heel, one that ultimately brought her to this darkest point in our lives. I often watched silently as he manipulated Tara, her mother, and later their kids, often lying and verbally overpowering them to make them believe he was superior.”

• 1:35:17Courtney Brown?

  Finally, Tara’s sister Alicia took the stand. In an emotional statement, she told the court about the mental and physical abuse that Tara endured from Stephen and the trauma he had caused their children. Alicia said, “He’s not worthy of being called human, and I’m going to take it one step further. Stephen Grant is Satan in the flesh. I think God has a master plan. I believe he recognized the kids were living in a horrific home, and he decided to get them out of that situation. Even if it meant sacrificing Tara’s life, they suffered years of mental abuse. He ripped the innocence from his children.”

• 1:35:56Courtney Brown?

  Stephen listened quietly, showing no signs of emotion. And when the judge gave him a chance to speak, he chose to remain silent.

• 1:36:03Colin Brown?

  But from there, everyone held their breath as the judge announced Stephen’s sentence. The judge explained that this was an exceptional case. Not only had Tara’s murder become very public, but it also caused extreme psychological trauma to their children. The judge believed that a heavy sentence was warranted because of the demonic, manipulative, and barbaric actions in this case. So for mutilation, Stephen was sentenced to six to 10 years in prison with the possibility of parole. And for second-degree murder, he was sentenced to 50 to 80 years in prison, also with the possibility of parole, until his minimum sentence has been served in 2058, when he will be 88 years old.

• 1:36:45Colin Brown?

  Today, Stephen is serving his time at the Oaks Correctional Facility in Manistee County, Michigan.

• 1:36:51Courtney Brown?

  Finally, Tara’s family felt a sense of justice and relief. Ian and Lindsay would never have to see their father again, and they could finally heal from this nightmare. After his trial, Stephen voluntarily renounced his parental rights. After a long and emotional custody battle, it was decided that Tara’s sister Alicia would be given primary custody of Lindsay and Ian, while Stephen’s sister Kelly retained her visitation rights. Following Tara’s death, Alicia hosted an estate sale at the Grant home on July 14. The house was then put up for sale at auction. But it was so notorious that no one bid on it, despite the heavily discounted price. And eventually, the house was in foreclosure, but all of the proceeds from the estate sale went to Lindsay and Ian.

• 1:37:36Courtney Brown?

  It was then that Lindsay and Ian packed up their lives in Michigan and moved to Ohio to live with their aunt and began healing the horrific loss of their parents.

• 1:37:46Colin Brown?

  Since her murder, an organization called Turning Point partnered with Tara’s family to host Tara’s 5K run-and-walk each September. This event is designed to gather the community to honor Tara’s legacy and raise awareness around domestic violence. The funds from this event go towards survivors of domestic violence, and each year, Tara’s sister and children return to Michigan to take part in the event. Tara’s daughter Lindsay stated, “Tara’s 5K is such an amazing way to celebrate the life my mother lived, as well as raise awareness for domestic violence and how it impacts not just survivors, but their families as well.”

• 1:38:22Courtney Brown?

  Today, Lindsay is almost 25 years old. After the dust had settled, she decided to go to Ohio State University to study pediatric psychology. She told reporters, “I want to work with kids because that was the most impactful time that I had working with psychologists, when I was younger, after everything that happened with my mom.” Lindsay knows what it’s like to be on the other side of that table, and she wants to use her own experiences to help other kids who need it the most. Tara’s son Ian moved to Wisconsin to pursue his own college degree. And both children are vocal advocates for domestic violence awareness, working to prevent others from suffering the same trauma that they endured.

• 1:39:05Colin Brown?

  Neither of them have any interest in seeing their father. Lindsay told reporters, “For a long time, I felt like I needed to speak to him to have closure, but I think that I created closure for myself. I recognize everything happens for a reason, and I live by that every single day, so I don’t need him for the closure that I got.”

• 1:39:23Courtney Brown?

  What happened to Tara was a horrific fate that no one deserves. And while the brutality and graphic details of Stephen Grant’s actions often overshadow who Tara was, we don’t need to let it. Tara will always be remembered as a bright and beautiful daughter, sister, and mother. Her impact on her coworkers, friends, and family will never be forgotten. And while she was pulled from her children’s lives far too soon, she gave them her appreciation for life and her love for everyone in it. I truly believe that Tara would be so proud of who her children have become and glad that her final words were to protect them. Through them, her life and memories continue on,

• 1:40:05Courtney Brown?

  and Tara Grant’s story is proof that life, love, and joy can still grow from even the darkest of moments.

• 1:40:15Colin Brown?

  For today’s episode, in honor of Tara Grant, we will be making a donation to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

• 1:40:25Colin Brown?

  Hey everybody. Thank you so much for tuning into this week's episode of Murder in America. We have some really great episodes in store, moving into the fall, and Courtney and I just can't wait to share what we've been working on with you guys. If you want to support the show, please consider joining us on Patreon where you can get access to early ad-free versions of every single episode here on the show. Sometimes these episodes are posted days, if not a full week, in advance. When we do like the four-part series, for example, we put almost all four parts up within the first week. So, yeah, those people got to listen to those episodes pretty much right away. And it's just amazing that you guys have supported the show in this way, and Courtney and I can't thank you all

• 1:41:07Colin Brown?

  enough. If you can't get enough of the show, also on Patreon, you can get access to bonus episodes. So, we post two bonus episodes of the show every month. These are full-length episodes of the show, just like the episode you just listened to, but they're exclusively for our patrons, and they will only live on Patreon forever. Also, do not forget to leave us a five-star review wherever you're listening to this show. Those five-star reviews really help us grow. And also, don't forget to follow us on Instagram @murderinamerica to see photos from every case that we cover here on the show. Anyways, y'all, we'll be back next week. Thank you so much for tuning in again. I hope everybody has an incredible weekend. And, uh, yeah, we'll catch y'all on the next one.

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