A 'Killer Grannies' duo: The murder of Melvin Griesbauer
Killer GranniesWhen you think of murder, you don’t usually suspect two grannies in their 50s with squeaky-clean criminal records, seemingly happy marriages and children who love them. However, that all changed on 13th March 2006, when 48-year-old Navy veteran and Army reservist Melvin Griesbauer was found dead at his Missouri home.
Attention quickly turned towards an unlikely pair: his wife, Elain 'Kay' Young, and her close friend, Katherine Mock. What initially appeared to be a tragic suicide would later morph into a gripping murder mystery riddled with lies and deceit.
Keep reading as we unravel the twists and turns of the case, which is featured in the TV series Killer Grannies, available now on Crime+Investigation.
A murder in Missouri
Shortly after 1am on 13th March 2006, Kay and Katherine claimed to hear a bang outside Kay’s rural farmhouse in Novinger, Missouri. Confused, the pair went to investigate, only to find Melvin unresponsive with a single gunshot wound to the head. Kay immediately rang 911 for help.
When emergency services arrived, they pronounced Melvin dead at the scene, with a large hole in his cheek and a rifle nearby. Officers secured the area and treated the death as a suicide, guided by Kay and Katherine’s testimonies.
Untangling a web of lies
As investigators examined the scene more closely, they noticed red flags in the staging and details. The rifle and shell casings were found several feet away from Melvin’s body, which seemed suspiciously deliberate. Most damningly of all, the gun appeared to have been reloaded, which didn’t support the single-shot suicide theory.
And then there was the strange, almost co-dependent relationship between Kay and Katherine. The two women delivered near-identical accounts of the night, sticking to their stories so diligently that investigators started to believe they were rehearsed.
Convinced there was more to the story than met the eye, the police applied more pressure, reinterviewing the women several times in separate rooms. It wasn’t long before cracks began to appear in their perfectly crafted narratives.
Kay and Katherine: Who pulled the trigger?
Melvin wasn’t Kay’s first husband. In fact, she had been married three times previously, each relationship ending before it ever really began. After tying the knot, the couple lived in her Missouri farmhouse in Novinger. Kay set up a dog breeding business but soon accumulated significant debt.
Investigators couldn't help but notice that Kay was listed as the beneficiary on multiple life insurance policies in the event of Melvin’s death.
Katherine was visiting the farmhouse that night, like she so often did. She worked as a dog groomer and lived with her long-distance truck driver husband, Butch. The couple had one son who would later become a key witness in the case.
Katherine was emotionally and financially reliant on Kay, often spending long hours at the farmhouse. While the relationship could be considered one-sided, there seemed to be genuine affection between the two women, built on shared experience.
Both women were reportedly unhappy in their marriages. Kay claimed that Melvin was violent towards her, while Butch suspected Katherine of being unfaithful. Katherine’s brother-in-law, John Mock, told reporters: 'Kat and Butch were very happy. But in the later years, there was a lot of suspicion between the two of them. He suspected that she was messing around on him.'
The investigation
With the evidence mounting against them, investigators increased the pressure, anticipating that one of the women would eventually crack. The follow-up interviews highlighted discrepancies in their stories, and Kay and Katherine’s loyalty started to break down.
Another breakthrough came when Katherine’s son approached the police. He told investigators that his mother had previously spoken about wanting Melvin dead and asked where she could hire a hitman. Katherine defended herself by saying that Kay had fired the fatal shot, and she had only helped stage the scene. In response, Kay argued that Katherine was the mastermind behind the murder.
While investigators didn’t know who actually pulled the trigger, they were now certain that one of the women had murdered Melvin that night.
Trial and sentencing
Despite both protesting their innocence, Kay and Katherine were charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Although the jury never found out who pulled the trigger, everyone agreed that the women had worked together to murder Melvin in cold blood. Both were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
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