FAIRVIEW, N.C. (828newsNOW) — Death certificates for three members of a Fairview family killed in May provide new details about the fatal injuries, including the locations of gunshot wounds and stab wounds suffered by one victim.
Kimberly Michelle Grant, 42; Sharon Kay Grant, 66; and Travis Eugene Grant, 41, were found dead May 7 inside their home at 18 Ashworth Drive in Fairview.
The North Carolina death certificates list homicide as the manner of death for all three.
Kimberly Grant’s cause of death is listed as stab wounds of the neck and multiple gunshot wounds.
Sharon Grant’s cause of death is listed as a gunshot wound of the head.
Travis Grant’s cause of death is listed as gunshot wounds of the head, abdomen and extremities.
All three certificates list the approximate time of death as 8:20 p.m. May 7. Each death occurred at the victims’ home, according to the records.
The certificates also indicate that autopsies were performed and that the autopsy findings were available to complete the causes of death.
The death certificates provide more specific details about the victims’ fatal injuries than authorities initially released. Prosecutors told a Buncombe County judge during hearings in May that the victims had been shot and stabbed. Prosecutors later described what they called an attack involving shooting, stabbing and robbery.
Welfare checks preceded discovery
Family members and friends became concerned after they could not reach the Grant family at the Ashworth Drive home.
Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office deputies conducted a welfare check May 4 but said they did not have sufficient legal grounds to force entry into the residence. A second welfare check was conducted May 6, with deputies again saying there was not enough evidence of an emergency to enter.
On May 7, deputies returned to the home around 7:15 p.m. after another welfare-check request from relatives. Authorities entered the residence and found Travis, Kimberly and Sharon Grant dead inside.
At the time, authorities said the victims had died from gunshot wounds.
Investigators also determined that Star Grant, 16, the daughter of Travis and Kimberly Grant and granddaughter of Sharon Grant, was missing from the home.
Suspects arrested in Tennessee
Authorities located a vehicle associated with Star Grant outside a hotel in Gatlinburg around 4 a.m. May 8.
About 8:30 a.m., officers with the Gatlinburg Police Department and agents from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation entered the hotel room. Star Grant and Devan Loving, 28, were taken into custody without incident, according to the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office.
Both were charged with three counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony conspiracy to commit murder.
Loving also was charged with child abduction because Grant is a juvenile.
Loving was extradited to Buncombe County on May 14 and ordered held without bond. Star Grant appeared in Buncombe County court the same day after being transported from a juvenile facility in Alexander County.
The death certificates establish the victims’ causes and manner of death but do not provide details about the sequence of events inside the home, the motive for the killings or who authorities believe inflicted specific injuries.
