Fatal Visions

At the same time a jury was deliberating whether Doug Grant killed his wife Faylene, he was telling me  his version of the night she died. Doug says Faylene was still in pain from the fall she'd taken in Utah, so he called Chad White-- a physician’s assistant he knew.  White prescribed pain medication and a sleeping pill, Ambien.

Josh Mankiewicz: Chad White said to call him before you filled the Ambien prescription.

Douglas Grant: Yeah.  He did.

Josh Mankiewicz: But you filled it.  And you didn't tell him.

Douglas Grant: No. I did fill it.

Doug says he got the sleeping pills-- even though he'd been told not to-- because he was exhausted.   He couldn't stay awake, and Faylene couldn't sleep.

Douglas Grant: The second she'd move, or I'd lay on the bed wrong, she'd wake up in pain.

And so I told her, you know, "If-- if you still can't sleep and I'm out. Maybe take a sleeping pill, you know.  Whatever it takes for you to be able to sleep. And-- those were my last words.

From there, his memory gets hazy.

Douglas Grant: I remember she wet the bed.

Josh Mankiewicz: At this point, you didn't know whether she'd taken Ambien or--

Douglas Grant: No.

Josh Mankiewicz: --any pills?

Douglas Grant: I didn't know she'd taken anything else, you know. So, she wet the bed. She came over to my side.  She was able to walk to my side of the bed.  And so I helped her to the toilet. And I sat back down on the end of the bed. She said she wanted to take a bath.  And I remember laying down.  And then I remember waking up and knowing something was wrong. I go in the bathroom.  She's in the tub. She's under the water.  Her hair's floating.  And so I pick her out of the tub.  I carry her to the bed.  And I start CPR.  I know CPR.

Josh Mankiewicz: Why didn't you do CPR right there, next to the tub?

Douglas Grant: I got her up and it was wet.  And so I just walked to the bed.  I laid her on the bed.  I don't know why.

Josh Mankiewicz: But if you know CPR, you know you need a hard surface.

Douglas Grant: That bed was hard enough.  Especially on the side.

Josh Mankiewicz: Okay.

Douglas Grant: I-- I know CPR.

Josh Mankiewicz: So you know what you're doin'?

Douglas Grant: I thought I did.  But it wasn't workin'.  It wasn't workin.

Josh Mankiewicz: But you didn't know how long she'd been under the water?

Douglas Grant: I didn't.  But it-- it shouldn't have mattered.  I-- you do the two rescue breaths.  You do the 15.  You do the two.  And I lift her up and vomit comes out on me, no water.  No water.  And I know I need water.  So I lay her down and I try again.  Then when Chad comes and he turns her side, and does it.  Water comes out.  Then the paramedics come and they get water out.  They get water out at the hospital.

What about the phone calls he made that morning?  Records show Doug called Chad white.  He insists he made another call as well.

Douglas Grant: I called 911.

Josh Mankiewicz: Why isn't there any record of that?

Douglas Grant: There is record of it. There's a call from an AT&T phone from Gilbert to Gilbert at 7:49  I called Chad first.  In retrospect, should I have called 911 first?  Absolutely.

But seeing what I saw, the first thing that came to my mind was Chad.  Then I did CPR.  The second thing was call 911. Through all of this crap from being indicted to this day, I've always said I called 911.

But remember what Chad White said in his 911 call:

I told him to call 911 and he said i'm afraid to, i'm afraid to.

Josh Mankiewicz: You told Chad White you were afraid to call 911.

Douglas Grant: No.

Josh Mankiewicz: Why would Chad say that?

Douglas Grant: Listen to the recording.  I said I was afraid.  I was afraid.  It wasn't working.  My wife was not responding and I was afraid.  I was afraid to the core of my very being.

And yet, that night or the next, he met Hilary in a park. After all, he says-- he had the letter Faylene had written.

Douglas Grant: And the letter says, "I want you to be married and come to my funeral hand-in-hand."

Josh Mankiewicz: As husband and wife?

Douglas Grant: As husband and wife.  As husband and wife.  What do you do?  You fax it to Hilary?  // I call Hilary and say, "I've got this letter.  You've got to see it, 'cause it talks about wantin' something to happen soon."  I show her the letter. Nothin' sexual.  No hips, no--

Josh Mankiewicz: You didn't grab her hips and say, "I miss these"?

Douglas Grant: No.  That is sick and that is ridiculous. 

Josh Mankiewicz: What if you hadn't married Hilary so quickly?

Douglas Grant: I don't know.  Would I be here today?

Josh Mankiewicz: I think not.

Douglas Grant: You think not?  Some people will agree with you.   

Is Doug Grant an admitted cad who became the victim of his wife's delusions and a flawed investigation? Or is he an admitted cad who was one spruce tree away from committing the perfect murder? It may not mean anything... But here's the only time in our interview when Doug seemed to get really angry.

Josh Mankiewicz: Is it possible that what you really wanted to do was make sure that letters in which Faylene talked about dying soon got in front of people, so that maybe it would look like she did kill herself?

Douglas Grant: I've never said she killed herself.  Other people have said it, family members and all that.  I didn't say it. Do I still have concerns?  Absolutely.  But do we know?  We don't know.  So if we don't know, give some of the benefit of the doubt.  It's wrong for you or anyone else out there to say any different.  I know she wasn't murdered.  I know I didn't kill my wife.  You have two options.  You have accident or you have suicide.  Since you don't know anyone that knows Faylene, that loves Faylene, then you go with Faylene.  You allow who she was to live on and people know who she is.

Josh Mankiewicz: Yeah.  But that's the question.  I mean--

Douglas Grant: No.  The question is whether I murdered her or not.

Josh Mankiewicz: No.

Douglas Grant: Not when-- was she accident or suicide.

Josh Mankiewicz: No.

Douglas Grant: 'Cause either of those, I'm not h-- 'posed to be here, right?  If it was accident or suicide?  So leave it alone.  I didn't kill my wife.

So he says... But what would the jury decide?

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