48 Hours - The Girl Next Door: What Happened to Hunter Grissom? | My Life of Crime

Episode Date: December 14, 2022

On May, 15th 2012, 27-year-old Hunter Grissom is gunned down at work by his ex-wife, Tracey Grissom. She alleges Hunter had abused her and that she killed him in self-defense. His family believes she hunted him down and that the abuse allegations are false. In Part 1, 48 Hours correspondent Erin Moriarty takes you inside the investigation into the killing of Hunter Grissom on her podcast, My Life of Crime. Based on the 48 Hours episode, "The Girl N​ext Door”.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to this podcast ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app today. Even if you love the thrill of true crime stories as much as I do, there are times when you want to mix it up. And that's where Audible comes in, with all the genres you love and new ones to discover. Explore thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. Listening to Audible can lead to positive change in your mood, your habits,

and even your overall well-being. And you can enjoy Audible anytime, while doing household chores, exercising, commuting, you name it. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial and your first audiobook is free. Visit audible.ca. In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California. Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing. The young wife of a Marine had moved to the California desert

to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park. They have to alert the military and when they do, the NCIS gets involved. From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS. Listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. It's Erin Moriarty, and we have a special episode for you today from my original podcast, My Life of Crime. I'm taking you inside true crime investigations like no one else, taking on killers and those accused of crimes.

Here's an all-new episode of My Life of Crime that takes you deeper into the girl next door. Follow along as I go beyond the scene of each crime, beyond prison walls, and into the killer's inner thoughts. It's all on this season of My Life of Crime. How would you describe Hunter Grissom? He was fun.

He was attractive. We had some really good times. Until I started noticing different things that were changing, he started becoming more aggressive. On May 15, 2012, 27-year-old Hunter Grissom was gunned down while he was working on a boat landing alongside two colleagues. The shooter?

His 30-year-old ex-wife. What led to the shooting? Well, there's her version. In September 2010, it's the first time that he physically hit me. It got progressively worse. He had made the comments that if I told anybody, he would kill me. I believed him. You don't regret pulling the trigger? No, because if I had not done that, I'd be dead. And I believe that 100%.

And then there's what Hunter's Aunt Gina and his mother believe. We all knew she was capable of doing this. She hunted him down. She hunted him down. My son died running, running for his life. I know that there's no telling what went through his mind, but I hear him say, Mama, Mama. She has a way of making everything that she has done look right.

I'm Erin Moriarty, and this is my life of crime. Was Hunter Grissom an abuser who needed to be stopped? Or was he the victim, shot by an ex-wife because he left her? The truth is sometimes elusive. We want to believe women. I mean, why would a person lie about abuse? And let's be frank, it doesn't hurt when, as in this case, the alleged victim is beautiful, sympathetic, credible. But the more we looked into the death of Hunter Grissom,

the more we began to wonder, what really happened on that spring morning in Northport, Alabama? In part one, we'll discuss the facts of the case and listen to the story that Hunter's ex-wife Tracy told us back then. In part two, what Tracy Grissom and her attorneys say today. We begin in 2014, two years after the shooting. What's your first thought when you look back on May 15, 2012? I wish I had kept driving. According to Tracy, on the morning of May 15, 2012, she drove just feet away from where her ex-husband Hunter was working. He's walking toward you.

Yes. Where were his arms? What was he doing? He had his arm like he was going to bust through the window. I mean, it happened so fast. Tracy said that she had been on her way to a job interview when she passed by a boat launch and saw a sign for her ex-husband's construction company. She drove in and saw her ex-husband working on a dock, got out of her car, and shot him. What went through your mind when you saw him on the ground?

That I was in trouble. People who think that I murdered him in cold blood either don't know the whole story or don't know everything that's happened. I'm not somebody that's mean and who would maliciously kill somebody intentionally. And that's what a murderer is. And that's not me.

Tracy at the time, a mom of two, claimed self-defense, but that seemed a little difficult to accept. She was the one who drove down to his place of work. She appeared to be the aggressor. And investigators soon found that there was much more to the story. There had been problems between the couple brewing for a long time. He had hurt me. He had done a lot of things to me. I didn't want him dead. I still don't want him dead. Here's the history. Tracy met Hunter nine years before the shooting when she was just 21. She already had a son and was going through a divorce. He absolutely loved my son. That, to me, made all the difference in the world. Hunter

was even younger, and when the couple decided to elope, his mom, Melanie Garner, thought they were both too young. He was sucked in immediately. He was young. He had just turned 20. Certainly nowhere near ready. The marriage quickly floundered. I had caught him smoking marijuana. Doing illegal things could cause a problem, and I couldn't risk losing my son over. Tracy says that Hunter promised to stop using marijuana, so she stayed. And she says she then leveraged everything they had to start a family business. I took out an equity line to start a company, which was Grissom Construction. It was all in my name. She also got pregnant, and they had a daughter, Anna Grace.

Too much up! We tried to have a child for quite some time. We actually had five miscarriages before we had her. She was premature. Her heart and lungs were not developed. A stressful time. A very stressful time. And here's where the story gets gray. Tracy, who was trained as a nurse, says Hunter appeared to be acting strangely. She was convinced that he was taking drugs again, and she filed for divorce.

She says that's when he became abusive. He knocked me on the floor and hit me all over my body. I ended up with a black eye. I had bruised shoulders. And she claims the abuse continued even after Hunter moved out of the house, although no one witnessed it, and she never reported it to authorities. Could have gone to the police. This man's hitting me. And I was told if I went to the police, he would kill me.

And so that, to me, wasn't even an option. I started to notice some things that I would question her about, bruising and things like that. One of Tracy's friends, Lauren Richards, told me that she saw what appeared to be evidence, Tracy with a black eye. I said, now, Tracy, you may have some bad luck, but nobody is that unlucky.

Do not give me a lame excuse what happened. You have not fallen on a baseball in your eye socket. By November 2010, the couple was divorced, but Hunter would still help out with the children. And one evening he arrived and she says that when she told Hunter about a new boyfriend, he became enraged. He took her to the bathroom and she says that when she told Hunter about a new boyfriend, he became enraged. He took her to the bathroom, she says, and raped her.

He told me that he was going to kill me. I was knocked unconscious. Tracy says that when she regained consciousness, the kids were asleep and Hunter was gone. I called Hunter. I told him that I was bleeding and that I was hurt and that I needed help. And he told me, I hope you die. Tracy went to the hospital. She reported it and Hunter was arrested for rape, sodomy, kidnapping, and domestic violence. He was denied visitation with his daughter.

And at that point, I feared for my life, and I feared for my children's life. When Hunter was released on bail, Tracy got a restraining order and purchased a handgun. It was only a matter of time until he came after us. Tracy also texted her friend Lauren photos of the injuries she allegedly received that night, and she said things only went downhill from there. Hunter stopped working and paying child support. I lost everything, and my world just fell apart. When I met Tracy, it was the summer of 2014, more than two years after she had been charged with murder for her husband's death. She was anxious to tell her side of the story,

to stand up publicly for abused women everywhere. Still, I was a little taken aback when she seemed almost eager to reenact the drive and the shooting for me and our TV cameras. This is about the same time you were on the road, isn't it? It is. For a woman who had gone through a traumatic event, Tracy seemed remarkably calm as she recounted the moments before she pulled the trigger and killed a man. So you're coming down here. This is the way you would go?

Yes. And what do you see? Okay, there's a break in the trees. And to the right side was a large tool boat that had a billboard sign on the side that said Grissom Construction. And I immediately, within about a 30-second period, made probably the stupidest mistake of my life. And that was to pull in the parking lot to take a picture.

Tracy says she didn't drive towards her husband with the intent to kill him. She just wanted to take a photo proving he was working and could pay child support. I was getting ready to take the picture and when I looked up, he was standing almost directly towards the front of the boat trailer. He was looking back directly at me. He had this face that's like this mean, just, I don't even know how to describe it, but I mean, I see it over and over like it's right here all the time. He flipped me a bird, which to me was kind of like, yeah, I'm working.

You know, screw you. And at that point, I panicked. He's walking towards you. Yes. He's now within five foot of my car, coming out of my car, going to bust my window out. But here's the part of her story that is troubling. Tracy had that handgun that she bought 18 months earlier in her lap. I mean, I just opened the door. She stepped out of the car and began shooting and shooting,

emptying the entire gun. Six shots. The next thing I remember is a click. Four of them hit Hunter. Your name is Tracy? Yeah. Okay, and you killed your husband? Ex-husband, yes. Ex-husband. How did you kill him? I shot him. Do you have the gun? I got the gun. What kind of gun do you have? I didn't have more. Okay, calm down. I didn't have more. Tracy Grissom called 911,

and so did one of the men working with Hunter that morning. My boss just got shot. Somebody just pulled up and shot my boss. She's in a gold, a little gold Chevrolet. I don't know if she's reloading or what. What is your name? William Dockery. As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch.

It was called Candyman. The scary cult classic was set in the Chicago housing project. It was about this supernatural killer who would attack his victims if they said his name five times into a bathroom mirror. Candyman. Candyman? Now, we all know chanting a name won't make a killer magically appear. But did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? I was struck by both how spooky it was, but also how outrageous it was. We're going to talk to the people who were there. And we're also going to uncover the larger story.

My architect was shocked when he saw how this was created. Literally shocked. And we'll look at what the story tells us about injustice in America. If you really believed in tough on crime, then you wouldn't make it easy to crawl into medicine cabinets and kill our women.

Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, early and ad-free on Wondery Plus and the Wondery app. In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island. It's a little-known British territory called Pitcairn, and it harboured a deep, dark scandal. There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reach the age of 10 that would still have urged it.

It just happens to all of us. I'm journalist Luke Jones and for almost two years I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn. When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it,

people will get away with what they can get away with. In the Pitcairn Trials, I'll be uncovering a story of abuse and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific island to the brink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. What is your name? William Dockery.

Both William Dockery and his brother Dale were helping Hunter pull a boat out of Lake Tuscaloosa. He was a good friend, the best boss anybody could ever ask for. It's the only job I've had in my life that I enjoy going to work every day. Enjoy the man I was working for. William recalled seeing the gold Chevrolet approach the morning of the shooting, but he didn't realize it was Tracy's car. But Hunter knew. There was some fear in his eyes.

He knew there was fixing to be some kind of confrontation. He looked directly at me and told me to call the police. Just as William was pulling his phone out of his pocket... He looked at me with an even more serious face and said, call the effing law. And that's when I went ahead and started dialing. And by that time, she was getting out and starting to shoot. It was too late.

Hunter started running. Him and my brother took off running. Meanwhile, William was on the phone with 911. She's still sitting in the car with a gun. I don't want to go around. Okay, you stay where you are. And we're getting help on the way for you, right? Tracy told me that she only shot Hunter because he moved towards her car. Hunter was coming towards my vehicle in an aggressive manner and was within 3 to 5 foot of me.

But that isn't the story she first told 911 or that witnesses recounted. I just pulled up. I saw him, and I pulled up, and I shot him. I just pulled up and I shot him. I just pulled up and I shot him. He never made a single motion towards her, never raised his hand, any of that. The only motion he was making was getting away from her. As I said earlier, there's Tracy Grissom's version.

And then there's what Hunter Grissom's family believes hunter's mom melanie told investigators that she believed tracy deliberately drove down that day to kill him i immediately started saying i said the did it the did it the did it borderline demonic i mean i absolutely believe that she is that troubled that's a pretty shocking thing to say about your former daughter-in-law. But Melanie Gardner and her sister Gina think that Tracy had a motive. She wanted to kill Hunter before the rape case got to court. Hunter had moved on. There was some court dates coming up that would prove that Hunter was innocent.

There was court dates coming up that he would get visitation to his daughter. She had a lot to lose. I know that's a hard question to ask of a mom. Is it at all possible that your son abused Tracy? Oh, I don't believe so. I don't believe so far, no, no. He did not have an abusive and angry bone in his body. In fact, we kind of laughed at him because he was too laid back. If anyone was abused, they say, it was Hunter. They admit that a year earlier, Hunter had been arrested for marijuana possession, a misdemeanor, but that there is no evidence that he ever did any harder drugs. And I fully believe

that Hunter was abused by her. Weeks before Tracy accused Hunter of raping her, she had turned up at another one of his job sites. She's screaming, jumping on him, said something about him having another girlfriend and used the expression about you are mine. I'll kill you. I'll kill you. You are mine. Tracy doesn't remember the incident quite that way, but Hunter's mom believes that Tracy made up the rape story. And if that's true, how does she explain the graphic pictures of injuries that Tracy said are proof of abuse? There are deep bruises, even a picture of what appears to be a head wound. You're saying your son didn't do any of that? I don't think he did. Hunter told his mom that Tracy's head wound came from an accidental fall, and Melanie believed him. But if Hunter wasn't

abusing Tracy, how did she get those bruises? But that would mean she would have had to do that to herself. Absolutely. But why would she do that damage to herself? To try to prove the lies, to try to prove the accusations that she made against Hunter were true. Have you ever wondered who created that bottle of sriracha that's living in your fridge? Or why nearly every house in America has at least one game of Monopoly? Introducing the best idea yet, a brand new podcast from Wondery and T-Boy

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Hot shot Australian attorney Nicola Gaba was born into legal royalty. Her specialty? Representing some of the city's most infamous gangland criminals. However, while Nicola held the underworld's darkest secrets, the most dangerous secret was her own. She's going

to all the major groups within Melbourne's underworld, and she's informing on them all. I'm Marsha Clark, host of the new podcast, Informants Lawyer X. In my long career in criminal justice as a prosecutor and defense attorney, I've seen some crazy cases, and this one belongs right at the top of the list. She was addicted to the game she had created. She just didn't know how to stop. Now, through dramatic interviews and access, I'll reveal the truth behind one of the world's most shocking legal scandals. Listen to Informant's Lawyer X exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery

app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, and listen to more Exhibit C true crime shows early and ad-free right now. Prosecutors didn't believe Tracy's story of the shooting and charged her with the murder of Hunter Grissom. In August 2014, she went on trial. I was in the courtroom, and so was Tracy's brother, Travis, who had flown in from LA. Walking into the courtroom was tough to sit down and see a court divided, a family divided, a family that had spent time together, shared grandkids. Warren Freeman, a well-known Alabama defense attorney, was defending her. He tried to get

the murder charge reduced to manslaughter. In my mind, this was a manslaughter case because there is no intent. I could easily, easily see this being at the worst manslaughter. At its best, it was self-defense. Prosecutors were having none of it, and we soon learned why. There was an insurance policy worth $103,000. Prosecutors said Tracy shot Hunter for the money. Thank you

for calling MetLife. This is Pam. May I please have your name? Tracy Grissom. What you're listening to is a call that Tracy made to the insurance company the day before she shot Hunter. According to prosecutors, she was checking to make sure the company had her current address. It's Hunter Grissom. Thank you so much. And can you please verify his date of birth? Is there anything else I can do for you today? That's going to be it.

On May 14th, you called that insurance company. Why? Well, May 14th was just like any other day. However, I had moved four different times. Me and my children were running. We were running from Hunter. So I had called the company to let them know that they had my old address and to make an address change. Tracy called the company again after Hunter died. And how can I help you today?

Well, I was actually calling because I didn't know what I needed to do. Hunter passed away May 15th, and I actually am going through a court case right now because it was due to self-defense. According to Hunter's mom, Tracy was the one paying for the policy. Even through the times when she's screaming that she's destitute and has no money, she continued to pay life insurance premiums. And that was just the beginning of damaging evidence against Tracy. A pathologist testified that when Tracy shot Hunter, he wasn't coming at her. He was running away. Tracy, I have to ask you this.

Is it possible that you misread that situation and you shot and killed a man who just intended to get away from you? He was coming towards me. So, no, I do not feel like he was trying to get away. I feel like he was fixing to kill me. If, in fact, he was coming at you and you were in fear for your life why didn't you tell the police that you had an opportunity when you called 9-1-1? Tell me what happened. I didn't pull up, I saw him and I shot him.

You had an opportunity when you left the scene and went to the police. I don't know why I did it. Why didn't you tell them? He was coming after me. I had no choice. I know I was an absolute wreck at that point. I don't remember so much. I remember the initial shot, and then I remember a click, which undoubtedly was the emptying of the gun. Tracy's attorney told us that he believed that Tracy shot Hunter and kept shooting him because she was suffering from PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder,

from Hunter's abuse. But Warren couldn't find an expert who would say that in court. What's more, the judge wouldn't allow him to put those pictures of Tracy's injuries into evidence. So instead, Warren did something many defense attorneys are afraid to do. He put Tracy herself on the stand. That was the only way to let them know that I was defending myself. That was the only way to let them know that I was defending myself.

And the only way that I felt that they would understand what I was going through that day. How did you feel about that? Devastated. I don't think anybody could understand what I was going through without knowing what I had already been through. without knowing what I had already been through. We weren't allowed to record trial testimony, but it was clear that what Tracy told the court that day had an impact on the trial judge because just before the case went to the jury, the judge reversed an earlier decision.

The judge said that he believed that this was a manslaughter case. Out of the blue? Out of the blue. The jury would be allowed to consider both murder and a charge of manslaughter, but Tracy had to agree to it. We said, do you think they'll convict me of manslaughter if we do that? I said yes. She said, I don't want to do it. And so I chose not to take it. Rejecting her own attorney's advice,

Tracey decided to turn down the judge's offer. And I understood her reasons. With manslaughter off the table, the jury had to choose either between murder or acquittal. That's a big gamble though, Warren. Big gamble. It's a huge gamble. I did think the jury would understand the fear that I had that day and the fear that I had that he was going

to hurt or kill me. I feel like they know that there was more to the story, but it wasn't allowed in court. You're thinking there's going to be a hung jury in this case? Yes, at least. I think that's what Tracy felt, that the worst that's going to happen here is a hung jury. Just 90 minutes later, a verdict. I remember that they didn't look at us. Not a good sign.

It's not a good sign. Who read the verdict? The judge did. He said, guilty, guilty of murder. And I immediately was devastated. Guilty. Guilty of murder. Clearly, the jury did not believe Tracy Grissom.

She just hung her head. She was picturing that little five-year-old girl. Well, it would look at her and grab her face, she said, and say, Mama, when are you coming home? But another mom, Hunter's mom, thought justice had been done. We were told that we had to maintain our composure even through that. So that was kind of hard to suppress those feelings. You have to wonder whether the verdict might have been different if those jurors had seen the photos that Tracy says show her injuries at the hands of Hunter. The judge kept them out because they were allegedly evidence

of a rape that occurred a year and a half before the shooting. Still, after the trial, one of the jurors spoke out. Two sides to every story. We didn't know why she was so scared of this man. You made a mistake. After the trial, one of the jurors spoke out. Tracy Grissom was sentenced to 25 years in an Alabama prison, which is where she is still today. Is this Tracy? This is Tracy.

So let's get started. I mean, in part two, what does Tracy say now about the shooting that landed her behind bars? Has she changed her story at all? And what have we since learned about those photos that were kept out of her trial? Were they really the proof of abuse that Tracy claimed they were? I'm Erin Moriarty, 48 Hours, and that's my life of crime. This podcast series is developed by 48 Hours in partnership with CBS News Radio. Judy Tigart is 48 Hours' executive producer. Jonathan Clark is CBS News Radio. Thank you. Chris Young-Ritson of 48 Hours. Craig Swagler is Vice President and General Manager of CBS News Radio. And finally, a thank you to all of you, our listeners. We owe it all to you, the millions of 48 Hours fans. Don't forget to join me online. I'm at EF Moriarty on Twitter, and we're 48 hours on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

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