Naman Shrestha
In the episode titled ‘MURDERED: Charlotte Grabbe’ of ‘Crime Junkie,’ the primary focus is on the sudden disappearance and gruesome murder of Charlotte Grabbe in 1981. Fueled by the determination to get justice for her, the authorities and her children followed every lead before coming to a disturbing realization that her estranged and abusive husband, Fred Grabbe, was behind the killing. The podcast episode also explores a bunch of other crimes he potentially is tied to.
Fred Grabbe Was Suspected of Charlotte’s Murder But Evaded Arrest Due to Lack of Evidence
Born around 1940, Fred B. Grabbe was married to Charlotte Grabbe (née Sue Gore), with whom he shared two children — Jeffrey and Jenny Grabbe. As per reports, Fred and Charlotte used to argue every now and then, with the former inflicting abuse on her. This resulted in their marriage getting deteriorated and her wanting divorce around 1981. By then, the couple had grown estranged so Charlotte resided with her son, Jeffrey, and his wife, Cindy. However, Fred and Charlotte still worked at the family farm together. On the fateful day of July 24, 1981, he took his then-girlfriend, Vicki McCalister, to the farm. Things turned around for the worse when Charlotte also arrived there, forcing him to hide Vicki in his truck.
As per Vicki, a heated argument erupted between the estranged couple, which led to Fred being violent and ultimately strangling Charlotte to death. She claimed that he then loaded her body inside a 55-gallon barrel and placed it in the back of his truck while instructing Vicky to drive Charlotte’s car. After getting rid of her car in Terre Haute, Indiana, they headed back to Vicky’s trailer, where he allegedly abused her remains before taking them to the banks of the Wabash River. He then proceeded to burn Charlotte’s remains and dump them into the river. Meanwhile, Charlotte’s kids, Jeffrey and Jenny, along with the authorities were in search of their missing mother. From the get-go, they claimed that they suspected their father, Fred, to be involved in her disappearance, but due to lack of evidence, he was not charged with the crime.
Fred Grabbe Was Brought to Justice Four Years Later
Since Fred Grabbe had recently been charged with battery for assaulting Charlotte Grabbe, the authorities also viewed him as a potential suspect. When he was brought in for questioning by the detectives, he claimed that he had seen his estranged wife on the fateful day but parted ways after their argument. As for his alibi, he told them that he went straight to Vicky’s trailer, where he stayed until the following morning. Despite the best attempts from the investigators, they couldn’t find any connection between Fred and the murder. More than three years later, in August 1984, Jenny hired a private investigator named Charles Pearson, who managed to get a confession out of Vicky, who had broken up with Fred by that time.
Thanks to her crucial statements about the crime, the authorities arrested her and Fred on November 8 of the same year. In order to build a strong case against Fred Grabbe, the police even consulted a team of plant pathologists from the University of Illinois. They found that the tree against which the barrel was kept during the burning of remains had some kind of damage and traces of petroleum. Finally, in June 1985, Fred was found guilty of Charlotte’s murder. A few weeks later, his then-girlfriend, Barbara Graham, tried breaking him out of the Clark County jail and ended up injuring a jailer. After getting captured, she claimed that her incarcerated boyfriend had instructed her to get him out of jail. Finally, on September 11, 1985, the killer was sentenced to life in prison.
Fred Grabbe is Living the Last Years of His Life at a Retirement Facility on Parole
More than a year after his sentencing, Fred Grabbe’s appeal to get his conviction overturned was granted in 1987. With the re-trial approaching, the prosecution tried to charge him with the escape attempt, but he was acquitted of the crime. More complications arose when his son, Jeffrey, who was set to testify in the trial, was found dead during a business trip in California in 1988. The trial began as scheduled, and the prosecution again managed to convince the jury of Fred’s guilt. In April 1988, he was convicted of murdering Charlotte again before getting sentenced to 75 years in prison in August of the same year.
The following year, the killer tried his luck again and filed another appeal to have his conviction overturned. However, this time, the appeals court denied his request and upheld the conviction. On July 15, 2022, about 41 years after the brutal killing of Charlotte Grabbe, 83-year-old Fred was released on parole from the Dixon Correctional Center in northwestern Illinois. Over the years, his daughter, Jenny, and ex-girlfriend, Vicky, have alleged that Fred was involved in multiple other murders over the years. Responding to the allegations, he claims that although he had a tendency to get violent, he didn’t murder Charlotte or anyone else. He even denies that he ever abused his late wife. Currently, he is residing at a retirement facility while maintaining his innocence.
