January 9, 2024 • 27 mins
In July of 1994, 42 year old Dolly Rose Grigsby was reported missing after visiting a shopping mall in Bluefield, West Virginia. Her husband, Dan Grigsby, did everything he could to try to find his missing wife and mother of their two children. The more time passed, it appeared what happened to Dolly would remain a mystery forever. But a shocking development three months later blew the case wide open.
Hosted and produced by Erica Kelley
Researched and written by Gemma Harris
Original Graphic Art by Coley Horner
Original Music by Rob Harrison of Gamma Radio
Edited & Mixed by Brandon Schexnayder & Erica Kelley
Sources: https://southernfriedtruecrime.com/dolly-rose-grigsby
This episode is brought to you by:
Hosted and produced by Erica Kelley
Researched and written by Gemma Harris
Original Graphic Art by Coley Horner
Original Music by Rob Harrison of Gamma Radio
Edited & Mixed by Brandon Schexnayder & Erica Kelley
Sources: https://southernfriedtruecrime.com/dolly-rose-grigsby
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Southern fried True crime covers cases thatare not suitable for young listeners, and
there may also be some explicit languageused. Listener discretion is advised. On
the summer evening of July nineteenth,nineteen ninety four, Dan Grigsby was slightly
unsettled. He and his wife oftwenty five years, Dolly, had stopped
(00:26):
by the Mercer Mall in Bluefield,West Virginia. The couple was on their
way home to pilgrimsnob Virginia, afterdropping their fifteen year old son, Danny,
and his friend off at a footballcamp in the West Virginia town of
Athens, almost eighty miles away.Dolly told Dan she wanted to take a
detour on the way back to goto the mall. Eager to get inside
(00:48):
and check out the bargains, Dollyand Dan agreed that she would head in
first and Dan would meet up withher in the Seares Electronics department. But
when Dan made his way into themall a short time later, he couldn't
find Dolly anywhere. He wasn't tooconcerned, his wife had likely become engrossed
looking around, but the longer Danwaited, the more his concerns grew.
(01:11):
It was unlike Dolly to not keepher word about meeting up with someone.
This was a woman who called herloved ones if she unexpectedly left the house
in case they needed her and shewasn't at home. Feeling conflicted, Dan
got back in the car and drovehome to Pilgrim's Nob, where he called
the West Virginia Police. But inthe coming months, when the truth about
(01:33):
what happened to Dolly emerged, itwas, depending on who you asked,
either entirely predictable or the least likelything anyone could ever have expected. Welcome
to Episode two o six, TheMurder of Dolly Rose Grigsby. Pilgrim's Knob
(01:56):
in but Cannan County, Virginia isa tiny mining community of less than five
hundred people about three hundred and fiftymiles west of Richmond. It's in the
far western part of the state,just south of the West Virginia border.
Though originally named for the fifteenth AmericanPresident, James Buchanan, I am in
fact pronouncing Buchanan County like locals do. Settled in eighteen thirty three, It
(02:22):
wasn't until over half a century laterthat Pilgrim's Snob was officially named upon the
opening of its very first post office. Situated on the Appalachian Plateau west of
the Appalachian Mountains, The area wasa major coal mining source, driving the
local economy since the early nineteen thirties. It was a cloudy, yet pleasant
(02:44):
summer morning on July nineteenth of nineteenninety four, just seventy four degrees when
Dolly Grigsby and her husband Dan,and their teenage son Danny set out on
a road trip. The couple droveDanny and a friend to a football camp
ninety minutes away at Concord University overthe state line in Athens. Forty two
(03:07):
year old Dolly was a house proudmom, totally devoted to her two children.
She was also an active, dedicatedmember of the Loggy Bottom Pentecostal Holiness
Church in nearby Whitewood. Dolly Rosewas born on June fourth, nineteen fifty
two, in Bartlett, Virginia,to parents Noah and Velva. The Roses
(03:29):
were your typical big Southern family,with Dolly being one of thirteen children.
Her forty three year old husband,Dan Richard Grigsby was born around nineteen fifty
one, one of six children toparents William and Florline. It's not clear
exactly where Dan was born, butavailable records show both his parents were born
(03:50):
in nearby Russell County. Dan andDolly were married on May twenty sixth,
nineteen sixty nine, and Clintwood inDickinson County, Virginia. They really did
appear to be childhood sweethearts. Whenthey were pronounced husband and wife, Dan
was eighteen years old and Dolly wasjust sixteen. While this is usually unacceptable
(04:12):
by today's standards, it wasn't uncommonin the late sixties. When Dolly was
around twenty one years old, sheand Dan moved to Buchanan County, where
they raised their two children, Dianeand Danny. Diane was born in nineteen
seventy one and Danny in nineteen seventynine. I'm going to pause now for
a short commercial break. Following Dan'smissing persons report, police wasted no time
(04:44):
launching an investigation. Dan told lawenforcement that after dropping Danny and his friend
at the football camp, he andDolly stopped at the state park in Hinton,
West Virginia, before having an earlydinner at a fast food restaurant.
The last stop on their road trip, and the last place Dan would see
Dolly was the parking lot of theMercer Mall in Bluefield at around five point
(05:05):
thirty pm. According to Dan,he let Dolly out at the mall's main
entrance while he went to find aparking spot. After doing so, he
went inside to sears, but Dollywasn't there. After searching for his wife
for a while with no luck,Dan got in the car and drove back
to Pilgrim's Knob. He reported hiswife's disappearance to West Virginia State Police around
(05:30):
two thirty am the next morning.Dan told investigators that there hadn't been any
issues out of the ordinary in theGrigsby household. They had weathered the usual
ups and downs that come with beingmarried for a quarter of a century,
including Dan's chronic pain, which sawthe retired coal mine foreman no longer able
to work. So Dan was ata loss to explain why his wife would
(05:56):
suddenly have run off. The onlything he could think of causing any concern
in Dolly's life recently were issues attheir church involving one of her closest friends.
According to Dan, Dolly had toldhim the church problems made her want
to get away, but other thanthat, she hadn't been upset or distressed
about anything in particular, and itwas noted that it was completely out of
(06:21):
character for Dolly to just take offwithout saying anything to anyone. Dan didn't
contact mall security before he left Bluefield, but it's not clear why, and
it wasn't like the mall was aroundthe corner from their house. If Dolly
had come outside to find her husbandand her only means of transport gone,
(06:41):
it was at least a seventy fiveminute drive home, Yet Dan told police
he assumed that she had hitched aride. Questions remained as to why Dan
didn't hang around longer to see ifhis wife would show up, or at
least contact local law enforcement right away. He had waited a full nine hours
(07:01):
before reporting Dolly missing. It's understandableDan may have anticipated being told to wait
twenty four hours before raising the alarm, but it did seem unusual because Dolly
always let her husband and kids knowwhere she would be. According to the
Bristol Harald Courier, Police from Buchannon, Craig and Dickinson Counties, in addition
(07:24):
to West Virginia State Police, searcheda forestate area for the missing woman.
Law enforcements. Multi jurisdictional search extendedto Kentucky and Tennessee, where Dolly had
relatives. A detailed description of Dollyat the time of her disappearance was widely
publicized. She was five foot seven, had a fair complexion and sandy graying
(07:46):
hair that appeared frosted. She hadbeen wearing a light tan, mid length
skirt, matching blouse with three quarterlength sleeves and light green and yellow horizontal
stripes with white sandals. She alsowore blue prescription glasses and had a scar
above her right eye, and shewas carrying a brown Aigne brand purse.
(08:09):
Even though he had waited to reporther missing, when he did, Dan
immediately jumped into action, publicly doingwhat he could to try and bring Dolly
home safe. He spent thousands ofdollars on ads and the Bristol Harold Courier
pleading for any information as to Dolly'swhereabouts. In one of many stories in
(08:31):
the newspaper, Dan begged for anyoneto make contact if they had spoken to
his wife, saying, quote,if anyone knows anything, we just want
them to let us know. Thatshe's okay. If she reads this,
we just want her to call herfamily to let us know she's all right.
However, as the days and thenweeks passed, Dolly made no contact
(08:54):
with her family or friends. Herdistraught loved ones hoped that something uncharacteristic had
have preventing her from calling home.Dan was a regular fixture at church,
leaning on his spiritual community for muchneeded emotional support, but as more time
passed, everyone's fears grew. Itwas increasingly unlikely that Dolly would be found
(09:18):
alive. However, with no proof, everything was still up in the air.
The disappearance was all anyone in Pilgrim'sKnob and the surrounding areas could talk
about. In August, Virginia StatePolice were brought in to assist, under
the leadership of Special Agent Jack Davidson. By early September, Dan's ads,
(09:41):
published in the Bristol Herald Courier wereaccompanied by news of a five thousand dollars
reward for any information about Dolly's disappearancethat would be over ten thousand today.
Dan continued to cooperate fully with police, even taking a polygraph, but according
to Rowanoake Times, his results provedto be cause for concern. Out of
(10:05):
ten questions, Dan felt the threemost significant, asking specifically about Dolly's whereabouts,
and by now law enforcement knew somethingDan did not know. They knew.
Investigators had learned that Dan and Dollyhad not stopped by Mercer Maul at
all. Police had suspected from thevery start that Dan not only knew more
(10:28):
than he had let on, butwas directly involved in his wife's disappearance.
According to The Roanoke Times, discontentbubbled not far from the surface. In
the Grigsby marriage detectives learned things weresaid to be so bad between the couple
that in August nineteen eighty seven andagain exactly a year later, Dolly had
(10:50):
filed for divorce. She suspected Danof being unfaithful and also claimed he had
been physically, emotionally and mentally abusive, But on each occasion, the couple
reconciled and Dolly withdrew the filing.Indeed, according to friends of the couple,
their relationship had outwardly been back ontrack by the time Dolly disappeared.
(11:13):
In cases where there don't seem tobe any leads or sufficient evidence to lead
to an arrest. Law enforcement relieson the public coming forward with information to
crack the case. All it takesis one person, and this is exactly
what happened in the case of DollyRose Griggsby. In early October, investigators
(11:37):
were contacted by a clintwood Man,thirty eight year old Mickey Breeding. Mickey
was friends with Dan's thirty nine yearold brother, Ken Griggsby, and what
he had to say was shocking.If true, it would confirm what police
had suspected all along. Mickey revealedthat Ken had asked him to help Dan
(11:58):
dispose of Dolly's body. On Octoberfifth, Mickey accompanied state police to an
area near tub Run Road in theJefferson National Forest in Craig County, Virginia.
There, he directed investigators to whathe said were Dolly's badly decomposed,
dismembered partial remains buried in multiple brownplastic bags underneath rocks in a creek bed.
(12:24):
Mickey also directed them to a separatesite a couple of miles away,
where a partial human jawbone with anintact muller was recovered, along with ten
other loose teeth, Dolly's underwear,and a blanket. Micky claimed had been
wrapped around Dolly's body. One thingmissing, though, was Dolly's head.
(12:45):
When investigators contacted Ken, they learnedthat Mickey wasn't making anything up. The
next day, October sixth, elevenweeks after Dolly was reported missing, her
husband was charged with first degree murderin using a fire and the commission of
a felony. As Dan Grigsby wasimmediately deemed a flight risk and there were
(13:05):
concerns he would attempt to target witnesses, he was held without bond. He
refused to talk, only asking foran attorney. I'm going to pause now
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Police publicly acknowledged that there was amotive for this laying, but refused to
elaborate. If convicted, Dan wasfacing twenty years to life in prison for
(16:06):
the murder charge and one to fiveyears on the firearm charge. Dan's brother
Ken and his friend Micky Breeding wereboth charged with the misdemeanor of being an
accessory. Until their preliminary hearings onNovember eighth and Craig County General District Court,
both men were free on bond.Along with the partial jawbone. Dental
(16:27):
records confirmed the remains were those ofDolly Grigsby. At her autopsy, the
medical examiner found the wife and motherof two had been shot at least three
times in the back and chest witha thirty two caliber handgun. Two bullets
were still lodged in Dolly's torso,with a chest wound proving fatal. The
(16:49):
level of decomposition indicated her remains hadlain where they had been found for at
least a month. I cannot imaginehow painful this whole ordeal was for Dolly's
children, Diane and Danny. Bythis time, twenty three year old Diane
was married and living with her husband. They took Danny in without a second
(17:11):
thought, later becoming his legal guardians. Remember, Diane was about eight years
older than her brother, who wouldhave been about fifteen. At Dan's preliminary
hearing in early November in Craig CountyGeneral District Court, he pleaded not guilty
to murdering Dolly. He also deniedrecruiting Ken and Mickey to dispose of Dolly's
(17:33):
remains or accompanying them to the forestto do so. At Ken's preliminary hearing
in December, though, he hada very different account. He said Dan
told him, his wife and theirdaughter that he had killed Dolly at Dan's
hunting cabin in the forest following anargument, though Ken didn't know what the
argument was about. Dan then askedhis brother to help hide her body.
(18:00):
The court also heard that Dan thentold Mickey he had killed Dolly. In
the end, Ken waved his rightto a preliminary hearing. He would be
automatically sent to a grand jury inthe new year. Later in December,
Dan's bond was set at two hundredand fifty thousand. He waived his right
to be indicted by a grand jury, opting to proceed straight to a bench
(18:22):
trial. In February nineteen ninety five, Kin was indicted by a grand jury.
If convicted, he faced up totwenty years in prison. As the
date of Dan's trial grew closer,Kin knew that if he gave up further
information, this could only help hisown case. Just before Dan's trial,
began. Ken told police that Dolly'shead was buried in his late father's garden.
(18:49):
At Dan's one day trial in Maynineteen ninety five, Commonwealth Attorney Thaddeus
Cox told the court that some timebefore the murder, Dan bought the thirty
two caliber revolver from a man inClintwood, Virginia. Ken Grigsby was the
prosecution's star witness, along with hiswife and daughter. Ken testified that Dan
(19:11):
told him that on July nineteenth,he took Dolly on a walk through the
Jefferson National Park near his hunting cabin. After briefly running back to his vehicle
to retrieve his gun, but tellingDolly he was fetching a soda, Dan
caught up to his wife. Afterhelping her over a fallen tree, he
shot her. He wrapped his wife'sbody in a green blanket before dragging her
(19:36):
to a dry creek bed. Danthen dug a shallow grave and covered the
site with rocks. Ken told thecourt that Dan, concerned the body would
soon be discovered, approached him,who recruited Mickey to dispose of Dolly's remains.
Dan paid the men six hundred dollarseach about twelve hundred. Today,
Dan, Ken, and Mickey droveout to the forest where Ken and Mickey
(20:00):
dug up Dolly's body in order toprevent her from being identified. The men
decapitated Dolly before burying her head twomiles away. The following week, Ken
and Mickey returned to the site whereDolly's head had been buried. Upon Dan's
request. They dug it up andKen took it back to Dickinson County.
(20:22):
But what he didn't know, eitherfrom the level of decomposition or something else,
was that Dolly's lower jawbone was leftthere. This allowed investigators to recover
it when Mickey later escorted them tothe scene. On a third visit to
the forest, Mickey and Ken againdug up Dolly's remains, this time to
dismember her. They haphazardly stuffed herbody parts into plastic bags before hastily burying
(20:49):
them under rocks in a creek bed. In an attempt to divert suspicion away
from himself. Dan then went publicwith his intense focus on searching for his
missing wife, hence the ads andthe frequent emotional breakdowns at church. But
at trial, there was corroborative evidencefrom other witnesses about Dan confessing to multiple
(21:11):
people. I'm going to pause nowfor a final commercial break. Dan didn't
take the stand in his own defense. His attorney, Carl McAfee, did
his best to argue for the firstdegree murder charge to be downgraded to second
(21:33):
degree murder, relying on the prosecution'sresponsibility to prove intent, which seems like
it would be an easy feat forthe Commonwealth considering Dan's purchase of the gun
beforehand. A defense psychiatrist also testifiedthat on the day of the murder,
Dan drank beer and was under theinfluence of ten different medications for chronic pain
(21:56):
and severe deppression. As psychiatrist alsospoke about Dan's two previous attempts at taking
his own life, claiming that priorto the murder, he told a psychologist
that if Dolly ended the marriage,he would kill her and then himself.
For these reasons, the defense claimedDan was incapable of knowing right from wrong,
(22:19):
but Circuit Judge Duncan Bird Junior didn'tbuy it, finding Dan sane at
the time of the murder, aswell as guilty on both charges. On
August twenty first, nineteen ninety five, Dan was sentenced to fifty years in
prison on the first degree murder chargeand three years for the firearm charge seven
(22:41):
months earlier. In January nineteen ninetyfive, sentencing reforms in Virginia saw discretionary
parole abolished for felonies committed in orafter that year. Inmates would be required
to serve at least eighty five percentof their sentence, though they could or
in credit for g good behavior,which would count toward potential early release.
(23:04):
But as Dan murdered Dolly before thenew law came into effect, he would
be eligible for parole in just anotherfourteen years. And what of Dan's accomplices,
his brother Ken and Mickey Breeding InJune nineteen ninety five, Ken was
convicted of being an accessory after thefact and sentenced to twelve months in prison.
(23:26):
That same month, the charge againstMickey was dismissed in return for his
cooperation with investigators and his information whichdirectly resulted in Dan's conviction. It's not
clear from the available information whether themurder weapon was ever recovered. In subsequent
years. Dan has submitted numerous appeals, but all of these have been dismissed.
(23:52):
Today, seventy two year old Danis incarcerated at the Deerfield Correctional Center
in Caprin, Virginia. He becameeligible for parole around two thousand nine and
has applied multiple times over the years, his most recent attempt last year in
twenty twenty three. These parole attemptshave all been denied due to the seriousness
(24:14):
of Dolly's murder. Dan's prison recordsindicate a scheduled release date of April two
thousand thirty three, which would meanhe would serve only thirty eight years of
his fifty three year sentence, buthe will be eighty three years old if
he lives that long. But givenhis parole denials to date, it's likely
that Dan will die in prison.No real motive other than the possible argument
(24:40):
of the hunting cabin has ever beenestablished or publicized. But of course Dolly
had already accused her husband a physicaland emotional abuse, and since Dolly Grigsby
had already falled for divorce twice,perhaps Dan's motive was the same disgusting reason
so many abusive men kill their wivescontrol. Maybe there was a fight that
(25:04):
awful day and Dolly said she wasdone for good, but Dan had brought
a gun and taken his wife toan isolated area so it would seem he
planned to kill his wife of twentyfive years, the mother of his children,
and then coldly having her body dismembered. Dolly Grigsby was only forty two
(25:29):
years old. She had her wholelife ahead of her. She had children
she loved and future grandchildren to cherish, but it was all ripped away from
her by her jealous and abusive husbandwho just would not let her go.
He would rather see her dead.Southern Fried True Crime is hosted and produced
(25:53):
by me Erica Kelly. Today's episodewas researched and written by Jimma Harris.
As usual, any editorial comments andopinions are my own. Southern Fred's original
music is by Rob Harrison of GammaRadio and the original graphic artist by Kly
Horner. If you have any casesuggestions, please go to my website,
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thanks so much for listening. You'lltake care
Southern fried True crime covers cases thatare not suitable for young listeners, and
there may also be some explicit languageused. Listener discretion is advised. On
the summer evening of July nineteenth,nineteen ninety four, Dan Grigsby was slightly
unsettled. He and his wife oftwenty five years, Dolly, had stopped
(00:26):
by the Mercer Mall in Bluefield,West Virginia. The couple was on their
way home to pilgrimsnob Virginia, afterdropping their fifteen year old son, Danny,
and his friend off at a footballcamp in the West Virginia town of
Athens, almost eighty miles away.Dolly told Dan she wanted to take a
detour on the way back to goto the mall. Eager to get inside
(00:48):
and check out the bargains, Dollyand Dan agreed that she would head in
first and Dan would meet up withher in the Seares Electronics department. But
when Dan made his way into themall a short time later, he couldn't
find Dolly anywhere. He wasn't tooconcerned, his wife had likely become engrossed
looking around, but the longer Danwaited, the more his concerns grew.
(01:11):
It was unlike Dolly to not keepher word about meeting up with someone.
This was a woman who called herloved ones if she unexpectedly left the house
in case they needed her and shewasn't at home. Feeling conflicted, Dan
got back in the car and drovehome to Pilgrim's Nob, where he called
the West Virginia Police. But inthe coming months, when the truth about
(01:33):
what happened to Dolly emerged, itwas, depending on who you asked,
either entirely predictable or the least likelything anyone could ever have expected. Welcome
to Episode two o six, TheMurder of Dolly Rose Grigsby. Pilgrim's Knob
(01:56):
in but Cannan County, Virginia isa tiny mining community of less than five
hundred people about three hundred and fiftymiles west of Richmond. It's in the
far western part of the state,just south of the West Virginia border.
Though originally named for the fifteenth AmericanPresident, James Buchanan, I am in
fact pronouncing Buchanan County like locals do. Settled in eighteen thirty three, It
(02:22):
wasn't until over half a century laterthat Pilgrim's Snob was officially named upon the
opening of its very first post office. Situated on the Appalachian Plateau west of
the Appalachian Mountains, The area wasa major coal mining source, driving the
local economy since the early nineteen thirties. It was a cloudy, yet pleasant
(02:44):
summer morning on July nineteenth of nineteenninety four, just seventy four degrees when
Dolly Grigsby and her husband Dan,and their teenage son Danny set out on
a road trip. The couple droveDanny and a friend to a football camp
ninety minutes away at Concord University overthe state line in Athens. Forty two
(03:07):
year old Dolly was a house proudmom, totally devoted to her two children.
She was also an active, dedicatedmember of the Loggy Bottom Pentecostal Holiness
Church in nearby Whitewood. Dolly Rosewas born on June fourth, nineteen fifty
two, in Bartlett, Virginia,to parents Noah and Velva. The Roses
(03:29):
were your typical big Southern family,with Dolly being one of thirteen children.
Her forty three year old husband,Dan Richard Grigsby was born around nineteen fifty
one, one of six children toparents William and Florline. It's not clear
exactly where Dan was born, butavailable records show both his parents were born
(03:50):
in nearby Russell County. Dan andDolly were married on May twenty sixth,
nineteen sixty nine, and Clintwood inDickinson County, Virginia. They really did
appear to be childhood sweethearts. Whenthey were pronounced husband and wife, Dan
was eighteen years old and Dolly wasjust sixteen. While this is usually unacceptable
(04:12):
by today's standards, it wasn't uncommonin the late sixties. When Dolly was
around twenty one years old, sheand Dan moved to Buchanan County, where
they raised their two children, Dianeand Danny. Diane was born in nineteen
seventy one and Danny in nineteen seventynine. I'm going to pause now for
a short commercial break. Following Dan'smissing persons report, police wasted no time
(04:44):
launching an investigation. Dan told lawenforcement that after dropping Danny and his friend
at the football camp, he andDolly stopped at the state park in Hinton,
West Virginia, before having an earlydinner at a fast food restaurant.
The last stop on their road trip, and the last place Dan would see
Dolly was the parking lot of theMercer Mall in Bluefield at around five point
(05:05):
thirty pm. According to Dan,he let Dolly out at the mall's main
entrance while he went to find aparking spot. After doing so, he
went inside to sears, but Dollywasn't there. After searching for his wife
for a while with no luck,Dan got in the car and drove back
to Pilgrim's Knob. He reported hiswife's disappearance to West Virginia State Police around
(05:30):
two thirty am the next morning.Dan told investigators that there hadn't been any
issues out of the ordinary in theGrigsby household. They had weathered the usual
ups and downs that come with beingmarried for a quarter of a century,
including Dan's chronic pain, which sawthe retired coal mine foreman no longer able
to work. So Dan was ata loss to explain why his wife would
(05:56):
suddenly have run off. The onlything he could think of causing any concern
in Dolly's life recently were issues attheir church involving one of her closest friends.
According to Dan, Dolly had toldhim the church problems made her want
to get away, but other thanthat, she hadn't been upset or distressed
about anything in particular, and itwas noted that it was completely out of
(06:21):
character for Dolly to just take offwithout saying anything to anyone. Dan didn't
contact mall security before he left Bluefield, but it's not clear why, and
it wasn't like the mall was aroundthe corner from their house. If Dolly
had come outside to find her husbandand her only means of transport gone,
(06:41):
it was at least a seventy fiveminute drive home, Yet Dan told police
he assumed that she had hitched aride. Questions remained as to why Dan
didn't hang around longer to see ifhis wife would show up, or at
least contact local law enforcement right away. He had waited a full nine hours
(07:01):
before reporting Dolly missing. It's understandableDan may have anticipated being told to wait
twenty four hours before raising the alarm, but it did seem unusual because Dolly
always let her husband and kids knowwhere she would be. According to the
Bristol Harald Courier, Police from Buchannon, Craig and Dickinson Counties, in addition
(07:24):
to West Virginia State Police, searcheda forestate area for the missing woman.
Law enforcements. Multi jurisdictional search extendedto Kentucky and Tennessee, where Dolly had
relatives. A detailed description of Dollyat the time of her disappearance was widely
publicized. She was five foot seven, had a fair complexion and sandy graying
(07:46):
hair that appeared frosted. She hadbeen wearing a light tan, mid length
skirt, matching blouse with three quarterlength sleeves and light green and yellow horizontal
stripes with white sandals. She alsowore blue prescription glasses and had a scar
above her right eye, and shewas carrying a brown Aigne brand purse.
(08:09):
Even though he had waited to reporther missing, when he did, Dan
immediately jumped into action, publicly doingwhat he could to try and bring Dolly
home safe. He spent thousands ofdollars on ads and the Bristol Harold Courier
pleading for any information as to Dolly'swhereabouts. In one of many stories in
(08:31):
the newspaper, Dan begged for anyoneto make contact if they had spoken to
his wife, saying, quote,if anyone knows anything, we just want
them to let us know. Thatshe's okay. If she reads this,
we just want her to call herfamily to let us know she's all right.
However, as the days and thenweeks passed, Dolly made no contact
(08:54):
with her family or friends. Herdistraught loved ones hoped that something uncharacteristic had
have preventing her from calling home.Dan was a regular fixture at church,
leaning on his spiritual community for muchneeded emotional support, but as more time
passed, everyone's fears grew. Itwas increasingly unlikely that Dolly would be found
(09:18):
alive. However, with no proof, everything was still up in the air.
The disappearance was all anyone in Pilgrim'sKnob and the surrounding areas could talk
about. In August, Virginia StatePolice were brought in to assist, under
the leadership of Special Agent Jack Davidson. By early September, Dan's ads,
(09:41):
published in the Bristol Herald Courier wereaccompanied by news of a five thousand dollars
reward for any information about Dolly's disappearancethat would be over ten thousand today.
Dan continued to cooperate fully with police, even taking a polygraph, but according
to Rowanoake Times, his results provedto be cause for concern. Out of
(10:05):
ten questions, Dan felt the threemost significant, asking specifically about Dolly's whereabouts,
and by now law enforcement knew somethingDan did not know. They knew.
Investigators had learned that Dan and Dollyhad not stopped by Mercer Maul at
all. Police had suspected from thevery start that Dan not only knew more
(10:28):
than he had let on, butwas directly involved in his wife's disappearance.
According to The Roanoke Times, discontentbubbled not far from the surface. In
the Grigsby marriage detectives learned things weresaid to be so bad between the couple
that in August nineteen eighty seven andagain exactly a year later, Dolly had
(10:50):
filed for divorce. She suspected Danof being unfaithful and also claimed he had
been physically, emotionally and mentally abusive, But on each occasion, the couple
reconciled and Dolly withdrew the filing.Indeed, according to friends of the couple,
their relationship had outwardly been back ontrack by the time Dolly disappeared.
(11:13):
In cases where there don't seem tobe any leads or sufficient evidence to lead
to an arrest. Law enforcement relieson the public coming forward with information to
crack the case. All it takesis one person, and this is exactly
what happened in the case of DollyRose Griggsby. In early October, investigators
(11:37):
were contacted by a clintwood Man,thirty eight year old Mickey Breeding. Mickey
was friends with Dan's thirty nine yearold brother, Ken Griggsby, and what
he had to say was shocking.If true, it would confirm what police
had suspected all along. Mickey revealedthat Ken had asked him to help Dan
(11:58):
dispose of Dolly's body. On Octoberfifth, Mickey accompanied state police to an
area near tub Run Road in theJefferson National Forest in Craig County, Virginia.
There, he directed investigators to whathe said were Dolly's badly decomposed,
dismembered partial remains buried in multiple brownplastic bags underneath rocks in a creek bed.
(12:24):
Mickey also directed them to a separatesite a couple of miles away,
where a partial human jawbone with anintact muller was recovered, along with ten
other loose teeth, Dolly's underwear,and a blanket. Micky claimed had been
wrapped around Dolly's body. One thingmissing, though, was Dolly's head.
(12:45):
When investigators contacted Ken, they learnedthat Mickey wasn't making anything up. The
next day, October sixth, elevenweeks after Dolly was reported missing, her
husband was charged with first degree murderin using a fire and the commission of
a felony. As Dan Grigsby wasimmediately deemed a flight risk and there were
(13:05):
concerns he would attempt to target witnesses, he was held without bond. He
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Police publicly acknowledged that there was amotive for this laying, but refused to
elaborate. If convicted, Dan wasfacing twenty years to life in prison for
(16:06):
the murder charge and one to fiveyears on the firearm charge. Dan's brother
Ken and his friend Micky Breeding wereboth charged with the misdemeanor of being an
accessory. Until their preliminary hearings onNovember eighth and Craig County General District Court,
both men were free on bond.Along with the partial jawbone. Dental
(16:27):
records confirmed the remains were those ofDolly Grigsby. At her autopsy, the
medical examiner found the wife and motherof two had been shot at least three
times in the back and chest witha thirty two caliber handgun. Two bullets
were still lodged in Dolly's torso,with a chest wound proving fatal. The
(16:49):
level of decomposition indicated her remains hadlain where they had been found for at
least a month. I cannot imaginehow painful this whole ordeal was for Dolly's
children, Diane and Danny. Bythis time, twenty three year old Diane
was married and living with her husband. They took Danny in without a second
(17:11):
thought, later becoming his legal guardians. Remember, Diane was about eight years
older than her brother, who wouldhave been about fifteen. At Dan's preliminary
hearing in early November in Craig CountyGeneral District Court, he pleaded not guilty
to murdering Dolly. He also deniedrecruiting Ken and Mickey to dispose of Dolly's
(17:33):
remains or accompanying them to the forestto do so. At Ken's preliminary hearing
in December, though, he hada very different account. He said Dan
told him, his wife and theirdaughter that he had killed Dolly at Dan's
hunting cabin in the forest following anargument, though Ken didn't know what the
argument was about. Dan then askedhis brother to help hide her body.
(18:00):
The court also heard that Dan thentold Mickey he had killed Dolly. In
the end, Ken waved his rightto a preliminary hearing. He would be
automatically sent to a grand jury inthe new year. Later in December,
Dan's bond was set at two hundredand fifty thousand. He waived his right
to be indicted by a grand jury, opting to proceed straight to a bench
(18:22):
trial. In February nineteen ninety five, Kin was indicted by a grand jury.
If convicted, he faced up totwenty years in prison. As the
date of Dan's trial grew closer,Kin knew that if he gave up further
information, this could only help hisown case. Just before Dan's trial,
began. Ken told police that Dolly'shead was buried in his late father's garden.
(18:49):
At Dan's one day trial in Maynineteen ninety five, Commonwealth Attorney Thaddeus
Cox told the court that some timebefore the murder, Dan bought the thirty
two caliber revolver from a man inClintwood, Virginia. Ken Grigsby was the
prosecution's star witness, along with hiswife and daughter. Ken testified that Dan
(19:11):
told him that on July nineteenth,he took Dolly on a walk through the
Jefferson National Park near his hunting cabin. After briefly running back to his vehicle
to retrieve his gun, but tellingDolly he was fetching a soda, Dan
caught up to his wife. Afterhelping her over a fallen tree, he
shot her. He wrapped his wife'sbody in a green blanket before dragging her
(19:36):
to a dry creek bed. Danthen dug a shallow grave and covered the
site with rocks. Ken told thecourt that Dan, concerned the body would
soon be discovered, approached him,who recruited Mickey to dispose of Dolly's remains.
Dan paid the men six hundred dollarseach about twelve hundred. Today,
Dan, Ken, and Mickey droveout to the forest where Ken and Mickey
(20:00):
dug up Dolly's body in order toprevent her from being identified. The men
decapitated Dolly before burying her head twomiles away. The following week, Ken
and Mickey returned to the site whereDolly's head had been buried. Upon Dan's
request. They dug it up andKen took it back to Dickinson County.
(20:22):
But what he didn't know, eitherfrom the level of decomposition or something else,
was that Dolly's lower jawbone was leftthere. This allowed investigators to recover
it when Mickey later escorted them tothe scene. On a third visit to
the forest, Mickey and Ken againdug up Dolly's remains, this time to
dismember her. They haphazardly stuffed herbody parts into plastic bags before hastily burying
(20:49):
them under rocks in a creek bed. In an attempt to divert suspicion away
from himself. Dan then went publicwith his intense focus on searching for his
missing wife, hence the ads andthe frequent emotional breakdowns at church. But
at trial, there was corroborative evidencefrom other witnesses about Dan confessing to multiple
(21:11):
people. I'm going to pause nowfor a final commercial break. Dan didn't
take the stand in his own defense. His attorney, Carl McAfee, did
his best to argue for the firstdegree murder charge to be downgraded to second
(21:33):
degree murder, relying on the prosecution'sresponsibility to prove intent, which seems like
it would be an easy feat forthe Commonwealth considering Dan's purchase of the gun
beforehand. A defense psychiatrist also testifiedthat on the day of the murder,
Dan drank beer and was under theinfluence of ten different medications for chronic pain
(21:56):
and severe deppression. As psychiatrist alsospoke about Dan's two previous attempts at taking
his own life, claiming that priorto the murder, he told a psychologist
that if Dolly ended the marriage,he would kill her and then himself.
For these reasons, the defense claimedDan was incapable of knowing right from wrong,
(22:19):
but Circuit Judge Duncan Bird Junior didn'tbuy it, finding Dan sane at
the time of the murder, aswell as guilty on both charges. On
August twenty first, nineteen ninety five, Dan was sentenced to fifty years in
prison on the first degree murder chargeand three years for the firearm charge seven
(22:41):
months earlier. In January nineteen ninetyfive, sentencing reforms in Virginia saw discretionary
parole abolished for felonies committed in orafter that year. Inmates would be required
to serve at least eighty five percentof their sentence, though they could or
in credit for g good behavior,which would count toward potential early release.
(23:04):
But as Dan murdered Dolly before thenew law came into effect, he would
be eligible for parole in just anotherfourteen years. And what of Dan's accomplices,
his brother Ken and Mickey Breeding InJune nineteen ninety five, Ken was
convicted of being an accessory after thefact and sentenced to twelve months in prison.
(23:26):
That same month, the charge againstMickey was dismissed in return for his
cooperation with investigators and his information whichdirectly resulted in Dan's conviction. It's not
clear from the available information whether themurder weapon was ever recovered. In subsequent
years. Dan has submitted numerous appeals, but all of these have been dismissed.
(23:52):
Today, seventy two year old Danis incarcerated at the Deerfield Correctional Center
in Caprin, Virginia. He becameeligible for parole around two thousand nine and
has applied multiple times over the years, his most recent attempt last year in
twenty twenty three. These parole attemptshave all been denied due to the seriousness
(24:14):
of Dolly's murder. Dan's prison recordsindicate a scheduled release date of April two
thousand thirty three, which would meanhe would serve only thirty eight years of
his fifty three year sentence, buthe will be eighty three years old if
he lives that long. But givenhis parole denials to date, it's likely
that Dan will die in prison.No real motive other than the possible argument
(24:40):
of the hunting cabin has ever beenestablished or publicized. But of course Dolly
had already accused her husband a physicaland emotional abuse, and since Dolly Grigsby
had already falled for divorce twice,perhaps Dan's motive was the same disgusting reason
so many abusive men kill their wivescontrol. Maybe there was a fight that
(25:04):
awful day and Dolly said she wasdone for good, but Dan had brought
a gun and taken his wife toan isolated area so it would seem he
planned to kill his wife of twentyfive years, the mother of his children,
and then coldly having her body dismembered. Dolly Grigsby was only forty two
(25:29):
years old. She had her wholelife ahead of her. She had children
she loved and future grandchildren to cherish, but it was all ripped away from
her by her jealous and abusive husbandwho just would not let her go.
He would rather see her dead.Southern Fried True Crime is hosted and produced
(25:53):
by me Erica Kelly. Today's episodewas researched and written by Jimma Harris.
As usual, any editorial comments andopinions are my own. Southern Fred's original
music is by Rob Harrison of GammaRadio and the original graphic artist by Kly
Horner. If you have any casesuggestions, please go to my website,
(26:14):
Southern Fried True Crime dot com andclick on the listener suggestion tab or email
SFTC Research at gmail dot com.This is the best way for me to
get those little known cases. Y'allalways send me. Please remember that I
do not accept suggestions on social mediaprivate messages but please come join our Facebook
group, Southern Fried True Crime FansDiscussion Group, where we swap recipes,
(26:37):
worship Dolly Parton, and share memes. We do, of course, discuss
true crime, not just Southern fraud, but all kinds, but it is
still very much a Southern lifestyle group. Our group is a safe and fun
corner of Facebook, and by God, we mean it when we say no
shit as is allowed. It's notjust a motto, it's how we run
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thanks so much for listening. You'lltake care
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