George Hunter - Limb from Limb

St. Valentines Day, 2007, started off as a frozen, chaotic mess in southeast Michigan. The first blizzard of the winter had swept through overnight, dumping up to eight inches of snow across the region. As the Wednesday-morning rush hour approached, temperatures suddenly dipped into the teens, while winds gusted up to thirty miles an hour. Road crews frantically spread salt on streets and freeways, attempting to melt the ice before Metro Detroits hundreds of thousands of commuters hit the roads. But the gale defeated their efforts, blowing the salt away. Swirling snow drifts blinded drivers and obscured slippery patches of pavement, causing dozens of fender benders throughout the tri-county Detroit suburbs.

About twenty-five miles east of downtown Detroit, in the nineteenth-century mineral-bath resort town of Mount Clemens, Deputy William Hughes was among the crew manning the lobby at the Macomb County Sheriffs Office (MCSO) headquarters. Hughes, a twenty-year veteran, reported for work at 10:00 A.M. and was greeted by a leak in the ceiling of his small office, right over his desk.

Hughes had just finished moving his desk out of the drips soggy path when a fellow deputy poked his head in and said someone in the lobby wanted to file a missing persons complaint. Hughes prepared to write his first report of the day.

The visitor, Stephen Grant, was alone. Hughes beckoned him into the cement-block cubicle, apologizing for the messy, wet office. Stephen said he didnt mind and took a seat. He then pulled out a notebook and consulted it for a moment before commencing his story.

In a jittery voice, the pale, dark-haired, wide-eyed visitor told Hughes he hadnt heard from his thirty-four-year-old wife, Tara, since the previous Friday night, when she stormed out of their Washington Township home following an argument.

Stephen explained that his wife was an executive with Washington Group International, a construction and engineering company with branches throughout the world. Tara worked in the companys San Juan, Puerto Rico, office and returned home weekends, her husband said.

The veteran cop took notice of a gash on Stephens nose. The inch-long scabbed wound immediately aroused his instincts.

I was concerned about the scratchplus, he had waited five days to report his wife missing, Hughes said. And he kept looking at his notebook, like he was trying to keep his story straight.

Macomb County over the past decade has gone from the sparsely populated, semirural home of Michigans last remaining military base to one of Metro Detroits most prosperous and fast-growing bedroom communities. Still, the missing persons there tend to be drug addicts who drop out for a few days, or ice fishermen who inadvertently float out toward Canada on giant Lake St. Clairnot prosperous businesswomen from the upscale enclave of Washington Township.

Something wasnt right here, Hughes recalled.

The slim thirty-seven-year-old six-footer told Hughes he was a stay-at-home dad who labored a few hours a week in his father William Grants small tool-and-die shop, making ball bearings, while his wife worked in Puerto Rico during the week. Stephen said he worked around the house most of the time and took care of the couples two childrensix-year-old Lindsey and four-year-old Ian. He did have help, he added, from a nineteen-year-old live-in German au pair.

Hughes didnt have to ask many questions; Stephen volunteered most of the necessary information without any prompting.

He was rambling, and his eyes were really bugging out, Hughes said. He was talking really fast. I just kept quiet and let him talk. I was listening real close to what this guy was saying.

Stephen freely admitted he was irked by his wifes long absences. He told Hughes an argument about her frequent travel had broken out the night of February 9 when Tara phoned from Newark International Airport to tell him her flight home was delayed because of a huge snowfall that had hammered the East Coast the previous day. Tara also announced she would be returning to Puerto Rico on Sunday, a day earlier than usual, to prepare for a presentation. Thats what started the altercation, Stephen said.

He said they argued about her travel schedule while she was in the Newark airport, Hughes said. He said they kept arguing and hanging up on each other, and then calling each other back and arguing again, the whole time she was heading home.

I figured he was pretty hot when she got home, and I figured some kind of fight must have happened, because of the scratch on his nose, Hughes said. But I didnt want to confront him with the scratch just yet. I wanted to just sit back and let him talk.

Stephen obliged. He told the officer he had argued with his wife for about twenty minutes after she arrived home from Detroit Metropolitan Airport. Then, he said, Tara made a call from her cell phone before abruptly leaving the house and riding away in a black sedan.

Stephen said he heard his wife say, Ill be out in a minute before she walked away. He told Hughes the car that picked her up may have been from an airport limousine service, he claimed, she frequently hired.

According to Stephen, his wifes last words before walking out the door were a reminder that he needed to deliver her white 2002 Isuzu Trooper to the dealership Monday for a dent repair.

Less than ten minutes after Tara left, Stephen said, he heard someone enter the house. He told Hughes he thought it was his wife returning, and he hollered, What the hell are you doing home? Get out!

His angry shout startled the couples au pair, Verena Dierkes, a slender teen with long blond hair who was letting herself into the kitchen through the garage after a night of dancing with friends.

Stephen said he explained to the German girl, whod taken a job with the Grants in August, that hed just had an argument with Tara. After a brief conversation, the au pair went directly to her room, Stephen told Hughes.

The sheriffs deputy voiced the question that would occur to dozens of investigators and observers over the ensuing weeks. I asked why he waited five days to report his wife missing, Hughes said. He said Taras boss told him to wait.

Stephen told Hughes he left several messages on Taras cell phone on Saturday and Sunday, but he got no response. On Monday morning, Stephen said, he contacted Taras Washington Group boss, Lou Troendle, in Puerto Rico, but learned she hadnt reported for work. Stephen said Troendle then told him to hold off calling the police.