Fatal Visions

In the shadow of the superstition mountains outside Phoenix, you'll find towns like Gilbert: suburban Anywhere, U.S.A. Endless miles of well-tended homes that all look exactly the same. But one day, inside one of these homes, something happened that was quite different. A mystery so deep and so strange that seven years of investigation left some of the biggest questions unanswered.

Was this woman a prophet or a troubled soul?  A prime mover or a passive victim? Or maybe all of those?

Did this man meticulously plan and commit a near-perfect murder?   Or did he somehow run afoul of an angry family, and a misguided prosecution?  Or maybe, all of those, too?

It's a story that begins in a temple, and ends in a courtroom. A case of fatal visions. The question is, whose?

Thou shalt love thy wife with all they heart, and shalt cleave unto her and none else.

Doug and Faylene Grant were a bit of an odd couple. Doug was a small town boy who made it big selling nutritional supplements.  He was quite the success, counting the NBA'S Phoenix Suns among his clients. He grew up in tiny Thatcher, Arizona. His sister Tammy says the family was deeply religious.

Tammy: We're all members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, better known as Mormons.  You center your life around Christ, and you try to be like him.

Josh Mankiewicz: And that was true for Doug, as well?

Tammy: It was true for Doug, as well.

But Doug was also a man of the world.

Tammy: Doug was very ambitious.  Was always trying new and different things.

There was also his interest in (read: fascination with) women.

Tammy: I think there is a magnetism there about his personality. 

Faylene clearly felt the pull when she met Doug in the early 90's. She was Mormon too-- the oldest of four children.  From an early age, faith was the center of her life.

Doug Eaves: She was one of those individuals that everybody felt like they were her best friend.

Glenna Eaves: She always uplifted us.  When she walked in a room you just could feel it.

Her faith went hand-in-hand with a lifelong avocation.

Glenna Eaves: She loved to write.  She was always leaving notes on our pillows or, you know, somewhere for-- for us.

Faylene continued to write throughout her life: notes, letters, and journals where she poured out her innermost thoughts and feelings. She also sought refuge in the Mormon temple.

Glenna Eaves: It's peaceful there.  It's calm. We go there to talk to Heavenly Father. 

Mormons believe that heavenly father talks back now and then. The doctrine of personal revelation is central to church teaching.

Female: She never claimed to see God or talk to God.  It was always, "I had a feeling," or, "I have a feeling." 

In fact, as Faylene wrote in her journal, she divorced her first husband because of a feeling she got in the temple. At the time, Doug was divorced too-- he'd had an affair. When Faylene and Doug got married in 1993, she recorded their newlywed passion.

Faylene, 9/26/93: He says he's not romantic but that is *very* far from true! He took me up a ladder onto his roof with chips, salsa, and fake champagne and a blanket to watch falling stars from a meteor.  I am so lucky to have him!

Doug also took care of Faylene's family-- hiring them at his business. There they are in one of Doug's workout videos: Faylene, her dad, her mom. Faylene's brother says business was booming.

Doug: We went from doin' $30,000 a month to, what?  About a million dollars a month in just over--about a year and a half.

Doug had a son from his previous marriage.  Faylene had a son and a daughter from hers.  Then they had two sons together.  In January of 2000, the couple went to the Mormon temple and had their marriage "sealed" – meaning they were now married not just on Earth, but forever, for "time and eternity." But within months, things went sour.

Faylene: I'd prayed and received a very strong witness Doug had been w/someone else...)

Faylene filed for divorce in June of 2000 - and it soon became clear that the "witness" she'd received about Doug being unfaithful was right on the money.

Jody: Fay told me that he admitted to six women.  Six different women.

Josh Mankiewicz: --affairs with six different women while he was married to Fay?

Jody: Yes.

So everyone was shocked a year later, when Faylene suddenly decided to marry Doug for the second time.

Doug Eaves: Doug called me on the phone. And he says, "How would 'ya like to have me back as your son-in-law?" And man, I-- just kinda swallowed hard and almost dropped the phone.  And so, I got on the phone with Faylene.  And she says, "Dad, one of these days, I need to sit down with you and Mom and explain to you what was revealed to me in the temple." But we never got to have that conversation.

For I, the Lord, have decreed in mine anger many destructions upon the waters...

Video   'He said that his wife is unconscious' Hear more of physician's assistant Chad White's call to 911 when Doug told him Faylene had overdosed. Dateline NBC

Doctrines and Covenants, 61:5

Josh Mankiewicz: September 27th.  The phone rings.  What do you remember?

Tammy Fuentes: Danny answered the phone that morning.

Danny is Tammy's husband-- Doug's brother-in-law.

Danny Fuentes: It was Doug, and he was saying there had been accident. 

Soon, Faylene's family got the word.

Jody Stratton: We just couldn't figure out, why would she be in the hospital.  

Faylene was in an E.R. about five miles from the home she shared with Doug. Both sides of the large family soon arrived in force.

Tammy Fuentes: We didn't want to leave Doug alone. And he was a mess. Almost in a state of panic, and shock, and disbelief, and just every emotion you could even imagine.

Faylene's family remembers things differently.

Josh Mankiewicz: Doug's state of mind at the hospital.

Jody Stratton: Weird.  Weird.  He was nervous.

Glenna: Anxious.  Nervous. He never stayed by Faylene. I never once saw him hold her hand.

Doug told everyone he had found Faylene early that morning in the bathtub, under the water. He'd done CPR to no avail.

Jody Stratton: Well, what I could understand he was saying-- was that she had drowned and taken-- or that she had a bunch of pills in-- I can't even remember exactly how he said it.  But--

Glenna: He was just saying something about how tiny the Ambien were, how teeny.  He says, "You don't realize they're just like the end of a pin."

If faylene had nearly drowned, why was Doug talking about sleeping pills? For that matter, how could a healthy adult drown in her own bathtub? 

Jody Stratton: That afternoon, Faylene obviously isn't getting any better.  In fact, her condition is continuing to deteriorate bit by bit.

Video   Witness stand: Hilary Grant A tearful Hilary testifies about her relationship with Faylene. Dateline NBC

Cherlene: We were waiting for the doctor's analysis the next day.  But Doug took that away from us.

Josh Mankiewicz: How did Doug take that away from you?

Cherlene: By telling the nurse to stop her resuscitative efforts.

Her heart could not beat on its own- within minutes, she slipped away. Faylene Grant, age 35, was pronounced dead at 4:37 pm.

Doug Eaves: She had that little touch of angel in her.

Josh Mankiewicz: Were you a wreck the day of the funeral?

Glenna: Yes, I was a wreck.  Every day before and I'm still a wreck.  And-- never get to talk to her on the phone again or go places with her, have her at family things.  Yeah, I'm a wreck. 

They buried Faylene on October 1, 2001.  They knew they were supposed to get on with their lives, but that proved difficult. Because, three weeks later, Doug Grant, age 35, married a beautiful blonde named Hilary... Who had just turned 21.

You probably think you know where this story is going. Trust me ... You have no idea.

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