Faced with being by myself with out a cash, a 59-year-old Texas girl employed a hitman to kill her estranged husband, all to get $100,000 from his lifestyles insurance coverage.
Cathie Grigsby used to be comfortably out of the town when Daniel Ray Harrison shot 72-year-old Jack Grigsby execution-style whilst he reclined in a chair in his own residence. But in Snapped, airing Sundays at 6/5c on Oxygen, police defined how they have been in a position to put the items in combination and peg Cathie Grigsby because the mastermind of her husband’s homicide.
“What I think finally made Cathie snap was the fact that the divorce was starting to come to a head, and that Jack was cutting her off financially,” Carla Post, former assistant prosecutor, stated on Snapped. “She was not going to be able to survive without his help.”
What came about to Jack Grigsby?
Cathie Grigsby referred to as 911 simply ahead of 9 p.m. on Sunday, May 17, 2009, hysterically screaming as a result of her husband, Jack, used to be lifeless.
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She instructed dispatchers in Sargent, Texas in Matagorda County — about 70 miles southwest of Galveston, at the Gulf of Mexico — she’d discovered him unresponsive. His recliner used to be grew to become over at the flooring, and blood pooled round his head.
“She was screaming that he was dead quite loudly,” stated Steven Reis, prosecutor, on Snapped.
Cathie instructed police she’d been out of the town in Dallas for the weekend with buddies, and Jack were staring at her canine. When she got here to the home to pick out up the canine, she discovered Jack lifeless at the flooring.
An post-mortem record confirmed a gunshot wound to the top used to be Jack’s purpose of dying. He used to be killed a while on Sunday.
There used to be no pressured access to the house, and not anything used to be taken. Investigators discovered a unmarried shell casing close to the frame.
Cathie instructed police that she and her husband have been nonetheless pleasant, despite the fact that they have been dwelling in separate houses and within the procedure of getting a divorce.
Jack were divorced as soon as, Cathie two times, after they met at a birthday celebration in 1991. By 1996, Jack and Cathie have been married, but if Jack retired in 2001, the couple’s 13-year age distinction started to put on on them.
“She lived a different life than him,” Alberta Teague, a chum of Jack’s, stated on Snapped. “She was always wanting to be on the go. She had a lot of sorority sisters she’d go to Dallas to meet. She wanted more from him than what he was giving her.”
In 2009, Jack’s well being additionally started to decline, including to the strain at the couple. Cathie moved to her personal rental, and so they made plans to divorce.
Cathie shared with police that she owned a gun that she’d purchased from her boss, however it wasn’t in her rental when police arrived to take it. Cathie instructed them the gun will have to had been stolen.
How did a witness tip assist the investigation?
A person named Joe Zamora approached regulation enforcement in the future after Jack Grigsby’s homicide. He stated he’d been fishing close to the Grigsby house on Sunday when he noticed a automotive that saved using via. He defined it pulled into the Grigsby driveway a number of occasions, after which left, ahead of coming again once more.
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“He wasn’t fishin’,” Zamora stated in an interview with police. “He kept drivin’ around — just, you know? I was like, ‘What the hell?’”
Zamora instructed police he in the end noticed the motive force knock at the Grigsby entrance door ahead of entering into. Later, the person drove via him and requested him how the fishing used to be.
“When he talked to me, I don’t know, man,” Zamora instructed police. “He just seemed … you know when somebody just ain’t right. Kinda made me nervous.”
Zamora helped police with a cartoon of the person, which used to be publicized.
“This was a huge tip for us,” David Maxwell, former Texas Ranger Sergeant, stated on Snapped. “It was a big break for us to have this witness. The activity that this person was doing did not seem to fit anything other than being involved in this homicide.”
Soon after Zamora got here ahead, regulation enforcement discovered Cathie’s lacking gun used to be the similar caliber and producer because the shell casing discovered on the homicide scene.
“That was a little shocking,” Reis stated. “By that point, the police realize she could not have been the shooter. But they certainly believe that she’s being deceptive.”
How did police in finding Jack Grigsby’s assassin?
Law enforcement determined to take a look at the surveillance photos of the one fuel station on the town, at the probability it confirmed them the suspect or his automobile, a Ford Taurus. They discovered each on digicam.
“It was a ‘Eureka!’ moment,” stated Richard Rooth, ret. Matagorda Co. Sheriff’s Captain, on Snapped.
Surveillance confirmed the suspect the usage of a Lone Star card, which used to be used for meals stamps, to purchase sandwiches and beer from the fuel station. The card used to be traced to a lady named Suzanne Matz, and her boyfriend, Daniel Ray Harrison.
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Harrison’s driving force’s license picture used to be a detailed fit to the cartoon of the suspect. Unsure how Harrison used to be hooked up to Jack Grigsby, police traveled to Harrison’s space for an interview. While he wasn’t house, his female friend used to be.
Suzanne Matz instructed officials she’d recognized Cathie Grigsby for 8 years, after they met running at a mail order middle. She additionally dropped a bombshell.
“She knew that the relationship was rocky,” Reis stated. “That it was not a good relationship. In 2003, Cathie was looking to get Jack killed.”
Matz claimed that six years previous, Cathie had requested her if she knew someone who would kill her husband, however Matz didn’t assume it used to be a major proposition.
When Harrison arrived at his house, police took him in for wondering, the place he additionally claimed Cathie had attempted to poison Jack a number of occasions ahead of.
“Daniel says Cathie had actually tried to poison him with antifreeze,” Rooth stated. “In his coffee or something. And it did cause some real damage. He got sick from it.”
Believing he used to be stuck, Harrison started confessing to regulation enforcement. He stated Cathie contacted him once more in March 2009 about killing her estranged husband.
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“Yeah, she tried to pay me,” Harrison stated in a police interview, admitting he wanted the cash. “Price on it was 10 grand.”
By this time, police had realized Jack Grigsby had a $200,000 lifestyles insurance coverage. Cathie used to be set to inherit part of it, giving her reason.
How did Cathie Grigsby plan her husband’s homicide?
Harrison instructed officials Cathie Grigsby sought after her husband killed ahead of June, when her divorce lawsuits have been set to start. While she used to be in Dallas for a practice, Harrison stated he used to be instructed to pick out up a duplicate of a key to her rental from her Dallas resort, get her gun out of her rental, and kill her husband.
Harrison adopted those directions, and knocked on Jack Grigsby’s entrance door, pretending to be fishing close by.
“Daniel asked him could he come inside and use the restroom, so they wind up going inside,” Robert Thompson, former Matagorda Co. Sheriff’s Investigator, stated on Snapped.
Harrison instructed police when he got here out of the toilet, with the gun, Jack used to be sitting in a reclining chair. He stated he knocked Jack to the bottom with the gun, after which shot him within the head execution-style.
Afterward, he referred to as Cathie to say Jack used to be lifeless.
“And her response was, ‘How is my dog?’” Thompson stated. “Pretty cold.”
Harrison instructed police he dumped the gun in Lake Texoma.
He additionally stated his female friend, Suzanne Matz, used to be no longer concerned. Matz used to be by no means charged via police.
Besides a receipt appearing Cathie made a duplicate of a key at Walmart, surveillance video from Cathie’s resort additionally confirmed her leaving the important thing on the table, and Harrison selecting it up.
“So everything started coming together at that point,” Thompson stated. “She planned this and he carried it out.”
Harrison authorised a plea deal of 40 years in jail in trade for attesting in opposition to Cathie Grigsby. He’s eligible for parole in June 2029.
In October 2010, Cathie went on trial for her husband’s homicide. Prosecutors printed a bombshell in court docket.
“Jack had changed the beneficiary on his life insurance policy,” Rooth stated. “Cathie was no longer a beneficiary. The irony of the whole thing is that she wouldn’t have gotten a dime.”
A jury discovered her accountable of capital homicide, which in Texas, is an automated lifestyles sentence.
“I feel bad for Jack,” Teague stated. “I feel bad for his family. I’m sure he wanted to live one more day to say, ‘I love you,’ to his kids.”
Watch new episodes of Snapped on Sundays at 6/5c on Oxygen and the next day to come on Peacock.
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