Welcome back everyone! Welcome to Season 2 of Love and Murder! We haven’t been on air for 3 weeks and we missed yall! I hope yall have been staying out of trouble! I rang in 2022 with being sick and I’ve been knocked on my ass for an entire week! How’d you ring in 2022?
So first off, if you missed any episode of season 1, no worries, it’s there. But catch it while you can! Soon, season 1 will only be available to our Patreon subscribers! Speaking of Patreon, it’s currently only $3/mo and this week’s bonus episode is interview reading of Seth Privacky. If you don’t remember him, listen to our last episode of 2021, episode #39.
Speaking of what we did in December, I did count down shows in the spirit of counting down to 2022. If you missed it, check out episodes #38 “5 Delusional Parents and Their Murderous Kids” and #39 “End of Year Count Down – 5 Kid Murderers.”
Tonight we are talking about the case of Grady Stiles also known as Lobster Boy.
Grady Franklin Stiles Jr was born on June 26, 1937 in Pittsburg PA. He was the fourth child of Grady F Stiles Sr and Edna (Edna Mode – have you watched the Incredibles?). He was born with a genetic condition called ectrodctyly. This deformity is when the fingers and toes fuse together in the womb and form hands and feet that look like lobster claws. Grady Jr’s hands consisted of a thumb that just looked long and one other finger. The fingers looked normal with nails on it and everything, he was just missing the three middle fingers and the hand. So his hand looked like two long fingers on opposite ends and like a long v in the middle – just like Mr. Krab’s claws. This also affected his feet, which looked similar to his hands, and it affected the way he walked. Grady Sr. said this this was something that ran in his side of the family. He’s known people in his family who had this deformity dating back to 1840. So Jr. was the 6th generation of this. Char, heavy question, if you knew that by getting with someone your child would most likely come out with an issue would you still get with the person? Honestly, I don’t know. I could say what everyone expects you to say so that you sound like a decent person, but my honest answer is that I don’t know.
So Sr. here, who had the same deformity, was in a traveling carnival as a sideshow attraction. At 7, Grady Jr. was brought into his father’s sideshow act, along with his sister, and they toured as the Lobster Family. By this time, Jr was using a wheelchair because of his issues walking, or he would crawl or drag himself around wherever he wanted to go. Because of the way he got around and the fact that he really couldn’t use his legs, Grady Jr’s upper body strength was exceptional. Growing up, during the offseason of touring, the family lived in Gibsonton, FL which is where alot of other carnival folk lived and also called Showtown USA. Why am I not surprised that this is in FL?
Now, unlike other “freak show acts” the Lobster Family didn’t allow people to do anything degrading to them, they didn’t allow pokes or allow the carnival to feature them in any degrading way. They only allowed the customers of the circus to stare at them curiously. I mention this because, back then, whenever there were freak shows on the docket in a carnival, they were often subjected to degradation – like the fat lady, the bearded lady, that guy who always let canons get shot into his belly, etc… You’ve heard of them. Anyway, they didn’t get paid alot. Many of the sideshow freaks that I’ve read about died desolate, broke and alone but this wasn’t the case for the Stiles family. They did pretty well making anywhere between $50,000 to $80,000 per season. And that was back in the day! So imagine how much money that was.
When Grady Jr got older, growing up in the carni world, he met and married a carnival worker named Mary Herzog (or some people say Maria Teresa), who was a young lady who had run away from home to join the circus when she was a teenager. Unlike the Stiles, she wasn’t part of the circus acts, she was a staff member who traveled with the circus to help set up, sold tickets, etc. Grady Jr. and Mary had two children and the Grady family trait was passed down to one of their children. Of course, Grady Jr did as his father had and capitalized on this by including his child in his act.
Before and during his marriage, Grady Jr was an abusive alcoholic with anger issues. Do you think his anger stemmed from his deformity and the fact that he grew up in a freak show? Maybe he just wanted people to accept him? Either way, that’s no excuse to abuse your family. As he’s abusive, remember how strong this guy is as well. Why waste your time hurting the people who love? I don’t understand abusive people. Anyway, after some time, he got tired of his family and he threw his wife and kids out of the house and went on with his life.
A while later, he married another woman named Barbara Browning – how is he getting all of these women? During this time, in 1978, his and Mary’s daughter, Donna was about to get married herself. However, as many fathers, Grady Jr didn’t like his soon to be son in law. So, like many fathers, on the night before his daughter was to be married, he asked her fiancé to come on over to the house to have a son-in-law/ father-in-law chat. Of course the guy ran over hoping to get his father to love him in order to make his marriage easier. When he got there, Grady Jr. did what most fathers do NOT do; he grabbed a shotgun and blew fiancé away right then and there and right in front of Donna. While she sobbed and held her love in her hands, Grady Jr told her, “I told you I would kill him” and he smiled down at her – I’m not sure, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a loving smile.
Donna freaked out and called the cops. Grady Jr. was arrested, went to trial, and did the opposite of what most of the people in our cases do; he plead guilty to 3rd degree murder. Damn he didn’t give a crap! While on trial, pleading, and sentencing, people in the courthouse said he showed absolutely no remorse about what he did. The only problem here was, there was no prison or institution in PA that could handle an inmate with ectrodctyly, cirrhosis of the liver – oh yea, he’d developed cirrhosis because he was that much of an alcoholic by this time – and emphysema from years and years of smoking 60 Pall Mall cigarettes’ a day – can you imagine the kind of health this guy is in? Anyway, so in 1979 he ended up only being sentenced to 15 years probation on house arrest. Can you imagine that?! He killed someone in cold blood – premeditated too – and all he got was probation!
While all of this was going on, Grady Jr and Barbara had two children together. One of them was a daughter who also had ectrodctyly. Why is someone having more kids with this guy? During this marriage, he subjected this family as well to his abuse and drunken rampages. Barbara was like bump this and took her kids and divorced Grady Jr.
After all of this went down, Donna never spoke to her father after this, however; her mother, Mary, got the hots for the abuse, alcoholism, and blatant disrespect again. In 1989, she got back with Grady Jr. Anyway, Grady Jr had promised her that he was better, he wouldn’t abuse her any more, yea I know I threw you and the kids out and left you to fend for yourself but that was the old me baby. Remember when we held hands in the park that one day? That was a good day. We can have many more like that. Just come back to me baby. And on and on and on with what abusers always promise to get you back.
So after this sweet talking, and murdering their child’s fiancé, and being married to another woman with a kid – Mary said yea I can see that you’re a changed man even though your other wife took the kids and left you – so yea, come on and get back with me. They got back together and moved to Gibsonton, Florida.
Grady got back on the road working with the carnival. He brought his son and daughter – remember both of them had ectrodctyly – on the road with him and they continued the tradition of “The Lobster Family” that his father had started.
On the family front, of course, with all the signs shining brightly in Mary’s face like a club spotlight, Grady Jr didn’t even remotely change. In fact, he became worse than he was before. He beat his wife and kids, drank, and was as abusive as always. He constantly threatened to kill her and the kids and end it all. His favorite past time was chocking Mary within inches of her life. He sexually abused her and sometimes she would even wake up from sleep to him holding a knife to her throat. What in the actual….. One time, when Mary said she wanted a divorce, Grady Jr. tried to smother her to death with a pillow.
In 1992, Mary decided that she’d had enough of his abuse and decided to take matters into her own hands. She recruited her son from a previous marriage, Glenn Jr, to help her find someone who was willing to commit murder. There sure are a lot of Jrs in this case! Glenn brought her this 17 year old kid named Chris Wyant and told her that he was with a gang. (He was actually a sideshow performer in the carnival) Mary was like – that’s good enough – and paid Chris to murder Grady Jr. There are conflicting reports as to how much she paid him. Some reports say $300 and some say $1,500, either way, who takes so little cash to commit murder? Obviously, not saying any amount of money should be taken to commit murder, but I’m just saying that something so egregious for only $300?! Good Lord! So anyway, she basically put a hit out on Grady Jr.
So one day, in November, while Grady Jr was off of work, chillin in his draws, watching tv Chris broke into the house and shot him, with a .32 Colt Automatic, in the back of his head, twice. Just like that.
During the trial, no one denied that they wanted to kill Grady Jr. They told the jury of the abuse he put on her and the children; of everything they went through for years. “My husband was going to kill my family. I believe that from the bottom of my heart.” His favorite daughter, Cathay, testified against him as well.
The jury convicted Chris of second degree murder and sentenced to 27 years in prison. Harry was sentenced to life in prison for his role as the mastermind, even though his mother tried to get him to take a plea bargain. He refused and got this sentence. Mary was sentenced to 43 years for conspiracy to commit murder.
In February of 1997, Mary began her jail sentence. She’s tried to appeal through out the years but they have been unsuccessful.
Only 10 people showed up to Grady Jr.’s funeral and the funeral home couldn’t find anyone who was willing to be pallbearers. That’s how much his family and the community hated him. Grady Jr was verbally and physically abusive to everyone in the community and random strangers. He constantly hit them or choked them and he would also head-butt people out of anger. Can you imagine this guy? You’re just going out to the grocery and he doesn’t like how you parked so he starts choking you. What the freak is going on here?!
Grady Stiles III, disputes that Mary had Grady Jr. murdered. According to his story, Mary and Grady Jr were arguing and she’d said, “Something needs to be done.” He said Glenn heard this and went over to a neighbor’s house (Chris) and repeated what his mother had said. After this, and of his own volition, Chris came into the house and shot Grady. That’s what Mary’s son said happened.
This is exactly what he said, “”What actually happened was my mother and my dad had gotten in another fight as usual and my mother had made the comment that something needed to be done. My brother had overheard that and went to the neighbor kid and told him that something had to be done. My brother thought that meant scaring him or beating [my dad] up or something to make him realize that he was going to lose his family. A little while later, my dad was shot.”
Grady III went on to say, “”I’m not a fan of my dad as a person. My father was racist [and] abusive. When I cried, [he was like] ‘I’ll give you a reason a to cry.'”
He also said there was one thing he wished he could tell his father, “Thank you for showing me who not to be and maybe you can appreciate who I became because of that. You were a drunken bastard but you were my dad.”
And that is the story of Lobster Boy Grady Stiles Jr.
What do you all think of this case? As a jury member, how would you have gone with your verdict for either person? Guilty or Not Guilty?
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