Crime Weekly - S3 Ep341: The Case That Doesn’t Add Up | The Unanswered Death of Christian Griggs (Part 3)

Episode Date: September 19, 2025

On the morning of October 12, 2013, 23-year-old Army veteran Christian Griggs went to his in-laws’ property in Angier, North Carolina to pick up his young daughter, Jaden. At 10:54 a.m., he called h...is father Tony to say that his father-in-law, Reverend Pat Chisenhall, was yelling at him while his estranged wife Katie hid inside the house. Six minutes later, at 11:00 a.m., Tony arrived at the Chisenhall home to find his son lying face-down, bleeding and unresponsive. Pat had shot him six times with a .22 rifle. Once in the abdomen, once on the top of his left shoulder, and four times in the back. Christian was rushed to the hospital, where he was soon pronounced dead. As his family struggled to process the sudden loss, detectives began piecing together what had happened that fateful morning. What they uncovered were conflicting accounts, multiple 911 calls, and questions that would haunt the case for years to come. Try our coffee!! - www.CriminalCoffeeCo.com Become a Patreon member -- > https://www.patreon.com/CrimeWeekly Shop for your Crime Weekly gear here --> https://crimeweeklypodcast.com/shop Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CrimeWeeklyPodcast Website: CrimeWeeklyPodcast.com Instagram: @CrimeWeeklyPod Twitter: @CrimeWeeklyPod Facebook: @CrimeWeeklyPod ADS: 1. https://www.FactorMeals.com/CrimeWeekly50Off - Use code CRIMEWEEKLY50OFF for 50% off! 2. https://www.Quince.com/CrimeWeekly - Get FREE shipping and 365-day returns! 3. https://www.SimpliSafe.com/CrimeWeekly - Get 50% off a new system today! 4. https://www.HelixSleep.com/CrimeWeekly - Get 25% off sitewide! 5. https://www.PDSDebt.com/CrimeWeekly - Get your FREE debt assessment today!

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Starting point is 00:00:17 Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connix Ontario at 1866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. But MGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. Hello, everybody. Welcome back to Crime Weekly. I'm Stephanie Harlow. And I'm Derek Lavasar. So today we are diving into part three of the Christian Griggs case. And there's been a lot of discourse about this case in the comment section, which is great. It's what we want. I think, you know, Derek and I both are, you know, in kind of engaging in that same thing together while we're filming these episodes going back and forth. No one knows what happened. No one knows what any of these people were thinking. We can
Starting point is 00:01:10 only look at the evidence and the context and try to theorize what happened there. But yeah, lots of discourse. We love it. And the truth is we'll never truly know because the people that were there, Christians no longer with us. And then you only have the other side. So it's only one story essentially. But I do have some house cleaning things about that because some people were, again, Mostly respectful coming at me in the comments, wanted me to respond. I'm going to do that. Like I always do. I don't shy away from it.
Starting point is 00:01:35 But a quick thing about what just happened because the whole Charlie Kirk situation happened after CrimeCon. We hadn't recorded an episode since then. This is our first episode since we've been back. So there's some episodes that have come out and people are like, oh, you guys haven't said anything about it. What's going on? Are you just ignoring it?
Starting point is 00:01:52 Well, first off, this is the first time we're getting behind our microphones. But secondly, and we're always going to be transparent with you guys. This is not like a surprise to anyone. This has been very highly politicized. And we know it's plutonium. There's no right way to approach this where you're going to please everyone. Not that that's what we're trying to do because we come out with hot takes all the time. That's what I think you guys love about us is because we don't hide behind it.
Starting point is 00:02:19 Landmines left and right. We love stepping on them. So here's what I'll say. And Stephanie and I haven't really even talked about it much. We talked about it the day it happened. and it was really brief, here's the one fundamental thing that I think most of us can get behind it.
Starting point is 00:02:35 All should be able to get behind it. We should not be out there murdering people for their opinions, regardless of whether you agree with them or not. It's a fundamental thing. I think as part of a civilized society, when you don't agree with someone, you don't have the right to kill them.
Starting point is 00:02:54 And in the way that he was killed, I don't think anybody has not seen that video, whether you liked him or you hated him. I think most sane people would watch that video and say, that is horrific. So that's kind of where I'm at on it. I'm waiting for all the facts to come out. I see all these rumors about the shooter and what his life was like and his motives. And again, super politicized by both sides.
Starting point is 00:03:18 They both want to spin it here. So this is what we know so far. Charlie Kirk has been killed by an assassin, a someone, a coward from a roo. who didn't like what he had to say, so we decided to kill him. That's all I'm really willing to say at this point without knowing more, and that's why we haven't spoken about it other than the fact that we haven't recorded yet. Like I didn't do it on my social. Stephanie, I don't think you put it out on your social either.
Starting point is 00:03:43 No, I mean, in general, in life, in professional spaces, I try to stay away from politics because it's just, it's not. You can't win. Yeah, it's not like it used to be. And, I mean, in general, I think just morally, I don't think anybody should be murdered for any reason. We believe in law and order and we believe in a functioning justice system that, you know, protects victims and punishes offenders. Yeah, this is not a crazy idea that we probably, yes, do lean more on the law and order side of things because we are true crime people. But isn't that, am I wrong?
Starting point is 00:04:23 You have a better finger on the pulse of like true crime content. like isn't that like a general consensus like regardless of your political opinions I think most people would agree that we shouldn't be out there killing each other right it sounds crazy for me even say that I'm gonna I'm gonna be honest with you though the landscape right now I don't think there's a general consensus on anything and if anything showed me that it's the reaction of many people in the the days following that I was stunned well the pockets of people who are celebrating this person being is crazy to me.
Starting point is 00:04:58 I mean, again, I think the majority of you guys watching, whether you're a Republican or a Democrat, I think most people would agree that we shouldn't be out there celebrating this man's death. And if you don't agree with that, that's something internally you should probably look at because I don't think anybody should be sitting there saying or celebrating this person's death.
Starting point is 00:05:20 Yeah, I try to stay away from politics just in general, even in my own brain, I try to stay away from it. I don't think it's any secret that I don't trust many people. And I definitely don't trust any. Both sides. Yeah, I definitely don't trust any politicians. I definitely, I don't think that I think this is more of a us versus them as in us versus the people in power, not us versus each other. I'm always going to believe that.
Starting point is 00:05:48 And I come from a, I know history. You know, I'm very interested in history. History repeats itself. not just in America, but all over the world. Governments do terrible things to their people. And I'm not a person who's at any point going to not understand that the main body that's against the general public is its own government. And these are things that we have to be aware of. And we have to be aware of things when they happen and ask ourselves who benefits from this. I think we both agree that one thing about both sides of the aisle is they make a living on us being
Starting point is 00:06:23 divided. They do. They make a living and it benefits them and over no doubt a public that is a public that is coordinated, a public that is together, a public that is fighting the same enemy is much stronger and much more of a threat. And that's all I will say. Yeah, I agree. We all got to come together. I hope cooler heads prevail. I don't want to see any type of retaliation from this because it's not going to bring Charlie back. It's not going to bring anybody else back. And this isn't the first act of violence involving a political figure. It's happened on both sides. I think this one just really... Forever. Forever. Yeah. Yeah, I think this one really grabbed a lot of people because of the video.
Starting point is 00:07:00 That video is just horrendous. Nobody should have to see that. Nobody. No. And I've seen stuff like that. And we talked about it and I was like, oh, seen that before. And kids. Kids are seeing it all over TikTok, all over any social media, that they are, they are exposed to this. And we are becoming so desensitized to violence and death that, I don't know. It's crazy. It's really not a great direction that we're going in. Overall, we're going to keep an eye on it.
Starting point is 00:07:29 We're going to see what develops from this. We know that the person is in custody. We're going to see what comes of the investigation. It's federal authorities and local authorities working together to kind of piece this all together. And at the time when it's right, if everything's out there and there's an angle we can cover for a crime weekly news, we absolutely will. But we have to see because as of right now, we did put out a bowl.
Starting point is 00:07:50 or on on Twitter when they were looking for the suspect, we thought that was important to use our platform for that. But yeah, I mean, we're thinking of Charlie Kirk's family. Obviously, nobody should have to go through this. I hope that this is the last one we hear about for a while. The last thing I want is for someone to retaliate on behalf of Charlie Kirk and go after someone on the other side. That won't solve anything.
Starting point is 00:08:13 And that's all I'm hoping for. I think you said the word, unity, just a little bit of unity. I know we're never going to be fully on the same page with everyone. but there's got to be a common ground there where we can all agree at the foundational level. Like we're going to use our words, this is going to be a battle of ideas. We're not going to shut up our competitors or the person who's on the other side by killing them. That's not the way. It's not the way.
Starting point is 00:08:40 So that's all we have to say about it for now. Now for this actual episode and a little bit of house cleaning. And again, I won't make it long. there was a couple corrections I wanted to hit that were sent to me by you guys, and I believe it was from Christian's family. They shared it on Facebook or whatever, and you guys sent it to me through Instagram and also email. So the two corrections that they had were they wanted to say that the first correction
Starting point is 00:09:06 is that Christian was not dishonorably discharged. He received a general discharge that was restored to honorable status. The second is... Yeah, but after his death, and we did talk about that. After his death. Okay, we hit that the same. Second is the correction that he attended North Carolina State University for computer science, but he went to X-ray school while in Georgia before moving back to North Carolina.
Starting point is 00:09:30 The final thing that I wanted to point out is I kind of flipped the terminology a couple of times. It was a 22-calibre long rifle, not a handgun. 22-caliber long rifle that was used, not a handgun. Now for the comments directed towards me. Most of it I'm okay with. I thought it was a pretty civil discourse in there. I agreed that with you guys to not agree with me. I admitted that I had a bias as a father with two daughters.
Starting point is 00:09:58 But the only pushback I'll give is I do have a brother as well. And he's gone through some things with his, he's now divorced. He had a child custody dispute. And one thing I would tell him and one thing I would tell all of my friends and family, if you find yourself whether you're a man or a woman and you're in a child custody dispute because this happens every single day, make sure that you bring a law enforcement presence with you to go over to the house
Starting point is 00:10:23 or at minimum a family member or friend who can stay in the background, record, be a good witness, what have you. I strongly recommend you do not go to these places that other residences by yourself. So you mean have someone with you, document? Document, document, document. Number one thing, don't go alone
Starting point is 00:10:42 because something like this could happen, right? That's number one. And so although I do have a bias, if I were Christian's friend, I would have told him at the time, even as a father wanting to fight to see my child, I would have told him, one, call the police, two, let me come with you at minimum. If you don't want to call law enforcement, at least let me come with you to be a witness, to be there to support you, to be there to defend you if need be. That's the number one thing. Now, some people are saying where they're conflating the stories, I'm saying, hey, to me, it looks like it could be self-defense. and then there's some commenters who are saying, well, you're white and he was black.
Starting point is 00:11:19 I think you're conflating the two. I think it's two different issues. As a racial issue and as a self-defense issue, I'm not really going into the racial element of it because that would force me to go into the mind of Pat. And I don't know what his biases are. I don't know what he was thinking at the time of the shooting. That would be unprofessional for me to sit here
Starting point is 00:11:36 and speculate on what he was thinking at the time and what he thought about Christian's skin color. What I can see is the actual crime itself. speculated on that a bit during we did you talked about it yeah during the first episode we did speculate and we said yeah it could be an issue with his race it could be we just don't have evidence of that so we did we went as far as we could with that without making allegations that could come back and and get us in trouble the way you approached it was from pat's perspective which is the right perspective but when you're conflating the two of what derrick thinks with what
Starting point is 00:12:11 Pat was thinking at the time, that's where you lose me a little bit because I'm not coming from that perspective. I'm looking at the evidence that we have at the scene, ballistics, window, et cetera, and coming to my conclusion. And I'm going to listen to the next two parts. I know there's a civil case, is a criminal case. I'm open to it. I want to hear what comes out. I also still have questions about the whole air conditioner event. I talked about it last episode where I'm uncertain that that actually occurred, where did he actually push the AC in the window? or pull it out, I don't know. I'd like to hear from that impartial third party.
Starting point is 00:12:45 Amber. Who was apparently there. Amber, who was there. So I stand behind what I said so far. I love the discourse. I'm okay with the debate. We're not always going to agree. That's why I think everyone loves Crime Weekly is because it's a civil conversation.
Starting point is 00:12:58 We can talk about it and we may not agree by the end of it. I just would ask for a little bit more grace when it comes to my opinions as a father because even though that's the perspective I'm coming from, I'm also acknowledging that I am a father. myself. And if I was trying to get custody of my child, I would do everything in my power to make that happen. But I can tell you here, honestly, whether you choose to believe me or not, it's up to you. Based on my experience, I would not go over to that house alone. And I definitely wouldn't be banging on windows if that's what he did because now I'm giving them the opportunity to villainize
Starting point is 00:13:34 me at minimum. This is an extreme circumstance of what happened here. But at minimum, now they videotape me and I look like the crazy person. They have something to use against you in the correct custody battle of your child and it may put it worse. Yeah. So I still wouldn't do do that and so I stand behind what I said but all I do understand where you guys are coming from the the racial element of it. You're right. I'm white. I can't speak to that. So I'm approaching it as a police officer and the evidence that we have. Not what was in people's minds or hearts. A lot of what you hear on crime weekly is stream of consciousness coming from both of us. As we go through the story, we're looking at it. So when he says he stands by what he said already,
Starting point is 00:14:12 he does. He also reserves the right to change his opinion as we get deeper into the case. As I have. Yes. I mean, when have I not been open to it where I'm like, huh, okay, now I'm kind of seeing it. I have no skin in the game. I am going through the story with you. I don't hear about it beforehand. And the main reason I addressed it here tonight is because most of you were great, but then some people are like, oh, you don't understand your bias because you're admitting your bias, which creates this black, white issue. And I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, when I say bias, I'm talking about me as a father with two young daughters and protecting them if I was inside the home. That's different than the racial element that, you know, like I said, they're conflating
Starting point is 00:14:49 two different storylines here. And I'm only addressing one. So I just wanted to clarify there, although I'm sure 99% of you understood where I was coming from. All right. Well, let's dive into new information then. Let's do it. Okay. So in the hours and days following Christian Griggs' death, on October 12, 2013, detectives in Harnett County began trying to piece together what had happened on the Chisun Hall property. They uncovered multiple 911 calls placed just minutes before the shooting, but the details didn't quite align. For example, when Katie was on the phone with 911 in a closet just feet away from where the shooting was happening, the 911 dispatcher could not hear the shots and Katie didn't mention hearing them either. As investigators started processing the scene,
Starting point is 00:15:34 they found no bullet holes in the curtains, shutters, window frame, or glass. What they did find was broken glass inside the residence all the way to the back door. The window, frame, and screen were tested for fingerprints, but none belonging to Christian were found. They were also tested for blood, and again, none was present. In the living room, investigators recovered three shell casings clustered together behind a chair. However, despite a thorough search of the house and the yard, the other three spent casings were never found. That evening, the crime scene was turned back over to the Chisandhal's and friends from the church were allowed to clean up.
Starting point is 00:16:13 Three days later, on October 15th, detective sat down with Pat Chisandall again, trying to understand his account. Pat said he fired his rifle because he believed Christian was going to kill Katie and maybe kill him too. But as the interviews went on, his story stayed vague, with Pat claiming he couldn't remember anything. Finally, investigators asked him to walk them through the shooting step by step in a filmed reenactment at the Chisunhall home. And while this reenactment would become the most detailed version of events to date, it still left some people with more questions than answers.
Starting point is 00:16:49 So after meeting with the detectives at the station on October 15th, Pat agreed to film a reenactment of the shooting at the Chisandhall property. This is how he described what happened after he and Katie tried to get a restraining order. Pat and Katie pulled into the Chishol driveway. Katie went inside her parents' house while Pat stayed outside. At that point, Christian pulled into the driveway of Katie's home. Pat told him he needed to leave that they had a restraining order, even though that wasn't technically true. According to Pat, Christian became agitated, got out of the car, and told him, quote, I'll kick your fucking ass right here. End quote. Christian then pushed him on the shoulders.
Starting point is 00:17:30 So at that point, Pat turned towards his own house and saw Katie standing on the porch with a phone in her hand. He told her to go inside, lock the door, and call 911. Christian ran towards the porch, demanding Katie come out. He banged on the door and windows yelling and cursing. Pat said that the whole thing was truly, truly scary, truly terrifying. He claimed he tried not to engage with Christian, saying he had never seen rage like that before. Pat told detectives that while this was happening, he walked over to his driveway, which is on the left side of the house, if you're looking at it head on. From there, he could see the porch and Christian, who he thought might have been talking on the phone, though he wasn't sure.
Starting point is 00:18:12 Pat explained that he was already on the phone with 911 at this point. When the dispatcher asked if things were hostile, he answered yes. When asked if he could leave and get to safety, he said he didn't tell the dispatcher this, but he thought to himself, no, I can't leave Katie. because at this point, Pat's still outside the house and Katie's inside the house. Right. So we can't flee the residence and kind of get in his car and drive away because he's thinking my daughter is still inside. Yes. So he told detectives that he was terribly fearful for Katie's life as well as his own. And when detectives pressed him about where exactly Christian was during this sequence of events, Pat's answer was vague. He said Christian was all over the place, running around. Pat told detectives that the dispatcher asked if he could get to a safe place.
Starting point is 00:18:57 place. He said he thought he could get inside. At that point, he walked to the other side of the house, the right side. That's when he realized Christian had made it to the driveway where Pat had just been standing. Christian then started going through Katie's car. Pat thought this was his chance to get inside, so he walked up to the door. Christian saw him and started running towards the door as well. Pat told detectives that he thought Katie had let him into the house since she had locked it. But that morning, before the reenactment, Katie told him she hadn't let him in. He had used a key. She explained that she had been watching from a circular window on the far right side of the house,
Starting point is 00:19:36 and when she saw him coming, she ran toward the door. Christian came up behind Pat and tried to get inside. Pat admitted he hadn't remembered this next part either, but Katie told him that they both had to work together to get the door closed because Christian was on the other side pushing to get in. They managed to shut it, and Pat looked. locked it. Christian then started kicking the door. From there, Pat said his mind got fried. He couldn't remember everything that happened after that. It was all in fragments. What he did
Starting point is 00:20:06 recall was seeing a monstrous rage inside Christian that he had never seen before. Pat said from what he could remember, he and Katie were still standing near the door when all of a sudden the window next to it smashed in. And Katie went berserk with terror. Pat ran behind the couch, which was positioned parallel to the wall with the windows about 10 to 12 feet away. When Pat looked back, Christian was coming through the windows. So Pat ran to a nearby hall closet, grabbed his rifle, and went back behind the couch. But from there, he claimed he had no clue what happened. He didn't know how many shots he fired.
Starting point is 00:20:42 He thought there had been 10 rounds in the rifle, but he couldn't be sure. The only detail Pat remembered from the shooting itself was what happened immediately afterward. He said he went back to the closet and found Katie inside, and she was crying. I want to talk about this. I want to break this down. There's a lot to unpack here. Let's take our first break. We'll be right back.
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Starting point is 00:23:00 and talking about the forensics of the case, the ballistics, the witness testimony from Pat and Katie, what we do have. And some of you pushed back by saying, I don't believe them. I don't trust them. That is the right argument, credibility, right? Because I'm going off what they're telling us,
Starting point is 00:23:18 and if we start to question what they're saying, that's when you open the door for everything that we've talked about so far didn't happen or it didn't happen this way. And they're embellishing this story in order to justify what they did. And so that's the better argument to make because that's something I can't push back on. Your opinion of Pat and Katie and their credibility is your opinion. And you're justified in questioning what they're saying,
Starting point is 00:23:44 especially when they say they can't remember certain details or they have conflicting stories. Here's what I'll say about that. I talked about it last episode, being in a shooting myself. I don't know if I said it in the episode, but I know I've said it to Stephanie before. One thing that the state police asked me
Starting point is 00:24:01 after the shooting was how many times I fired my gun. And the truth is, I got it wrong. I said I fired two or three times. I actually had fired four times. I remember the night in question. I remember more now. But I'd be lying to if I told you that I remember every single vivid detail because there was a point where it was so traumatic.
Starting point is 00:24:23 Your brain does kind of block certain things out. There was another question they had asked me. They said, were the lights on or off? And I said, oh, definitely on. The lights in that living room were on when we went in there. They were off. The lights were off. It was actually a flashlight that one of my partners were holding.
Starting point is 00:24:37 But I was so focused on the knife. That's all I saw. I just saw the light, the knife being illuminated. That's what I remembered. So I could make an argument that they're telling the truth. But I'd also be doing a disservice to this case if I didn't acknowledge the fact that they could be lying and that they're embellishing their story in order to justify this homicide. And so that's where we are right now. And I think that's what this case ultimately will come down to when we get into the civil trial and the criminal case.
Starting point is 00:25:04 Who do you believe? Because Christian's not here to tell his side of the story. And if he was, I'm sure it would be much different. It always is. Even though both sides can't be telling the truth, everyone has their own perspective. So when you guys come at me and you say, hey, I don't believe them, that's a good angle of approach, especially when we talk about the judicial process and somebody potentially being charged with a crime. So what do you think about this series of events that Pat laid out during the reenactment? So here's my thing.
Starting point is 00:25:35 There's two sides to every story, right? And the truth is somewhere in the middle. Do I think that Christian showed up hot and heavy and was probably throwing some, you know, some swear words around and telling Pat, I'll kick your ass and all that. stuff probably he's upset he hasn't been able to see his daughter katy is not sticking to the agreement and although i understand where pat was coming from if his story's correct i also understand where christian's coming from if it were my daughter and i wasn't being allowed to see her i would move heaven and earth to make that happen i probably would have brought some other people with me to make sure everything stayed civil but coulda shoulda woulda we can't can't monday morning quarterback it now
Starting point is 00:26:14 So do I think there was some confrontation going on there? Absolutely. Are we hearing everything that Pat said back to Christian? Probably not. I don't think we're even necessarily hearing exactly what Christian said to him because a lot of this stuff is new in this version of the story. And a lot of these sort of movements are different than what Pat had originally told investigators. And I'm not even getting to the movements yet. I'm just talking about could Christian have showed up and said, hey,
Starting point is 00:26:44 listen, I'll kick your ass, but Pat probably said, why don't you try it, buddy? You know what I mean? Something stupid like that that guys do, right? Like just something dumb where it's two egos going head to head and there's probably a lot of back and forth. Do I think Pat was just sitting there kind of being submissive and not saying anything back?
Starting point is 00:27:00 Probably not. As far as the actual occurrences that he described, as far as running to the right side of the house and then walking inside the door and Katie letting him in when Katie's saying, hey, nope, he used a key. The key made more sense because we're to believe that Katie was in the closet. Well, she said she was watching from a circular window.
Starting point is 00:27:17 So here's specifically what I kind of want to highlight. So Pat's on the phone with 911. And they're like, hey, are things hostile? And he says, yes. And then the dispatcher said, can you get to safety? And he said he thought to himself, no, I can't leave Katie. So at this point, Katie's inside the house with the doors locked. And Pat told her to call 911.
Starting point is 00:27:38 Pat's also on the phone with 911. Police are on their way. he's saying, I can't leave Katie, but if this is a self-defense thing and you had the option at this point to not re-enter that house, would it be still considered self-defense if you went back into the house? Because at this point, police are on their way. The door's locked, right? So if Christian starts to try to get in there and break windows and do things like that, Pat from the outside could see that and then maybe do something. But he's actively putting himself back into that house. And the way he describes it is, He walked up to the front door, and then Christian saw him walking up to the front door and started chasing after him. And then Pat's like, oh, she let me in. And then Katie's like, no, you used a key. So Pat now has to pull out a key, unlock the door, get inside before Christian can reach him,
Starting point is 00:28:27 even though he's in the doorway. And then as soon as he gets inside, there's this dramatic thing where Pat and Katie are trying to shove the door closed because Christian made it to the door right as Pat got inside, even though he had to use a key, which would definitely take longer than just Katie letting him in, it really just seems kind of like, I guess, something you'd see on TV or in a movie, like this dramatic series of events where you walk to the front door to get in. You had to pull out a key and use it. And he's running to the door because he sees you're getting in. And then you just got in in time and you guys had to shove the door closed
Starting point is 00:28:59 because Christians behind it trying to push it open. What do you think of that? I first want to understand the argument that you're making because I was a little confused. Are you suggesting that instead of going inside, Pat should have gotten his car and left? I don't think he should have left, but the fact that you're outside the house, which means if, if, you know, this guy starts coming at you, you can get in your car and leave, knowing that police are on the way. And if Christian's running after Pat, then he's not obviously breaking into the house to get Katie.
Starting point is 00:29:30 And would it be self-defense if you put yourself back into that place right back into the house because your guns were in there? Did you want to go back in the house because you couldn't leave Katie or did you want to go back in the house because you knew your guns were in there? Well, it's his house. So he has a right to go in his house. But let me take a little different approach. To answer your question, I don't believe that he, that the self-defense claim is invalidated because he went back in the house. He decided to go back into his own home.
Starting point is 00:29:58 But here is an argument I would make for you and for everybody else who's with you on that. Why stay outside? when you show up and Christian's clearly upset, go inside with your daughter. Why are you putting yourself between Christian and Katie? Go inside, lock the door, call the police. Why are you staying outside? Well, if I remember correctly, when Pat had talked to the police before, he said they got there. And he said he had an idea that Christian had possibly been there.
Starting point is 00:30:26 And then he told Katie, go inside. And then Pat, well, wanted to go check on the air conditioner. Because remember, it was on the porch. He was like, let me go and check on the, and it had been moved, and that's when Christian pulled up. He should have went inside at that point. You know, he should have went to, I mean, I don't know how the timing of it. Maybe it was seconds, but I would have removed my, that would be retreating, in my opinion. That would say, hey, listen, I went inside my home where I have an expectation of privacy.
Starting point is 00:30:53 It's my right to be inside my home. I completely removed myself from the situation and went inside with my daughter. The fact that he was outside for any period of time with Christian where he kind of was in between, them. I don't necessarily agree with that. But whether it's justified legally or not, I can't sit here and be a hypocrite. If I were Pat and for some reason, I wasn't able to make it back inside, which I don't know how he wouldn't have been able to initially, if I know there's a guy outside yelling at my daughter inside my house, I'm not leaving in my car and leaving her there to offend for herself. That's, I'm not doing it. Sorry. If that makes me a bad guy not removing myself from the situation, so be it. but I'm not going to drive away and look out my rearview mirror and leave my daughter inside the house. Not happening. So, yes, I think there's somewhere in the middle there where he shouldn't have been outside alone with Christian at all. He should have just went inside and then there would have never been that need for that dramatic, you know, holding the door shut while Christian's trying to break his way inside.
Starting point is 00:31:52 Which I don't think happened. The timing of that is just so like. I think there's some embellishment there. Probably more was them shutting the door, maybe him booting it once. Like, you know, where's my kid? You know, something I don't think it was because Christian probably would overpay. powered him. You know, we probably would have been able to get inside with momentum. I mean, listen, I unlock a lock with a key every day. And it takes, you know, it's not quick. It's, it's,
Starting point is 00:32:12 it takes more time than just being able to run in and have your daughter standing there and open the door for you and then shut it. And Christian sees him. He's in the driveway. How long is it going to take for a Christian to run from the driveway to the door as Pat is pulling his key out, finding the right one, putting it in the key, turning it. And then just as you get the door open, you slam it and he's coming through it. It just seems a little... I think it would depend on a lot of circumstances where there are a lot of keys on his ring.
Starting point is 00:32:38 Did he find the key before he came to the front of the house? I mean, he doesn't even remember that he used the key, allegedly. That's the other thing. I mean, how far was Christian away? Did Christian know him immediately? Or was he looking in the car? And then as he looked up, Pat was putting the key in the door already. There's a lot of variables.
Starting point is 00:32:53 This is the problem, right? Without video footage, it's two sides of the story, but one side were not being told because that person's no longer with us, which makes this case extremely difficult. Yes. So if there was another side to the story, we wouldn't be covering it. I mean, I just find it weird that Pat, once he says he gets inside and then that's when
Starting point is 00:33:12 he starts not remembering what happened. But the fact that he couldn't remember whether Katie had let him in or he remembered that Katie had let him in, but he'd actually pulled out a key and used it to let himself in the house is odd, I think. How do you not remember that part? I agree. I gave a couple examples of not knowing how many rounds were. fired or the lights being on, I'd like to think that if I had to unlock a door, I would have
Starting point is 00:33:35 remembered. You would have remembered that, yeah. Even in that traumatic of a situation. Well, he says his brain was fried when they got the door shut, right? And then Christian started banging on it and kicking it. But his brain wasn't fried before that. And he used the key allegedly before that, according to Katie. So just a strange sort of set of circumstances.
Starting point is 00:33:55 But also, detectives still wanted to clear some things up. So they asked Pat some clarifying questions. They wanted to know where Christian had been during the shooting. Pat said the only thing he could remember was Christian's position at the first shot. His upper body was coming through the window. Pat reiterated over and over that he didn't remember anything beyond that. He said he thought the first shot was fired from behind the couch, but even that he wasn't certain about. He also admitted he didn't know how or when Katie ended up in the closet.
Starting point is 00:34:26 And with that, the reenactment ended. Detectives left and Pat was allowed to continue living life as usual. But then two days later, he was involuntarily committed for psychiatric treatment. And the following day, he was admitted to Holly Hill Hospital. According to his attorney, Pat was treated for PTSD, anxiety, and depression, but not amnesia. He was discharged about a week later, once doctor said he had stabilized, though he would continue needing treatment for his sleep. symptoms. On October 19th, Christian's funeral was held. No one from Katie's side of the family attended, not even Christian's beloved daughter, Jaden. For the Griggs, that absence only deepened
Starting point is 00:35:08 the immense loss they were facing, and to make matters worse, they wouldn't be allowed to see Jaden again. In the months that followed, detectives continued their investigation, looking deeper into Christian's life and his relationship with Katie and the Chisholns. They quickly learned that while Katie and Christian had a tumultuous relationship, it seemed that Christian and Pat had always gotten along. In fact, Christian seemed to look to Pat as a spiritual advisor and a respected authority figure. Detectives also learned that Christian didn't have a criminal history. However, he did have a history of police involvement spanning multiple years. Let's start back on December 4th, 2007, when he and Katie were still in their senior year of high school, just before Katie found out that she was
Starting point is 00:35:51 pregnant. On that day, Tony called 911 to report that Christian had attacked him. When officers arrived, Christian was in a bedroom of the house. All we know about what happened next is that Tony refused rescue and an assault report was filed. A little over a year later on December 15, 2008, the night Christian dropped out of college to move home and be with Katie and the baby, another 911 call was made after Christian and Tony got into an argument. Dolly later said, quote, they were really just in each other's faces and neither one would back away. It was pretty scary, end quote.
Starting point is 00:36:28 So Tony told Christian to leave, but he refused. So Tony picked up the phone and dialed 911, but he hung up before speaking to anyone. He then tried to de-escalate the situation himself, but it didn't work. As things got more heated, Christian's younger sister, Crystal, who was about 14 at the time, called 911 herself. She told the dispatcher that Christian was having a mental breakdown that he was angry and breaking stuff in the house. Records also suggest Dolly called as well, reporting that she, Tony, and Crystal had Christian held down. When police arrived, the situation only escalated.
Starting point is 00:37:03 A taser was used and Christian was arrested for resisting an officer. He spent that night in a holding cell. Yes, and we're actually looking at the reports right now. I can't find the police narrative. I'm just seeing what they call the face sheets. It says taser used. That was all I could say. Yeah, taser used.
Starting point is 00:37:19 It does say taser used, but usually there's like a police narrative. I would love to be able to read that to get more of an understanding of what's going on here. But just off these two reports, and these are from his own family, I don't think I'm going out on a limb here by saying there's some anger issues there, at minimum. I don't know about all the psychological aspects of it. I'm not going to even speculate on that. That's not my area of expertise. But I think most people would look at this and see these reports coming from. from his family members and how they were afraid of him, I think at minimum, you can deduce
Starting point is 00:37:52 that Christian clearly had a temper. I don't think there's any disputing that. Maybe a little bit of self-control issues. Yes, unable to regulate, you know, emotions and things like that. And obviously, even once law enforcement arrived, he still didn't. Yeah, he still didn't come down. That's a problem. To the point where a taser had to be used. That's a lot. Now, we could get into a lot deeper where, A lot of you guys have said in the comments, even you, Stephanie, acknowledge it that there's a racial undertone in this area of the country and is that part of it. But take that out of it for a second as far as the taser being used. Again, go back to the foundation of this.
Starting point is 00:38:31 Christian's family called the police on him. I was just going to say that if there was a huge issue with law enforcement and Christian's family was aware of it, would they have called the police on their son? Only if they really felt they needed them. And that just tells you that they were in fear. And that wasn't only Tony. It wasn't only Dolly. It was his sister. Yeah, they didn't know what was going on with him.
Starting point is 00:38:52 They were scared. They were scared. There's no doubt about it. I don't want to look into it more than that. But when we're talking about what we're talking about here in this case and trying to understand who Christian was and if he was capable of some of the things that Pat's alleging, I think a case could be made when looking at these reports that when Pat says that Christian was argumentative and hostile and scary. you're seeing the same descriptions from his own family.
Starting point is 00:39:19 And at least one of these incidents occurred while he was in high school. So that's before he went overseas and saw what he did, which would mess anybody up. So this is something that you have to consider when you're trying to take Pat's statement and verify its validity. And so Christian spends the night in a holding cell. In the morning, Katie and her parents picked Christian up from jail. And on the ride home, he told Katie what? it happened. That's when the Chisenhals decided he could come live with them. From that point forward, Christian left his parents home and moved in with the Chisnhawls. He stayed in a separate
Starting point is 00:39:55 bedroom from Katie and the baby since they weren't married. The charge against Christian for resisting an officer was later dropped. Afterward, Christian joined the army and was eventually deployed to Iraq. By the spring of 2012, he and Katie were living together in Harlem, Georgia. Then, just after midnight, on May 19th, 2012, less than a year after he came home from his deployment, Katie called 911 to say Christian had locked himself in a bedroom with a gun. She told dispatch that she thought he was going to take his own life. Two officers arrived, and one of them later wrote in a report, quote, I met Katie at the door and had her step outside. PSO Williams and I knocked on the bedroom door after announcing ourselves. Christian came out of the room and initially appeared agitated, but he appeared to calm after we'd be began talking. Investigation revealed Christian had opened his gun safe and the weapon was partially out of the safe. Griggs stated he had the weapon out to scare his wife and had no other intention to use it in any other manner. After speaking with Christian, he expressed he had been depressed after coming back from overseas and was battling an addiction problem as well as separation from
Starting point is 00:41:06 his wife. The weapon, a Ruger 9mm silver black, was taken into custody for safekeeping. Katie, with their three-year-old daughter, decided to go stay somewhere else for the evening. Christian remained calm during the incident. No further action was taken at this time, end quote. Okay, so this is, you know, opening a whole bunch of new things that we do need to discuss. And we're going to go to a quick break. We'll be right back. Fall is in full swing, and it's the perfect time to refresh your wardrobe with pieces that feel as good as they look.
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Starting point is 00:43:35 That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.com slash crime weekly to get free shipping and $3. 365-day returns. One more time, that's quince.com slash crime weekly. Okay, we're back. So what stands out the most to me about this report is that Christian allegedly admitted to the police, I took the gun out to scare my wife. Now, was that to scare her as in I wanted to scare her as in I was going to kill myself or I wanted to scare her to think that I would hurt her with this gun.
Starting point is 00:44:13 I don't know. But, I mean, he admitted to it, according to the police report. And this is prior to the whole incident that we're discussing. So there's no reason to believe that Katie's making this story up because she knows what's going to happen down the road. Well, the police came and talked to him. And yeah, so he confirms it himself in that police report. My interpretation of what you said or the way you told us the story was that he was saying, oh, I wanted to scare her as if I was going to shoot myself.
Starting point is 00:44:40 But either way, as a gun owner myself, you have to be responsible with your weapons and you never use them in any type of way to threaten or scare someone else. That's not their intended purpose. I think actually it's incredibly manipulative to ever tell somebody that cares about you that you are going to take your own life in order to get a reaction. I cannot stand it. Now, if he was really going through something where he was considering it, that's different. And he may have been and may not have wanted to admit that to the police.
Starting point is 00:45:11 I don't know. That's also true. My takeaway so far, and I was not aware of these reports. I don't go ahead. I was not aware of these reports. I was basing it solely off the evidence at the crime scene. I thought there was some reason to believe that Pat was justified in what he did, although I know some of you don't agree with me.
Starting point is 00:45:29 I will say that when we're trying to verify what happened that day and the accounts of what we do have based on Pat and Katie's testimony, although some of the details aren't right, having all this, you know, this historical data that would support someone who would be confrontational, would be violent, would be hostile, would kick a door in, or would kick a window in, I would say that you're starting to see that here, where it's absolutely possible. Or you could argue that Christian was upset and wanted to see his daughter and Katie and her father, Pat, knowing about his past histories and being aware, of these police reports because, as we said, they picked him up from the police station. He told them what happened. They may have said, oh, well, there's documented evidence that he does
Starting point is 00:46:16 have an anger problem or he does have a tendency to, you know, go off. And so we can use that to our benefit. Well, here's the problem with that. They didn't drive Christian over to the house. No, I know. He came on his own, and they didn't want him there. So we already know that part of the story is Christian going to the house on his own when probably his family was telling him not to do that, but he refused and went over there anyways. So we know there's at least some truth to the fact that Christian was going there to do whatever he was going to do, whether that was get his kid back or just confront Katie. Here's what I'll say. And there are a lot of comments about this as well. There's a difference between action and intention, right? There's also a
Starting point is 00:46:59 difference between reason and action, right? The reason can be justified. I can sit here. hear and say, I understand where Christians coming from. They're keeping him from seeing his daughter. That shouldn't happen. And we know that there's a lot of times where you have these custody disputes and one party will manipulate whatever they can to make the other person look like the bad guy in order for them not to be able to see their children. And it's wrong. In every way, shape, or form, I don't condone it. However, going over to the house, even if I feel personally that Christian's reason is justified, and I can understand that. His actions are not.
Starting point is 00:47:36 He went over to the house initially the day before because that was when he was supposed to take Jaden. And he was blocked from doing that. So he went back the next day to try again. The reason's there. But the execution of it, right? Like I understand as a human, you want to go in, kick down doors. You want to do whatever you want to do because you want to see your child. But we all know how that's going to work out.
Starting point is 00:48:00 This worked out the worst way possible. But at minimum, let's say he kicked in the window. Or he kicked in the door, allegedly. Let's say he did that. Let's say it didn't result in someone being killed. If the police show up and that window was pushed in or that door was kicked in, at minimum, Christians getting arrested. Not going to work out well for him in a child custody dispute. So again, it goes back to what I said, and I'm going to say it seven more times this episode.
Starting point is 00:48:25 The reason can be justified. The intention can be good. But the action and the execution can be poorly done and can result in you look. like the bad guy. Even if it's a reactive sort of thing. Even if it's reactive, going over there, putting yourself in that predicament, even if the reason is warranted, if it's justified, right, on a personal level, it's not going to end well.
Starting point is 00:48:49 And I do think, coupled with the other things we've learned about Christian, he's not thinking that way. He's thinking, I'm going to go over there and I'm going to see my daughter and nobody's going to stop me. Okay, well, this incident that we just talked about, that happened in May of 2012. And not long after that, Katie and Jaden moved back in with Katie's parents in Angier. And she and Christian stayed in contact. And around a month later, when officers went to Christian's home in Harlem to return his gun, they found Katie there.
Starting point is 00:49:20 Christian wasn't home at the time, so he went to the station later to pick it up. While he was there, he told officers that he'd been in counseling since the May 19th incident. He said everything has gotten better and assured them that something like that would not have. happen again. Then, on July 30th, Christian's military career came to an abrupt end. He was demoted two ranks to specialists and discharged. Christian appealed to the Army Review Board, but they didn't make their decision until after he was killed. In the end, as we talked about, the board upheld the discharge, but ruled that the demotion was too harsh, given everything Christian had accomplished in the Army, and then they upgraded his discharge to honorable. A few months later, on September 24th,
Starting point is 00:50:02 2012, Katie again called the police, this time to report that Christian was threatening suicide inside the Harlem home. One of the responding officers later wrote in his report, quote, P.S.O. Wallace and I responded to the listed location in reference to a suicide threat. Upon arrival, both officers made contact with Christian. Both officers advised Christian. We received a call from Katie stating he wanted to kill himself. Christian stated he had not spoken to his wife in several hours and stated he had been asleep on the couch prior to our arrival. Christian stated he was okay, but stated he and his wife were separated at this time, and Christian stated the separation was a little hard on him. Christian appeared to be okay at the time we made contact with him, and Christian did not make any statements in reference to harming himself. Christian was advised of some remedies if he needed to talk to anyone about these matters. Both officers advised Christian to contact HDPS if he had any further issues. No further action was required at this time end quote so this is interesting because in the last call during may of
Starting point is 00:51:06 2012 Christian talked to the police and said yeah I did I took the gun out the only reason I did that was to scare my wife but now he's saying I haven't even talked to her I don't know what she's talking about I've been asleep yeah it's been hard the separation's been hard but I have not made these threats and I haven't even talked to her so at that point do we have to wonder if this is sort of Katie, knowing that they're separated, knowing that there's going to be a custody thing, trying to make a paper trail that makes Christian look unstable mentally. And Christian is now, because the last time he admitted to it, yeah, I took the gun, I was trying to scare her.
Starting point is 00:51:43 But now he's saying, no, I didn't even talk to her. I don't know what she's talking about. I'm glad we're doing this. This is great. I could also say that he's just saying, I didn't say it because it's her word against his. And he already has one report of this on his record. He's having a tough time with the military. and it wouldn't do him any service to say, yeah, I did say that.
Starting point is 00:52:04 I probably would lie, too, and say I didn't say it. Who's going to prove it otherwise? So it depends on who you want to believe. It really does. All right. Well, the next day, September 25th, Katie called 911 from her parents' home in Angier. She told the dispatcher that Christian was refusing to leave and that they were arguing over custody of their daughter. The dispatcher noted that she said no one was in immediate danger.
Starting point is 00:52:25 Deputies from the Harnack County Sheriff's Office responded to the scene, but no report was written. Then, according to Pat, sometime in early to mid-2013, Christian showed up at the house and became hostile and irate when Katie wouldn't let him inside. Pat said Christian then went into the nearby woods. Pat followed him and found Christian sitting against a tree with photos of Katie and Jaden spread out on the ground next to a gun. Pat said, quote, and he was extremely despondent, depressed. And I asked him, was he suicidal? And he said yes. And talking about taking them and himself together. And it was very alarming. It was very upsetting to me, end quote. So based on that, now with the previous conversation we just had, you have incidents before,
Starting point is 00:53:10 incidents after. So is it reasonable to believe that the middle incident that we talked about was probably there's some truth there? The one with where he said, I just took the gun out to. No, no. That's the one where he admitted to it. But then we had the conversation where Katie said he was going to harm himself. He's like, I didn't say that. But now we have a physical interaction here where Pat saying not only did- With the physical interaction told to us by Pat. But this is before the shooting ever happened. This isn't after the fact. Well, no. There was no report of this. This is just Pat saying, so September 25th, Katie called 911. And then the deputies did show up. No report was written, but we know deputies showed up. We know that call was made. Then according to Pat,
Starting point is 00:53:52 sometime in early to mid-2013, Christian showed up at the house and became hostile. But this is him telling us that after he's shot him. So he's saying it in hindsight. Like, I remember after. This story was never told beforehand. Right. Well, at least not to any. Law enforcement.
Starting point is 00:54:13 Yeah, I mean, I get it. I get it. You have to question everything. That's what I would do. And I'm the devil's advocate guy. So I'm not going to push back on anybody. who's taken the other side here, I find that there's some credibility in this historical data that we have here. I think it's a combination of Christian as a child and some of the temper control
Starting point is 00:54:34 issues that he had, couple that with what he experienced overseas. I feel like you have somebody who was really struggling mentally here. That's my opinion. I definitely agree that he was struggling mentally, and I think that even he acknowledged that multiple times. Agreed. Nothing wrong with that, by the way. However, the only issue I have, and I have no issue with the police reports, anything documented. all for it. I believe it 100%. But I do have an issue with believing any hearsay from the person who has the most to lose if the killing is ruled as not self-defense. Right. So anytime you're the person holding the gun, you're the person that took this person's life. And now all of a sudden you remember all these stories about them that happened. I am going to always question that.
Starting point is 00:55:16 Well, that's why that's the job of law. That's our job, right? Like my job at that point is when you tell me those stories is to try and verify them as much as I can from independent parties. And how could you with a story like this? Well, I mean, listen, I'm assuming this is a pretty crazy story. I would assume that Pat told a bunch of people this. I would assume that Katie told a bunch of people this. I would assume that this was something that was well known by multiple people. I mean, the guy was sitting out in the woods allegedly.
Starting point is 00:55:43 Okay, so what if he hadn't? What if he hadn't told multiple people? Well, then you can't verify it. It's something that you write down, you document, but it doesn't. hold as much weight. You said it was a crazy story. You'd assume he would tell multiple people. What if he didn't, then would you believe that story less? I definitely think it hurts the story. Yeah, absolutely. I would imagine that there would be other people who would be aware of this occurrence, possibly even like Tony and Dolly. I don't know what type of communication they had
Starting point is 00:56:09 with Christian's family at that time, considering, you know, Christian was kind of back and forth between the families. But if they all want to help Christian, which I believe at the core they did, this would have been a discussion where Pat would have left this incident and said, Christian really needs some help. He's going to hurt himself or he's going to hurt Katie and Jaden as well. Exactly. So I think you just heard this guy who's sitting in the woods next to a gun with pictures of your daughter and your granddaughter. And he said, I want to take myself out and I want to take them with me.
Starting point is 00:56:38 You think that would at least, you know, elicit a call to the police just to have it on record. Or you would tell a friend or somebody like that, right? You would tell somebody just in case, you know, if anything ever happens, this is what happened. But Pat said he convinced Christian to hand over the gun, but Christian refused to seek psychiatric counseling. Pat never called the police. The only person he told about the incident was his wife. Which I can understand. I can see that.
Starting point is 00:57:04 Did his wife ever confirm this story? I mean, it doesn't really matter if she confirmed or not. She's his wife. So it's not a super reliable source. Well, that's where we get into, right? I'm just saying if this was a real story, this is. is a very real threat to your daughter and your granddaughter. And you already kind of think, hey, this guy's a little, you know, unstable. He's going through some stuff. Yeah. And he said,
Starting point is 00:57:29 you know, Pat said it was alarming. It was upsetting to me. But you didn't tell anyone but your wife, which is convenient because, of course, his wife's always going to back him up. That's all I'm saying. I'm not saying that Christian wasn't in a bad place. I'm not saying that he didn't threaten to take his own life, but adding another layer of now he's threatening to take Katie's life and his daughter's life. I think it's another step that I would need more evidence besides the person who killed him to say that. I would agree with that. You definitely want more, but unfortunately, sometimes that's not what you have. And then you have to look at what he said and look at what the wife is saying. And you just have to document it. I get what you're saying.
Starting point is 00:58:08 There's motive there to lie. But you could also say that this is part of the reason Pat decided to pull the trigger. If this did actually happen, knowing all of this, when he says I thought he was going to kill me and Katie, if this did actually happen where Christian made comments like this to him, that would be justification to believe that Christian was going to hurt them or kill them if he was able to get inside. I agree.
Starting point is 00:58:32 I think all of these incidents of the police having to be called and guns being involved would make someone like Pat feel, you know, if I don't escalate, then they will. Also, though, with my reservation of you never called the police, even though that's a pretty viable, scary threat. And two, you never told anyone but your wife. And three, despite all of this happening, Pat later allowed Christian to move back in with Katie and Jaden. Did you consider it a viable threat? Were you really alarmed? Were you really upset because you didn't stop this person that you're painting as a mentally unstable person who's threatening to kill your daughter and your granddaughter. You didn't stop him from rejoining
Starting point is 00:59:16 them in the same residence. Yeah, no, I'm with you there. He wouldn't be back in my house. That's for sure. I also. Right. I know he. I know he wouldn't with you. No. I also, what's interesting is that people believe Pat really hated Christian and that this was something that was boiling over and he was looking for an opportunity. I would say there's no evidence of that. Yeah. But, but, But people saying, like, maybe because of the color of his skin, that he didn't like him. From what you've relayed out to us tonight, it seems like Pat and Christian were pretty close at one point. And Pat gave him multiple chances to live under his roof. So it doesn't sound like a guy who hated Christian and was looking for an opportunity to separate him from his daughter.
Starting point is 00:59:54 But also doesn't sound like a guy that genuinely thought Christian would hurt his daughter or his granddaughter. That's fair. That's fair. I think if he let him back into the home, either Pat's dumb or he felt like, hey, Christian's going through a bad time. he's dealing with some things. We're going to get through this. He let him back in the home. And then a few weeks later, after Christian asked for his gun back, Pat returned it to him.
Starting point is 01:00:13 Yeah. Yeah. And around that same time, Pat also baptized Christian in his backyard pool. So maybe you're right. Maybe it's just somebody who's like, you know, I'm going to help this kid out. We're going to get him through this. I'm an arm of God. I'm, you know, I think everybody's redeemable.
Starting point is 01:00:27 Everybody has good in them. You just got to bring it out, et cetera, et cetera. I'd also wonder if there's some accounts from outside parties that could maybe confirm that Pat was in position of Christian's gun for a period of time. That wouldn't give us the whole story, but it would verify at least one part of it that there was something that occurred where for some reason Pat was holding on to Christian's gun. The witness may not know why, but that would at least give some more credibility to this story, even though we wouldn't have all the details. Again, that's not our job, Stephanie. That's the police department's job. They're the ones that are supposed to be verifying that information.
Starting point is 01:01:02 But hearing that story and hearing that Pat held on to his gun for a little bit before giving it back to him, that would be something I would try to verify. I think that I think I can speak for both yourself and me and we both have daughters. If my daughter's boyfriend ever said that, ever, especially after the series of events that had led up to it, not only would he not be living anywhere near my daughter on my property, but if I had his gun, he would never be getting it back. You're going to have to go to the police. You're going to have to go to court.
Starting point is 01:01:35 You've got to do what you do. He'd be selling that gun. Yeah, it's gone. I don't know where it is. I lost it. I don't know where it is. That gun would be, I'd say, hey, listen, you can come back, but no more guns.
Starting point is 01:01:44 You've got to sell the guns. Or you've got to keep them at your parents' house. Simple. They wouldn't be under my roof. Absolutely not. I completely agree. All right. Let's take a quick break.
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Starting point is 01:03:39 All right. We're back. So Christian's parents, they later said they never knew about these suicidal threats. Neither Christian nor the Chisholns has ever told them about it. Dali said, quote, no one mentioned it to us. When Christian came home, he didn't show any. signs he had any issues like that. I know that the biggest thing he said to us was that he wanted to be there for his daughter and that was always first and foremost that was on his mind, end quote.
Starting point is 01:04:04 The next 911 call was on October 11th, 2013, the day before Christian was killed. This is the call involving the air conditioner. Like we covered in part two, there was three different accounts of what happened with that AC unit and none of them matched. It's unclear which, if any, are accurate. What we do know is that when Christian got to his parents' house later that evening, he didn't seem especially upset. Certainly not like someone who had just ripped an air conditioner out of a window. I personally don't find that to be any sort of evidence that he did not do that. My evidence, yeah, it's like, yeah, but you had to drive home to calm down. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:04:39 Right. Everybody does that, not just Christian. I mean, they're one person to a certain individual. And then when it comes around their family and friends and parents, they're the best thing. Or, I mean, just in general, it's like I was rage. full when I ripped the air conditioning unit out of the window and now I feel better. It's like it's, but I would, I consider Amber, who was Katie's friend. I consider her testimony of it a lot more important where she was like, yeah, I was there. He was like at the window and things,
Starting point is 01:05:07 but I never saw him remove that AC unit or push it in or pull it out. That's more of an important kind of testimony to me. I agree. What does she is? She has no skin in the game. Yes. Well, actually, you'd think she'd have more skin to defend Katie being her friend. Most people, I'd like to think that regardless friend or foe, they're not going to lie to police because if you do, now you're in a, now you're in a storm as well. At that point, Christian's dead and, you know, it's like, holy shit, I'm not trying to. Exactly. I don't want to get in the middle of this.
Starting point is 01:05:36 I'm not lying for nobody. I don't want to be in this. I'm just going to say what I know and I'm going to fade to black. I don't want to have anything to do with this. Yep. So after learning about all these 911 calls, the investigation into Christian's death continued. Detective stayed tight-lipped about what they were finding, repeatedly telling the public they still weren't sure whether they were going to press charges against Pat Chisholnall. Then at the start of January 2014, Christian's autopsy report was released to his parents.
Starting point is 01:06:01 That's when they learned for the first time that Christian was struck once in the top of his left shoulder with the bullet traveling on a downward path. That wound was not fatal. Another shot entered his abdomen, just above the navel, moving from left to right and slightly downward. that shot also was not fatal. The remaining four bullets all entered his back and those were the fatal wounds. They came in pairs, hitting his lower to midback and traveling upward. Two fragments lodged in his spinal column, leaving him paralyzed. The pattern of injuries indicated that Christian was either face down or bent forward from the earlier shots when he was struck in the back. This left Christian's parents wondering how Pat's story of shooting their son through the window could be true. A few weeks after the autopsy results were available, a detective with the Harnett County Sheriff's Department came to the Griggs's home to tell them that the homicide investigation was officially being closed with no charges filed. According to the Griggs, this detective said that Pat was an upstanding member of the community and not someone they believed was capable of murder. He also pointed out that Christian had been on Pat's property and said the case fell under the Castle Doctrine, a law that allows homeowners to use deadly force if they believe someone is breaking in. their home and poses a threat. But here's the thing. The castle doctrine doesn't mean a homeowner
Starting point is 01:07:21 can fire no matter what. The threat has to be immediate and ongoing. If the danger stops or retreats, the protection no longer applies. And that was especially important in Christian's case because he had been shot in the back. When the Griggs asked about how self-defense could explain those four shots, they were told Christian may have been turning inside the window when Pat fired continual rapid shots from his semi-automatic rifle. Detectives also mentioned that they did not believe Katie pulled the trigger despite her history with Christian. The Griggs asked if gunshot residue testing had been done on Katie and Pat,
Starting point is 01:07:59 and they were told that no testing had been done. Yeah, so assuming it was Pat that fired the rounds, because GSR should have been done, it wasn't. But assuming it was Pat that fired the rounds, I believe it was episode one where I said this, maybe episode two. It's all a blur at this point. This is the key to the case right here, right? I think it's very easy if you take everything at face value to justify the first two shots.
Starting point is 01:08:24 Christian's breaking into the window. He's leaning inside the window. You fire two shots. That's it, right? It's those four shots in the back, right? There is a possibility that as this all happened in a matter of seconds, I just said to you guys a little while ago, I didn't remember how many shots I fired. I just fired until this threat was over.
Starting point is 01:08:43 or at least I perceived that the threat was over, right? In Pat's opinion, from his perspective, Christian's still being in the window, even though he was turning, he may have felt that Christian was still a threat, was just trying to use his back to maybe break through the window. I'm not even going to attempt to explain what Pat was thinking. However, the other side to this,
Starting point is 01:09:02 which you just explained through the castle doctrine, is that if Christian realized he had been hit and said, oh, man, I just got shot, I'm out of here, and decided to retreat, get away from the window because he knew he was injured and Pat continued to fire, that is not justified. That now goes from self-defense to murder. And the same thing could be applied to Rhode Island. If someone breaks into my home and I shoot them to protect my family and at that moment, whether I hit the person or not, they decide, wow, I chose the wrong house and they start
Starting point is 01:09:38 running out of the house and I go down the stairs and I shoot them in the back, guess what? Even though they're inside my home, that is now first degree murder or at least second degree murder. These four shots, this is the lynchpin of this whole case. So let me ask you something because Christian was not found in the window. He was found on the porch. Of course. Yeah, he wouldn't have.
Starting point is 01:09:58 So if those four bullets that all entered his back and were fatal, as we know, two fragments lodged in his spinal column, leaving him parallel. So if he was in the window, turning in the window when those shots were fired, how would he have been able to get back out onto the porch? Well, when you look at the picture, we can put it up right here. The window is on the porch. So he would have slumped right down right there in front of the porch. But there was no blood on the window from him.
Starting point is 01:10:27 It wouldn't necessarily be blood. There wouldn't necessarily be blood, especially the way it enters and where it enters, does it hit an artery? Does it hit something that has a lot of blood in it at that moment? I mean, there was no blood on the porch whatsoever after the shooting. It was no blood on the window, window frame, window, the window itself. Yeah, that's something where... If he's in the window and he's being shot six times.
Starting point is 01:10:48 So, well, he's, he's outside the window, right? Like, he's not inside the window. He's on the window. He's pushing it in allegedly. No, he said his whole upper body was in the window. In the window frame. Like, not in the glass. So what I'm saying is the bullets are traveling through the window towards Christian.
Starting point is 01:11:04 And he's inside the window frame. It doesn't mean there's going to be an explosion. of blood when he's hit. That's what I'm trying to say here. He broke through the window. Correct. And then his upper body was through, yes, through the window frame. So like his portion of his body would have been inside the house.
Starting point is 01:11:21 Correct. See, I think our interpretation of inside the house is different, which could be the disconnect here. I'm assuming that like I don't think his head and shoulders were inside the window. Well, let's go down that road for a second, okay? If he is inside the window, head and shoulders, right? and then the window kind of like it goes inward it doesn't open upward so it like kind of folds inward if his head and shoulders are inside the window that explains the first two shots okay shoulder
Starting point is 01:11:47 and the abdomen area however this would go against pat by the way if his head and shoulders are inside the window and you can clearly see christian making eye contact with pat from inside the house then he knows what he's shooting at at that point and to be shot in the back you're not going to twist around inside the window you would back out of the window and retreat and so at that point in defense of anybody who says this is not justified i would agree with you there if christian backs out of the window turns around and then proceeds to go off the porch but before doing so pat fires four more rounds then that's a problem for pat the other angle which i was saying is he's in the window he's trying to break it out his body is inside the window he's not necessarily
Starting point is 01:12:34 through yet. So as Pat is shooting, and there does appear to be some type of blinds there as well, he might not have a full picture of what he's shooting at. And when he shot Christian in the shoulder and in the abdomen, he wasn't even sure of that. So he continued shooting until the figure that was inside the window was no longer inside the window, which would have been when Christian slumped down onto the porch. Yeah, I'm going to try to clarify this. And there's a few people. I mean, we can even ask Christian's family, but I want to try to clarify this, the body positioning of Christian. But the only one who would know would be Pat. But Pat, as far as I know, did say that he thought that the, that Christian's upper body was through the window already. So if that's the
Starting point is 01:13:19 case. The phrase is through the window. What does that mean? Through the window. So if that's the case, the way I see it is you would have gotten shot. And then if you got shot in the back, because they said he was turning in the window. If you got shot in the back, you're paralyzed. That's where you would have remained. You wouldn't have been able to, you sort of would have been folded over, half of you outside, half of you inside. So we do have to clarify that. We do. Because I definitely weighing down in the comments below as well, like I'm not seeing him so far in the window that when he shot in the back, he would fall backwards and laying on the window as it's like ajar. I see it more of his arm, his chest, maybe in the window frame, through the window.
Starting point is 01:14:02 And then as he's spinning around in the window, as he's being shot at, he falls forward, right? He falls forward because his momentum is taking him away from the window as he's shot in the back. Which, by the way, still doesn't paint a good picture for Pat. Because if you really want to go with this not being a justified self-defense, I think it's better for that angle that Christian was on the porch and not in the window. Because if he was found laying on the window, then that means as Pat was shooting him, he was still technically inside the home. You know, as we're going back and forth on this and we're debating what position Christian
Starting point is 01:14:40 was in when he was shot during, you know, each individual shot, you know what would have really helped with this? Using the kaleidoscope system, which is a laser system, or using trajectory rods, right? Recreating the scene, using a mannequin. You mean doing police work? you know that little investigatory thing where you kind of whip out the old tools and you actually do a little detective work because what you could do put a mannequin in that window have pat tell you how christian was positioned i can't remember remember his mind was fried at that point well regardless you you based on how christian's injuries are right the angles in which they go into his body you recreate that scene where you lay christian on the window you lay the mannequin on the window and you you trace each round and you see what angle christian would have had to be at in order for those rounds to enter his body at those angles, right? And then that would have kind of put it to rest because we wouldn't be going off Pat's story.
Starting point is 01:15:34 We'd be going off the science. So trajectory rods, little glow sticks, right? You put them in the wound on the entry side. You put them out the exit side of the wound. And you can determine the angle in which the individual was shot and where most likely they were shot from. The fact that we don't have that is not the way this should have been done because we're going off Pat's story. And I will tell you this. This might surprise you, Stephanie.
Starting point is 01:15:58 As we're breaking down the shots themselves, I still stand behind the fact that if I'm inside my home and an individual, whether it's the boyfriend, the husband, the father, the baby's father, I don't care. If I lock my door and I tell you to go away and you break inside my home, I am justified in protecting my home. However, the extra four shots, I'm reconsidering how this, would have been, regardless of what Christian did before or after, I'm reconsidering
Starting point is 01:16:30 these four shots and if they're excessive, because if they are, even though the initial shooting would be justified in my opinion, there's also a possibility that it is self-defense at one second, and the next second it's now a murder. Two things can be true. I know I say it all that time, right? Like, so I really have to dissect that. I have to digest it for a little bit as we go through this episode, because I can agree with one decision in this whole ordeal, but ultimately decide that the shooting itself was excessive and therefore makes it not justified, not self-defense. Yeah, I guess if the first two shots happened and then Christian began to retreat from the window.
Starting point is 01:17:14 Right. If he's pulling himself out. And you're still shooting. He turns his back to you. He's not going to come through the window with his back. Which appears that that's what happened because he was shot in the back four times. I don't necessarily disagree with you. That's concerning.
Starting point is 01:17:26 Yeah. That is concerning. I agree. And that's why we cover these cases, right? That's why we talk about them. That's why we don't come up with an opinion right off the rip and we're open to changing as we go. I still got to hear more because we'll save it. We'll save it for the end.
Starting point is 01:17:40 I could talk about the whole thing right now, but there's a lot more to go. Well, the Griggs couldn't believe the sheriff's office had closed the case. To them, there were too many unanswered questions and it didn't feel like a thorough investigation had been conducted if officials were. We're only theorizing how Christian was shot. And I think that's basically what we just said, right? I agree. I don't disagree with them at all. We agree a thorough investigation was not done.
Starting point is 01:18:00 We agreed that some sort of ballistics should have been done. No pushback. So that's true. So Christian's family has every right to feel that way at that point. 100% warranted. So they were devastated by the decision and by the claim that Christian had been killed in self-defense. Wanting answers, they met with the district attorney to question both the investigation and the conclusion. The DA, who had reportedly previously been law partners with Pat Chisholsonhall's attorney,
Starting point is 01:18:27 he told them he would look into it, but the Griggs never heard back. And later, Tony called the DA's office himself to ask why Pat hadn't been arrested and how shots to the back could be considered self-defense. And according to Tony, the DA replied, quote, I'm not going to fuss with you, end quote, then the conversation ended. Now, once again, we have, you know, this is Tony's version. what the DA said. Does this sound like something the DA would have said?
Starting point is 01:18:55 Yes. We've seen in many cases. I've had it happen to me. We've seen in many cases. DAs make a decision and then that's it. Allegheny County. Yeah. Hated me.
Starting point is 01:19:04 They kicked me out of their building. Did you ever see the Breaking Homicide episode? Who was the victim? Cody Joyce. Yes, I did. Kicked me out of the building. And they're like, we've already made a decision on this. And yeah, okay, we'll look into it.
Starting point is 01:19:16 How could you kick this face out of your building, Stephanie? I could do it. had my cool brown leather jacket on my hair was all slicked back. You're breaking homicide jacket. Yeah, that jacket, man. That was definitely retired. Not my normal attire for investigations, but it is television. We've dealt with this. Praveen Vargas is another case. Lovely. It spoke to us about how, you know, she went to the district attorney after. And she's like, hey, what's going on? And he's like, oh, we'll look into it. She doesn't hear back. She doesn't hear back. Yeah, they make up with the decision. She keeps calling. It's just something we'll look into it to buy time to get you
Starting point is 01:19:48 out of their hair. And then when you finally become a nuisance, they tell you straight out, like, hey, this is done. Like, just go away. Exactly. Yep. So pretty valid. But once again, it's only according to Tony. But I believe that the DA probably said something along these lines. Like, stop calling me, man. I don't doubt it. The ruling's been made. The decision's been made. And we're not going back on it. End of story. I had a detective do that to me as well. Yeah. Yep. They're best friends until you're like, okay, well, what's going on? And they're like, hey, listen, I don't have time for this. I have the cases. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So let's take our last. break and we'll be right back okay let's talk about sleep for a second before helix i thought it was
Starting point is 01:20:27 normal to wake up with a sore back toss and turn half the night and then need three cups of coffee just to function but once i switched to a helix mattress i realized it wasn't me it was just my old bed i took helix's quick online sleep quiz which you will do too if you decide to check out a helix mattress it's really easy just a couple of questions about how you sleep if you run hot or cold whether you like soft, medium, or firm. And they matched me to the perfect mattress, which is the midnight lux. I've had this mattress for over five years. And wow, what a difference.
Starting point is 01:20:57 No more night sweats, no more back pain. And I don't even feel it when my partner moves during the night. For the first time in years, I'm actually waking up feeling rested. And the cool part is I do have a wearable device that I use at night in order to track my sleep and see how often I'm waking up. And right from the beginning with my Helix mattress, I could tell. that my deep sleep scores went way up. It's wild what the right mattress can do for your health, your energy, and honestly, your mood. So if you've been thinking about upgrading your sleep,
Starting point is 01:21:28 this is the time. Right now, Helix is running their Labor Day extended sale. And Derek's going to tell you how you can check them out for yourself. Yeah, we love Helix. We've been using them for years now. We talk about them all the time. Midnight Lux mattress, absolutely love it. Don't plan on switch in any time soon. So if you want to check them out, go to helixleep.com slash crime weekly for 25% off sitewide, that's helixleep.com slash crime weekly. And make sure you enter our show after checkout so they know that we sent you one more time. That's helixleep.com slash crime weekly. It doesn't break in. It creeps in. A missed payment, a second notice, a call you ignore. You tell yourself you're fine until you're not. One day, your accounts locked,
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Starting point is 01:23:32 at PDSdebt.com slash crime weekly. That's PDSdebt.com slash crime weekly. One more time, that's P-D-S-D-E-B-T.com slash crime weekly. All right, so none of this was made public at the time. Authorities didn't even announce that the case had been closed until nearly a year later. In the meantime, local media continued reporting on Christian's death. At the end of January 2014, W-R-A-L spoke with Pat, who said he was still receiving mental health treatment and had not yet returned to his pastoral duties. When asked about the shooting, Pat said he remembered Christian trying to break in and that he saw a raging Christian he had never seen before.
Starting point is 01:24:19 He said Katie was scared, so he picked up his rifle and just started firing. Christian's parents pushed back, asking, how can you defend yourself shooting a man four times in the back? How are you defending property or your home? Did Christian snap? No. Pat Chisenhall snapped. He was the one that was armed that day, not Christian. Christian was there to get his daughter.
Starting point is 01:24:42 So in December 2014, the district attorney's office formally announced its decision to close the case. They said that although Christian's death was a tragedy, it was not murder. It was self-defense under Castle Doctrine. According to the DA's office, the six shots had all been fired from inside the house towards the window Christian had tried to enter. They argued he wasn't intentionally shot in the back. He had simply turned away after the first shots were fired. which I mean if you turned away after the first shots were fired then you're I think trying to leave trying to get away from being shot more but okay he just simply tried not to get shot more and tried to turn away from the window and I'm on board with you here I agree with you in hindsight looking at this and kind of dissecting each round and where it went you're responsible for every round you fire however the other side of that coin is going to be here's a guy
Starting point is 01:25:37 inside the home, not a professional, firing until the figure is no longer in the window. And we know that Christian was still in the window for all six shots, because if he hadn't been, those rounds wouldn't have hit him. So even though he was turning around, which I'm on board with you, I'm not even... Well, he could have been, he could have turned and, like, got in a crouching position with his back to the window to leave. And that means he's not in the window anymore. He's standing directly or crouch directly in front of the window, which you can still
Starting point is 01:26:07 shoot through the window because apparently it's already broken. Depends on the angle. That's why you need the trajectory rods. Yeah, I know. Because if Pat was at level with him, he would still have to be visible from the window to hit him or would it hit the window frame. Well, if you didn't see him in the window, but you were still shooting through the window and he was still on the other side of it, even if he was trying to retreat, then you
Starting point is 01:26:29 might not see him. But if you're not seeing him, should you still be shooting through the window? No, you shouldn't. I said that in episode one, and I just said it. again, you're accountable for every round you fire, even as police officers, when we're firing rounds into a search warrant or whatever, if a round goes through a wall, that bullet's still attached to us. And that's why you have to use the right type of ammunition so it doesn't go through walls. Well, I mean, is law enforcement held to a higher standard than an average citizen who has
Starting point is 01:26:56 a firearm? A hundred percent. And that's why the standard that I'm putting forward is not the standard that a civilian would be held to. Because I will tell you this, if I had shot Christian as a police officers six times four in the back. It's over for me, as it should be. Because I'm trained. That's the lens that we have to look through with Pat, because I think that's the lens that the DA is looking through it. I think you might be right. Well, the explanation doesn't make a lot of sense to us. And for the Griggs, it didn't make any sense either. They couldn't understand how the DA had reached that conclusion, but the office refused to release the file that outlined their decision not to cross charges. Speaking out publicly, Tony said,
Starting point is 01:27:37 said, quote, the DA has what is called prosecutorial discretion, but at some point, discretion falls off and it becomes discrimination. Had I perpetrated the same act and shot his daughter six times on my front porch, there's no doubt in my mind that I would have been arrested that day. There's no doubt in my mind, and I should have been arrested that day, because that is what the law says, end quote. And then Dolly added, quote, my son was shot down like an animal, end quote. So actually, let's look at it from that way. if it was Tony, a man, a black man in the house, and it was Katie, a white girl outside the house, and he had shot her six times, four of those times in the back.
Starting point is 01:28:17 Do you think he'd be getting the same benefit of the doubt that Pat received? No, no, he wouldn't. But I wouldn't go the angle of because he's black. I would say because he's a man. Tony would have to find a way to justify by saying, hey, Katie could have killed me if she got through the door. And a reasonable person would have to believe that. So he's not wrong. He's not wrong. No, Christian's parents refused to accept the DA's conclusion. They repeatedly asked the DA's office to bring in the State Bureau of Investigation for an independent review, but the office always
Starting point is 01:28:49 said, no. Dali even wrote to the governor and the FBI directly, but nothing came of it. And that's because in North Carolina, only two people can request that the FBI become involved, the DA or the sheriff. No one else, not a judge, not a member of Congress, not. even the state attorney general, which I don't like this. Okay. If you're so set on your decision and you believe you're right, you should not be blocking a different investigation, an external investigation. You should not be blocking another body of law enforcement coming in and looking over your investigation. And I think it's really weird to have in North Carolina that only two people, the DA or the sheriff, can request that the FBI become involved,
Starting point is 01:29:36 not even a member of Congress, not even the state's attorney general. So really, you're like limiting, you're basically, I think, encouraging corruption. Because if the DA's corrupt and or the sheriff's corrupt or they're both corrupt, there's no higher body now that can challenge them or put their ruling and their decisions into question. Completely agree with you. If I know that I've done my job and I've dotted my eyes and crossed my T's and there's still a lot of controversy surrounding the case and so also involving my credibility as an investigator, as an agency, I'm going to say, bring it on. Bring it on. Come on. Come on. I want to get it right.
Starting point is 01:30:16 Yeah. Clear my name. Bring someone else in here. I want an independent party to go through the case and see what conclusions they come to because if you, if you look. And it doesn't always work. It's not for everybody. But when you have an outside party come in and they validate what your findings, usually the rumblings quiet down because now it's a second party who's come in and said, no, we agree with them. And the option of like calling it a conspiracy gets less plausible because now there's more people involved.
Starting point is 01:30:49 And it's on a greater scale. And you'd have to really believe that all of these people were involved and not just a few small town cops. That's right. but it shouldn't be for the investigator to quote-unquote clear their name. Ultimately, the investigator should want to get it right. And if the resources are available to have a second look be taken, you should exercise that right. And so here, not doing that is a mistake.
Starting point is 01:31:12 And there's a lot of cases like this, Megan Trussell being one of them. That was just on earlier this week for Crime Weekly News. That's another case where the case has been closed at this point. We're only asking that it's reopened so that another party within one of those agencies, can look at it and they're refusing to do so at this point. And the question is why. So when you don't answer that question of why, it allows for a lot of speculation. Yep. And I don't like it. I don't like blocking a further investigation. This is something that you and I are completely on the same page with. Yeah, it makes you look a little like you might have something to hide. So the Griggs took matters
Starting point is 01:31:49 into their own hands. They hired an attorney and a private investigator. And what they uncovered made them even more convinced the original investigation had been incomplete, to put it nicely. For example, detectives noted damage to the Chisholfe front door frame around the lock, but they never determined whether that damage existed before the shooting. They just assumed it had come from Christian, because remember, Pat said he was punching and kicking the door. Detectives said the curtains behind the glass were separated and pushed inward, yet they found no bullet holes in the curtains, the glass, the shutters, or the window frame.
Starting point is 01:32:22 No fingerprints belonging to Christian were recovered from the window, no blood either. The Greeks couldn't understand this. If Pat had fired into Christian as he was coming through the window, how could there be no bullet holes, blood or fingerprints there at all? I agree. I know you keep saying, oh, there necessarily wouldn't be, but I agree there would be something there. I'm only going off the one photo. So I think we all, as we're going through this case, have a vision of how this went down, right? most of us are wrong right so we have to be inside that house and understand the position that pat was in
Starting point is 01:32:57 was he sitting was he standing was he crouching how close was he to the window what was the angle in which he was shooting christian at i ask this because when you go back to that photo and you see the position of the window that it's in after the after the fact you can see that it's ajar from the top it's on like an angle it's on like a pitch And so, if Pat is only three feet away from the window and he's standing up and he's almost shooting in a downward trajectory at Christian, it is very possible that all of those rounds hit Christian without ever hitting a pane of glass because the window, especially from this picture, is wide open. Now, that's not me speculating. I'm just saying it's possible based on an angle, but without knowing where exactly Pat was standing, what position he was in, how he was holding the rifle, all of these little details. that would have been answered by a trajectory test, right?
Starting point is 01:33:51 Ballistics test. We don't have that. And we're left to speculate, which is why this case is so polarizing. Because if it was, if it was done right, we wouldn't be here, Stephanie. Yeah, maybe. Yeah. We would have our answers. We may not like the answers, but we would have answers.
Starting point is 01:34:04 Yeah, maybe not the same answers we have today, but the right answers, right. That's right. So investigators also noted dirt and a broken flower pot on the porch, but they never tested the shards for fingerprints or examined the layering to, determine whether the glass landed before or after the pot was broken. They didn't check Christian's shoes for fragments of glass or soil, and the bottoms of his shoes weren't photographed. On top of that, the medical examiner never received Christians' clothes from the police. Because of that, they couldn't determine the range of the shots. The clothes were
Starting point is 01:34:36 never tested for blood or glass fragments either. In the end, it seemed like so many pieces of evidence were left untested, and no one could actually prove Pat's story about Christian coming through the window. Investigators had simply taken his word for it. Beyond that, no fingerprint analysis was ever performed on the 22 caliber rifle used to kill Christian. That meant there was no way to confirm who had actually fired the weapon. The Griggs also said they were told no gunshot residue test had been done on Pat or Katie or their clothing, but later when they picked up Christian's belongings, they were presented with a chain of custody document to sign. The document showed that gunshot residue tests had, in fact, been performed on both Pat and Katie.
Starting point is 01:35:19 The results weren't listed. And for the Griggs, it raised an even bigger question. What else had they been misled about? Yeah, that's something. The fingerprints, though, I will say, just to push back on that, that wouldn't help you because Pat's fingerprints are all over the gun. It's his gun. Is it possible that Katie has shot that gun before?
Starting point is 01:35:38 Her fingerprints would be on it as well. So that's kind of a nothing burger, even if her fingerprints are found, on it there's you can see fresher prints based on how defined they are but there's no there's no expert out there that's going to say oh these prints are fresher than this one meaning this was the last person to hold the gun so that's not an angle the door being broken that's something i dealt with a lot as a patrolman because we'd have domestic assaults or domestic disputes where we would say the window the door was broken after a guy tried kicking it in and we would have to do certain things. We would have to take photos of the hinges, show that the door didn't shut properly
Starting point is 01:36:16 anymore, meaning that if the door hadn't been broken at that night. Yeah, so if it had been broken before that, then these people would have been walking around with a door they couldn't close. With an open door. We also look for little pieces of wood fragments or metal fragments on the ground that wouldn't have been there. So these are all things that you can do that as basic skill sets where you say, hey, listen, I know that it was broken today, but I need to show that. that to a jury potentially. I need to document these things and paint the picture so that everybody knows what's going on. I mean, I find it more strange that the Griggs were told GSR tests had not been done on Pat and Katie, and then they found out that they had been done.
Starting point is 01:36:57 That's, and then what? Well, what are the results of that? Why would you say that they hadn't been done when they actually had been done? It's wrong. It could have been just a chain of custody thing as far as the verbal communication where you have somebody talking to the family who's not up to date on the case, who's not as close to the case. They're relaying information trying to be helpful, but they're giving misinformation. Or it could be what Donnie and Tony are inferring. Like, they're hiding things. So there's a spectrum there, right? It could be just incompetence and the wrong people talking to Tony and Dolly, or it could be something more nefarious. Well, fingerprint analysis wasn't performed on the three.
Starting point is 01:37:37 shell casings that were recovered either, and like we've talked about previously, the other three shell casings were never found, and many people have wondered what happened to those missing cases. Some believe the answer lies with Pat's son, Patrick, a volunteer firefighter with Angier Fire and Rescue. According to crime scene logs, Patrick entered the scene twice after it had been secured by officers. Two deputies later testified that a non-officer like Patrick should have been escorted, but neither could remember who escorted him, and no escort was listed in the logs. Records show that Patrick signed in at 1140 a.m., not long after Christian had been rushed to the hospital, and again at 2.45 p.m. He later said he went in once to get medication
Starting point is 01:38:23 and another time to secure a dog, but in a deposition, Pat was asked why Patrick would have been there and he couldn't explain it. Pat admitted he didn't have any emergency medications and wasn't sure where the dog even was at that time. So it's unclear why Patrick was there twice. Some people online have suggested that it was he who may have retrieved the missing casings. But that's only a theory. Nothing has ever been proven in court. But on the note of that theory, why the hell was he allowed to be on the crime scene wandering around? I mean, as a firefighter, but not only as a firefighter as the son of the person who just shot someone six times. And if we absolutely cannot find those shell casings and it was, they were thoroughly searched for, it does kind of make sense that
Starting point is 01:39:13 somebody took them. Somebody picked them up. Yeah, somebody picked them up. You would think they would all be found. I've had times where, you know, 10 or 15 shots are fired. I'm only able to find 12 or 13 of the bullets. If they were going to pick them up and hide them, you think they would have picked up all of them and got rid of all of them. Only picking up three is not going to help you if you're trying to hide something. I mean, unless those three shots were taken from a different place, like maybe... The shell casins wouldn't determine that. Well, they would if they were outside. No, but he shot from inside the house. All the ballistics confirmed it. That's what he said. He said he shot all from the inside. Oh, you're saying if the shots were fired. But even the injuries to
Starting point is 01:39:52 Christian would have been from inside. You mean outside? Well, shot from inside the house to while he was outside. Yes, but we don't know exactly what happened. Even Pat says he can't remember where he was standing when he fired these shots, but he made it seem as if he was standing all in the same place. So if those other shell casings... I'll entertain anything. I don't think he was shot from outside the house. If those other shell casings were located at a place other than where Pat, where the other shell casings were found, right? That would bring up the question of, hey, all of the shell casings were not found at the place where you said you shot all six shots. So, you either moved forward maybe or you got closer, things like that. That's what I'm saying.
Starting point is 01:40:33 So with the long rifle, you're going to have the rounds extract as you're shooting them, and they're going to go onto the ground right over your right shoulder. And they're going to scatter. They're going to roll. They're going to move around. They're not little cubes that are going to stop as soon as they hit the ground and not bounce a lot. These things could roll all over the place. I would say this. If two shell casings were found inside the house and the other four shell casings were never recovered, I would have a lot more interest in the shell. shell casings that weren't found because that would suggest that maybe those other four shots, the ones to the back, were shot from a different location. But the fact that three were found inside and three were not located, it's still something that's concerning to me because I don't understand in a small area like that where how many places
Starting point is 01:41:16 could these shell casings go, right? I can't find them in a street area. You know, there's grass, there's mulch, there's sewer drains, there's a lot of places the rounds could go. but where did the shell casings go inside the small proximity? I don't know. Yeah, in this house, yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:41:31 But the fact that there was three of the six found that says that at least three of those rounds were fired from the same location. So unless you believe he fired two, one in the back, went to a new location, fired three more in the back. It's harder to believe. Or Patrick was in the scene twice, grabbed up more than those three shell casings and maybe moved them around. But either way, I want to. We do have to acknowledge. We have nothing to substantiate this. We're just speculating.
Starting point is 01:41:57 I want to initiate the hive mind here because, you know, Derek and I have certain ways of viewing this, but, you know, it's been a long day for both of us. We're tired mentally. We just, the time difference is still messing with us. So I want to hear from you guys as far as the theory of what happened to those three shell casings and what could those three shell casings be missing signify to you. Let us know. And then Patrick's saying he went in to get emergency medication and his father's like, I don't
Starting point is 01:42:22 have any emergency medication. I don't know what he means. It's just, it's weird. So after learning all of this, Christians' parents became more convinced than ever that their son had been murdered. But there was still many unanswered questions and they didn't have the full picture. Determined to seek the truth, they filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Pat Chisholnall. And through that process, they would uncover new information and find at least some measure of accountability. But that story will have to wait for part four, which is the final part of this series.
Starting point is 01:42:52 You know, so obviously the threshold is a lot lower for a civil case. Was there preponderance of evidence that would suggest Pat was involved or responsible for Christian's death? I think that's an easier threshold to meet. I am interested to see how that one plays out and to see if this case is reopened or not. I have not looked up anything. But my overall takeaway after these three parts, there's a few things. A lot of emotions, a lot of thoughts going through my head. first one being
Starting point is 01:43:21 this is a classic case of if law enforcement did their job if they dotted their eyes and they crossed their T's and they filled those voids that we're being forced to fill right now we might not have as many questions
Starting point is 01:43:34 we may not be covering this case Christian's family may not be wanting more in this case well that's why we cover them because if everyone did their job we wouldn't need to follow up on them and ask for more accountability and kind of dissect them all
Starting point is 01:43:46 because the police would just have those answers for. So when you ask a simple question like, where are those other three shell casings? Or where was Christian's body when he was shot? Yeah. Yeah, they would be able to say, here's the reason why we didn't find them. Here's what we think could have happened, right? This is the area we were in. trajectory rods. Instead of going off Pat's understanding of what happened that day, we would have a ballistics report done by an independent party who would say, here's the diagram of Christian's body. Here's the way we believe the rounds entered his body. They align with the positioning of where Pat was standing, and they would explain why none of the glass was
Starting point is 01:44:23 broken. So where am I right now, as we're going into part four? For me, not trying to convince any of you. I feel that Christian was definitely going through some things, definitely struggled with anger issues at minimum. I would only imagine that going through what he went through over in Iraq only exacerbated those things, made him a little worse, probably put him in a bad mental place, which again, completely understandable. So you have someone who's struggling with certain things, and then you have Katie not helping the situation by not allowing him to see his daughter, which is only going to enrage him, and Katie knows that, and Pat knows that.
Starting point is 01:45:03 So you have a predicament where Christian is trying to see his daughter, and in his mind, he's doing the right thing because he's a father, he has the right to see his child, he's going to do whatever he can do to see her. And he does do that, but he goes about it the wrong way, in my opinion. If you know these people are against you, you don't want to go over there alone. You want to bring your dad. You want to bring your mother. You want to bring your sister. You want to bring a friend. You want to have an independent party to support whatever happens while you're there. Even if it's just verbal comments that are made by both parties, you want to have someone who can support whatever you're going to tell law enforcement if it gets to that point. When,
Starting point is 01:45:44 Pat and Katie went inside the house, if this is what happened, that's when Christian should have turned around, called the police or called Tony, and said, hey, I'm coming home, we're going to the police station, we're following a report, I'm done with this. If he did, in fact, try to push in the window, which, as I'm sitting here right now, I believe he did, based on his history of getting angry and acting out, I don't think it's a stretch to think that he would have done something like this. At that point, that was a mistake, and I can see how Pat would just this former soldier who has anger issues, who he's dealt with on numerous occasions, feeling like his life was in danger, and firing two rounds to prevent him from coming
Starting point is 01:46:26 and siding hurting him or hurting his daughter. However, this is where it goes south. Because he's got tunnel vision, I'm talking about Pat. Christian clearly realizes that he's been shot, attempts to escape to get out of there, to prevent further injury. And at that point, For reasons unknown to us, Pat continues to fire in succession four additional times, not just once, not just twice, four times. And those were the fatal rounds. And that right there is the entire case. Do you believe that those rounds were excessive? And if you do, then this is not a justifiable self-defense Castle Doctrine case.
Starting point is 01:47:08 I do believe those four shots were excessive personally. Well, that's, and that's the question for everybody listening and watching right now. we've talked about a lot and there is a lot of noise to this case how far Christian was in the window did he kick the door yes it's all important but at the end of the day if you want to dilute this down to one question
Starting point is 01:47:28 do you think those four rounds were excessive and if you do if you answer yes then this is a homicide this is a murder it's not a self-defense claim it's that simple there's a lot of questions we're not going to be able to answer ever we know that Christian was shot six times Do you believe that those six rounds were in succession and Pat was unaware that Christian had turned around
Starting point is 01:47:50 or do you think that Pat knew at that point Christian was retreating and decided to keep firing because in that moment he was angry, he only saw one thing and he wanted to make sure that Christian never came back again. If you answered yes to that question, then you have your answer for this case. Okay, well, let's see what happens next week.
Starting point is 01:48:09 Wow, that's it. No follow-up, no rebuttal, nothing else. I mean, I... You agree with what I said, essentially. I mean, that's really what it comes down to, right? Is there four rounds? I think those four shots were excessive. I think I personally, like I said, I would have a very difficult time shooting anybody one time, much less six times.
Starting point is 01:48:30 So... You would do it if you had to. I would do it if I had to. I think most of our listeners and viewers would if they had to. But I don't know if I would just keep shooting and not knowing. I mean, especially if Pat and Christian had always had a good relationship as he claims, right? At some point, you're like, hey, this kid is like my son-in-law. He's the father of my granddaughter.
Starting point is 01:48:49 Do I want to be the person that killed her father? Am I just trying to protect my daughter right now? But do I want to have to answer to my granddaughter for the rest of my life? Why I took her father's life? I don't know. It's just, it's a hard one. I've talked about my shooting a couple times during this series because it's applicable. I was without a doubt in fear of my life.
Starting point is 01:49:12 I had a man running at me with a knife who was only four feet away from me when I shot him. I was petrified. I only shot him four times. The fact that Pat shot a man six times when he wasn't even technically inside the house at that point, I might surprise some of you right now, but I agree with Stephanie. I do think those four rounds were excessive. So yes, I still believe that initially Pat was justified in firing those first two rounds to protect him and his daughter, but it changed.
Starting point is 01:49:40 it changed when he continued to fire. So that's why we do what we do. That's why we cover these cases, dissecting them, breaking them down, not knowing how quickly those rounds were fired if there was any opportunity to reassess the situation, which as officers were trained differently, but after you fire a round, they actually teach you to shoot and scan right to left, assess if there's still a threat. If there is, fire again. Right.
Starting point is 01:50:05 You have the gun in your hand. It's not like... You have to determine if your life is still in danger. you have the power you yeah you have the upper hand in that situation you're the one holding the gun so at that point even if you're like oh this guy he got shot twice he's still coming through you're behind the couch he's at the window you can still fire yeah i would even argue even though i do believe that he by the law by the castle doctrine he would be justified to shoot those first two rounds you could also make the argument that he could have fired around
Starting point is 01:50:37 into the wall around him. Yeah, just to be like, hey, I got a gun. So don't. Now, he's not required to do that based on the castle doctrine, but I'm just putting it out there. You fire those first two rounds. You've clearly hit him. Christian clearly acknowledges that he's been hit.
Starting point is 01:50:52 It's why he turns away. And you continue to fire. And you have to assume, even if it was only a second or two, that there was a lapse there. Because in order for Christian to turn around, he's not a superhuman, you know, mutant where he's going to spin around instantaneously. Right. Exactly. There's going to be a second or two delay, which would allow Pat to reassess the situation and say, oh, I got him. He's turning around. We're good. He didn't. Not only did he fire another shot, he fired four more shots. That's a problem. So, yeah, that's where I stand on this. I'm interested to see how the civil case goes. If I have to guess, I would say that Pat's going to be found liable. I guess we'll find out. We will find out. Any other words from you? Nope. Thank you guys so much for being here. I cannot wait to hear what you think about all we talked about today. Let us know in the comments if you're watching on YouTube. And if you're listening on audio and you have something, you know, that you think would really add to the
Starting point is 01:51:44 conversation, go on over to YouTube, subscribe if you haven't already, and tell us. Nailed it. Guys, stay safe out there. We'll see you next week. Bye. Thank you.

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