The Murder of Christine Grega (Vermont)

When Christine Grega and her husband John Grega set off for a family vacation to Vermont with their young son, it was a trip meant to mend their relationship. Instead, the weekend ended in devastation when Christine was found in their borrowed ski condo the victim of a violent attack.

After two decades filled with investigations, prosecutions, an exoneration and lawsuits, it still isn’t clear what really happened on the night of September 12, 1994.

Discovery

It was around 8:30 p.m. on the night of September 12, 1994 when a couple inside Unit 72 at the Timber Creek Condominium complex in Dover, Vermont were jolted from their late evening relaxation. A man was pounding on their front door in a frenzy, yelling and screaming. At first, the couple inside refused to open the door for this stranger until they realized he was shouting something about his wife falling in the tub and his son being asleep in the car.

The couple told the guy to get his son to prove he wasn’t a dangerous intruder. He returned with a toddler and handed the child over to the couple, frantically telling them to call 9-1-1 before he sprinted off. The emergency call was placed at approximately 8:30 p.m. but the couple didn’t realize just how serious the situation was. They told the dispatcher a woman had simply fallen in the bathroom when the reality was far more severe.

A Dover police officer was first to arrive at the scene around 8:36 p.m. The officer heard loud crying and pleading coming from downstairs and followed the sobs to the bathroom, where he found 32-year old John Grega straddling the body of his wife, 31-year old Christine Grega. John cried as he called out her name and shook her.

Christine was lying face-up on the bathroom floor with her head near the door and feet near the toilet. She was nude, but had been covered by a towel and blanket, and her body was “purplish, bluish, gray” and extremely cold. This surprised the officer because the heater was running, making it very hot in the bathroom.

This first responding officer, though trained to do so as a matter of standard protocol, did not immediately start CPR on Christine. Instead, the officer called dispatch to report a fatality.

A few minutes later around 8:40 pm, the first EMT arrived and performed an initial evaluation of vital signs. He thought he felt a pulse so he instructed the officer to help him start CPR. According to court records, the officer’s initial chest compressions caused “copious amounts of water flowing out of Christine’s mouth and nose, followed by large quantities of vomit.”

The EMT was unable to establish a clear airway so he stopped CPR relatively quickly and waited for the Deerfield Valley Rescue ambulance to arrive. A senior EMT came with the ambulance, who noted hearing a “primal scream” upon arrival. The scream was John, who was crying in the downstairs bedroom as the officer tried to console him.

The senior EMT was shocked to find no CPR being performed. According to the senior EMT, the first EMT on the scene looked overwhelmed and disoriented by the urgency of the situation.

The senior EMT immediately took charge and ordered CPR to recommence, and when it still proved unsuccessful, Christine was carried to the ambulance for transport to the hospital. At 8:52 p.m., now 20 minutes after 9-1-1 was called, a regional medical examiner intercepted the ambulance and jumped in the back. They assessed and continued life-saving efforts for several minutes without success. With no positive response, the medical examiner pronounced Christine dead at 9:10 p.m.

What John would soon tell police about what he did earlier on the day of his wife’s death, his actions before pounding on the door of a neighboring condo and before EMTs and police arrived at the scene to find Christine unresponsive, that’s all hazy information at best. Only John Grega knows the truth about that night, and it’s unclear to this day if his account reflects reality…Because it surely doesn’t line up with what the investigation claimed to find and what the prosecution would present to a jury later on. 

But what we know to be fact, based on evidence at the scene and the autopsy, is that Christine was murdered. Autopsy results show that Christine suffered blunt force trauma to the head, face, trunk and extremities, as well as extensive internal and external injuries on the neck. She had broken ribs, bruises and abrasions all over, and evidence of choking.

Ultimately, the cause of death was determined to be asphyxiation. In fact, the injuries to Christine’s neck were so bad, that her hyoid bone had been fractured, a fact the Deputy Chief Medical Examiner initially missed, but a state expert found upon inspecting the results. However, police subsequently “lost track” of Christine’s larynx and hyoid bone.

One of the most disturbing facts of this case is the evidence of a horrific sexual assault Christine endured in her last moments. Christine’s body had several severe vaginal and rectal injuries.

Christine’s life ended violently and painfully…And police quickly zeroed in on someone who they believed was responsible for all of it.

About John and Christine Grega

John Grega and Christine Veal were both raised in devout Catholic families on Long Island, New York. They met in 1983 as students at St. John’s University in Queens, and got to know each other after John offered her help with organic chemistry homework.They fell in love, but agreed to finish their degrees before getting married. 

John graduated in 1984 with a toxicology degree and a minor in analytics chemistry. Christine graduated the following year from a 5-year program with a certification as a licensed physician’s assistant. They got married the same year in 1985.

John worked a few years after college as a chemist and toxicologist first in New York and later briefly for NASA contractors in the Houston, Texas area. That is, until John’s brother Jeff made an attractive offer: starting a window cleaning business back on Long Island. Their father already had a series of similar companies throughout Long Island.

In 1987, the couple moved back to Lake Grove, New York so John could work in the family business and he and Christine could put down roots in the same community where they both grew up. And then, after years of trying, John and Christine welcomed their son in 1992. They called him a miracle baby. 

In the fall of 1994, life in the Grega home seemed good from the outside looking in. John’s future business prospects were bright; Christine liked her job at a local rehabilitation center; their son was happy and healthy; and they lived in a community they loved surrounded by family and friends. They were in the process of buying a larger home in a community with better schools for their son and any future children. Behind closed doors though, they were once again facing infertility issues and experienced a non-viable pregnancy.

At the same time, as John later explained to investigators, they’d also been discussing divorce in the midst of trying to repair their crumbling relationship. That’s actually why they were in Vermont that weekend, he said. They’d decided to take a family trip in an attempt to get their marriage back on track ahead of their 10 year anniversary.

Christine Grega’s story continues on Dark Downeast. Press play to hear the full episode wherever you get your podcasts.