A look back at the Steven Grant murder case of wife Tara after 10 years

MACOMB COUNTY, Mich. (WJBK) - She became a national headline after her husband reported her missing on Valentine's Day 2007. But Tara Grant had already been dead for days - murdered, dismembered and hidden away.

Now 10 years later, her husband Steven is behind bars and her children are teenagers, living with their aunt.

Many remember the 37-year-old Washington Township man Stephen Grant by his creepy eyes. It was 10 years ago Thursday that he got into an argument with his wife Tara, a successful business woman, strangling her while their two young children slept. 

He would later cut up Tara's body and scatter the remains at nearby Stoney Creek Metro Park. 

FOX 2: "Why did Steven Grant kill his wife?"

"I can't specifically answer that other than what's been on the record," said Stephen Rabaut, the attorney who represented Stephen Grant at trial. "From the evidence that we have it appears he just lost it at that given moment."

Grant reported his wife missing five days after her murder. 

Macomb County Sheriff Anthony Wickersham was captain and in charge of the Grant investigation.

"We were just shaking our heads, he would come in and help us and was cooperating," Wickersham said. "Then he was in front of the media all the time, telling his story. And then coming back and trying to be part of the investigation."

But Tara remained missing for three weeks, until the police got a lucky break back at the Grant house.

"A sharp detective, we were standing out in the garage and he looked and he said that Tupperware container wasn't here two weeks ago when I did my original search and canvas," Wickersham said. "He opened that up and that's when he found the remains."

It was Tara's severed torso. Grant fled to northern Michigan but was captured a few days later and confessed to the crime.

"To be frank, the confession helped us significantly, it assisted us to get to the ultimate verdict of second-degree murder," Rabaut said.

Stephen Grant was sentenced to 50 to 80 years in prison.

The house has been sold, the Grant kids have moved to Ohio and neighbors here in this upscale neighborhood are just trying to forget about the murder that happened here 10 years ago.

"It's a little eerie but like I said, it's not something that we think about every day," said Kelsey Prince, who lives in the neighborhood. "We moved on."

FOX 2: "Did Stephen Grant ever we express remorse to you?"

"Not to me," Wickersham said. "And not to our investigators either."

"It is what it is," said Rabaut. "I think he felt horrible especially for the future of his children's lives as to what it would be for them. But he did exhibit remorse."