Chandler Grafner threatened to kill parents for a drink

By Tillie Fong, Rocky Mountain News (Contact), Sue Lindsay

Chandler Grafner was so desperate for food and water that he threatened to get a knife and kill his parents if they didn't give him a drink, jurors heard in a phone message Thursday.

The chilling recording, left nine days before Chandler died, appears to defy statements Jon Phillips made to police that the 7- year-old boy was well fed and had water to drink.

Prosecutors played a recorded cell phone message from Sarah Berry to Phillips on April 28, 2007, telling him, "Dominic (Chandler's younger half-brother) just called me over and said Chandler told him you and I better get him something to drink or he's going to get out of there, go to the kitchen and get a knife and kill us both."

Phillips, 27, is on trial for first- degree murder and child abuse in Chandler's death by starvation and dehydration. Berry, 23, is also charged and will stand trial later.

Defense attorneys contend that Chandler died from ketoacidosis due to an undiagnosed case of diabetes.

Prosecutors, however, say Chandler was slowly starved to death after he was put in a locked closet where he was kept in the dark without food and water.

Deodorizers filled home

Detective Larry Moore, who went to the apartment where Chandler died, said it was filled with the stench of feces and urine despite obvious efforts to clean the place up.

He said a fan in the bathroom, set on "high," was sucking air out of the area where the closet was located. He said he also found air purifiers, air filters and cans of air freshener all over the apartment.

Moore said Chandler was kept in the bottom of a linen closet in an area that measured 35 inches wide, 29 inches deep and 18 inches tall.

The walls, floor and bottom of the lowest shelf were smeared with human feces, he said.

Moore said a note was tacked on one of the apartment walls that read, "God says listen to Mom and Dad. Do not lie. Do not steal. Do not blame your brother for what you do. Be thankful for what you have."

Next to the note was a photo of the two boys "with what looked like prison bars drawn over," Moore said.

Jurors also heard from Amy Domanski, teacher's aide for Chandler's kindergarten class at Holm Elementary School, who tearfully described her relationship with Chandler, a happy boy whom she said loved school.

Domanski was the first to notice when Chandler came to school Jan. 17, 2007, with a blackened ear and confided to her, "My dad clobbered me."

Domanski also testified she noticed red marks on Chandler's neck at the time, and when she asked him what happened, he replied, "My dad squeezed my neck."

She said when she asked Chandler why his father "clobbered" him, he told her that it was because he had been fighting with Dominic.

Domanski also described an incident in which it appeared that Chandler was being coached in his responses when asked about his injuries.

On March 6, when Chandler went to school with puffy eyes, Chandler told her, "I know, I was supposed to tell you I have pink eye," she testified.

But in her last conversation with Chandler, she said, "He asked me to stop interrogating him because when I do, he gets into so much trouble," Domanski said. "He was begging me, he was pleading. How I saw it, it was a plea."

Chandler's kindergarten teacher, Beverly Kibble, said she saw Chandler's ear, which she described as "very blue," on Jan. 17, but did not notice any marks or bruises on his neck.

She also testified that Chandler was telling other students several days afterward that his parents were angry at his teachers for calling the police.

When Kibble told him that she just wanted to make sure he was OK, "He took a deep breath, and said, 'Anyway, I just fell down in the shower,' " she said.

Acting principal Maureen Hogan said she was the one who called social services after seeing Chandler on Jan. 17.

lindsays@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5181

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