On the night of February 19, 2016, a home on Buena Vista Road in rural Edgerton, Missouri, was found fully ablaze after neighbors reported a large fire. Firefighters discovered four bodies outside the residence: 81-year-old Shirley Denham, her husband Russell Denham, their granddaughter Heather Ager, and an infant great-grandson, Mason Schiavoni. Autopsies showed all four had been shot in the head before the house was set on fire. The family dog had also been shot and burned at the scene. Investigators reported pennies placed on or near the victims’ eyes, a detail prosecutors later connected to a film favored by the suspect.

Attention turned to a relative who lived at the house and was missing from the scene. Two days later in Arizona, authorities located Grayden Lane Denham walking naked near Seligman and found the couple’s vehicle nearby with stolen plates; clothing in and around the vehicle tested positive for gunshot residue and fuel. Grayden was arrested and later extradited to Platte County to face charges in the killings. The case raises questions about motive and the events that preceded the violence; anyone with information about the household or Grayden’s activities before February 19, 2016, is asked to come forward.