Man admits to cutting up wife
06/03/2007 09:18  - (SA)  

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Stephen Grant is shown after confessing to killing and dismembering his wife. (Macomb County sheriff's department, AP)

Man in cold after wife's murder Man in cold after wife's murder

Mount Clemens, Michigan - A man captured after a night on the run in the snowy wilderness confessed to killing his wife in the couple's home while their children were there and later dismembering her, authorities said.

Stephen Grant, 37, was arrested over the weekend and treated for hypothermia after he spent 10 hours hiding in a park at the tip of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. He was released from a hospital on Monday.

Sheriff Mark Hackel said Grant "gave a very lengthy confession, laying out exactly what took place" in the slaying of his wife, Tara.

Prosecutor Eric Smith said there was no evidence that the couple's two children - a six-year-old girl and a four-year-old boy - witnessed the slaying.

Autopsy results suggested Tara Grant was strangled around February 9, the date she was last seen alive after returning from a business trip to Puerto Rico. Police have said the couple had recently argued over her frequent trips.

Grant waited five days before reporting his wife missing. Investigators found her torso on Friday in the garage of the couple's home in suburban Detroit. Other body parts turned up in a nearby park.

The remains showed signs of a struggle, including neck bruises, according to medical examiner Daniel Spitz. It was unclear when the body was dismembered.

Spitz said he was confident all the remains were from the same body but DNA testing was being conducted at a state police laboratory.

Willing confession

Smith said Grant was "a willing participant" in the confession and that investigators intend to use "every statement he has made against him, including statements made to the media".

Grant was to be arraigned on Tuesday on charges of murder, disinterment and mutilation, the sheriff said.

As he was discharged from the hospital, Grant rode in a wheelchair and wore protective footwear because of frostbite. He ignored reporters' questions before stepping into a vehicle from the sheriff's department.

Grant said during his confession he initially put the torso in the park but retrieved it before police searched there on February 24, according to Hackel. He was "nervous" after learning of the impending search, the sheriff said.

Smith said a neighbour found a plastic bag containing latex gloves, metal shavings and human blood in woods near the Grants' house. The discovery enabled police to obtain a warrant to search the home and a tool-and-die shop where Grant worked. Smith said the body was dismembered at the shop.

The Grants' two children were staying with relatives.