Ryan Reynolds (13:37)

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Vanessa Richardson (14:32)

On February 28, 2007, less than 20 days after 34 year old Tara Lynn Grant was murdered, a plastic bag of human blood was found in the park where her husband Stephen had scattered her remains. The bag also contained some metal shavings. The authorities knew Stephen worked at his father's mechanic shop. They already suspected that he was involved in Tara's disappearance, and those shaving shavings convinced them even further. But before they looked around the shop, they decided to get a search warrant for Steven's house. Stephen had no clue this was going on. In a twist of irony, he was worried about leaving Tara's body in his dad's shop, so he decided to store it at home for the time being. On March 1, the day after the bag of blood was found, he put her dismembered torso in a large green plastic storage bin and left it in his garage. It was horrible timing on his part. The very next day on March 2nd, Stephen came home to find multiple police cars waiting at his house with their search warrant. His kids were at his sister's at the time and their au pair, Verena had gone back to Germany. So it was just him, the authorities, and the dark secret that was in his garage waiting to be discovered. The police let Stephen know he wasn't under arrest and he wasn't being kept there against his will. He was free to come and go as he pleased While they searched. So Stephen took his dog and said he was going to meet up with his sister. It was another lie. Once he left, Steven called a close friend and asked if he could borrow his car. The friend said yes. After Steven picked up the car, he drove to his sister's house and dropped off the dog. Then he headed out of town as fast as he could. Back at the Grants house, the investigators still hadn't found much. Then, an hour and a half into the search, a detective noticed something strange in the garage. It was the green bin. The detective had actually been in the garage two weeks prior when authorities had toured the property after Tara's disappearance. He was sure the bin hadn't been there at the time. He went over and pried it open. After rustling through a few plastic bags, he found Tara's torso inside. It was around 6:30pm at this point, Stephen was already an hour and a half away in northern Michigan. He drove through the night, eventually pulling over to the side of the road to get some sleep. The following morning, he went into a gas station and saw his worst fears confirmed. Confirmed? His picture was on the front page of a local newspaper. The article only mentioned that his home had been searched, but Stephen was sure they'd found Tara. He raced back to the car and kept heading north. He made some calls during his journey to Verena in Germany and to his sister. Stephen confessed to what he'd done and that he was planning on dying when, by suicide, both women contacted the authorities and told them what Steven had said. Steven's sister had an extra bit of information. She knew where he was going. He was heading for Wilderness State Park, a forest on the banks of Lake Michigan the Grants liked to visit in the summers. The police immediately dispatched officers there to intercept him. When they arrived, they found the car Steven had borrowed at the edge of the woods and a line of footprints leading into the snowy wilderness. A helicopter scoured the area from above while a group of officers followed the footprints. Eventually, they found Stephen lying under a tree. He was in bad shape from the cold and a mixture of alcohol and the sedatives he'd taken. He had to be airlifted out of the woods, taken to a hospital, where he was placed under arrest. While he recovered, authorities searched Stoney Creek park again, this time focusing on the area where the Ziploc bag of blood had been found. Eventually, they were able to locate more of Tara's remains that Stephen had left behind. Detectives confronted Stephen with this information at the hospital. This time he knew the jig was up. He confessed to everything. Even so, when it came time for his trial, Stephen pleaded not guilty to first degree murder. Instead, just over a year after he killed his wife, he was convicted of second degree murder, possibly because the jury didn't believe the homicide was premeditated. His sentence was 50 to 80 years. He's still serving that time today. In the end, Stephen Grant couldn't handle his petty jealousy. His insecurity turned to violence, and in the end, he lost everything. But his children are determined to not let their father's monstrosity destroy them. As of 2017, they were living with their aunt and have been vocal about raising awareness for domestic violence. If you or someone you know is experiencing abuse, call the National Domestic violence hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE or you can visit www.thehotline.org. coming up, we jump back to 1971, when a young couple named Patricia Mann and Jesse McBain were murdered after a Valentine's dance at Patricia's College. Their tragic deaths terrified the nation and and continue to baffle investigators to this day.

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Vanessa Richardson (21:59)

36 years before the shocking murder of Tara Lynn Grant, a different crime of passion terrified the public and mystified investigators. It all began on the night of February 12, 1971, in Durham, North Carolina. It was cold and drizzling, the kind of weather that gives everything an eerie, misty glow. But inside the basement of Watts Hospital, the mood was anything but gloomy. The big Valentine's Day mixer for the hospital's nursing students was in full, full swing. Dozens of young people drank punch and cut loose on the dance floor. A young couple, Patricia man and Jesse McBain, was in the crowd. Patricia was 20 years old and a nursing student at Watts. Patricia was a good student and seemed to be something of a rule follower. You had to be in order to go to Watts. Their school of nursing was a tough program and and pretty selective. It was also about an hour's drive from her hometown of Sanford, North Carolina. The distance was hard for Patricia, who loved to spend time with her family. It also meant being away from her childhood sweetheart 18 year old Jesse, who went to NC State in Raleigh, a little over 25 miles away. Jesse was a sturdy football player that some referred to as a hulk. But he was a gentle giant and like Patricia, Jesse was well liked by his peers. Patricia and Jesse really loved each other, even though they'd had a few breakups as they transitioned from high school to college life. But they rode it out and were making the long distance relationship work. They were so good together, a lot of their friends and family thought they were heading towards marriage. But living apart still wasn't easy. Jesse had to move some things around to make it to the Valentine's dance, which made the evening extra special. They made sure to enjoy every minute of it, then left when the dance was over, around 11.30pm But Patricia didn't have to be back at her Dorm until the 1am curfew. So they hopped in Jesse's car and headed to a nearby lover's lane for some alone time. The spot was at an under construction housing development called Crowsdale. At the time, it was just a bunch of deserted dead end roads. A perfect spot for couples who wanted privacy. Tragically, it wasn't as private as Patricia and Jesse thought. Ten minutes after 1am, Patricia's dorm supervisor saw she hadn't signed back in, which was strange. Patricia was very punctual. She wouldn't lose track of time like that. Her friends agreed it was out of character, which is why they called the police. But the authorities didn't jump into action right away. According to law enforcement, there was a 24 hour waiting period before they could investigate a missing person. Unless there was evidence something nefarious had happened. And at the moment, the assumption was that Patricia and Jesse were enjoying each other's company somewhere else. But by the time Saturday morning rolled around, Patricia still hadn't come back. Her friends decided to start their own investigation rather than wait for the police. They called local hospitals to see if Patricia and Jesse were there. But no one matching their descriptions had been admitted. Later that day, Patricia's friends went out to look for them. One of the places they checked was the unfinished Crowsdale neighborhood, which they knew was a popular spot for couples to go. They searched its many cul de sacs and eventually found Jesse's car. It was empty. The car was parked on an especially remote wooded street. It was clearly a spot where people liked to hang out since it was littered with empty bottles and cigarette butts. The car was locked, but the group of friends were able to get in through a window. Both the couple's coats were on the back seat, and Patricia's purse and folded pantyhose were on the floor of the car. There was no destruction or damage. Wherever Patricia and Jesse had gone, it seemed like they left without a struggle. Patricia's friends told the police about the abandoned car, and the authorities finally jumped into action. They searched the vehicle for clues about where the couple had gone. They would later conclude that the Ford had been wiped clean of fingerprints, which made it seem like someone was trying to cover something up. The question was, what were they trying to Hide? By Monday, February 15, roughly three days after the dance, word of Jesse and Patricia's disappearance reached the media. Newspapers ran headlines about the missing couple, and it was all over the local news channels. Soon, everyone in North Carolina was hoping Patricia and Jesse would turn up. But their family and friends weren't waiting around for that to happen. There were community search parties scouring the ground and airplanes circling overhead. There was even a reward for anyone who came forward with information. Then, on February 25, about 1212 days after Patricia and Jesse had gone missing, there was a new development. A land surveyor was on a job in some woods a few miles from the Crowsdale cul de sacs. As he worked along a dirt road, he noticed something sticking out of a pile of leaves. It took him a moment to realize it was a human leg. Just before Valentine's Day 1971, 20 year old Patricia Mann and her boyfriend, 19 year old Jesse McBain, went missing. They were last seen leaving a Valentine's dance at the hospital where Patricia was studying to become a nurse. Two weeks later, a land surveyor found a human leg in the woods of Durham, North Carolina. At first he didn't think it was real. He thought maybe it belonged to a mannequin. But when he got closer, he realized he'd found a dead body. The police arrived and later identified two bodies under the leaves. Patricia and Jesse. The couple each had their hands and necks bound by rope. Based on the crime scene, authorities determined they'd been tied to a tree standing up. While they were bound, they'd been repeatedly strangled and tortured over a long period of time. Then, once they were dead, the killer had presumably cut them down and buried them in the leaves. Among the notable evidence at the scene was a cigarette butt, a plastic cup, and the yards of rope that had been used to restrain and strangle the victims. At first glance, there was no obvious motive for what was dubbed the Valentine's Day murders. The killer hadn't stolen from them since Jesse still had his class ring and watch on and some money in his wallet. There wasn't any sign of sexual assault either. It was also peculiar that the killer was able to subdue both Jesse and Patricia. Jesse was a big, strong athlete. It would have been difficult for a single attacker to physically overcome him without Patricia running away. An early theory was that there were two killers, but it was also possible that a single attacker could have tricked Jesse and Patricia into obeying them, maybe by posing as an authority figure, like a police officer. One thing investigators felt confident about was that the killer was local, because the location of the crime scene felt very intentional. Easy enough to get to, but isolated enough to avoid detection, which meant they had to know the area well. But because the case involved a lot of different jurisdictions, Pursuing these theories proved to be a challenge. Patricia and Jesse had gone missing in the city of Durham, but were found over the county line. So there were multiple agencies involved, including the Orange county sheriff's department, Durham sheriff's department and police department, and and the North Carolina State Department of Investigation. At some point, the FBI was involved as well. These agencies didn't always talk to one another or share information, so it seemed like even in the early days, the investigation was chaotic. There was also a mountain of tips from the public to sort through. Most seemed to just be rumors. People blamed satanic cults or called in tips about their neighbors, or pointed the finger at anyone who had a bad reputation or criminal record. At one point, the authorities were investigating a motorcycle gang, some boys from the dance, and a serial killer from Florida. But no one really stood out. Until June of 1971, about four months after Patricia and Jesse's murder. The case's first major suspect was finally identified. His name was James Brannon Ray. 26 year old James wasn't initially on the authorities radar, but ended up getting arrested after he was caught stealing a motorcycle. And once they looked into him further, it seemed like they'd found the killer. When the police searched James's trailer, they found some alarming items. A wig, two blank pistols, a police badge, and a pocket knife. There were also keys to lockers at Watts hospital, where Patricia was studying to be a nurse. Apparently, James had also worked there as an orderly in the same ward as Patricia. He was also in possession of the same kind of rope that was used to bind Patricia and Jesse. He'd stolen it from a neighbor two days before the couple disappeared, and he sold his car shortly after the bodies were found. The pieces all added up to a frightening picture. James could have fixated on Patricia when he worked at Watts Hospital, maybe. He tried to ask her out, and she said no. Then, fueled by rejection and anger, he decided to get his revenge on a day meant to symbolize love. Valentine's Day. Using the fake badge and the wig, James could have disguised himself as a police officer to convince Patricia and Jesse to willingly get out of their car and then commit a horrific double murder. Unfortunately, it may have all been a bizarre coincidence. There wasn't any forensic evidence directly tying James to the crime, and all the circumstantial evidence still didn't place him at the scene. Eventually, the police had to move on. But identifying James Brannon Ray wasn't a total waste of time. It showed the police they needed to think more strategically if they were going to find Patricia and Jesse's killer. If James hadn't murdered them, maybe it was somebody a lot like him. And the case's lead detective decided to use a new technique to figure out who that could be. In October of 1971, eight months after the murders, he reached out to Dr. James Brussel, a psychiatrist who helped pioneer the field of criminal profiling. Seven years earlier, Dr. Brussel had helped identify the Boston Strangler. Now the detectives investigating the Valentine's Day murderer hoped he could do the same for them. After looking over crime scene photos and other evidence, Dr. Brussell was able to create a profile for the Valentine's Day murderer. Dr. Brussell thought the perpetrator was a single man between 25 and 40 years old, who was highly intelligent and held a grudge against one of the victims. This killer wasn't the type to take risks and was neat and precise in everything he did. Given the isolated location of the murders, it would make sense. Plus, if the killer held a grudge against Patricia, he probably lived in the area. Which would explain how he knew where to take her and Jesse without getting caught. Dr. Brussels profile lined up with the last suspect in a couple of ways. At 26 years old, James Brannon Ray was in the right age bracket. And multiple witnesses claimed he knew Patricia and they didn't get along. However, James wasn't highly educated. And considering that he was caught stealing a motorcycle along with a list of other crimes he'd committed, he wasn't exactly the cautious type, either. So if the police wanted to find someone who was a closer match, they'd have to keep looking. Which is exactly what they did for another seven years. In 1978, another suspect finally emerged, one who fit Dr. Brussels profile to a T. Sometime that year, a woman in the Durham medical examiner's office complained about an intimidating, erratic doctor at Watts Hospital named James Stephen Walter Wilson. Dr. Wilson had a history of aggression against women, and it turned out he knew Patricia Mann. She'd been a student in one of Dr. Wilson's classes, and he asked her out on multiple occasions. Apparently, she said no, meaning he may have had a grudge against her. It's not clear whether Dr. Wilson was in the profile's age bracket bracket, but he certainly fit the criteria that James Brennan Ray didn't. He was highly educated. Not only that, Dr. Wilson lived just a block away from the woods where Patricia and Jesse were killed. So he definitely knew the area well. And on the night of the murders, he was supposed to go to a dinner party, but didn't show up until long after midnight, right around the time Patricia and Jesse died. Once he got there, Dr. Wilson's friends remarked that his behavior that night was very strange. However, despite these suspicious details, it doesn't seem like the authorities were able to link him to the murders. He was never arrested or named publicly as an official suspect. By this point, it probably seemed like the killer's profile wasn't exactly right. However, there was one more suspect out there who was a fit. But it took the authorities another 20 years to find him. In January 1995, another potential suspect matching Dr. Brussels profile emerged. His name was Carl Robert Britt, and he worked as a pulmonologist at Watts Hospital. Dr. Britt landed on the police's radar after he was involved in a road rage incident. He followed a woman home after a traffic mishap, and when she got out of her car, he attacked her. When the police looked into his history, they realized that a few years earlier, he'd been involved in a number another roadside report. In that instance, he tried to abduct two young hitchhikers by posing as a police officer. That was the same way some believed the killer had lured Patricia and Jesse from their car. What's more, Dr. Britt also lived close to Crowsdale, the Lovers lane where Patricia and Jesse went missing. He was around 35 years old at the time of the murders. He was known to harass co workers, and he taught classes to the nursing students like Patricia. So he definitely fit many of the criteria in Dr. Brussels profile. However, while these details may have seemed suspicious, the police didn't find anything that connected him to the murders. But then, in February 1996, a strange call was made to Jessie McBain's mom in the middle of the night. When she answered, the person on the other end said, I killed your son. He even gave his name. Carl Britt. Unfortunately, it was yet another lead that didn't pan out. Although the authorities had spoken to Dr. Britt after the attempted hitchhiker abduction and the road rage incident, they allegedly never questioned him about the call to Jesse's mother. It's unclear if they ever questioned him about the murders at all. At this point, Patricia and Jesse's loved ones must have felt like they'd never find the killer. Despite finding three different suspects who all matched the profile Dr. Brussel had created, there was no physical evidence connecting them to the murders. So for the next 15 years, the case gathered dust. But in 2011, Detective Tim Horn brushed off that dust. Forty years after Patricia and Jesse were killed, Detective Horn found the case's disintegrating evidence box and asked for permission to reopen the investigation. It was such an old case that most of the people involved had died or retired. But Detective Horn still wanted to find justice for Patricia and Jesse. For the next six months, he went through everything that had been collected so far, poring over files, crime scene photos, and interviewing family members and. And witnesses. One of his early interviews was with Dr. Britt, the pulmonologist from Watts Hospital. Detective Horn thought there was still reason to suspect he was the killer. And now there was technology that could actually provide some physical evidence, a DNA test. But Dr. Britt refused. And there was no legal way to make him do it unless more information came came to light. So Detective Horn contacted a diner that Dr. Britt went to regularly. He worked with them to collect a DNA sample by taking a fork the suspect had used, which is a perfectly legal workaround. Discarded items are fair game. By the time Detective Horn secured the sample, it was 2018. He sent the fork and the piece of rope from Jesse and Patricia's crime scene to a lab for testing. The lab analyzed the DNA on the rope and found that it came from three people. Patricia, Jesse, and an unknown person. But the amount of DNA on the rope was too small to make an actual profile, which meant they couldn't Compare it to Dr. Britt's sample from the fork. So there was still no way to prove if he was involved in the murders. The same would go for the other two suspects that had landed on the police's radar in the past. Today, over 50 years later, Jesse and Patricia's murders still remain unsolved. It's not the end, of course. Maybe new technology will be able to better analyze the DNA sample on the rope, or other pieces of evidence will emerge. Plus, there are still people like Detective Horne out there studying the case files and trying to find new inroads. We can only hope that one day the bright young couple who had so much life ahead of them get the answers they deserve. When we look back at this week in crime history, the two cases we covered today feel especially tragic because of their connection to Valentine's Day. It's supposed to be a chance to celebrate the people you care about the most, to show how much they mean to you. But in the double homicide of Jesse McBain and Patricia Mann and the brutal slaying of Tara Lynn Grant, that love was twisted into something unrecognizable. In Jesse and Patricia's case, they were two young adults with bright futures ahead of them. They began the last evening of their lives full of hope, with an earnest passion for one another. And although their case remains unsolved, it seems like who, whoever murdered them couldn't stand the love they had for each other. For Tara Lynn Grant, it was also love, or the lack thereof, that led to her tragic fate. Stephen Grant couldn't stand that his wife was happier and more fulfilled than he was. But instead of trying to work through those feelings, he let them fester. And on the cusp of Valentine's Day, those feelings turned him into a killer. Crime House the Show is a Crime House original. Powered by Pave Studios At Crime House, we want to express our gratitude to you, you, our community, for making this possible. Please support us by rating, reviewing and following Crime House the Show. Wherever you get your podcasts, your feedback truly matters. And for ad free and early access to Crime House the Show, plus exciting bonus content, subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. We'll be back next Monday. Crime House the Show is hosted by Vanessa Richardson and is a Crime House original. Powered by Pave Studios. This episode was brought to life by the Crime House the Show team. Max Cutler, Ron Shapiro, Alex Benedon, Natalie Pertzovsky, Sarah Carroll, Kate Murdoch and Haniya Saeed. Thank you for listening.

Ryan Reynolds (47:07)

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Vanessa Richardson (47:11)

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Ryan Reynolds (47:19)

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Vanessa Richardson (47:22)

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Ryan Reynolds (47:25)

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Vanessa Richardson (47:27)

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