Fatal Visions

I tell thee these things as a witness unto thee

Doctrines & Covenants, 6:17

By February, 2005, Faylene Grant's death seemed  destined for the cold case file.  It had been more than three years since she drowned in the bathtub, after taking an overdose of sleeping pills. Police suspected her husband, Doug, had killed her. But Faylene's own writings, anticipating her death, raised the possibility of suicide.

It was a case in desperate need of a kick start. And then, in the parking lot of a Walmart in Globe, Arizona. A guy named Jim McElyea got into the car of Cherlene Patterson, Faylene's sister. He didn't realize police had him on videotape. McElyea said he knew something about Faylene's death.

Jim McElyea: I think he might have realized he made a mistake in even telling me.

McElyea had once been a close friend of Doug's. 

Jim McElyea: I--I--you know he told me what he did and how he did it.

McElyea said he was afraid that testifying against Doug might hurt his business, force him to leave town. He needed money for a fresh start. 

Jim McElyea: The space, it's 11,000 to get goin'. But I just figured you know 10..if it's 11 that's great, if it's 10...I just.. you know that's my security too. Say ok I can-I can open up.

Cherlene: Right.

Jim McElyea: And--and--and everything that I know is gonna come out.

At a second meeting Cherlene handed over the money, and McElyea talked. He said the conversation happened at Doug's house, the day after Faylene died.

Jim McElyea: And he said that ah, she wanted to go to heaven. He just did what she wanted.  I said, well, what d'ya mean? He said well ya, he just helped her get to sleep and I was just kind of...a little stunned. And he just kept talkin', said that he gave her...he called it extra Acute.

Acute was a supplement Doug sold as an anti-inflammatory. McElyea said Doug hid the Ambien sleeping pills in the Acute capsules, and gave them to Faylene.

Cherlene: And then did the tub?

Jim McElyea: Yeah.  Well he just went in, and he put her in.

After years of suspicion but no proof, had Doug actually confessed?

Josh Mankiewicz: Are you hearing this while it's happening?

Det. Sy Ray: We are.

Detective Sy Ray had been watching McElyea since he first contacted Faylene's family.  Now he took McElyea into custody, and leaned on him, hard.

Det. Sy Ray: I can book you right now for the extortion. OK, that's option one. Option two is a meeting tonight with Doug.

McElyea chose option two.  So, that evening, wired for sound, he went to Doug Grant's office. He and detective ray had concocted a cover story.

Jim McElyea: Gilbert Police took me in for some questioning.  They implied that they have some  information about what, what, what you and I talked about, what you said about, you know, what, what  really happened with Faylene.  But--

Doug Grant: About what really happened?  What do you mean about what really happened?

Det. Sy Ray: When you confront somebody with information that is basically you telling them, "You confessed to killing your wife."  Most people are going to tell you, "What are you talking about?  Why would you say that?  Where is that even coming from?"

Josh Mankiewicz: Isn't that pretty much what Doug says?

Det. Sy Ray: Well, actually, he tells Jim, "You don't have to talk to the police...

Doug Grant: If it was me I would say, yeah we were good friends and you were there to console me and you don't remember, it's been years ago, and end of story, and get out of their face. They can't do anything.

But Doug also said:

Doug Grant: The bottom line is, is that I don't believe she killed herself, I know I didn't kill her...

And, a few minutes later, this:

Doug Grant: If you believe in your heart that I told you that I put her in that tub and put her to sleep, that's basically saying that someone said they, they killed her.  That's the most ridiculous thing on the planet.

It sure sounds like a denial. 

Josh Mankiewicz: And yet, you took that as almost a smoking gun.

Det. Sy Ray: I took it as a reasonable person. I would think would deny the entire existence of a meeting.

Josh Mankiewicz: And would get angrier than Doug was.

Det. Sy Ray: Absolutely.

With the McElyea tapes, Detective Ray convinced the county attorney to press charges... And finally arrested Doug Grant for the murder of his wife, Faylene.

Josh Mankiewicz: Did Jim McElyea jump-start this case again?

Det. Sy Ray: I believe he did.

Josh Mankiewicz: But he turned out to be lying.

Det. Sy Ray: Well, at least part of it, yeah.

Yeah, you heard that right. Here's Jim Mcelyea, the key witness against Doug Grant, in a defense deposition.  Saying, guess what?  Doug never really confessed to killing Faylene.

Jim McElyea: It did not happen.  He did not tell me that, and I will again testify he never told me he did that.

McElyea's implosion was not the only problem with the case.  There was also the matter of motive-- what was it again? You'll remember not long before Faylene's death, she and Doug won $350,000 in a lawsuit.  By marrying Faylene and killing her-- Doug could keep it all.  But it turns out that, after attorneys' fees, Faylene's share was only about $12,500. And then there's the life insurance.

Det. Sy Ray: Approximately a month prior to her death, the initial paperwork was drawn up requesting a change from the $300,000 to $860,000.

Sounds Suspicious.  Except Faylene died before the paperwork was done.

Josh Mankiewicz: If you were gonna kill your wife, wouldn't you make sure that that change in the policy had in fact gone through?

Det. Sy Ray: If that was your only motive, I-- I would agree with you absolutely. 

Ray says sex was a motive, too.

Det. Sy Ray: There were some statements that, that Hilary was willing to wear a thong, or thong underwear.  And Faylene just wouldn't do that.

Josh Mankiewicz: That's a motive for murder?

Det. Sy Ray: I don't think it's a motive for murder.  I think it's a motive to rather be with// Hilary, opposed to Faylene.

Remember, Doug had cheated on Faylene before. His marriage vows had never been a barrier to his sex life. Yet Doug's attorney, Mel McDonald, claims the grand jury heard more a lot more about Doug's sex life than faylene's farewell letters.

Mel McDonald: The whole transcript is nothing but-- sex and just utterly disgusting information that has no business in a grand jury.

Josh Mankiewicz: And that has nothing to do with whether anybody committed murder.

Mel McDonald: That's true.

Prosecutor Juan Martinez says quit whining.

Josh Mankiewicz: Did you make a fair presentation to the grand jury? 

Juan Martinez: Absolutely. She deserves an explanation! By God!

Martinez loves courtroom combat... And he doesn't much like Doug Grant.

Juan Martinez: The defendant's sex life is something that he introduced into this case. He was out-- committing adultery.

Josh Mankiewicz: Doesn't make you a murderer.

Juan Martinez: That's part of the case. That shows that he couldn't wait to be with Hillary. He couldn't wait to be at that park and grab her by the hips and say, “Ooh, I missed these,” because he did miss them.

Martinez secured a grand-jury indictment for first-degree murder, and seven years after Faylene's death, took the case to trial. A case with no star witness, no clear cut motive. A victim who seemed to be planning her death.

And in the center of it all, the defendant, Doug Grant, a balding man in a baggy suit, an improbable lothario on trial for his life.

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