New Book takes detailed look at Tara Grant murder - Stephen Grant was having an affair with his German au pair both before and after the time authorities say he strangled his wife.

Doug Guthrie / The Detroit News
October 7 2009

New details about the grisly slaying of Tara Grant are revealed in a book that arrived in stores Tuesday.

"Limb from Limb," written by a reporter who covered the story for The Detroit News, includes interviews with murderer Stephen Grant and previously unpublished details from police files and the victim's own journal.

News Staff Writer George Hunter and former News editor and columnist Melissa Preddy retell the story of the missing mother of two and how her husband lied for weeks to police and the national media about how she left, until her dismembered torso was discovered in a Rubbermaid container stashed in the garage of the family's Washington Township home.

For Hunter, who has covered crime in Metro Detroit for a decade, the Grant story stands out.

"You usually don't have a suspect in a missing woman case calling you two and three times a day," Hunter said. "He wanted to know what was going to be in the next day's paper about him." Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel and his staff cooperated in research for the book.

Tara Grant had been a successful breadwinner, admitting in her journal to her ambitions and dominating will. Stephen Grant was unhappy with his role and had an affair with a 19-year-old German au pair who cared for the couple's two children.

"I did an interview with him a few hours before Tara's torso was found in his garage (on March 2, 2007), in which he referred to his wife in the past tense, and disparaged her as a mother," Hunter said. "I couldn't believe what I was hearing."

"Limb from Limb" was published by Pinnacle True Crime books and is available in paperback and online Kindle editions.

Note: the 19-year-old German au pair was from Au Pair in America.  Verena Dierkes, 20, initially tried to conceal the affair in her conversations with Macomb County authorities, but an unnamed friend of Dierkes, also an au pair, told authorities Dierkes had claimed she and Grant were in love and physically involved, even after Tara Grant was reported missing.  Soon after another au pair called authorities, telling them her friend, Ms. Dierkes, was involved with Mr. Grant,  Ms. Dierkes did admit she was in love with Grant and that they had a "physical" relationship.  She also admitted that Grant confessed to her that he did kill his wife. 

During a Feb. 26 2007 interview with Dierkes' friend, police reviewed an e-mail Dierkes sent her on Feb. 25. The e-mail stated "Don't forget about that ONE thing. You have to promise!! You can't say anything!! Cause if you do you know what's gonna happen to him!!!!" The ONE thing alluded to Dierkes' affair with Grant, she told police.

On March 3, a tearful Dierkes called Sheriff's investigators, saying Grant called her and admitted to killing Tara, "but said he pushed her and she fell," according to the reports. Dierkes said she didn't have a phone number where Grant was but remembered the area code was 989, which is in northern Michigan.  The au pair also admitted to authorities that she had slept with Grant after Tara, the wife, had disappeared.

Read Grant's Confession to murdering his wife.