The Tragic Death Of Kelsey Grammer's Sister
Long before Kelsey Grammer became a public figure, he experienced some major loss in his private life. According to a 2015 Vanity Fair article, his father was shot to death, his two half-brothers died while scuba diving, and his 18-year-old sister, Karen Grammer, was murdered in Colorado in 1975. In 2019, NBC-affiliate station KOAA News reported that Freddie Glenn killed Karen in addition to kidnapping and raping her with Michael Corbett as an accomplice.
Corbett and Glenn intended to rob a Red Lobster where Karen worked. However, before they could execute their plan, they thought they had been caught and fled the scene. NBC-affiliate station 9 News, reported that the men were scared Karen would later identify them for the attempted robbery. After she was kidnapped, "the young woman was repeatedly sexually assaulted and then taken to a mobile home park, where Glenn stabbed her several times and threw her into a car to die," per the outlet.
Karen's death was the third in Corbett and Glenn's killing spree. Previously, they killed a soldier named Winfred Proffitt. Corbett later told investigators "he wanted to know what it felt like to kill someone with a knife," according to KOAA News. Before that, they shot cook Daniel Van Lone in the head. Both of the men initially received death sentences for their crimes. However, those punishments changed to life in prison after a Supreme Court ruling overturned existing death sentences in 1979.
Corbett passed away behind bars 2019. As of this writing, Glenn is still imprisoned, with a parole hearing scheduled for 2021.
Kelsey Grammer has opposed his sister's killer's attempts at parole
According to Sentinel & Enterprise, Freddie Glenn was eligible for parole in 2006. In 2009, he was denied parole after Kelsey Grammer wrote in an e-mail to the parole board saying, "This is a butcher. This is a monster. I can never escape the horror of what happened to my sister," per the Denver Post.
In 2014, the Frasier alum spoke to Glenn via video chat during his parole hearing, stating, "I accept that you actually live with remorse every day of your life, but I live with tragedy every day of mine." He continued, "I accept your apology. I forgive you. However, I cannot give your release my endorsement. To give that a blessing would be a betrayal of my sister's life," per Vanity Fair.
Even though Kelsey wasn't living in Colorado at the time, in the 2009 message to the parole board, he wrote, "I was her big brother. I was supposed to protect her — I could not.... It very nearly destroyed me." A week after Karen was killed, the then-20-year-old Kelsey identified her body and told their mother what had happened to her.
In regards to blaming himself for the murder, Kelsey told Vanity Fair, "It's hard to explain. It's not rational. But it happens anyway. I know a lot of people who've lost their siblings and blame themselves."
Unfortunately, Kelsey isn't wrong. There are a lot of people who can relate to his loss.