LOBSTER BOY E True Hollywood Story - documentary
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00:00Oh, well, I've read every murder mystery you've ever written. I just...
00:06...drinking problem and an even worse temper.
00:09When he wasn't drinking, he was sweet, kind, considerate, the perfect father image.
00:15When he was drunk, he was kind of like Satan himself.
00:18Grady's explosive drunken rages and the sadistic beatings he dished out with his powerful claws
00:24left his wife and his children battered, bruised, and burning for revenge.
00:28She told her son, Glenn Newman, that she wanted Grady out of the way.
00:36And she provided the money for this.
00:39In the coming hour, we will revisit this macabre tale of murder and payback
00:44inside the mysterious culture of Carnies and Sideshow Freaks, where the abnormal is normal.
00:51We will take you inside Lobster Boy's world, a world of pain and abuse.
00:56We'll reveal how Stiles got away with murder after he killed his daughter's fiancé on the eve of their wedding.
01:03Jack came running out of the house. He fell at her feet, and he died in her arms.
01:10We will show how the years of pain and torment Lobster Boy unleashed on his family
01:15were reversed in an instant as he faced the barrel of a hitman's gun.
01:20My mom just couldn't live with it no more, and I couldn't live with it.
01:23I talked to a kid named Chris, and I asked him what he could do about it.
01:26He says, give me $300, and I'll do what I can do.
01:30And finally, we will take you to a Florida courtroom where a jury searched for justice in a carnival of tears.
01:37The whole thing was like a circus, the Lobster Boy murder trial.
01:42This is the flip side of the elephant man.
01:44This is a man who on the inside is just as ugly as his physical deformity.
01:52This is the story of Grady Stiles, Jr., the murder of Lobster Boy, the E! True Hollywood story.
02:15Carnival sideshows have been around since the early 19th century,
02:19a place where freaks and geeks fly their trade to entertain the public and make a living.
02:25On July 18, 1937, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Grady Stiles, Jr. was born into this bizarre sideshow world,
02:33the son of Edna and Grady, Sr.
02:35Like his father, Grady, Jr. inherited a disfiguring condition known as the Lobster Claw Syndrome.
02:42Geneticist Dr. David Ramoyne.
02:45Microdactyly is a genetic disease that produces missing fingers or splits in the hands and feet
02:52that result in less digits making it look like a claw, hence the term Lobster Claw Deformity.
02:58Author of Lobster Boy, Fred Rosen.
03:01It came out differently in every generation.
03:04And in Grady's father's case, he had lobster claws for hands and he had normal feet.
03:11In Grady's case, Grady Stiles, Jr., he had lobster claws for hands and stunted legs.
03:20In the past, few job opportunities were available to people with disabilities.
03:25Some were forced into circuses to make their living as sideshow freaks.
03:30Grady Stiles, Sr. took his wife and young son on the road.
03:34The family lived as nomads, making their way around the country with a traveling carnival.
03:39When his son was 7 years old, Grady, Sr. forced him to quit school and join the family business.
03:45Grady, Jr. was billed as the Lobster Boy.
03:49They would sit on a platform side by side and the elder Stiles would then give a pitch
03:56and he would talk about how this gene had been in the family for 150 years.
04:00On the midway, Lobster Boy used a wheelchair to get around.
04:03But in private, he scuttled effortlessly across the floor on his hands and stumped legs.
04:09Daughter Donna Stiles appears in silhouette to protect her privacy.
04:13His condition didn't bother him the least.
04:17He'd jump out of his chair and just gallop across the floor.
04:22During the winter when the carnival stopped touring, the Stiles family returned to Pennsylvania.
04:27Grady was looked at like a freak on the streets of Pittsburgh where they lived.
04:33And they lived in the slums.
04:35In the early 1940s, Grady, Sr. heard about a carny community on the western coast of Florida
04:41called Gibsonton or Gibtown to the locals.
04:45This was a place where carnies went to winter.
04:48And people who were looked at as freaks by the outside world, they could be normal here.
04:52In 1944, the Stiles family packed up and made the move to Gibsonton.
04:57Grady Stiles, Jr. found his paradise on earth.
05:01Gibsonton is desolate in the summer months when carnies are on the road.
05:05But come winter, the neighborhoods are jammed with triggler homes and carnival gear.
05:10Retired carnival owner Bill Myers.
05:12It's the only place in the world I know you can drive down the street and see a Ferris wheel set up,
05:19run into somebody's yard, checking it out or painting it.
05:22As a teenager, Grady, Jr. may have seemed freakishly disfigured to ordinary folk.
05:27But in his world of sideshow oddities, he was a star attraction, especially with the ladies.
05:33Grady Stiles was a ladies' man.
05:36He was proud of his ability to charm women, to seduce them.
05:40And he claimed that what they loved the most was if he used his claw during sex.
05:47In 1954, 17-year-old Grady Stiles married a young woman named Deborah Brady.
05:53However, the couple separated within a year.
05:56Grady then set his sights on a carnival ticket seller named Mary Teresa Herzog.
06:02At the age of 18, Teresa ran away with the carnival in order to escape her painful home life in Vermont.
06:10Daughter, Kathy Stiles Berry.
06:12Her stepfather and her biological mother, very abusive.
06:16I mean, they beat her, they punished her every way imaginable.
06:20Then, in 1959, at a stop in New Jersey, 22-year-old Lobster Boy and 21-year-old Teresa
06:26crossed paths on the midway and sparks flew.
06:30When they met, he was a wonderful person.
06:35Considerate, kind, loving, just everything she never did have.
06:40With Grady's help, Teresa got work in the sideshow.
06:43She was called the Electrified Girl.
06:46Somebody throws a switch and then all of a sudden there's lightning coming out of her fingertips.
06:51Teresa became a full-fledged carny, the Electrified Girl and the Lobster Boy.
06:56It seemed like a match made in carny heaven.
07:02Coming up, Lobster Boy reveals his dark side.
07:06How could anybody make up a horrible story like this?
07:09I mean, this is only something you would see in a horror film.
07:13My sister called and she says, Donna, Dad's been shot.
07:18And I was ecstatic.
07:26They only come out at night.
07:28They have unusual cravings.
07:29I have a blood fetish.
07:30And they love to party.
07:32Step into the shadows of the gothic nightlife.
07:35Hollywood Nights, Coven 13, an E! original special, tonight at 10, only on E!
07:41On screen, they were known as the scariest men in Hollywood.
07:44Off screen, his father and son encountered some unholy ghost.
07:48Mysteries and Scandals premieres the Chaney's tomorrow at 8.30, only on E!
07:53Fame in the bitch.
07:56Mr. Wallace.
07:58And you are just going to love these turds.
08:02Early 1960s, Lobster Boy, Grady Stiles Jr., star of the Carnival Sideshow,
08:08swept pretty Mary Teresa Herzog off her feet.
08:11The lovebirds were wed.
08:13But all was not perfect in Carney Town.
08:16Grady Stiles had an incredible appetite for liquor.
08:20He could drink a couple of quarts of the stuff and not blink an eye.
08:25Grady and Teresa's life together was spent touring the country with the Carnival.
08:29Grady sat on a platform, displaying his deformed hands to anyone who would pay the admission price.
08:34Teresa worked in the sideshow as the Electrified Girl.
08:38In the early 1960s, Teresa was eager to start a family.
08:42She gave birth to two children, both of whom inherited the Lobster Claw Syndrome.
08:47Lobster Boy author, Fred Rosen.
08:49They have one child, and this child dies at 26 months from pneumonia.
08:56A short time after that, they have another child.
08:59That child dies at 28 months of pneumonia.
09:03Historians claim the hardships of life on the road led to the deaths of the babies.
09:08Then, on April 29, 1963, Grady and Teresa welcomed the birth of their third child, Donna.
09:14Surprisingly, the Lobster Claw gene that had been passed down for 150 years skipped Donna.
09:21Donna's blessing, however, turned out to be a curse.
09:25While he took great pride in his ability with his claws,
09:28he was intensely jealous of people who had normal appendages,
09:33and particularly his daughter, Donna.
09:36He said that I wasn't his child, and he used to yell at my mom,
09:42smack her, call her dirty names, saying that she was with somebody else.
09:46Grady Jr. drank constantly and spent most of his free time
09:49playing cards with fellow carnies at the local bar in Gibsonton.
09:53For Teresa and Donna, life with the Lobster Boy was hell.
09:56It was like he was born sadistic, because he liked to inflict pain.
10:03He had one of his bum nails he pushed in my mom's throat when he was choking her.
10:09Former carnie Harry Glenn Newman, also known as Midget Man.
10:13When he drank, he wanted to hurt somebody or something, you know,
10:15and I went to work for him, and that's how me and Teresa met one another.
10:18But not everyone knew about Grady's dark side.
10:22Grady was careful to keep that aspect of his personality quiet
10:25around his business associates.
10:27Former president of the Showman's Association, Bill Myers.
10:31I knew him business-wise.
10:33He was a pretty sharp business person,
10:35but I've heard people say different things about Grady.
10:38Around me, he was always a gentleman.
10:41What goes on behind the closed door stays there.
10:44So it's hard to believe that he was this vicious, mean, cruel person.
10:49On December 4, 1968, Teresa gave birth to another daughter, Catherine Stiles.
10:54Like her father, Cathy was born with lobster claws and stunted, deformed legs.
10:59It seemed like Cathy was the center of attraction, you know,
11:02the little baby girl, just like Daddy, Daddy's little girl.
11:04I got very jealous.
11:06For the Stiles family, carnie life meant that school took a back seat.
11:10Every spring, the children were pulled out of their classes
11:13to go on tour with their parents.
11:16She would teach at school in the trailer, so she would tutor us a lot on the road.
11:21Surrounded by rides, games, and cotton candy,
11:24the carnival was the ultimate playground for Donna and Cathy.
11:28However, life with the often-drunk lobster boy was anything but fun and games.
11:33I would say about 5 years old, I free-roll learned what work was
11:36because he would get intoxicated to the point where he couldn't work anymore,
11:41and he would just throw me on the platform.
11:43According to his daughters, by 1972, Grady's drinking was completely out of control.
11:49The abuse became routine for Teresa and her girls.
11:52But one night, Grady went too far.
11:55He beat her really bad, choked her, to which she passed out.
12:02And the next thing I knew, he gave her $20 and said,
12:05Take your effing kids and get out.
12:09And we took the $20, we went and got a motel room.
12:12With nowhere to turn, Teresa called Harry Glenn Newman, the midget man,
12:16who nursed a secret crush on her.
12:18Newman rushed to the motel and promised Teresa a better life, far away from Grady Stiles.
12:28Coming up, Lobster Boy gets steamed.
12:31Jack comes stumbling out holding his chest, and he just looked so shocked, he said,
12:35He shot me.
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14:55By 1973, lobster boy Grady Stiles Jr. was reportedly a hopeless drunk, given to fits of anger.
15:09After Stiles tossed wife Teresa and her two girls out of the family trailer, fellow carny midget man stepped in with some tall plans.
15:17He said, don't worry about it, I'll take care of you.
15:19He packed his little camper and stuff up and came over and picked us up.
15:25Harry Glenn Newman ushered Teresa and her daughters, 4-year-old Kathy and 10-year-old Donna, to the safety of his parents' home in Ashtabula, Ohio.
15:33When you're young, you really don't know what to think.
15:36I mean, you're overwhelmed with the fact that you've been thrown out of your home and you don't have no money.
15:41You're scared.
15:43But Glenn was, he was sweet.
15:46Midget man took on the responsibility of raising Donna and Kathy as his own.
15:51Fearful of running into lobster boy on the carnival circuit, Glenn opened up a tire business.
15:56Then, in early 1974, Teresa received legal papers saying that Grady had filed for divorce and been granted full custody of Donna and Kathy.
16:06He said they didn't bring the children to Ohio and I was going to go to Penitentiary.
16:10So I went out there with them, like a dummy.
16:12We met at a restaurant.
16:15I was so angry and scared that I remember jumping in Glenn's pickup and walking the doors.
16:21I was not coming out no matter what.
16:23I was not going back to that man.
16:25It was Glenn that actually convinced me to get out of the truck and go with him.
16:28With custody of his children, lobster boy made his family complete with a new wife named Barbara Browning.
16:35Grady relocated the family to a dingy apartment in the slums of his hometown of Pittsburgh.
16:40But Donna and Kathy had difficulty adjusting to their new life and stepmother Barbara.
16:45We never got along at all.
16:47She was as big as drunk as he was and didn't take care of the kids at all.
16:53Meanwhile, Teresa and Glenn married and moved into a mobile home in Smock, Pennsylvania.
16:58On June 8, 1974, Teresa gave birth to a beautiful baby boy.
17:03They named him Harry Glenn Newman Jr., nicknamed Glennie.
17:07I was happy.
17:09Proud father.
17:11Daddy was normal.
17:13But Teresa desperately missed daughters Kathy and Donna.
17:16Grady prevented his ex-wife from having any contact with the girls.
17:20Grady Stiles, however, was content.
17:23The lobster boy had his family and a new drinking partner, wife Barbara.
17:28Their thing was going to the bar every day and was supposed to go to school, take care of the house,
17:33be home in time to take care of dinner because they're not there.
17:37Grady's contentment didn't last long, and his pattern of drinking and violence surfaced again with Barbara.
17:43He beat her.
17:44When they both sobered up the next morning, it was like nothing ever happened.
17:47On July 26, 1976, Barbara gave birth to son Grady Stiles III.
17:53Like his forefathers, Grady III was born with claws for hands.
17:59Little Grady, when he was born, he cried and screamed so much
18:03and nobody would get out of bed because they'd be totally drunk.
18:06By late 1976, Teresa had not seen daughters Donna and Kathy for two years.
18:12Just before Christmas, Teresa called Grady and cautiously asked if she could visit her daughters.
18:17Surprisingly, Grady agreed.
18:19Teresa's husband, Glenn, was suspicious.
18:22I went to the house and I said, I'm going to let you move by yourself.
18:24So I went in with her.
18:26I went in and he said, all the kids are just up the street.
18:28Then he said, did you ever see a .357 Magnum?
18:30I said, sure.
18:32He pulls it out and he points it at us.
18:34I said, that's a big whistle.
18:36And then Paul Fishbaugh come out, big fat man, he said, where's Frank?
18:38Come on, sit down in the chair backwards.
18:40He told us to shut down.
18:42Paul Fishbaugh was known in carny circles as the fat man, weighing in at 600 pounds.
18:48While the fat man held a gun on Midget Man, Lobster Boy beat Teresa.
18:52Grady is all over her.
18:55He's slapping her around.
18:57He's putting his lobster claw in her throat.
19:00Now this is a rather surreal scene.
19:03He says, you mess with me again, I'm going to kill you.
19:06Glenn and Teresa escaped.
19:08But Donna and Kathy were forced to continue living with their father's vicious abuse.
19:12Then 15-year-old Donna came up with a plan.
19:15I told him I was taking a shower, go to bed so I can get up in the morning for school.
19:19I turned the shower on, packed my little D-bag and crawled out the second floor window.
19:24She ran away.
19:25Donna hooked up with an 18-year-old boy from school named Jack Lane.
19:29Jack took Donna to his sister's house to hide out.
19:32After a couple of weeks of living scared and on the run, Donna called her father.
19:37He says, if you don't come home when I find you, I'm going to kill Jack.
19:40He says, and you will go to juvenile hall.
19:42Then in a desperate attempt to free herself from her father's control, Donna told Grady a bold lie.
19:48I said, well, I'm pregnant.
19:51Jack and I need to get married.
19:53This would get me away from my dad.
19:56My dad agreed to it.
19:58If you're pregnant, you've got to get married.
20:00I'll help you out.
20:01Come home.
20:03Donna agreed.
20:04Then, on September 28, 1978, the day before the wedding,
20:08Grady sent Barbara, Donna and the kids out to buy a wedding dress.
20:12When they returned home, Grady complained that his wheelchair was missing from its usual place outside the door.
20:18While the others went outside to look for the wheelchair, Grady told Jack to stay behind.
20:23I heard this pop.
20:25And Jack comes stumbling out holding his chest, and he just looked so shocked.
20:28He said, he shot me.
20:31And he fell flat-faced right there on the sidewalk.
20:34And Dad was up on his knees on the porch.
20:37And I said, what the hell did you do?
20:39He said, I told you I would kill him.
20:41And he just snickered, like, you know, I told you so.
20:45Coming up, Lobster Boy's murder trial becomes a circus.
20:50That man came into the courtroom.
20:52He was so big, he couldn't sit in a witness chair.
20:59We say goodbye to that.
21:01On September 28, 1978, Grady Stiles, also known as Lobster Boy, was arrested for first-degree murder.
21:10Stiles was charged with the cold-blooded killing of Jack Lane, his daughter's fiancee, on the eve of the wedding.
21:17He got arrested that night.
21:19He got in the car and was laughing and said, yeah, I did it.
21:22And I did it again.
21:24Released on $10,000 bond, Grady hired Pittsburgh attorney Tony DiCiello to defend him, author Fred Rosen.
21:31Tony knew it was a difficult case.
21:34And his only way of defending Grady was to say that it was self-defense, that Grady was afraid that Jack was going to hurt him.
21:44Grady felt he had no choice.
21:46Jack was taking his prized daughter away, never mind the fact that he beat the crap out of her.
21:53When the trial began, the media jumped onto the sensational story, a murdering sideshow freak who killed his daughter's fiancee.
22:01The trial featured a parade of character witnesses who testified for their friend and fellow carny.
22:07The Fellini-esque cast of show people raised more than a few eyebrows in the Pittsburgh courtroom.
22:12In walked the fat man.
22:15He was so big he couldn't sit in the witness chair.
22:17He had to sit lotus-like in the well in front of the court and give his testimony.
22:22After the fat man leaves, in walks the bearded lady.
22:26And she says, what a wonderful human being and a credit to the human race Grady Stiles is.
22:30The older people that knew my dad were like that.
22:33He was a carny.
22:34He was a showman, a show owner.
22:36So therefore, he was good.
22:39When the lobster boy himself testified, the master showman did what he knew best.
22:44He performed.
22:46Pittsburgh prosecutor Robert Bensler.
22:49It was sad to see him go through his testimony and how he portrayed his predicament
22:57in that he did not want his daughter to marry what he thought was a jerk, an unemployed individual with no future.
23:05Jurors may have felt compassion for Grady, but they were not willing to let him off the hook completely.
23:10On April 30, 1979, a Pennsylvania jury found Grady Stiles guilty of third-degree murder,
23:17the maximum sentence for his crime was 20 years, but Stiles' unusual anatomy saved him from prison.
23:23They said the facilities were not equipped for a handicap, and he could get out of his chair,
23:29but he made them think he couldn't.
23:32So he, the attorney got him off.
23:36He ended up with, I think, 15 years probation.
23:39I've never had an individual sentenced to probation who's been convicted of murder.
23:44And now, the genie was unleashed from the bottle.
23:48Grady figured he got away with murder, he could get away with anything.
23:52Meanwhile, Teresa's life was not the romantic fantasy she hoped for when she married Midget Man.
23:58A series of health and financial difficulties strained their marriage.
24:02Glenn got injured.
24:04He took a job where he was doing some construction work or welding work, and he fell and hurt his back.
24:11And now, Teresa had to do everything for Glenn.
24:14It was very difficult, and once again, she was looking for a way out.
24:18Grady visited Teresa on occasion.
24:20Surprisingly, he appeared to have cleaned up his act.
24:23He quit drinking, did everything for her to consent, imaginable, the perfect father image.
24:29One thing led to another.
24:31Next thing we knew, he divorced Barbara.
24:34She divorced Glenn.
24:36And then after a while, they were just dating and stuff.
24:40And he conned her, and they call it like a honeymoon touch stage, and ended up winning her heart all over again.
24:49Kathy and Donna weren't fooled by their father's good behavior.
24:53I'd seen the change, but the scare was still there.
24:57I knew it was just a matter of time before it would start up again.
25:04Coming up, Lobster Boy's family retaliates.
25:07All I know is Glenn told Chris something had to be done.
25:12Chris said, I can help you with your problem.
25:21From the depths of Minnesota's real stories, Kevin Sorbo's Celebrity Profile, this Wednesday at 10, only on E!
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27:45In 1988, Lobster Boy lured his ex-wife Teresa back into his clutches.
27:51Stiles stopped drinking and seemed like a new man.
27:54But that didn't last long.
27:56One of the patterns in Grady's life is when he wanted to be charming, he would go in the wagon.
28:01But once he got that person in his claws, he felt free for his real personality to come at him.
28:07The new Stiles family included Grady, Teresa and their two children from other marriages.
28:1312-year-old Grady III and 14-year-old Glennie.
28:16The family moved into a mobile home in Gibsonton, Florida.
28:20By this time, daughters Donna and Kathy were both married and free of their father's abuse.
28:25But they still worried about their mother's safety.
28:28We would visit and it always seemed like he had a drink.
28:31And my mom seemed to be getting very nervous.
28:33And she always looked sick.
28:35One night, Kathy caught Grady abusing her mother and stood up to her dad.
28:40Even though she was seven months pregnant.
28:42He slapped her.
28:44So I stepped between them.
28:46And we had a confrontation.
28:48Kathy's condition didn't stop her father from beating her viciously.
28:52He worked me over pretty good.
28:54Knocked me out of the chair and everything.
28:56And sent me into premature labor.
28:59At the hospital, doctors fought to save the lives of Kathy and her unborn baby.
29:05After an emergency cesarean, Kathy and her new baby girl recovered.
29:10The baby, named Misty, was born with the family's same congenital affliction.
29:15Even though Teresa and the kids suffered years of abuse by Grady,
29:19when the carnival season rolled around every year, the family rallied together.
29:24In the early 1990s, Kathy worked on a platform with her father.
29:28And saw him descend further into an alcoholic haze.
29:32He actually jumped across the platform and bit a person.
29:36You don't urinate in front of a whole show.
29:40You don't expose yourself in front of people.
29:43And he's done all of this.
29:46Grady's abuse at home was also steadily escalating.
29:49Now, Teresa's beatings were accompanied by very serious threats.
29:54He made comments all the time.
29:57That he was going to kill her and the whole family.
30:00But the time just wasn't right yet.
30:02Finally, in the summer of 1992, fed up with years of sadistic abuse,
30:07Teresa mused aloud to the kids that Grady's behavior needed to change.
30:12The only conversation I ever said was something had to be done.
30:17My mother lived through hell.
30:21Grady III was 16 years old at the time.
30:24And witnessed the attacks against his stepmother, Teresa.
30:27Yeah, there were times when he'd get drunk and start throwing things or beating her.
30:32Where she would go, this has to stop.
30:34Or, I can't take this anymore.
30:36But that's about it.
30:38And all that we ever discussed was trying to talk him into going to AA or maybe quit drinking.
30:44Grady III ran with 17-year-old Chris Wyatt, a troublemaker with a juvenile crime record.
30:50Chris Wyatt was kind of the bad boy.
30:54He had had problems with the law before.
30:56Grady introduced him to Glennie.
30:59Then all three of them started hanging out.
31:02All I know is Glenn told Chris something had to be done.
31:07Chris said, I can help you with your problem.
31:10The family believes that Glennie may have heard his mother's comment,
31:13something has to be done, and took matters into his own hands.
31:18He only has a 6th grade education.
31:20He's semi-retarded.
31:22And I think he might have misconstrued it.
31:24On the evening of November 29, 1992, the Stiles family rented a few movies to watch together.
31:30I watched a psychothriller earlier that night but had to go to bed because I had school the next day.
31:36Grady, her husband, and their daughter Misty were living in a small trailer at the rear of the Stiles' property.
31:41Misty had been sick and Teresa wanted to check on her granddaughter.
31:45Grady Stiles, clad only in his underwear, sat in his favorite chair alone in front of the television.
31:53What no one except Glennie knew was that Chris Wyatt was lying in wait outside of the Stiles' mobile home.
31:59Chris was at the window prior to that and nobody knew it.
32:04He told Glenn that if he told anybody that he had a bullet and a gun for every member in the family.
32:12So Glenn was scared for Mom.
32:14So he followed her out, came over to the trailer.
32:17Now Chris Wyatt comes into the trailer.
32:22Grady screams something like, you son of a bitch, get out of here.
32:26What are you doing here?
32:28The only other person in the Stiles' mobile home was Grady III and he was in bed asleep.
32:33I was woke up by the sound of three pops.
32:36I heard a whole lot of foul language and gunshots.
32:40So I automatically thought, okay, gunfire on the movie.
32:44Laid down, went back to bed.
32:46After hearing the shots, Teresa, Kathy, and Glennie rushed back to the mobile home.
32:51And they come in on a scene of carnage.
32:54And what they see is Grady slumped over in his chair with three bullet holes in the back of his head.
33:01Blood is all over the place and brain matter.
33:04911, what is it?
33:05Yes, ma'am.
33:06Ma'am, there's a shooting.
33:08My father just got shot.
33:10Where's he injured at?
33:12He's dead, I guess, because he got shot in the head.
33:15Detectives Rick Figueredo and Mike Ouellette of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Department
33:20were the first officers to arrive at the scene.
33:23We didn't ever catch any sense that the family was in fear that maybe this guy would return.
33:29It just started causing Mike and I to talk, well, you know, maybe they know more about it than what they're telling us.
33:34In any case, you're looking for the weak link.
33:36And we both felt with our opinion was what Glenn knew.
33:40The next day, November 30, 1992, police gave Glennie a polygraph, and his story began to fall apart.
33:49And in our examiner's opinion, he fought the polygraph.
33:54So then Mike and I talked to him a little bit within the office,
33:59and then he started giving us some admissions about Chris Wyatt.
34:03The following is an excerpt from Harry Glenn Newman Jr.'s confession to police.
34:09I said, my mom's having a lot of problems with my father, and I need somehow to help her out and make it better for her.
34:16And he says, okay, give me $300, and I'll do it.
34:20In his confession, Glennie went on to say that he received money from his mother and then gave it to Chris Wyatt.
34:27I was over in my trailer with my daughter, and my sister came over and said, Mom was just arrested.
34:35Coming up...
34:38The whole thing was like a circus.
34:41The lobster boy murder trial.
34:43Lobster boy this, the lobster boy that.
34:51At 21, Joseph Hunt created the Billionaire Boys Club.
34:54Spoiled rich boys. They didn't want to work, and they didn't have a lot of ability.
34:57He made a killing in the market.
34:59He had this ability to convince people that he was going to make them rich.
35:03Then became a killer.
35:05Someone stands in his way, they'll be dead.
35:07But is Joe Hunt a cold-blooded murderer?
35:09Joe turned to me and he said, I killed Ron Levin.
35:12Or the victim of a con man?
35:14There's no way that Ron Levin is dead.
35:16It's the story you haven't heard.
35:18The Billionaire Boys Club, tomorrow at 9 on the E! True Hollywood Story.
35:22This is fun, and I was thinking maybe we could go back to my place and watch a movie.
35:29Sure.
35:31See you there.
35:36Chevy Cavalier, so dependable.
35:38There are more of them out there working than any other small car.
35:44Too bad everyone doesn't have a car they can depend on.
35:49Cavalier, we'll be there.
35:55Look, coming over the horizon.
35:57It's four wheels of fuel-injected two-door convertible.
36:00Cup-holding hardtop, air-conditioned sedan, stereophonic pleasure.
36:04For rent.
36:06That's right, it's rental cars from Priceline.com.
36:09Just log on, choose the rental car that's right for you,
36:13name your own price,
36:15and drive the illegal.
36:18Drive.
36:20Drive.
36:23Hi, I'm Harry Connick Jr. on the set of South Pacific,
36:26and you're watching E! Entertainment Television.
36:30Want exciting football action?
36:33Then you've got it.
36:34Saturdays on CNH.
36:36Again, wide open for the touchdown.
36:38No one brings you award-winning coverage of your favorite local teams like we do.
36:42Bust out of the pocket, in trouble, and out he goes.
36:45Whether you want New Jersey teams, Philadelphia's best, or Delaware's finest,
36:49we've got them all.
36:50CNH, your home for the best in college football excitement.
36:53Brown visits Penn, don't miss it, it'll be a battle to the end.
36:56Kickoff starts at 12.30, only on CNH.
37:01Take that ordinary room and create an extraordinary room
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37:27Domestications, America's authority in home fashion.
37:36On November 29, 1992, sideshow star Lobster Boy was shot three times in the head
37:43inside his mobile home in Gibsonton, Florida.
37:46Within 24 hours, police had a confession that implicated his wife, stepson,
37:51and a hired gunman.
37:53My mom couldn't live with it no more, and I talked to a kid named Chris.
37:56He says, give me $300 and I'll do what I can do.
38:00While the three defendants sat in jail on charges of first-degree murder,
38:04police worked feverishly to piece together the details of the bizarre plot
38:09to kill Lobster Boy.
38:11Then, on December 1, 1992, detectives Mike Ouellette and Rick Figueredo
38:16found the solid physical evidence they needed.
38:19A friend of suspect, Chris Wyant, led police into the woods
38:23and uncovered the murder weapon, a .32 caliber Colt handgun.
38:28The murder trial began on July 21, 1993, but ended abruptly
38:34when Detective Mike Ouellette made an accidental blunder during his testimony.
38:38Ouellette said that Harry Glenn Newman Jr. failed a lie detector test.
38:43Before I could finish the word polygraph,
38:47Brian Donnerly was a defense attorney, jumped up out of his seat
38:51and wanted a mistrial.
38:53Former Tampa District Attorney Ron Haynes.
38:56In Florida, you cannot mention the fact of a polygraph taking place
39:02without causing a mistrial, and that in and of itself
39:06allowed all the defendants the right to a new trial.
39:10The judge ruled that the three defendants would be given separate trials
39:13when the case resumed.
39:15On January 18, 1994, Chris Wyant was the first to go back to court.
39:20His trial was a whirlwind, lasting just two days.
39:24On January 19, the jury returned with their verdict,
39:28guilty of second-degree murder.
39:31Chris Wyant was sentenced to 27 years in Florida State Prison.
39:35Mary Teresa Stiles was next on the docket.
39:38On July 11, 1994, the media and curiosity seekers converged
39:43on the courthouse steps for the trial of Lobster Boy's wife.
39:47Defense attorney Arnold Levine wasted no time in raising
39:51a battered spouse defense on behalf of his client, Mary Teresa.
39:55Grady Stiles was a drunkard, and he would take out his feelings
40:02of inadequacy on Mary and the children by beating them,
40:08by threatening them, by sexually abusing her.
40:12A battered spouse defense had never before been allowed
40:15in a murder-for-hire case, and the prosecution objected.
40:18The traditional concepts of self-defense are of an exigency,
40:23some immediate response that's necessary from the victim
40:28in order to prevent some harm to them.
40:30And in a murder-for-hire situation, I guess your gut reaction is
40:36that that emergency, that exigency is not present.
40:40Judge William Graybill flip-flopped several times before
40:43finally agreeing to allow evidence supporting the battered spouse defense.
40:47The DAs had to swallow the setback as they presented their case.
40:51Prosecutors Sandra Spoto and Ron Haynes contended that Teresa
40:55set a sinister plot in motion that ended with the murder of her husband.
41:00We had to prove that she was the person who had entered into
41:06a conspiracy to murder her husband, Grady Stiles,
41:11and so we came at that through using Christopher Wyatt to testify
41:16that, yes, she had hired him through her son, who was his friend.
41:21The prosecution argued that Teresa had the ability and opportunity
41:25to leave Grady, that she was never in imminent danger
41:28on the night of the murder.
41:30And at that particular moment, Grady Stiles was sitting in his underwear
41:34drinking iced tea, and that, to us, was not imminent violence.
41:40The defense's strategy was simple.
41:43Teresa Stiles lived in fear of her life,
41:46and Chris Wyatt acted on his own accord.
41:49Everybody acknowledged that she was a battered woman.
41:53We disputed that she had participated in the agreement to hire somebody.
41:58But how near was the threat?
42:02My view of imminent danger was that sometime in the immediate future,
42:07you don't know when, Grady Stiles is going to kill her.
42:11Defense expert, psychologist Sidney Merritt,
42:14explained the impact of years of abuse on Teresa's fragile psyche.
42:18Battered spouse syndrome is actually an identifiable entity.
42:22These individuals tend to be very passive and rather dependent.
42:27We would think that this individual had a great deal of voluntary control
42:32over her own behavior and could consequently leave whenever she wanted to,
42:36but that was virtually impossible for a truly abused spouse.
42:40Then, on July 15, 1994, Teresa Stiles took the stand and told her sad story.
42:46Teresa's demeanor was timid, but her testimony was undeniably powerful.
42:51Levine saved his secret weapon for last, a home video
42:55depicting Grady Stiles wrestling Grady III and holding him in a stranglehold.
43:00The videotape had no sound, but the courtroom fell silent
43:04as the shocking display of violence was shown to the jury.
43:07It would play very well as a damning piece of evidence,
43:10and Arnie Levine decided really to put Grady on trial
43:14so that if he could show how abusive Grady was,
43:17then it could justify, under the battered wife syndrome,
43:20the contract that Teresa put out in his life.
43:23Just as the defense was riding high, Judge Grable made a startling announcement.
43:28He was warning us not to come near him because he had tested positive for tuberculosis.
43:36Coming up, a shocking discovery about the family video.
43:40I think the jury thought we were trying to pull something over on them.
43:44They only come out at night.
43:46They have unusual cravings.
43:48I have a blood fetish.
43:49And they love to party.
43:51Step into the shadows of the gothic nightlife.
43:54Hollywood Nights, Coven 13, and E! Original Special, next, only on E!
43:59Tomorrow on the Hot Spot, at 11, Howard wrestles with Chyna about her Playboy's friend.
44:04At 11.30, Howard gets the real scoop behind the making of a porn star.
44:07Then, at 11.30, Howard gets the real scoop behind the making of a porn star.
44:10At 11.30, Howard gets the real scoop behind the making of a porn star.
44:13Then, at midnight, it's Bratwurst Beer and Babes as E! takes you wild on Oktoberfest.
44:17Tomorrow, it's the Hot Spot, only on E!
44:20Applebee's introduces new fire-grilled fajitas.
44:23From the heart of Texas to your table.
44:25Steak and chicken sizzling in a Tex-Mex marinade.
44:28Served on a platter the size of Texas.
44:30New fire-grilled fajitas.
44:32It's as tasty as American-ness. Applebee's.
44:35Some people dream in black and white. Others in color.
44:38But 91% of you dream of going to Australia.
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44:56Look at old Dundee. What's he got that I haven't?
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45:09♪ Put a smile on your face ♪
45:12♪ And be forever back again ♪
45:14♪ Put a smile on your face ♪
45:20Only one thing can come between Allie McBeal and her man.
45:23How's the sex?
45:24I don't care to talk about that.
45:26Who's thinking it, huh?
45:27Robert Downey Jr. joins the cast of Allie.
45:30I should've knocked.
45:31Allie McBeal's season premiere, Fox Ball.
45:35There is a rhythm to life.
45:38We sleep at night and wake in the morning.
45:41It's the sleep cycle that helps.
45:53In the 1994 murder trial of Mary Teresa Stiles,
45:56the defense hinged on a simple premise.
45:59Kill her husband, Lobster Boy, or be killed.
46:02Friends and family were hoping for a verdict of not guilty,
46:05but a second look at a key piece of evidence
46:08turned the case upside down.
46:10It had always troubled us that there was no sound on the video
46:13because there was always just something about it
46:16that seemed to us that it was not as sinister
46:18as it had been made out to be.
46:21A new judge, William Fuente, was assigned to the trial
46:25and the case resumed.
46:26In court, early one morning,
46:28prosecutors Sandra Spoto and Ron Haynes
46:30spotted something that immediately grabbed their attention.
46:33The defense had a video on,
46:38and it just so happened to be the video
46:41that had already been played to the jurors without sound.
46:44However, when we came to the realization
46:47that there was sound to that video,
46:50then obviously we wanted to know what that sound was.
46:53Prosecutors raced to find a copy of the tape
46:56with the original sound.
46:57Author Fred Rosen came to the rescue.
47:00I realized that the tape had been introduced
47:03as evidence in court without the sound.
47:05When I said to Haynes, I said,
47:06Listen, Ron, my copy's got sound.
47:08Rosen received the tape with sound
47:11before the trial began from attorney Arnold Levine.
47:14Levine later released the video without sound
47:17to prosecutors and the media.
47:19The prosecution requested permission from the judge
47:22to play the tape for the jury with sound,
47:24and the judge agreed.
47:26Grab the seat of his pants and give him a wedgie.
47:28I can't grab the seat of his pants.
47:29He's got that on his arm.
47:31Flip.
47:32Flip what?
47:33Flip your body.
47:34Go with the way he's holding her neck and flip around.
47:36Without the sound, it looked like Grady was brutalizing his son,
47:39but with the sound, it looked like
47:41just some roughhousing between a son and a father.
47:44Levine was furious with Rosen
47:46for giving the tape to the prosecutors.
47:48I recognized that the audio
47:52would temper the significance of what was going on.
48:01So, otherwise, I would have put the audio in at the outset.
48:05The damage to the defense's credibility was done.
48:08I think the jury thought we were trying to pull something over on them,
48:11and we weren't.
48:13Prosecutors then attacked other crucial aspects of the defense's case.
48:17During the course of the trial,
48:19they, through various witnesses, set up their day
48:22and saying that he had just been drinking all day long,
48:25and once again, they were going to have to put up
48:28with these violent acts that would occur.
48:31The prosecution called local bar owners to the stand.
48:35Owner of the Showtown Bar, Chuck Osak.
48:38Grady's wife testified or said
48:41that we had served him alcohol that Sunday morning.
48:44So, thank God for computers.
48:49We went back to the computer data, and it just wasn't true.
48:52You know, it was a flat lie.
48:54Then, in a final blow, prosecutors introduced the autopsy report.
48:59His blood alcohol level was a .02.
49:02At that time in Florida, the legal limit for DUI was a .10,
49:07and so a .02 is barely more than a beer.
49:11The defense suffered a complete reversal of fortune.
49:14The two of us were hoping of four not guilty.
49:19I don't know how realistic that was.
49:22After deliberating for 11 hours over two days,
49:25the jury returned with a verdict.
49:27Mary Teresa Stiles was found guilty of manslaughter
49:31and conspiracy to commit murder.
49:33She was sentenced to 12 years in Florida State Prison.
49:37The trial of Harry Glenn Newman Jr., or Glennie, was up next.
49:41Prosecutors approached Glennie with a plea bargain
49:44to accept the same sentence as his mother,
49:46but he rejected it and went forward with the trial,
49:49a decision he lived to regret.
49:52Harry Glenn Newman receives the harshest sentence of all,
49:55is convicted of first-degree murder,
49:57is convicted of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder
50:00in his role as middleman, so to speak,
50:04for taking the money from the mother, hiring Mr. Wyant.
50:08And he gave a statement,
50:10which was as damaging probably as anything
50:13as to what his part in it was.
50:15Harry Glenn Newman Jr. was sentenced to life in prison
50:19and may never again see the outside world.
50:23With their traumatic past behind them,
50:25members of the Stiles family try to look toward the future.
50:29In June 2000, Teresa was transferred
50:32to a work release program in Tampa, Florida.
50:34She's talking about dealing with battered women,
50:39and we are planning on moving away from this town.
50:42There's a lot of bad memories there,
50:44the trailer, the area, Gibsonton period.
50:47And there's some people that resent the fact
50:50that my dad is dead.
50:51Indeed, the murder of Grady Stiles
50:53left the town of Gibsonton divided.
50:56Some townspeople, like retired carnival owner Bill Myers,
50:59never saw the dark side of Lobster Boy.
51:02I think that there's a lot of people that miss him
51:06in the community,
51:08because, you know, he was a great inspiration.
51:11How many people in his situation
51:14would go out and work, raise a family,
51:18and not go for welfare and all?
51:22If my dad was alive today,
51:24and if I seen him on the street corner dying,
51:29I wouldn't even give him a blanket.
51:31I would have nothing to do with the carnival ever again.
51:34That is the past,
51:36and I think that needs to be buried with him.
51:39© BF-WATCH TV 2021