Harbor Springs, Mich. – With police closing in, a fugitive accused of killing and dismembering his wife abandoned the truck he had driven more than 200 miles and fled on foot in the snow.
Authorities had tracked him by tracing cellphone signals and a cash transaction at an automated teller machine. But deep in the heavily wooded Wilderness State Park, in freezing conditions, they didn’t know what to expect next.
“We didn’t know what we were up against,” said Emmet County Sheriff Pete Wallin. “We knew he was suicidal; we knew he could be armed and dangerous.”
Following a trail of footprints, investigators finally found Stephen Grant on Sunday wearing neither shoes nor coat, cowering under a fallen tree near ice-covered Lake Michigan. Wearing only slacks, a shirt and socks, he was about 3 miles from where he had abandoned the truck.
“I don’t think he probably could have made it much longer in those kind of conditions,” said Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel.
Wallin said Grant, who was being treated for frostbite and hypothermia, would be returned to Macomb County for arraignment in the death of Grant’s wife, Tara Lynn Grant, a 34-year-old businesswoman and mother of two who disappeared last month. A torso was found Friday in the family’s Washington Township home, and other body parts were found Saturday in a nearby park.
An arrest warrant charged Stephen Grant with murder and one count of disinterment and mutilation. An autopsy was being conducted Sunday.
Tara Grant last was seen Feb. 9, and police said the couple had argued that day over her business travels abroad. Her husband reported her missing five days later; he has steadfastly maintained his innocence.
Stephen Grant, 37, fled in a friend’s pickup hours after police executed a search warrant on the home, Hackel said. After finding the truck just south of the isolated Lake Michigan park, police with a tracking dog mounted a search on foot and snowmobile, aided by a helicopter. They pounded on doors of nearby homes and the handful of cabins in the Lake Michigan park, warning occupants to be on the lookout.
He was found, unarmed, near Big Sucker Creek, which flows into Lake Michigan.
The Grants have two children, a 6-year-old girl and a 4-year-old boy who were staying with relatives. In a statement released through the hospital, Grant said Sunday that he misses his children.
Grant could be released from the hospital as early as this afternoon and be taken for arraignment in Macomb County, Hackel said. He could also be arraigned at the hospital, he said.
