11x35 - Fresh Heir

[bunniefuu]

In the 20 years
following an unsolved m*rder,

lives changed, and so
did forensic technology.

In time, a high-powered
microscope and DNA profiling

revealed a clue no
one had seen before.

Les's Grocery
Store was an important part

of the community in the small
town of Superior, Wisconsin.

Members of the Gran family
had worked there for years.

- Les's Grocery dated
back to the '60s.

My mother, my grandmother,
myself... we all

worked there at different times.

We lived right next door to it.

It was a typical
small grocery store.

In the 1980s,


worked in the store.

At the time, she was
the divorced mother

of four children.

Over the years, the
store had its share

of robberies, but no v*olence.

All of that changed
on August 9, 1986.

Lynnea's 17-year-old son,
Rodger, was at the county

fair until 2:00 AM.

When he got home, his
mother wasn't there.

- It was so late after
their closing time

that he went from the
house, walked directly

over to the grocery store,
looked through the front door

which had a glass window
you could see through.

And almost immediately, saw his
mother laying face down just

inside the front
door of the store.

When police arrived, they

found Lynnea Gran dead,
lying in a pool of blood.

There were massive injuries
to her head and to her face.

- Nothing was missing
from the cash register.

Nothing was missing
from her purse.

There didn't appear to
be any sexual motivation.

There was no clothing
issues or body issues

that could be
determined in terms

of a sexual as*ault
investigation.

So it was just a m*rder with
nothing else to go with it.

- But there's also the potential
that someone came to the store

with the intent of
robbing the store,

but got scared off, possibly by
a passerby or another customer.

According to the family,

Lynnea had no known enemies.

- Superior is a small town.

And a brutal m*rder
like that doesn't

happen like it does
in New York City.

And I don't think they
have a lot of experience

dealing with that type of thing.

Some thought the county fair may

have had something
to do with it.

- There usually is
a slight increase

in crime around the
time of the fair.

You will find higher
incidence of, you know,

petty thefts, those
kinds of crimes.

It seemed to me it would
be a natural thought,

perhaps somebody from
the fair had k*lled her.

With so few
clues and no witnesses,

investigators had
little to go on.

But they did find one
tantalizing piece of evidence.

- When officers
entered the store,

they also saw what
appeared to be

footprints on some of the tiles.

Would these shoe
prints lead them to the k*ller?

Lynnea Gran had
a difficult life.

She was a divorced
mother of four children,

largely raising them on her own.

And she worked hard to
provide for their upbringing.

But her children
remember another side.

- One of my favorite
memories of my mom

comes from way back when I
was about eight years old.

She had gotten all gussied up,
and had her makeup on, and came

out of the house
to get in the car.

And I had left a plastic
g*n laying in the grass.

I picked it up and
swung it towards her.

And it splashed her, and messed
up her make up and her hair.

And my heart sank.

I thought for sure I
was in deep doo-doo.

Instead, she came after me,
tackled me in the wet grass,

grabbed the garden hose,
and laughed and giggled.

And we were both soaked.

And so what could have been
a really bad situation,

she turned into fun.

For both the family and police,

Lynnea's brutal m*rder was
difficult to understand.

- It was dramatic, substantial,
horrible, gruesome,

whatever term you
would put with it.

The medical examiner
estimated somewhere

in the range of 15 to


It was clearly done in
some kind of fit of rage.

Random K*llers rarely spend

that much time and
effort k*lling someone.

In fact, that kind
of v*olence usually

indicates a relationship between
the victim and the k*ller.

- I think there is actually an
opinion that it could have been

someone close to the victim,
such as a family member.

Some kind of really emotional
dispute or something.

- They initially considered
everyone a suspect.

And they even questioned
my older brother

of his whereabouts, and could
he verify his whereabouts.

Lynnea Gran had four children.


found his mother's body,

was the only one
still living at home.

Lynnea's three
other children all

had alibis for the
night of the m*rder.

So investigators turned
to Lynnea's ex-husband.

- Being that she went
through a bitter divorce

with her husband
Jerome, he was looked

at as a potential
suspect in this case.

But Jerome Gran
was 800 miles away in Ohio

on the night of the m*rder, an
alibi corroborated by others.

Originally, police hoped
the bloody foot impressions

at the scene would lead
them to the k*ller.

But they were from
Rodger's shoes.

- She was in a pool of blood.

Would not have been uncommon to
find those footprints in blood

in the store matching
Rodger's shoes.

Rodger also had an alibi

for the night of
his mother's m*rder.

He was at the county fair with
his friends until 2:00 AM.

And his friends
corroborated his alibi.

- All he could
remember is that he

was with friends at the fair.

They'd been drinking
and using dr*gs.

And he didn't
remember anything else

other than finding her body.

Although Rodger
admitted he was drinking

and using dr*gs on the night
of his mother's m*rder,

no one in the family
believed Rodger

had anything to do with it.

- It was ludicrous.

I'd known Rodger his whole life.

I mean, Rodger was not violent.

He was a typical


He wanted to think he was the
toughest kid on the block.

But he was not a fighter.

Investigators
searched Lynnea's home next door

and found what looked
like the m*rder w*apon...

A wood-handled claw
hammer in a drawer

next to the kitchen sink.

- The pathologist noted that the
wounds had this circular shape,

and gave an opinion that it was
similar to the head of a claw

hammer.

Unfortunately, the
hammer yielded few clues.

- But the state crime
lab reported back

that there was no blood
located on the hammer.

Police also examined
the clothing Rodger was

wearing when he
found this mother.

On it was his mother's blood.

- Rodger had told us that
he had found this mother.

That he, in fact, had
knelt down next to her

and cradled her head.

Had made some attempt
to revive her.

So the simple fact that her
blood was on his clothing

really did not give us a
whole lot of information.

Three months passed.

Then, 180 miles away in
the town of Eau Claire,

Wisconsin, 19-year-old
Steve Hanson

was arrested for
beating a man to death.

- Steve Hanson
committed the m*rder

with a hammer, which was
a possible instrument that

was used to m*rder Lynnea Gran.

- The officers thought that Steve
Hanson had to be connected,

or at least had to be
looked at as seriously

connected, with
whatever had happened.

I mean, how common is it for
hammerhead blows to the head

murders within the same
geographical areas?

Then police
learned something else...

That Steve Hanson and Rodger
Gran knew one another.

They both had the
same group of friends,

and allegedly had
used dr*gs together.

Was it possible that the two
had a disagreement, possibly

involving dr*gs, and
the m*rder was revenge?

Police were investigating
two brutal murders

in Wisconsin, both
committed with a hammer.


arrested for the m*rder in Eau

Claire, and
eventually confessed.

He denied having anything
to do with Lynnea Gran's

m*rder 180 miles
away in Superior.

He also said he had an
alibi, which checked out.

- While he knew Rodger Gran, and
while he had... still had ties

to the community, he was
living in Eau Claire,

and could not have
been in Superior

at time of Lynnea Gran's m*rder.

With no suspects
and no apparent motive,

the case went cold.

- It was frustrating, personally.

The Gran homicide was
probably the worst

homicide I've ever seen.

It bothered me that we were
not able to successfully

bring this case to conclusion.


until March of 2004,

when Police Captain
Chad La Lor was

assigned to head a
new cold case unit.

The first case
that caught his eye

was the Lynnea Gran
case... a m*rder

that took place when he
was still in high school.

- Investigators at
the time weren't sure

which way to go with
the investigation.

We had Rodger Gran
there stating that he

had found this mother dead.

That he had been there
earlier in the evening

and she was fine.

We had no other eye witnesses.

It was really a tough case
based on a lack of witnesses,

and a lack of conclusive
forensic evidence in the case.

Special Agent
John Christophersen

was also assigned to the case.

- Captain La Lor
and I looked at all

of the evidence that
was kept from 1986.

And we subsequently transported
the evidence to the crime

laboratory in Madison, and
met with analyst Ken Olson.

- Back in 1986 when
this homicide occurred,

we were just starting,
as a laboratory,

to do blood stain
pattern analysis

and interpretation
at crime scenes.

We weren't doing blood
stain pattern interpretation

on clothing until
the early 1990s.

One of the first things

Olson did was to
examine the claw hammer

found in the victim's kitchen.

The 1986 analysis
didn't find anything.

But with new
high-powered microscopes,

Olson found minute
amounts of what

appeared to be blood in the
hammer's grooves and edges.

Even if this stain had
been identified in 1986,

it would have been too
small for DNA testing.

By 2004, that was
no longer the case.

- Because of DNA, you don't even
have to see the sample anymore.

The stain was
identified as human blood.

And DNA testing
gave investigators

their first hard evidence.

- Once the DNA was
tested on the hammer,

and it came back
to be Lynnea's DNA,

that hammer became a
probable m*rder w*apon.

That was a major
breakthrough in the case.

And now we have
the m*rder w*apon.

It was a hammer.

It was found in the Lynnea
Gran, Rodger Gran home.

Next, investigators
examined a denim jacket

confiscated from
Rodger Gran's bedroom

on the night of the m*rder,
even though he wasn't wearing it

when police arrived
at the scene.

On the right sleeve, Olson
found tiny mist-list droplets

of blood, high-velocity
impact spatter, which

is very different from
a blood drop or smear.

- If you have somebody that
has impact stains that

are small enough,
that are consistent

with high-energy impact
stains, that person

was either delivering
the blows or standing

nearby when the
person was beaten.

Inside the jacket,
there was more blood.

It looked like a contact
or smear pattern.

- I think what the
investigators thought,

and what the crime lab presumed,
was that the m*rder w*apon was

bloody, and was placed
in the jacket pocket

to be removed from the scene.

The shoes I examined, I found
two small one millimeter

and less in diameter
blood stains

on the shoes that
were consistent

with a high-energy
impact spatter.

The DNA of the
blood on Rodger's jacket

and shoes was his mother's.

- A person with this
kind of evidence

had to have been at the scene,
or involved, or very close

to the scene when
the crime occurred.

Police confronted Rodger

Gran with this new evidence.

A lot of time had
passed since 1986.

Rodger was now a father himself
with two teenage children.

- The impact spatter on the blue
jean jacket and the blue jeans

are consistent with Rodger Gran
delivering the blows to Lynnea

Gran at the time she
was bludgeoned to death.

- Hm.

That's kind of a
strong statement.

- You would think that somebody
who's been falsely accused

of viciously
murdering their mother

would have adamantly
refuted that statement.

Maybe even becoming loud,
yell at us, or leave.

Rodger didn't do that.

Investigators asked him again,

what happened on the night
of his mother's m*rder?

This time, he said he had
an argument with his mother

around 10:00 PM, before he
left for the county fair.

He said he asked for money.

- When you go to
check on your mom,

do you remember your
mom being all right?

- When I left?

- I mean, she wasn't
hurt at that time?

- To us, that was a huge
break in the interview.

Here's a guy that claimed
his mother was fine

and he found her
dead hours later.

Yet, that indicated that he knew
something was wrong with her.

And also for the first time,

police had a possible motive.

Rodger told them
his mother refused

to give him any
money that night.

But he continued to
deny he k*lled her.

New DNA testing and
advances in forensic science

revealed what
happened on the night

of Lynnea Gran's m*rder


Prosecutors believe
Lynnea's son Rodger

was drinking with friends
and also doing dr*gs.

Rodger admitted he went to
the store around 10:00 PM

and asked his mother for money
to go to the county fair.

Prosecutors think Lynnea
refused, probably because she

knew he was using
dr*gs and alcohol.

And she also told him he
couldn't drive the family car.

They argued.

Rodger lost control, grabbed
a hammer from a toolbox,

and struck his
mother repeatedly.

The force created
high-impact blood spatter

on Rodger's denim
jacket, particularly

on the right sleeve
and on his shoes.

He locked the front door,
went back to his home,

and washed the hammer,
removed his jacket,

then met his friends
at the county fair.

When Rodger returned
home, around 2:00 AM,

he called 911 to report finding
his mother's body in the store.

- Rodger was not
in his right mind.

He was not in control
of his faculties.

He was an irrational,
frustrated,

messed up kid under
the influence.

And in his right
mind, he would never

consider harming our
mother or anyone.

It took 20
years for forensic science

to develop to the point where
the microscopic particles

on Rodger's jacket, shoes, and
hammer could be identified.

During those years,
Rodger Gran's life

was one of drug abuse,
dysfunction, and divorce.

- He was in and out
of... I couldn't even

begin to count how many
different times he was

in and out of psych wards,
detox centers, rehab.

- Rodger Gran lived
in Superior for 18,


was ever arrested

for his mother's m*rder.

At any time, he could've left
and probably escaped justice.

I don't believe he was
ever running from the law.

I believe he was always running
from having k*lled his mother.

Faced with the
evidence and the possibility

of putting his family through
a trial, Rodger Gran confessed.

He pleaded guilty to a charge
of second degree m*rder,

and was sentenced to


- The case stands out from
so many perspectives.

And again, the satisfaction
of seeing the good police work

at the time that got put on the
back burner that was reopened

with a new look,
with new technology,

new forensic evidence.

Just the sense of justice
is really overwhelming.

- There's an old saying, justice
delayed is justice denied.

But I don't think
that's entirely true.

And I think the
family of Rodger Gran

would say that that's
not necessarily true.

It took 19 years for them
to find out the truth.

But at least now
they know the truth

because the science
has assisted in that.

- It gives you renewed hope
that cases that have remained

unsolved for numerous
years do have

the potential to be solved.

And the bad guy is still
someplace out there,

knowing full well
that the police now

have today's technology, and
we may be knocking on your door

tomorrow.