alicia was almost two years younger than her sister. like tara, she had two young kids. and knew that it was ominously unlike her sister to walk out of her life even for a marriage time-out. tara would never leave her children and not let us know where she was. she would never miss anything with her employer. in ten years of working for the same company, she didn t miss a day. when alicia talked to her brother-in-law steve, it was the 13th of february, the evening before he finally reported tara a missing person on valentine s day. the conversation we had started out with him telling the story and it very quickly changed tones. he said to me, you know what, she is probably shacked up in a hotel. alicia, in truth, had never been thrilled with her sister s husband. a smug underachiever, she thought, a guy who bellowed when he talked. he always had to have the last word. no matter what. tara and stephen met at michigan state. a 4-h girl going for a business degree and a subu
did she ever say i ve got to turn around and go back to puerto rico on sunday? no. in fact, she laid out all of her plans to me. which was to return to puerto rico on that monday. now, tara was missing. alicia and her husband drove five hours to detroit to meet with the detective named kozlowski and to paper the metro area with missing person posters. saturday night, the 17th, they made plans to go over to stephen s house for take-out pizza. we drove up the driveway and steve came out of the garage and proceeded to hug me. in a very uncomfortable fashion. i tried to pull away and he would not allow me to pull away. he buried his head in my shoulder and he was crying. grant s tears became very familiar to tv news watchers, but after a few days in the spotlight, they dried up. he began badmouthing his missing wife in interviews. this one with hank winchester of detroit s nbc affiliate. a couple of years ago tara and i did have a problem in our marriage. with with i don t
break. the detective s desk phone rang. i recognized it right away as being an international call. at the other end was a voice saying this is verena durkas. verena, the grants former au pair, calling from her home in germany. she was crying. i had the sense to reach for my recorder and record the conversation. everything he said was a lie and i believed everything. and for the next 30 minutes, what a story she had to tell. verena, in the middle of the night for her, was saying grant had just called her and confessed to killing his wife. he told me it was an accident. he said she slapped me and she yelled at me. and i pushed her back and she banged her head and was dead. the 19-year-old verena swore to the detective that she always believed stephen s story that his wife had walked out. she had no idea, she said, that he actually killed tara. the detective told verena he believed her. but he gently confronted her
verena, in the middle of the night for her, was saying grant had just called her and confessed to killing his wife. he told me it was an accident. he said she slapped me and she yelled at me. and i pushed her back and she banged her head and was dead. the 19-year-old verena swore to the detective that she always believed stephen s story that his wife had walked out. she had no idea, she said, that he actually killed tara. the detective told verena he believed her. but he gently confronted her about stories told to him by the au pair s friends in the detroit area. rumors about her and grant. is there anything you want to tell me about your relationship with steve? there is nothing. are you absolutely certain about that, verena? yes. gradually the cop coaxed the truth out of the teenager, bit by bit. challenged on that point, verena admitted a little more. we kissed, but that s all.
day. the conversation we had started out with him telling the story and it very quickly changed tones. he said to me, you know what, she is probably shacked up in a hotel. alicia, in truth, had never been thrilled with her sister s husband. a smug underachiever, she thought, a guy who bellowed when he talked. he always had to have the last word. no matter what. tara and stephen met at michigan state. a 4-h girl going for a business degree and a suburban detroit boy with an eye on politics. when they married and kids came along she was ecstatic. lindsey was the sparkle of her eye. alicia and tara had grown up together as farm kids on michigan s rural upper peninsula. tara and i growing up, we had a list. we had a list of things we had to accomplish in the day. if the list wasn t done when my dad got home, there were consequences to be paid. my husband. hi, steve! one activity on the list, more fun, than chore, was making maple syrup, something tara