Kelsey Grammer Fights to Keep Sister's Killer Jailed
"Frasier" actor sends court emotional letter at parole hearing
By GREG WILSON
Updated 9:00 PM CDT, Tue, Jul 28, 2009
Kelsey Grammer couldn't be there in person for the parole hearing of the man who raped and murdered his sister in 1975, but he made sure he was heard -- and the killer isn't getting out anytime soon.
The "Frasier" actor, who has appeared at prior parole hearings for Freddie Glenn, sent a powerful letter which was read in court before a judge ruled that Glenn must stay behind bars for at least another five years.
"I miss her," wrote Grammer, who was unable to attend because of airline delays at JFK Airport in New York. "I miss her in my bones. I was her big brother. I was supposed to protect her -- I could not. I have never gotten over it."
Karen Grammer was 18 when she was abducted by Glenn and two other men after she left a Colorado Springs Red Lobster where she had gone to meet her boyfriend. The men raped her and then Glenn slashed her throat with a bayonnet. Prosecutors said the men killed her because they were planning to rob the restaurant and she had seen them.
Glenn was initially sentenced to die in the gas chamber and the men withh him were convicted of various charges.
Grammer, who was a 20-year-old aspiring actor when he went to the morgue and identified his sister's body, says his sister's death plunged him into decades of drinking, drugs and depression, though he has been sober since 1996.
In the letter, Grammer described himself as a "man of faith," and said he has forgiven Glenn. But he also said he doubts the man can be returned to society without putting others at risk.
"Consider the extreme nature of his crimes -- the disregard for simple humanity," Grammer wrote. "This is a butcher. This is a monster."
First Published: Jul 27, 2009 3:31 PM CDT
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