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Lobster Boy

Page 21

by Fred Rosen


  “We got shot at—”

  “Shot at?” I interrupted Cathy.

  “Oh yes, in Shea Stadium—”

  “Orchard Beach, too,” Tyrill added.

  “No, we didn’t get shot at Orchard Beach,” Cathy corrected.

  “Glennie got jumped in Orchard. In City Island,” Tyrill corrected himself.

  That led to a discussion about the increase of violent crime in Gibsonton. Grady Stiles’s death was not mentioned. I looked up and saw Little Grady walking on his hands into the living room. So swiftly did he walk into the living room and pull himself up onto the couch, that I had no chance to react.

  “Hi, Grady, how’s it going?”

  “Cool,” he answered brightly. He enjoyed the attention the family was getting.

  “What would you like people to know about your father, Cathy, that needs to be clarified?”

  “That he wasn’t a helpless person. That he wasn’t handicapped. He could do just as much as anyone else could do. The state is acting like my father is an indolent person who couldn’t abuse anybody.”

  “How are your mother and brother now?”

  “They’re hanging in there. Not doing that well.”

  As I packed up to leave, Tyrill took me aside.

  “Do you have a rental car?”

  I nodded.

  Mindful of the rash of vehicular robberies and murders in Florida, Tyrill advised, “Watch yourself. If someone bumps you, you keep going.”

  Afterword

  Both Cathy Stiles and I were in the 2014, “Evil Kin” episode about her father, on the Investigation Discovery Channel. In 2005, Cathy Stiles guest-starred as the “Lobster Girl” on the HBO cult series, Carnivale.

  Both Mary Teresa Stiles and Christopher Wyant served their time and were subsequently released from prison. Harry Glenn Newman, Jr., 39 years old, is still serving life without parole. Teresa still has a cemetery plot reserved for her next to Grady.

  Image Gallery

  Unless otherwise noted, all photos are courtesy of the Florida State Attorney’s office.

  The crime scene, shot from across the street by the police photographer—that’s the family’s camper parked in front of their trailer.

  The rusty automatic Chris Wyant wielded when he shot Grady.

  Mug shot of Teresa Stiles.

  Mug Shot of Harry Glenn Newman, Jr.

  Mug shot of Dennis Cowell.

  Mug shot of Chris Wyant.

  Grady Stiles, Jr., slumped over in his armchair after he was murdered—that’s iced tea in the glass, not booze.

  Notice the picture of Grady and Cathy behind the chair Grady was sitting in when Wyant blew his brains out.

  The back of Grady’s skull shows the three bullet wounds.

  Forensic specialists working the crime scene.

  The author’s favorite shot—the bloody box of Pall Malls shot by a terrific photographer.

  Another angle of the bullet holes in the back of Grady’s head.

  Forensic specialists working the crime scene.

  The Stiles parked their camper in front of their trailer.

  The chair in which Grady was sitting when he was murdered.

  Bullet hole in the roof of the trailer.

  The rear of the Stiles trailer.

  Glenn hung out here at this strip mall before meeting Wyant and concluding the deal to kill Grady.

  The neighborhood where the Stiles family still lives, photographed from the air.

  The road that Wyant took in finding a place to dump the murder weapon.

  The footstep that the police found near the spot where the murder weapon was dumped.

  Arnie Levine giving a press conference during the trial.

  Photo courtesy of the author

  Tony DeCello, Grady’s attorney during his Pittsburgh murder trial.

  Photo courtesy of the author

  Ron Hanes and Sandra Spoto talk during a break in Teresa’s murder trial.

  Boyishly handsome, Ron Hanes was the state’s attorney who prosecuted all the people involved in the murder of Grady Stiles.

  Photo courtesy of the author

  Sandra Spoto assisted Hanes in the prosecution of all the people involved in the murder of Grady Stiles.

  Photo courtesy of the author

  A more recent mug shot of Harry Glenn Newman, Jr.

  Cathy and Tyril attending Teresa’s trial.

  Photo courtesy of the author

  The Stiles family gather to listen to Arnie during a break in the trial (Donna on far right).

  Midget Man aka Harry Gloenn Newman at Teresa’s trial.

  Photo courtesy of the author

  The rowhouse in Pittsburgh from which Grady fired a rifle, murdering his daughter’s fiancé.

  Tony DeCello, Grady’s attorney at his Pittsburgh murder trial.

  Photo courtesy of the author

  Tattoo on Grady’s arm with the names of his children.

  The Alligator Man and the Bearded Lady.

  Photo courtesy of the Circus World Museum, Baraboo, Wisconsin

  The Alligator Man and the Bearded Lady made quite a couple.

  Photo courtesy of the Circus World Museum, Baraboo, Wisconsin

  Jeanie Tomaini, the World’s Only Living Half Girl, and her grandson.

  Photo courtesy of the author

  The World’s Only Living Half Lady and the Giant.

  Photo courtesy of the Circus World Museum, Baraboo, Wisconsin

  A carnival, just like the ones the family played on Long Island, NY.

  Photo courtesy of the author

  The showman’s section of the Tampa cemetery where Grady is buried.

  Photo courtesy of the author

  The author standing in front of the showman’s section of the Tampa cemetery where Grady is buried.

  Photo courtesy of the author

  The grave markers of Grady’s parents.

  Photo courtesy of the author

  Grady’s gravestone marker, with room for Teresa on the right.

  Photo courtesy of the author

  The park where Glenn and Chris concluded the deal to kill Grady.

  Photo courtesy of the author

  Ron Hanes talking to the media during a break in Teresa’s trial.

  Photo courtesy of the author

  Teresa Stiles slumped over at the defense table during the trial.

  Photo courtesy of the author

  Defense attorney Arnie Levine makes a point to the judge during Teresa Stiles’s trial.

  Photo courtesy of the author

  Grady Stiles, Jr., aka Lobster Boy.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Paul Dinas is easily the most unique editor I’ve ever worked with. It is Paul who saw the possibility of this book way before I did, and who provided unparalleled support in its research and writing. He has more journalistic integrity than most journalists I know.

  Thanks, too, to my family and friends for their support, especially my wife, Leah, and my mother and stepfather. My researchers Billy Koskotos and Michael Shapiro also deserve credit.

  And my special thanks to Michael Willette, Ron Hanes, Brian Donerly, Sandra Spoto, Mike Mahan, and Rob Sumner in Tampa; Merrill McCubbin in Norfolk; and Tony DeCello and Commander Ron Freeman of the Allegheny County Homicide Division in Pittsburgh, for their openness and candor.

  All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

  Copyright © 1995 by Fred Rosen

  ISBN: 978-1-5040-2268-2

  This edition published in 2015 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

  180 Maiden Lane

  New York, NY 10038

  www.openroadmedia.com

  FRED ROSEN

  FROM OPEN ROAD MEDIA

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