Jury trial set for Missouri man charged in quadruple homicide of family members
A Platte County judge has scheduled a December jury trial date for 30-year-old Grayden Lane Denham in the 2016 quadruple homicide of four families members, including a toddler.
Denham is accused of four counts of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of his grandparents Russell Denham, 82, and Shirley Denham, 81; his sister Heather Ager, 32; and her 3-month-old son, Mason Schiavoni. Their burned bodies were found outside a home near Edgerton, Missouri, on February 19, 2016.
His trial has been set for Dec. 7.
Denham also faces four counts of armed criminal action and one count each of animal abuse for allegedly shooting the family dog; arson for allegedly setting fire to the home at 4170 Buena Vista Road in rural Platte County; and tampering with physical evidence by allegedly destroying the bodies of the victims and the residence.
Denham also has been charged with stealing for allegedly taking his grandparents’ car without permission and driving it to Seligman, Ariz., where police arrested him as he walked around naked.
Platte County prosecutors at one time had plan to seek the death penalty.
“The State has waived the death penalty in exchange for the defendant’s waiver of any mental health defense,” Prosecutor Eric Zahnd said Friday.
The trial had been set and then canceled multiple times over the course of the past five years.
Denham was being held in the Platte County jail on a $4 million cash only bond, according to court records.
