On April 7, 2013, 30-year-old Wapato Middle School art teacher Desiree Sunford was found shot to death in her home in the 300 block of North St. Hilaire Road in Yakima County, Washington[reference:0]. At first glance, the scene resembled a burglary gone wrong, but forensic inconsistencies quickly suggested something far more deliberate[reference:1].
The case remained cold for over a year until July 2014, when a tip from a woman named Paige Blades changed everything[reference:2]. Blades was romantically involved with Desiree’s husband, Scott Sunford. She told investigators that Marty Grismer — a 27-year-old maintenance worker from Moses Lake — had confessed to the murder[reference:3].
The twisted motive that emerged was one of obsession and delusion. Prosecutors alleged that Grismer was deeply infatuated with Blades. When Blades became pregnant by Scott Sunford in early April 2013, she told Grismer that Scott was the father, and she worried that Desiree would find out[reference:4]. In a desperate and irrational attempt to clear a path for Blades and Scott — and perhaps to frame Scott for murder — Grismer allegedly took matters into his own hands[reference:5].
Days before the murder, investigators believe Grismer executed a dry run break-in to rehearse the crime[reference:6]. On the day of the killing, Sunford was shot multiple times with a .22-caliber handgun in what police say was a premeditated execution staged to look like a robbery. She was found with multiple gunshot wounds and had reportedly attempted to crawl away from her attacker before dying[reference:7].
Evidence mounted quickly after Blades’ tip. A gun barrel discovered in Grismer’s desk at his workplace in Moses Lake was forensically matched to the markings on the bullets at the crime scene[reference:8]. Shoes belonging to Grismer — found in his father’s home — matched a bloody boot print left at the scene[reference:9]. Further incriminating details were uncovered when investigators learned that Grismer had shared information about the murder with both Blades and another woman[reference:10].
While in jail awaiting trial, Grismer reportedly confessed to a cellmate that he had killed Desiree to frame her husband. However, prosecutors deemed the cellmate — who had gang ties and a lengthy criminal history — an unreliable witness who later recanted his story, claiming he had fabricated it[reference:11][reference:12].
Facing a potential cellmate whose testimony would be inadmissible in court, prosecutors worried they could not prove aggravated first-degree murder beyond a reasonable doubt. Senior Deputy Prosecutor Troy Clements explained, “In this case it’s not about what we believe, but what we can prove”[reference:13].
In December 2017, Marty Grismer entered an Alford plea to second-degree murder, maintaining his innocence while acknowledging the state had sufficient evidence to convict him[reference:14]. On January 8, 2018, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison and ordered to pay over $14,000 in restitution[reference:15]. The judge, Richard Bartheld, expressed discomfort with the resolution, telling Grismer, “If I had any authority, I would make sure you went to the harshest prison in the state of Washington”[reference:16].
At the sentencing, Desiree’s mother, Connie Kast, faced her daughter’s killer and delivered a devastating victim impact statement: “Marty, you thought you silenced Desiree by destroying her physical body. Her memory goes on in the hearts of those who loved her, and neither you nor anyone else can destroy that”[reference:17]. Kast later told the judge, “When you lose a child, time does not go on. It comes to a dead halt”[reference:18].
Grismer refused to speak. He is currently serving his sentence at Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla[reference:19]. His story has been revisited on true crime programs including Investigation Discovery’s “Deadly Entanglement” and NBC’s “Dateline”[reference:20].
**The Twisted Truth**: Desiree Sunford was not killed by a stranger in a burglary. She was murdered by a man who had never met her — driven not by greed, but by an obsessive, unrequited fixation that turned his delusion into a deadly weapon.