2 Missouri women get life for 2006 fatal shooting

By Robert Patrick - Stltoday.com

June 18, 2012

ST. LOUIS • Two Missouri women were sentenced in federal court here to life in prison for the fatal shooting of one's husband in 2006.

Katherine A. Mock, 58, of Cassville, Mo., and Elain Kay Young, 57, were convicted by a federal jury here in March of murder for hire and conspiracy to commit murder for hire in the death of Young's fourth husband, Melvin "Beau" Griesbauer, 48.

Prosecutors say that Young hatched the plot to kill Griesbauer for $1.2 million in insurance — money that would save the family farm and dog breeding business in Novinger, Mo.

He was shot early in the morning of March 23, 2006, with a Winchester .30-30 rifle.

DNA from both women was found on a ski mask with gunshot residue that was found after the murder. Mock's DNA was on a pair of gloves also laced with gunshot residue.

Witness said Mock asked relatives if they knew someone who would kill for money, and another witness testified that Young offered him $10,000 and promised to kill his wife if he killed her third husband.

Lawyers for both women continued to deny their guilt.

Mock, who was sentenced first, broke down after apologizing, saying that she prayed for Griesbauer's family every night and saying that she would have taken his place the night of the murder.

Young said nothing and showed no reaction, just as she had when she heard the verdict in March.

Young and Mock found guilty in Novinger murder

HeartlandConnection.com

March 19, 2012

ST. LOUIS -- Two women are found guilty in federal court of both charges in the death of Melvin B. Griesbauer of Novinger, Mo. 

Elain Kay Young and Katherine A. Mock were convicted of federal conspiracy charges and murder-for-hire involving the murder of Young’s husband. According to the United States Attorney’s Office, Young and Mock planned and caused the murder of Griesbauer, Young’s husband, on March 23, 2006, so that Young could collect his insurance policies.

Young, 57, Novinger, Mo., and Mock, 58, Cassville, Mo., were convicted of one count each of conspiracy to commit murder for hire and one felony count of murder for hire. The six day trial was held before United States District Judge Henry Autrey.  Sentencing will be set at a later date.

Each defendant is facing life in prison. In determining the actual sentences, a judge is required to consider the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which provide recommended sentencing ranges.

The case was investigated by the Adair County Sheriff’s Office, the Barry County Sheriff’s Office, Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Kirksville Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Assistant United States Attorneys Tom Dittmeier, Michael Reilly and Patrick Judge prosecuted the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Teacher ‘killed fourth husband for $1.2m life insurance’ (and she’s also accused of suffocating her mother and trying to kill two previous spouses)

DailyMail.co.uk

March 14, 2012

A teacher hatched a plot to kill her fourth husband for $1.2million life insurance, prosecutors have claimed at her trial.

Elain Young, 57, is charged with planning and carrying out the murder of her husband Melvin 'Beau' Griesbauer, 48, with her friend Katherine Mock, 58, in Missouri.

Griesbauer was an army reserve specialist who survived a tour in Iraq. Friends said he had taken out good insurance cover to make sure his wife was taken care.

The prosecution has also accused Young of suffocating her mother in 2000 as well as attempting to find someone to kill two of her previous husbands.

Young, of Novinger, and Mock, of Cassville, are facing charges of felony conspiracy to commit murder for hire and felony murder for hire, reports STLtoday.com.

Their trial began on Monday with both women, who have pleaded not guilty, facing life in prison if convicted. 

Young allegedly planned and executed the murder so she could collect an insurance payout and recruited Mock to the scheme who attempted to hire someone to carryout the murder.

On the night of the shooting on March 22, 2006 Mock was staying at Griesbauer and Young’s farm in Novinger.

It is claimed that after Young returned home with Griesbauer after picking him up from work, the women caused Griesbauer to be shot in the head and killed.

The murder weapon, a 30-30 Winchester caliber rifle, was previously in the possession of Young, according to STLtoday.com.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Dittmeier said Young, who worked in various schools in Missouri, was in severe financial trouble and 'obsessed' with keeping the farm.

He claims that she told one of two men she was seeing while Griesbauer was serving with the National Guard in Iraq that, 'I wish he were dead. I'd like to kill the son of a bitch', reports STLtoday.com.

The court heard that Young had told Mock that Griesbauer was abusive and had taken out a $300,000 insurance policy on her life.

That, Dittmeier claims, prompted Mock to ask her two relatives if they knew anyone who would kill Griesbauer for $6,000 or $10,000.

After the shooting, Mock called 911 at 2.01am sobbing and said that she and Young had just found Griesbauer.

'There's a big hole in the side of his face,' she cried in the recording played in court on Tuesday.

Attempts to make the death appear accidental or a suicide were unearthed when police discovered that the rifle had been cocked after Griesbauer was shot, reports STLtoday.com.

On the side of the barn, they found a ski mask and a pair of rubber gloves, contaminated with gunshot residue and Mock's DNA.

The prosecution said that Young later told Mock to take enough Vicodin to avoid prison and get sent to a mental hospital, reports STLtoday.com.

Investigators later found found insurance documents, and a note in Young's possession that said, 'Use her drugged state to convince her she shot him' and 'Offered 10,000 to kill him. Was turned down.'

Prosecutors say that Young tried twice before to murder her husbands. In 1994, she solicited two men to kill Frank Niece for insurance of more than $300,000 and also asked a man and a woman to kill or help kill David Crawford, her husband from 1996-03.

It was also alleged that Young killed her mother in 2000 by injecting her with a lethal dose of morphine and smothering her with a pillow, according to STLtoday.com.

Federal charges against Young and Mock

HeartlandConnection.co,

October 23, 2009

ST. LOUIS -- The following is a release from the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri:

Elain Kay Young and Katherine A. Mock were charged with federal conspiracy charges involving the murder of Young’s husband, Acting United States Attorney Michael W. Reap and Adair County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Williams announced today.

According to the indictment, Young and Mock planned and caused the murder of Young’s husband Melvin B. Griesbauer on March 23, 2006, so that Young could collect his insurance policies.

The indictment alleges that Young knew that her husband had a $600,000 basic life insurance policy issued by the Army And Air Force Mutual Aid Association (AAFMA) through his service in the United States Army National Guard.  Young was beneficiary of the policy upon her husband’s death.  She was also the beneficiary under two other policies concerning Mr. Griesbauer. Young had enrolled him in a $37,500 accidental death and dismemberment insurance policy through Monumental Life Insurance Company in connection with her employment at the Milan Schools and her association with the Missouri State Teachers Association.  They had also enrolled in another accidental death and dismemberment insurance policy for $100,000 through Continental Casualty Company, a subsidiary of CNA.

Young allegedly recruited Mock to pursue a scheme to murder Griesbauer.  In March 2006, Mock attempted to recruit a person to commit the murder for $6,000.  The same month, Mock attempted to recruit a different person for $10,000.

On March 22, 2006, Mock traveled from her residence in Cassville, MO,  to Griesbauer and Young’s residence in Novinger, MO.  During the late evening hours of March 22, 2006, or the early morning hours of March 23, 2006, Young drove to Kirksville to pick up Griesbauer at conclusion of his work shift.  The indictment alleges that when they returned home, Mock and Young caused the death of Griesbauer by causing him be shot in the head with a .30-30 Winchester caliber rifle, a firearm previously in the possession of Young and her family.

Both Mock and Young tried to conceal their involvement in the murder by making false statements to other persons.  Additionally, as alleged in the indictment, Young provided Mock with pills containing hydrocodone and acetaminophen.  She told Mock consume the pills in order to receive a short term in a mental hospital and avoid a penitentiary sentence.  Beginning in late March 2006, Young used facilities in interstate commerce, and thereafter the mail, as part of processing the insurance claims.

Finally, the indictment alleges that in April 2009, Young mailed letters to potential witnesses directing them not to disclose her ability to escape from custody and directing them how to communicate regarding her ability to escape and travel to a non-extradition country.

Young, 55, Novinger, MO; and Mock, 55, Cassville, MO, were each indicted on one felony count of conspiracy to commit murder for hire and one felony count of murder for hire.  If convicted, the maximum penalty for each charge is life in prison and fines up to $250,000.

Reap commended the tremendous efforts of the Adair County Prosecutor’s Office in conducting its investigation.

“This was a long term investigation,” said Roland Corvington, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in St. Louis. “The cooperation from the Adair County Sheriff's Office, Barry County Sheriff's Office and the Missouri State Highway Patrol helped bring this case successfully to this point.”

Reap and Williams commended the work on the case by the Adair County Sheriff’s Office, the Barry County Sheriff’s Office, Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Kirksville Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Assistant United States Attorneys Tom Dittmeier and  Michael Reilly, who are handling the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations, and each defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.