48 Hours - A Bathtub Drowning

Episode Date: January 11, 2026

In September 2001, Doug Grant discovered his wife Fayleen lying unconscious in their bathtub. She couldn’t be revived at the hospital and her death was considered a drowning. But as investigators discovered Fayleen had a history of dramatic mood swings and was considered by some to be suicidal. Was her death an accident, suicide… or murder? “48 Hours" Correspondent Susan Spencer reports. This classic "48 Hours" episode last aired on 6/5/2010. Watch all-new episodes of “48 Hours” on Saturdays, and stream on demand on Paramount+. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

She was my best friend. Sometimes she was my only friend. I wish every single day in my life that I could have my mom back. My mom died when I was 11. Some people think it was an accident. Some people think it was a suicide. But I know it was a murder. My step-dad murdered my mom.

Phelene is a good person. I have never hurt anybody in my life ever. He said that his wife... Doug called me very frantic. He just said he found her in the tub and that she was not responding to him. She's not responding? This wasn't working.

I had my hand on the door handle to her bedroom as it was happening. Your mom drowned in her own. in her own bathtub. I've been working on this story for a number of years. By all accounts, Phelene Grant is a wonderful woman, very, very close to her family, and especially close to her church. This is something my mom wrote in her journal.

I love my family and don't want to leave them. But it is Heavenly Father's will that I leave this mortal spirit to fulfill a mission on the other side of the veil. She also wrote, I must have faith in Doug's vision. He dreams it every night now, that I will get to go to the celestial kingdom. Douglas Grant used organized religion in killing Phelian Grant.

The motive in this case is a married man wanting to be with a younger woman. I'm the lucky one. Think what you want to think. That's fine. Have there been other women in his life? Yes. But he's not a murderer. I know that my brother Doug is innocent.

I mean, if you saw the volumes of letters that she wrote, her journals, it's bizarre. Here's a woman who has talked to God. God has told her that she's going to die. She did not want to die, but it was Mr. Grant's vision that she would, and she accepted the death sentence that was meted out by her husband. I didn't kill my wife. Never in a million years. This one is a classic.

It's got this epic sweep of sex, drugs, and religion, homicide, or accident. Was there even a murder here? Deadly Prophecy Things I want to have an espouse loves the beauty of the earth. Sunrise. Sunset.

I will be with you always. You always, Phelene. It sounds very poetic. Watching sunsets, it just made all the difference in the world. But eight years after Phelene Grant's death, objection relevance. Her husband Doug Grant is fighting for his future. Sir, is that a yes or no?

On trial for her murder. You had visions in church, right? No. So she's a liar. liar. Isn't it true that you were there to snoop? No, absolutely not. You knew he was another woman's husband? Yes, I did. She wanted these letters to be rid of, right?

Objection asking answered. Sorry, I'm confused. Sorry, confused, and he swears not guilty. I was just yelling Phelene, Phelene. Objection relevance. This has nothing to do with Phelian. He just wants to tell a story. Indeed, he does want to tell his story.

A story that begins in 1993, the second he laid eyes on a striking 27-year-old single mother named Phelene Eves at his gym near Phoenix. She's a great person. Loved life. Loved her family. Just another day at the office for Doug Grant. Doug is uniquely qualified. At the time, Doug Grant was a 27-year-old divorcee. Single dad, dad. There's a lot of confusion in the market. And a rising star in the world of nutrition.

Doug, what's the difference of real food and drunk food? The carrot is the real food, right? With a growing list of celebrity clients, like Charles Barkley and Danny Aangie of the Phoenix Sons. Doug gives good counsel of the players. What we're trying to do with is focusing on their immune system. He remembered Phelene from high school. She'd recently divorced and had two kids.

Austin and Jenna. My mom was the type of lady you meet and you're like, wow, I want to be friends with her. I came home one day and I had a new CD and it was that song, Ain't No Mountain High. I grabbed the shampoo bottle. She had like the telephone and we're jumping up and down on the couch, playing the song over and over again and just singing. That's my mom. There's Doug and Phelene. At first, Doug's sister Tammy Fuentes says it seems seemed a perfect match. Thalen is a lot like Doug.

Especially since they were both Mormons. She also loved nutrition and helping others. They married just four months after their first date. She's a good person and brought out the good in Doug. However, Jenna worried Doug wasn't bringing out the good in her mother. He's the man in the house and she listens to what he says. So there was never any question who was ruling the roost here? It was always dead.

Doug needed to guide Phelene, says Tammy, who was becoming alarmed by her new sister-in-law's mood swings. She was either really up, really happy, or she was really, really, really sad or depressed, but would never admit she needed help. I would go to their house and she would be in her bedroom with the door locked, and the children would just be there. And I would want to see her and they would say, no. no, don't bother her.

She says Phelene spent much time alone, writing in her journal, not uncommon in the Mormon faith, or praying at the temple, sometimes for hours. I do feel it was fanatical. To the point, Tammy says, that by the late 90s, Phelene had lost touch with reality. She said, I've been to the temple, and God has told her. told me that I need to divorce, Doug. Tammy remembers Phelene even said God had told her why. Doug had a girlfriend.

Phelene had no proof of an affair, but God's word was enough. She filed for divorce. He was devastated. He is truly a family man. She thought you were having an affair? Yes. Was that true? Not the time.

Maybe not right then, but Doug had had affairs, including one with a Louisiana beauty queen. And then in 2000, in the midst of his divorce, along came more temptation. Vibrant, bubbly, great person for the job. And a great person to later feature in his promotional materials. Real yogurt are a fun and healthy snack. A new receptionist and fellow Mormon. Hillary DeWitt, age 19.

Doug Grant fell hard. I became romantically involved with Hillary right at the divorce of Féline. Not before. Oh, no. In fact, after his divorce from Féline, Doug says he had cleaned up his act, gone through church counseling, and planned to marry Hillary. I don't know that I can express my love, my devotion. I'm in awe of him.

be honest. In August of 2001, though, those plans hit a snag. A big snag. Phelene had had revelation in the temple from God that she needed to put her family back together. For the children's sake, God now was telling Phelene to marry Doug all over again. Doug claims nobody was more surprised than he was. But the divorce hadn't been his idea after all, and he says he wanted to believe.

I knew I had to give it a shot. You certainly did a 180 on this, didn't you? You ended up not only marrying again, but marrying the person that you had divorced. I have the chance to be able to try to make things right and get back with her. Absolutely. To celebrate their new beginning, the Grants vacationed here in the Tipinogas National Park in Utah. And Doug says they were hiking on September 24, 2001.

According to him, when Phelene reached roughly this spot, she had some sort of vision. She saw something off in the distance. So what did she do? Incredibly, she climbed over this rock wall down to that tiny ledge to get a better view. According to Doug, this picture was taken just seconds before disaster struck. She looked up and she could kind of see the image of Jesus in the clouds and said, come out here.

So I start going over that wall to go out there and she fell. It was a 60-foot drop. Doug Grant says he was sure his wife was dead. I yelled, I screamed. And she said, shut up. I mean, that was the exact word, shut up. So you knew she was okay? I was if she was alive.

Doug took Phelene to a nearby hospital, very banged up, but alive. Given how far she supposedly fell, that makes no sense at all to Chief Ranger Michael Gossie. The height of that fall, the jaggedness of the rocks below, a fall of that serious nature, a person would have some severe injuries from. She definitely thought she was going to die young, but it was an accident. It was an accident. But as Doug's sister Tammy was about to discover, it may have been no accident at all.

You have no idea that you're going to find what you find. No. I got a phone call from Doug from the hospital, and he told me that Phelene had fallen. When she heard about Phelene's close call in Utah, Tammy Fuentes immediately went to the Grants' home to get it ready for their return. You have no idea that you're going to...

to find what you find. No. She got the shock of her life. She had prepared her house as if she was not coming home. Tammy says Phelene had left notes of Mormon scripture everywhere, plus bags of personal items, clothing, pictures, with instructions to give them all away. Phelene's fall now made perfect sense to her.

She thought that she was going to die on that mountain. She tried to kill herself. I know she did. And I knew then that I wanted to confront Phalene about it. And I was going to confront her about it. But when Phelene came home two days later, it didn't seem like the time. Phelene was real sore.

She had been injured, you know, in the fall. She was hurt. She was hurting pretty bad. Doug had asked his friend, physician's assistant, Chad White, to examine Phelene at home. She seemed happy to me, regardless of all of her injuries. She had no broken bones, but still she was in pain and couldn't sleep.

So White prescribed a muscle relaxant and the sleep aid Ambien, recording in his notes that he specifically told Doug not to fill the Ambien prescription without calling him first. I just simply didn't want her taking the two together. White next heard from Doug just after 7.30 the following morning. He was very alarmed, very panicked. He told me that she had gone in to take a bath, that he was laying on the bed and had fallen asleep. When he woke up, Doug said he found Phelene unconscious in the tub,

her head underwater. What did you do when you found her? Cut her out? Put her on the bed, started CPR. You knew CPR? I know CPR. I asked to feed Cal 9-1-1. What did he say?

He informed me that he had not called 9-1. I asked him why and he he relayed to me he was afraid white jumped in the car and called 911 himself meanwhile at the house Phelene's daughter Jenna says her stepfather was freaking out I hear Doug and he's screaming he's panting and he's having a hard time it looks like he's bracing himself and then he told me to take my little brothers to the next door she ran to the home of Andrea Rogers who raced to the grants to see if she could help Doug came flying to the door, so upset. My whole body just reacted to the terror in his eyes.

Chad White showed up minutes later and took over. He had obviously pulled her from the tub, and she was laying there unresponsive. She did not have any vital signs. With Doug looking on, White tried CPR until the paramedics arrived. He was crying, he was bawling. He was yelling out, please help her, please help her. The paramedics got her heart going again and rushed her to the hospital, where Jenna remembers a bizarre scene.

As my mom is laying in a bed unconscious with tubes running through her nose in her arms, Doug takes me out into the hallway and he tells me, if your mom wakes up, she might say weird things. Jenna says Doug seemed too eager to accept the possibility that Phelene might not wake up. Do not tell me my mom is going to die. But as she watched her mother's heart rate on the monitor, she knew Phelene wasn't coming back. I kept looking at the screen and just kept going down and down from $175.50. And then I realized what was happening and she was dying.

Soon, doctor said brain activity had ceased and Doug authorized taking her off life support. At 4.37 p.m. on September 27, 2000. 2001, Phelene Grant was pronounced dead. Official cause, drowning. But tests showed a whopping 50 milligrams of Ammian inner system. Clearly, Doug had ignored Chad White's orders. You didn't call him when you chose to fill the prescription. I didn't feel I needed to call to fill the prescription.

Still, investigators seemed unconcerned. In this bathroom and out here in Phelene's bedroom, they shot just five photos. In coming days, they would fail to interview key witnesses. They even lost evidence, including the pill bottles. Then again, they had ruled this death an accident the very day Phelene was found. Phelene's family was upset. It took months of pressure from them before police started taking a closer look at Doug Grant.

And that's when Detective Cy Ray got the case. I felt there was a lot of unanswered questions. So I primarily focused on just trying to answer some of the real basic questions. The first thing we looked at that helped us do that was the phone records. Ray found a slew of calls from the months before Phelene died between Doug's phones and Hillary DeWitts. Prosecutor Juan Martinez says authorities became even more intrigued at reports that Doug and Hillary had met in a park only hours after Phelene's death. When he saw her, he grabbed her around the hip area, pulled her towards him and said,

ooh, I missed these. That scenario is chilling. Well, it is chilling, and it isn't a scenario. It's something that happened. Hillary admitted meeting Doug in the park, but she wasn't sure when, and she adamantly denied any conversation about her hips. But nobody denies what happened a few weeks later. We got married soon. You got married really soon.

Absolutely. In fact, less than a month after Phelene's death, Doug and Hillary became man and wife. I know how people feel about us getting married so quick. I don't care what people perceive about me. I am who I am, and that's my life. Doug and Hillary had started a new life, but Cy Ray had no intention of moving on.

I had a lot of concerns about the way he reported things happening, just some real common sense things that I felt just didn't quite fit in. Chief among them, Ray says he just couldn't get over that Doug never had called 911. I know with every fiber of my being that I called them. You called 911? I call 911. Phoenix area records show no such call.

Still, Ray didn't have enough for an arrest until the sudden appearance of a new witness. a reluctant witness. I didn't want to get involved because I knew what was going to happen once my name hit the papers. Caught on tape with a story about what Doug Grant told him

really happened, the day Phelene died. It's the missing piece of evidence that we're looking for. After Phelene's death, Jenna and her brother Austin went to live with their biological father. While Doug...

Is that good? And his new wife, Hillary, settled into life with a blended family. Four children from various marriages, including a daughter of their own. Nevea, try to land your front flip. Nevea. There you go.

That's heaven spelled backwards. Despite such wholesome appearances, Detective Cy Ray remained convinced Doug Grant was a killer, but... Nothing really jumped out and said, this is what happened. She's right here. Phelene's sisters always suspected it was Doug.

He didn't call 911. He didn't call 911. He married Hillary three weeks later. Three years passed. Then one day, Phelene's sister Shirline called Ray with explosive news. An old friend of Doug's was claiming Doug had confessed to killing Phelene. The friend's name was Jim McIllier. He told me that she was ready to be.

to go to heaven. He said I put her in the bathtub until she was underwater. But there was a problem with Jim McAulier's story. Before he'd tell it to the cops, he wanted money from Phelene's family. And how much money does he want? He's asking for $10,000. $10,000? He's very clear that it's a loan. You buy this? I have a hard time buying a lot of things that Jim said. But But at that point, we were obligated to see it through to see what this information is and see if there's any validity to it. So Cy Ray set McIllier up. He told Sherlene to arrange a meeting in a Walmart parking lot. Hi, Jim.

Hi. How we doing? With hidden cameras rolling. You're all right back there, Jim? Yeah, I'm fine. When the money changed hands, Ray moved in and told McAulier he could charge him with Instead, he got McAulay to agree to help get a confession out of Doug on tape. The plan at that point is to bring Jim and have him confront Doug on this information while wearing a wire.

McAulier did just that. Later that day, wired for sound. Got a minute? He met Doug and told him police were asking him questions. They're threatening him to arrest me because they think I have information. And he needed to know exactly what happened to Phelene. I don't know what you want me to say. I believe his initial response was I did help her into the bathtub.

She fell asleep in the tub. She had to have so much of those painkillers and stuff. Doug admitted nothing directly. But when McLeer tried to leave... He kept saying, tell me what you're going to say. What are you going to say? Saying how damaging it sounded. If they have anybody...

said that Doug Grant put her in the tub and put her to sleep, then it's over. Trying to get me to reword it. If it was me, I would say, yeah, we were good friends, and you're there to console me, and you don't remember. It's been years ago. It was hardly a full confession. End of story.

Get out of my face. But to Cy Ray, it was more than enough. So in the summer of 2005, police arrested Doug Grant for the murder of his wife, Phelene. Doug immediately made bail and soon returned home. He is not guilty. There was no crime. Doug's lawyer Mel McDonald says there's no evidence Doug even wanted failing to die.

Just the opposite. When you look at Doug's efforts after her fall, crying for help, running to her rescue, taking her to a hospital, leaving her alone with people, that is hardly the evidence of a murder. Doug had been here. As far as Detective Cy Ray is concerned, though, it was all part of an act. Their version of the story is just nonsense. I think something happened to her while they were here. I don't know what.

So what do you do when there's no evidence? Let's throw in the infidelity. Let's throw in the younger woman. It's got nothing to do with the question of homicide, but let's just throw the dirt on the wall. Maybe it will stick. What the defense wants to stick is that, that Phelene Grant's death was not a murder,

but rather an accident or a suicide. If you doubt it, they say, I can't tell you how devastated I feel. Just listen to Phelene's own words from those astonishing journals. I am choosing to give up the life I have. Jenna still reads them today. I can't tell you how devastated I feel

and that I'm suicidal and that I think of crazy things to do to myself. It's right there in the writings, repeated references to her upcoming death. I felt like I should just drive off the cliff and quit wasting space and air on this planet. But daughter Jenna can't seem to reconcile the words in those letters and journals with the mother she knew. She would have never committed suicide. If you only read a small portion of something taken out of context, it's not going to be what the writer intended. My mom didn't want to die.

She was a happy lady. She was a great mom, a great wife. I don't think that points to someone that's suicidal. And if the writing suggests otherwise, she says it can only be because Doug planted the idea. Her husband, who obviously she trusted, who she remarried, is telling her she's going to die. I never encouraged it, nor did I ever dream it, nor did I ever say it. did ever say it. Just as hard to fathom is Faleen's relationship with Hillary, a rival whom you'd think

she might hate. Far from it. Remarkably, Faleen's journals show that the two became fast friends. Phelene, she filled voids in my life at a time period where I needed it. And she's part of this family. I'm so thankful Hillary is able to share her feeling. with me and me with her. I want so much for her to know of my love and respect for her.

So much does she love her that Phelene names Hillary, the perfect new wife for Doug Grant. This desire for you to be married immediately, and to see you sitting together as husband and wife at my funeral has been so strong. And even the perfect new mother for her children. I have asked Hillary to sit at the table as your mother while I'm away. Treat Hillary with the utmost love and respect, and you will always make me very happy."

I think Phelene was right. These kids needed a mom. So just what was Phelene really saying? What do these bewildering entries tell us? About her? About how she died. All rise for the jury. As the trial begins, how the jury answers those questions

may well determine Doug Grant's fate. What role did you have in Phelene's death? Herbert ass it. Is that a yes or no, sir? Do you have a dark curiosity? Heart starts pounding,

horrors, hauntings, and mysteries is a weekly podcast hosted by me, Kailen Moore. Each week, I'll take you on a dark journey through terrifying true urban legends, bizarre, true crime cases, chilling tales of backwoods horror and more. So if you're looking to join

a passionate community of the Darkly Curious, Check out Heart Starts Pounding on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. And remember, stay curious. On day one of Doug Grant's trial for first-degree murder, Prosecutor Juan Martinez highlights what he says was Doug's heartless manipulation of his wife. He's telling her that he's had visions that she's going to die. He will try to convince the jury that Doug's obsessive communications with Hillary, Then at 1213, a 16 minute call, then a 1250, a 12 minute call.

And his failure to make the call that counted most... Doesn't call 911. Reveal a plot to kill the woman he'd married twice so he could marry the woman he really loved. He had told Hillary that they were going to be together and that they were going to be married. But defense lawyer Mel McDonald argues, however Phelene died, Doug didn't kill her.

She writes, I am choosing to give out the life I have that is perfectly the way I wanted. She is choosing, ladies and gentlemen, to give up her life. I can see under one theory that Doug did just what Juan Martinez accused him of doing. After years covering the Grant case, reporter Paul Rubin says no one theory fully explains what happened to figure.

I also can see it being a terrible, tragic accident, and I also can see suicide. But if this was murder, what was the motive? Money? Well, Phelene did have a hefty new life insurance policy, but it hadn't kicked in yet. If Doug were after the money, why wouldn't he wait? As for love, even if Doug desperately wanted to marry Hillary, he didn't have to kill Phelene to do it. They could have simply divorced. After all, they'd already done it.

They'd already done it once. Mr. Martinez is a statement called his first witness. Prosecutor Martinez ignores the motive question for now, beginning with his star witness, Phelene's daughter, Jenna, who remembers being unable to get into the bedroom that horrible morning. I grab the door handle, jiggled it, and it was locked. The bedroom door was locked, says prosecutor Martinez, because a killer was at work on the other side.

The locked door is a crucial point, and curiously, something Jenna never once mentioned in two interviews with police. I didn't want to talk about it. I didn't want to think about it, but it's part of the story. She was 11 at the time. She was. That doesn't mean she doesn't remember exactly what happened. I was definitely still in love with Doug. Absolutely. Later, Martinez tries to get Hillary to admit she knows more than she's letting on. You knew that if she died, there would be a chance for you in the band that you loved, right? Mr. Martinez, that is... Yes or no.

No. Your case certainly wasn't hurt by being able to paint this guy as a really sleazy womanizer. I didn't paint the defendant as a sleazy womanizer. That's what the facts showed. Exhibit A, he says, are the phone records. Hundreds of calls from Doug's phones to Hillary's. But Doug's lawyer claims that many of them weren't made by Doug at all. It was Féline that was making the calls.

Remember, the defense says the two women were friends. The contacts that were going on during this period of time was Féline, preparing Hillary to take her place. Doug's case gets another boost when prosecutor Juan Martinez calls the medical examiner. I have no evidence to support this being a homicide. Just as the defense has claimed all along, there was no crime. Also helping the defense, raise your right hand. Cy Ray, who spearheaded the case against Doug Grant, has to admit that on many important points, there's also no evidence.

Where's the sheets? We do not have the sheets. Where were the pill containers found? We don't know. Where's our underclothing? I don't know. Detective, the evidence that the scene is gone, isn't it? No.

Not all of the evidence that the scene is gone. As for the Ambien, when, how, and how much Phelene took, a toxicologist says the evidence is totally inconclusive. We just don't know. As the months drag on and the defense picks up steam, which is your home? Prosecutor Martinez voices objections. Objection non-responsive.

Over. Objection leading, speculative. And over. Objection leading and hearsay. And over. Objection leading. Sustain. You objected, by our count, more than a hundred times one day.

Objection leading. Sustain, non-leading questions, please, Mr. McDonald. I assume that's part of the tactic. No, it was not a tactic to throw him off his game. A hundred times in a day? 200, if necessary. In closing our first, arguments, Martinez outdoes himself with another carefully calculated move, finally spelling

out exactly what the state thinks Doug Grant did to Phelene. It's a stunner. What he did is he dragged her over there, and then he placed her head inside the tub and began to hold her down. Phelene never was actually in the bathtub, he says. Her injuries and water stains at the scene, prove it. There is no doubt that Douglas Grant killed Faley and Grant. But just in case the jurors don't buy that, Martinez reminds them they still can punish Doug

without convicting him of first-degree murder. There are lesser included offenses, second-degree murder and manslaughter. Doug Grant doesn't testify, and his lawyer bids the jury a fond, if unorthodox, farewell. Thank you so much for your commitment and your time to make God bless you. It's going to privilege. It's not pandering. I will be devastated if this is not an acquittal. And he is not the only one.

Every time the phone rings, you know, wondering if it's the last time you're going to see your family, you know, in person. It's real tough. This is our life, and I believe with every fiber of my being, Doug, will continue it with us. This is a case that took on a life of its own. It's an unlikely arrest, followed by an unlikely prosecution, followed by, we'll see. While the jury is out, Doug Grant retreats to his home in Pima, Arizona. There's only a few things that keep you saying. You know, out doing yard work with the family, brings a little bit of normalcy to life.

Savoring whatever time he has left with Hillary and his kids. Oh, look at that one. The thought of Doug being taken away and having to go to jail for something that he didn't do is crippling. I don't wish that to pun anybody. Faced with months of evidence, jury deliberations drag on for three agonizing weeks. While we're waiting, it's tough. You just don't know where they're going to go with it. Very few people could go through what he's had to go through.

Okay, come here, brave. It's tough from 9 to 4 while the jury's deliberating. Pins and needles, you know. And then, finally, a verdict. We, the jury, do find the defendant, Douglas D. Grant, as to count one, first-degree murder, unable to agree. On the lesser-included offense of second-degree murder, unable to agree.

on the lesser included offense of manslaughter, guilty. Guilty, but only of manslaughter, the least serious charge Doug faced. Doug Grant was taken out of the courtroom in handcuffs. It's a hollow victory for the state and for Phelene's family. I'm glad it's over and that we can go on. A crushing blow for Doug and the defense. Probably the most devastating result in any case. I never tried.

Jurors say, though they thought Doug did something, they just couldn't agree that it was murder. Nothing was proven, but it was just a gut feeling. So, they compromised. Man slaughter was a fallback. Despite their strong feelings about the man on trial. We thought he was pretty much a scum bag. How have you managed to hold it together all this time, Hillary?

It's easy when you know he's innocent. Doug supporters aren't giving up. Manslaughter means he could face up to 12 and a half years in prison. Or he could get no time at all, just probation. There's a community that will suffer a great loss if he is in for very long at all, because he is a good man. It may have been too risky to put Grant on the stand before the verdict, but as the court considers sentencing a few days later...

We call that Grant. Doug's lawyer bets that an emotional plea from his client now just might work. Would you please state your case? name for the record. Douglas Dewey Grant. And Doug is on the edge. After his first weekend behind bars, he's on suicide watch. He looked like Jack Nicholson in The Shining.

I was yelling Phelene? He did cry. Well, it looked like he attempted to cry. Does he turn the tears on and off? It appears that he does, doesn't it? Phelene was someone that always made me feel larger than life. larger than life. Faleen's family takes the stand to argue for the longest sentence possible.

All that I have left is memories because he took her from me. The usually stoic Hillary now pleads with the judge not to take Doug from her. If Doug received probation, he would still be allowed to pay a debt to society and continue to provide for us as his family. Doug and Phelene's own sons, Marley, 12. I'm here because I know my dad is going to sit. I want my dad back home. And Braven, 11.

I miss my mom. Tell the judge that losing one parent is enough. But taking my dad away isn't going to bring her back. The appeals seem to hit home. It's a judgment sentence of the court to defend it being in prison for the presumptive term of five years. Five years. With good behavior, Doug Grant will be out in three. The prosecutor puts on a brave face.

Justice, I believe, was served. It took a while, but we finally got there. Where do you go from here? What do you do? On with my family. Hillary is loyal to the end, saying it's just what her dear friend Phelene would have wanted. They're always going to mourn the death of their mother.

Always. This is what she would want. I mean, that's just how I feel. Jenna has trouble accepting the verdict, let alone the sentence. A man took away someone else's alive, and he's going to be in prison. Half a decade. You're telling me that's justice. But she vows not to let the past destroy her future.

I'm going to be okay. I've been okay the past seven or eight years. And she takes comfort in Phelene's journals. This will be such a blessing as I go. into the next world. In those haunting reflections, not just about dying, but also about living life with zest every day, which is how she wants to remember her mother. Love means never having to say goodbye.

I will be with you always. I love you, Phelene. Jenna Straddling and her three brothers received $2 million to settle a wrongful death suit against Jenna's stepfather, Doug Grant. In 2013, Grant was released from prison after serving five years.