The Greineder TrialPAGE TWO |
Juror, Cheryl, speaking to reporters, offered the following observation:
"That's the difficulty of the case -- was really to look at such
a horrible situation and, in a way you are staring at what is the
American Dream. And you're looking at it, and it looks back at
you and reveals something horrible underneath that. None of us
want to believe that -- that something under the perfection and
the accomplishments, that something like this could happen."
Halloween Day, Oct 31, 1999
Woods at Morse's Pond -- approx. 8:30 AM
On the day of the murder, Dirk Greineder told police his wife, Mabel, had hurt her back while tossing a ball to the dog. He later told some investigators that she had stumbled on a rock. When questioned about the discrepancy on the stand -- under oath -- Greineder claimed that his wife hurt her back when she stumbled on a rock WHILE throwing a ball.
Greineder says it was at that point when he chose to leave his wife alone and finish walking the dog.
GREINEDER: "She kept saying 'you go on with the dog, I’ll meet you later.' After a minute or two, she persuaded me . . . I decided to go the way we usually did and moved ahead of her leaving her to walk slowly. I walked down the path out to the circle."
Dr. Greineder said he was alerted that something was wrong after his dog stopped suddenly and led him back to where he found his wife's beaten and mutilated body. She had been nearly decapitated and had been stabbed in the chest. Greineder -- who worked part-time for ten years in an emergency room -- said that he bent to examine his wife but was shaking and unable to take a pulse.
GREINEDER: "I tried to take her pulse again, I think. I know I looked in her eyes -- and I couldn't even tell if the pupils were moving, because it was too hard. So then I pulled up her shirt, thinking I would hear a heartbeat with my -- if I just put my ear to her chest. I mean, I saw the wound, but I couldn't get a heartbeat. I knew she was gone, but it just -- I didn't believe it."
Initially, Greineder told police he tried to lift his wife's lifeless body once but put her back down because she was "dead weight." Having heard the blood spatter evidence at trial however, Greineder insisted on the stand that he had tried to pick up his wife's body three times. Though this accounted for multiple blood stains police located on the doctor's jacket and shoes, it contradicted the lack of any blood found on his hands.
RICK GRUNDY, PROSECUTOR: "Today we hear that you actually tried to pick your wife up a number of times. Isn’t that correct sir?"
GREINEDER: "That's correct."
GRUNDY: "You never told the police that prior to today, did you sir?"
GREINEDER: "They never asked."
GRUNDY: "Sergeant Foley asked -- you know, why there was no blood on your hands -- and you stated that you didn’t know. He asked you if you had washed your hands and you had stated, 'no, the police have been with me the whole time.' Do you recall telling Sergeant Foley that you hadn't washed your hands because the police had been with you the whole time?"
GREINEDER: "I believe I do."
GRUNDY: "There's no blood on those hands. If you're being honest with us, where is it? Tell us. Where's the blood on your hands? How are you picking her up three times and not having blood on your hands?"
Greineder, June 29, 2001 -- having been
convicted on first degree murder charges.
Bloody Lies
A hotel towel was a key piece of evidence
against Dr. Greineder. It was found in his car, near the murder scene, covered
in his blood and his wife's blood.
Greineder explained how the Ritz-Carlton towel came to be in his car in
Massachusetts. Supposedly, he was packing a gift someone had given him on
a business trip and he needed extra cushioning, so he "acquired" the towel.
An explanation for the blood on the towel was not as easy for the good doctor.
Greineder claimed both he and his wife had simultaneous nose bleeds in the
car, before their fatal walk in the park.
SACCO AND VANZETTI
The Greineder trial was be moved to the very courtroom that was used for
the infamous Sacco and Vanzetti trial.In that case, as in Greineder, the
crime took only a few minutes and happened in broad daylight.
"She liked to scratch, I like to
rub.
She would scratch and say that's
what you should do to me."
-- Greineder on
the stand
Dr. Greineder loved to watch Law
and Order on television, proving that life imitates art, but rarely
learns much from it. On a similar note, while awaiting trial, the allergist
was once placed in an isolation unit at the Dedham jail after getting into
an altercation with another inmate over what to watch on TV.
THE DOCTOR UN-LEASHED
The couple's German shepherd was wearing the bloodstained leash when
investigators found the dog inside Greineder's van, which was parked at the
entrance to the pond. Greineder told police he found the leash wrapped around
his wife when he discovered her body.
ZEPHYR was the German Shepard
with Dr. Greineder
the morning Mabel Greineder was murdered.
The Greineder's other dog, WOLFY, died on Tuesday May 29.
VOTON was the original Greineder shepard.
Blood stained, Zip-lock,
heavy duty freezer bags - gallon size
Dirk Greineder killed his wife wearing Kirsten's swimming jacket.
ICE COLD
Kirsten
Treacherous homicide or not, Kirsten's wedding plans went right on. She was
married August 4th, about a month after the trial investigating the murder
of her mother.
Kirsten following her father's
arrest:
"I'm feeling outrage and I'm feeling frustration in a system, with a system
that I feel has failed us, a system that we attempted to trust in and it
has failed miserably with putting on trial and indicting an innocent
man."
Kirsten testifying about
her mother, Mabel:
"She was stubborn and she was also
forgetful."
"She didn't like to be dependent on anything ... wanted to do whatever she
wanted to do."
"She refused to learn anything about computers."
Kirsten never ever mentions her mother's actual death during her testimony.
Kirsten on the
stand:
"My father felt somewhat torn between two ends."
Kirsten quoting
Dirk:
"I was shaking so much I couldn't even tell if she had a pulse."
"I tried to pick her up so I could do something, and I just ran back to get
help cause I knew I needed help."
"What the family meant to me, and means to me, is so much more."
"Around that time she seemed to progressively lose interest in sex, and
apparently developed some discomfort and pain, which led to our stopping
having sexual relations. I was disappointed."
and the basement at 56 Cleveland Road was completely flooded.
Mabel's Pond
Mabel Greineder loved nature and once led a petition drive against a popular Wellesley proposal to relocate a recreation center to the woods by Morse's Pond. She wanted to keep the woods quiet, peaceful and tranquil. Because of that petition, the recreation center proposal was voted down -- and Mabel got her way. Ironically, she saved the lovely park that would later be the place of her death.
"I think of May as a wonderful aroma, like the smell of baking bread,
so enveloping it is almost tactile. I still don't believe she's
gone."
-- Ilse Chegwin
Firefighter, William Delorie, told jurors
a frantic Greineder cried out,
"This is my wife! This is my wife! Who could have done this to
her?"
GRUNDY: "Sir, you indicated that you met with a prostitute and she asked you if you’re married, didn’t she sir?"
GREINEDER: "She did."
GRUNDY: "And you told her I’m separated. I’ve been separated for a long time. Divorce takes a long time, didn’t you sir?"
GREINEDER: "I did say that."
GRUNDY: "And you told her sir, that you were getting divorced from your wife because she was old and soft, didn’t you?"
GREINEDER: "I did not. I did not say that exactly."
GRUNDY: "Everything else is true but that you didn’t say?"
GREINEDER: "Not exactly that way."
Side Activity with Hookers
Dirk testified to a wicked "New York
experience" in which he contacted at least one online ESCORT. That woman's
name is NORA LOPEZ. She was never called in this trial, but had previously
testified that Dirk said Mabel was "old and soft."
There were two woman, both named
ELIZABETH and we know Dirk met
the second one online and eventually had an unsuccessful sex session when
she refused to let him "perform something on her." Exactly where he met the
first ELIZABETH is not clear. What is clear is that he also wanted to "perform
something on her" and that she refused. (Probably, watersports.)
Most notably, there was a woman whom Greineder called PATY that he
initially met on the web and became obsessed with. Dirk went online to contact
PATY around midnight on the very night of his wife's horrific death.
According to Lt. Wayne Cunningham he sent PATY e-mail that night saying "he
wouldn't be able to speak to her for a period of time because of a
tragedy."
World Renown Doctor
"Looking for mutual petting and more."
Emergency Room Phd.
"I think I have dabbled with almost everything you
can think of, though my preferences remain pretty vanilla, if you call threesomes
vanilla."
MD at Brigham and Women's
"I love to suck large breasts."
Director of Clinical Allergy
"I'm basically straight
but flexible in
group situations"
Pediatric Allergist
"I'm very oral. Give and Receive."
Assistant Professor at Harvard
"Interested in your offer but would reject anything
leaving permanent marks. Please e-mail if you are still available."
Secondary Needs
In February of 1998, Greineder
told a hooker named Elizabeth that "I've been separated for a long time.
Divorce takes a long time." and that his wife was "old and soft." Meanwhile
he's busily having fresh fruit and back rubs with his wife of 32 years.
The sex evidence is relevant because it exposes the increasing pressure on
a man leading a double-life. Greineder was at the point where a CHOICE had
to be made. Even at the trial, he stumbles hard when faced with this critical
point:
"I guess I was gratifying a secondary need. Obviously I did it and I'm
not proud of it. But if I'd had to choose ... that would have been easy ...
In hindsight, it seems so silly, so immature."
He never directly testifies to which choice he made.
That little town of Wellsley was not big enough for both of them.
Either Dr. Greineder could exist or "Casual_Guy2000" could, but based on the evidence,
May was never going to tolerate Dirk's dangerous and destructive
sexcapades.
CYBER PORN
CasualGuy2000 || 10-25-99 ...5:42 AM ||
I'm white, married, but she does not play. So I'm looking for a very discrete
couple with whom to play. I'm very oral. Give and Receive.
I'm basically straight but flexible. I cannot host but will arrange for hotel
meeting.
Back_Alley@yahoo || 10-25-99 ||
I'm 49. White, clean, fit. Looking for mutual petting and more. Open-minded.
CasualGuy2000 || 10-26-99 ||
I'm interested in an uncomplicated, intimate relationship. Clean, educated,
athletic, sincere, but not ready for a long-term relationship.
CasualGuy2000 || 10-27-99 ||
Love your pics! Looks like you're into some B and D too. I've had some
interesting experience with this, though I've given up all my toys. Since
you were quick to send provocative pics, I will send one of me.
Telephone anytime, but I may need to ask you to call you back -- or give
me a number to call, because I may be in situations where I cannot talk freely.
Colin
Three Minutes
Evidence proved that on Sept. 3, 1999, someone purchased one of the unique Estwing hammers at F. Diehl and Son Inc, a hardware store in Wellesley, within three minutes of the purchase of nails linked to the Greineder household by a receipt. On the stand, Colin Greineder swore to jurors it was he -- not his father -- that had purchased the nails.
In another bizarre incident
involving Greineder, Woburn police said the minivan he drove to Wellesley's
Morse's Pond the morning of his wife's murder was later stolen from Greineder's
daughter in Boston on December 4 and used in the holdup of a Star
Market.
Sources said Britt Greineder and a friend had taken the vehicle to a club
in Boston and left the family's two German shepherds inside. When the friend
went to let the dogs out to go the bathroom, a male jumped into the minivan
and sped off.
Sources said one of the dogs, Zephyr, who was with Dr. Greineder the
morning he killed his wife, jumped into the back of the vehicle, but the
bandit apparently was able to force the animal out.
It's probably the only dog to witness both a murder and an armed
robbery,'' one investigative source wryly noted.
A short time after the van was stolen, two masked men robbed the Woburn
supermarket and pistol-whipped a hearing-impaired employee who did not respond
quickly to their command to hit the floor.
The minivan was recovered a short time later and the suspects were later
sought.
Britt
Britt Greineder broke into tears whenever
her mother's dead body was mentioned, and also became flushed and flustered
when her cell phone twice went off, disrupting court proceedings. "I'm sorry.
I keep trying to shut it off." she muttered through tears the second time
that the phone rang.
Britt's Fit
Police say Dirk's daughter Britt threw
an hysterical fit in the Wellesley police station on the Halloween morning
of the murder, demanding her father tell her: "What happened? Did something
happen between you and mom?"
Later she was heard asking him:
"Why are these fucking things always
happening to our family? Why do these psychotic, unexplained things happen
to our
family?"
"I never questioned
as to whether my father was responsible for my mother's death. Never."
-- Britt
Greineder
Greineder has a very special bond with his youngest daughter, Britt. It is
a unique bond that almost all men have with their baby girl. A love that
sometimes borders on worship.
Britt's tearful testimony may not turn out to be such a great way to end
this case. I predict it will backfire, and the result will be tragic.
Dr. Greineder testified only because of his baby daughter Britt. He knew
that if he could not testify on his own behalf, he couldn't reasonably ask
her to. He failed to convince Britt, who now realizes that her father is
guilty.
The violation of the relationship of a father to his youngest daughter was
explored 400 years ago in KING LEAR.
In Shakespeare's play each child is asked to make a public speech so that
Lear may determine who loves him most. When Cordelia, the King's youngest
daughter, refuses to participate in Lear's game, she is harshly ridiculed
and banished, and the tragedy unfolds.
KING LEAR: So young and so
untender?
CORDELIA: So young, my lord, and true.
June 29, 2001
|
Prosecutors revealed that a quirk in state law means that Dr. Dirk Greineder, convicted for murdering his wife, nonetheless remains as administrator of her estate for their three children, who are the wife's beneficiaries.
The Battle for Mabel's Will
|
While Grundy said investigators have never determined the exact motive for
the killing, jurors said a full examination of the vast evidence presented
by the prosecution led them to a unanimous decision when they took their
first vote about noon yesterday.
"We considered every side of every single piece of evidence," said
juror Smith.
June 30, 2001
Dr. Dirk Greineder was ordered
to prison for the rest of his life yesterday for diabolically planning and
executing the savage killing of his wife while engaging in a kinky secret
life of adulterous sex with prostitutes and Internet swingers.
|
"Since October 31, 1999,
Dirk Greineder has been on trial for murder, and since that day, his children
have supported him. He maintains his innocence to this day and his children
still support him. They have lost their mother, and now they have lost their
father. They are in a world of pain."
-- defense attorney Martin Murphy
"There was a great deal
of discussion and commentary that our office, that our state police, the
Wellesley police, focused on one person from that very morning on and that's
true. We did. That person was May Greineder."
"May Greineder was a vibrant, intelligent, innocent woman, whose life was
snuffed from her in the biggest affront that exists in our society -- murder.
We're here to say justice was done. We're here to remember May Greineder."
-- William R. Keating, District
Attorney
Despite being covered in
his wife's blood,
Dirk Greineder had no blood on his hands.
Proving once again, it's not the crime --
it's the cover-up.
Vance Holmes.com / court |
And Poetic Justice For All |