Thomas Grill begged
for his life before being bludgeoned to death and Molley Lanham was shot in
the back of the head after being told her life would be spared if she said
nothing about Grill’s slaying.
That, according to
a confidential informant whose cooperation with authorities led to the
discovery of two bodies in a burnt out car in rural Hebron on Saturday.
On Monday, Connor
Ralland Kerner, 17, of 156 Kinsale in Center Township, was formally charged
with the murder of Grill, 19, of Cedar Lake, and Lanham, 19, of St. John.
According to the
probable cause affidavit filed by the Porter County Sheriff’s Police, at 8
a.m. Saturday a Cedar Lake Police detective advised the PCSP that the day
before a person wishing to remain anonymous reported to the CLPD that Kerner
had killed Grill and Lanham and that s/he knew the approximate location of
the bodies.
At 9:20 a.m.
Saturday arrangements were made for this source--called a confidential
informant in the affidavit--to be interviewed by the PCSP. S/he gave this
account:
While staying at
Kerner’s home in Center Township on Monday, Feb. 25, s/he observed Kerner to
be visibly upset. When s/he asked Kerner why, he said that “he had done
something ‘really bad,’” that “I killed someone and I killed an innocent
girl.” Kerner then specifically identified the two as “Thomas Grill” and his
“girlfriend Molley.” At the time, the confidential informant believed Kerner
to be joking but later that night, after seeing a social media posting
reporting Grill and Lanham missing, s/he realized that “what Kerner was
saying was real.”
Three days later,
on Thursday, Feb. 28--the same day the confidential informant made her/his
report to the CLPD--Kerner threatened to kill the confidential informant and
her/his entire family if s/he went to the police. Kerner then told the
confidential informant the following:
On Monday, Feb. 25,
he and Grill--with Lanham remaining in their car, a black Honda Civic--met in
the garage of Kerner’s grandparents in the 200 west block of C.R. 700S in
Hebron to transact a drug deal. There “Grill tried to rob Kerner,” prompting
Kerner to shoot at Grill, missing him twice, then finally hitting him and
sending him to the ground. Wounded, Grill “was begging for his life,” but
Kerner--out of bullets and “panicked”--proceeded to “beat (Grill) with a pipe
wrench until he died.”
Kerner then went
outside to the Civic and asked Lanham to come into the garage, where he
showed her Grill’s body and told her that “he was going to let her go but if
she told he would kill her.” Instead, as Lanham “turned to leave the garage,
Kerner shot her in the head, killing her.”
Kerner next put the
two bodies in the Civic’s trunk, loaded the car with three propane
cylinders, four bottles of “tiki” fluid, and other flammable substances from
his grandparents’ garage, then drove it to a wooded area east of C.R. 550S
and C.R. 250W in Porter County and ignited the vehicle, walking back to his
grandparents’ home.
Kerner told the
confidential informant that his ultimate plan was to “rent a U-Haul truck
later and somehow get the car in it and dump it in the Mississippi River.”
Kerner added that “he had done this before and knew how to cover up a murder
and get away with it.”
At an unspecified
time on Saturday, PCSP investigators found the burnt out Honda Civic and,
after obtaining a search warrant, found “two heavily burnt bodies, skull
fractures to one and an apparent gunshot wound to the head of the other, and
propane cylinders located inside the vehicle as well.”
Later on Saturday,
when interviewed by investigators, Kerner’s grandfather advised that he and
his wife had been out of town from Feb. 21 to Feb. 26, and that his grandson
had a key to the house to care for the dog in their absence. Kerner’s
grandfather also initially advised investigators that on returning home they
had observed nothing missing or out of place or damaged.
At that point,
Kerner’s grandparents were released while a search warrant at their
residence was being executed. Twenty minutes later, however, Kerner’s
grandfather returned to say that “some of his statement had been
untruthful,” that “he lied initially because he was scared,” that “he was
broken hearted,” and that he “then realized he had to tell police what he
knew.”
In fact, Kerner’s
grandfather advised, on returning home from vacation he found a hole in the
garage wall which “appeared to have been patched poorly.” That hole he
subsequently fixed. He also discovered that his grandson “painted what
seemed to be random spots on the wall/garage wall” which earlier on Saturday
he had painted over with the correct color.
Kerner’s
grandfather noticed as well that the garage floor “had been all cleaned up
with something,” that there appeared to be bullet holes in the bumper of his
car and in the seat of his motorcycle, and that his 9mm handgun--which he’d
left on a cooler in the garage--as well as two magazines and a gun-cleaning
kit were missing.
Kerner’s
grandfather then called Kerner to ask him if he had the handgun. Kerner told
his grandfather that he did and that he’d planned “to do some target
shooting” but that “he mishandled the gun and accidentally fired a shot in
the garage.”
In addition,
Kerner’s grandfather found a wrench in the garage which appeared to have
“stain/hair” on it. That wrench he did not touch after returning from
vacation.
Kerner--who has been
waived into adult court--entered preliminary pleas of not guilty on Monday
before Porter Superior Court Judge Roger Bradford. He is being held without
bond.