A federal jury in St. Louis has found Michael Grady, 70, guilty of conspiring with Victoria Rena Williams to arrange the murder of her fiancé, Charles Harris III, at his home in St. Louis County in 2011.
Grady was convicted on charges of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, aiding and abetting murder-for-hire, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The verdict followed a trial that began last week in U.S. District Court.
According to evidence presented during the trial, Grady devised a plan for Harris’s killing so that he and Williams could collect life insurance payouts. Testimony revealed that Grady hired individuals to carry out the shooting at Harris’s Langford Drive residence on October 5, 2011. During the planning stages, Grady told Williams, “I have two young shooters,” as shown at trial.
“Ladies and gentlemen, Michael Grady was at the center of this,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Nino Przulj told jurors Monday.
Williams, now 67, pleaded guilty in September to the same three charges and is awaiting sentencing.
Williams testified that after an argument over money with Harris in summer 2010—witnessed by Grady—he suggested she should not endure such disputes. Following his advice, Williams contacted an insurance company recommended by Grady to inquire whether an accidental death policy would pay out if Harris died during a robbery. On August 27, 2010, she began applying for a $250,000 policy for Harris.
The murder took place after both conspirators confirmed the policy was active and when another potential insurance scheme seemed unlikely to succeed. At the time of his death, Harris worked for an alarm company and sold suits from his home through referrals or acquaintances. Williams told jurors she informed Harris that potential buyers were coming for suits—the shooters in disguise—and recounted how she tried several times to withdraw from the plot but was pressured by Grady: he warned her they were too far along and it could be “bad for you” if she stopped.
Following Harris’s death, Williams received $224,444 from one life insurance company and later wrote a cashier’s check for $110,000 payable to Grady’s wife. She also collected $175,762 from another policy.
Investigators tracked electronic communications between Williams and Grady as they planned the crime and between them and one shooter before and after the murder occurred. Movements of both shooters and Grady were also documented through digital evidence. The shooter or shooters remain unidentified; only Grady knows their identity according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Donald Boyce's opening statement.
Grady is scheduled for sentencing on June 4 and faces life imprisonment. He is already serving a federal sentence of over 18 years related to aiding a violent drug conspiracy by seeking information about cooperating witnesses.
The investigation was conducted by the St. Louis County Police Department and FBI. Prosecutors include Assistant U.S. Attorneys Donald Boyce, Nino Przulj, and Ryan Finlen.
