The Nanny Angle

http://www.clickondetroit.com/video/11196435/index.html

Confirmation today that I was right.

Back on Feb 28th, before the remains of Tara Grant were found, partly in her garage, and partly scattered all over Hell's half acre (unconfirmed report that her head was stuffed into a hollow tree), one of the local news sites ran an audio clip of an interview with the family's au pair. She's a German girl who had high-tailed it back home within days of Stephen Grant reporting his missing wife. In the phone interview, the girl referred to her former boss as "Steve," and defended him mightily. Something in my mind went, ~ding!~

The cute 19-year-old blonde with the sexy accent was in love with Mr. Wide-Eyed Innocence. Most of the people in the online community in which I was discussing the case thought I was full of...well...much too suspicious, anyway.

Grant said that the Sheriff's Office had demanded that the girl leave. Of course, Grant said a lot of things that law enforcement, the DA and forensic psychologists will be poring over for some time to come. It turned out that it was the agency that supplied the au pair that demanded she leave the household. Verena, the au pair, didn't want to go.

Of course she didn't! I can hear her now, in her cute little German accent: "Steve needs me. With Tara missing, the children need me, too." (Purely speculative statement)

So, anyway, a few days pass, and sweet Verena is languishing in Germany while old Steverino is in the hot seat in Michigan. Searches are conducted of terrain near the Grant home. Nothing is found, but public awareness is focused on the area searched. Then, a break. A woman out for a walk finds a ziplock bag containing some interesting items, including latex gloves and blood. The presence of iron filings in the bag, along with the items mentioned, gets the Sheriff a search warrant. Steve lets the cops into the house, and disappears into the snowy night with the family dog. Police make a grisly find in the garage--Tara Grant's torso in a plastic storage tub.

Steve is on the run. How do they finally find where he is? He uses his cell phone to place a call to...guess who? Yup. Got it in one. The nanny. In Germany. He tells her Tara fell down the stairs.

Whatever!

Cut to Germany. Verena is a woman scorned. Betrayed. Hurt. Screwed. "I trusted him," she said. "He knows how much I trusted him...he used me."

Verena, Verena, Verena. You have learned a very painful lesson.

We can only imagine what he told you, but those of us who are older and wiser and a bit more jaded could probably spell it out closely enough to shock you.

I just hope you didn't know what was in that storage tub in the garage.

News:

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070309/METRO/703090399

From the article:

"If Dierkes were charged with a crime, U.S. officials could seek her extradition, Moran said. But she would be entitled to a hearing in a German court to ensure there was some reasonable basis for the charges, he said."

At this point, they are saying she's not a suspect. Of course, they said that about Stepehen Grant, as well. Verena was questioned and schlepped back to Germany before the phone records had been analyzed.

He called her "several times" on the night of the murder.

Speculating here, but, if he's calling her, she's not there, right? Of course, depending on the content of the calls; something we will never know for sure, she might be an accessory before or after the fact.

I think she knows more than she has told.