Graybeal Faces Murder Charges In Shooting Death Of His Estranged Wife
Contributed Photo
Randy Keith Graybeal
Published: January 1, 2009
Updated: January 7, 2009
A Bluff City, Tenn., man who suffered a disfiguring gunshot wound to his head now faces trial on murder charges in the shooting death of his estranged wife.
The Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday arrested Randy Keith Graybeal, 54, of Timber Ridge Road in Bluff City, and charged him with one count of first-degree murder.
Graybeal is accused of shooting his wife, Angela Dawn Graybeal, 38, on Oct. 28 before turning the gun on himself in what investigators have called a “homicide and an attempted suicide that is domestic related.”
Graybeal is being held without bond in the Sullivan County Jail pending a court hearing, the Sheriff’s Office said in a written statement issued Wednesday.
“I hope he goes to jail, I really do, because that’s where he deserves to be,” said Teresa Cupps, a woman who worked with Angela Graybeal prior to the shooting and described herself as being “one of her best friends.”
Randy Graybeal married Angela on June 7, 2007, and the two lived in a house he owned on Timber Ridge Road, a three-mile-long rural road that loops around a large hill southeast of downtown Bluff City.
On May 30, the Graybeals bought 15 acres of land on the other side of the hill. The couple planned to build a new home on the property, their neighbors said, and Randy Graybeal was seen tending to the land whenever he had time off from his job as a bricklayer.
Although it seemed an idyllic relationship, the Sheriff’s Office answered a series of 9-1-1 calls referencing domestic disputes at the residence near the end of July. These calls hint at what Angela Graybeal’s friends said was a pattern of abuse that dominated her marriage.
Randy and Angela Graybeal both called 9-1-1 from their individual cell phones at 8:50 p.m. and 8:51 p.m. July 25 to report a domestic dispute, according to dispatch logs released in November by the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office.
No charges were filed against either person following those calls, said Capt. Keith Elton, which leads people to believe it was not a serious incident.
But on July 29, Randy Graybeal filed for a divorce; and on July 30, Angela Dawn Graybeal called 9-1-1 to ask an officer to wait with her as she picked up her car from the home on Timber Ridge Road.
Angela Graybeal then moved to live with her mother near Elizabethton, said Paul Ditrapani, a man she dated prior to her death. On Wednesday, Ditrapani described Randy Keith Graybeal as being a “violent, crazy individual” who abused his wife.
“He was so possessive,” Ditrapani said. “When she wasn’t with him she was the sweetest girl in the world.”
Ditrapani said Angela Graybeal was afraid of her husband. He also said Randy Graybeal threatened to kill him after he learned of Ditrapani’s relationship with Angela Graybeal.
Cupps, who worked with Angela Graybeal for about a year, told a similar story about the relationship. People could hear Randy Graybeal yelling at his wife while the two spoke on the phone, Cupps said, and she often saw Angela Graybeal coming in to work with bruises and marks on her arms.
“She was afraid of him,” Cupps said. “You could tell there was something going on that shouldn’t have happened.”
Cupps was not surprised when she heard Graybeal had been charged with first-degree murder. Neither was Ditrapani, who said he was with Angela Graybeal the night before she died.
After she stayed at his house for a few weeks, Ditrapani said, Angela Graybeal decided to move into a house in the Hamilton community, between Elizabethton, Tenn., and Roane Mountain.
Angela Graybeal had left several personal items and family heirlooms at the house on Timber Ridge Road, Ditrapani said, and she was trying to get them back for fear her ex-husband would sell them.
“I knew it was going to be bad,” Ditrapani said, adding that he tried to talk her out of going back to the house.
Ditrapani said he called Angela Graybeal repeatedly on her cell phone but she never answered. When she didn’t come home that night, he said, he knew something terrible had happened.
Shortly after 9:30 a.m. Oct. 29, Sullivan County sheriff’s deputy Ricky Rumley found Angela Dawn Graybeal lying on her back in the Timber Ridge home. Randy Graybeal was lying on the floor near his wife, still alive, but with a severe head wound.
Behind Randy Graybeal was a shotgun.
Randy Graybeal was transported to the Johnson City Medical Center. His wife was pronounced dead at the scene.
“When I found out what happened,” Ditrapani said. “I was just like, sweet God, I knew that was going to happen.”
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Reader Reactions
Talk2Me, you really named yourself right with this because you really like to talk, don’t you? You are such a Holier than Thou person. How about you reading Rom.14:10-12? This applies to everyone of us, including you. I don’t think you understood a word I wrote.
We can hope the truth will come out in a trial but when people start saying things like Mr. Ditrapani is already saying sometimes the truth tends to get lost in the shuffle.
However, I don’t think we even need a trial to see one truth that is evident in this. Angela was a married woman having an affair with another man. One of the ten commandments is “Thou shalt not kill”. Randy broke this one. Another one of the ten commandments is “Thou shalt not commit adultry”. Angela quite obviously broke this one as well. I would hardly call her innocent in this matter. Jesus even said, “But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultry with her already in his heart.“ Matthew 5:28
As far as God’s judgement in the afterlife I think we don’t need a trial to see that her actions carry serious consequences. I know that we all do wrong and we do not know another person’s misery, but ICU2 says that aldultery is the answer for abuse. How about turning to a women’s shelter if you are truly being abused. These provide protection to women every day. If she was so afraid of Randy and she was really going to just pick up some personal items, she called the police to accompany her once before, why didn’t she call them that day? If that was her true intentions?
When or if this goes to trial, the truth will come out as to who did what and why it happened. There are reasons people turn to another person. I am not saying it is right, because it’s not. Sometimes when someone is being abused at home they turn to someone who is putting their best foot forward trying to win them over to their side. Someone who is weak and vaunable will fall for it. This kind of action has got a lot of people killed because the man is not man enough to let go or walk away. They get the attitude that if I can’t have you, no one can. That is the facts of life, sad but true.
Mr. Ditrapani can blame himself for being that friend that led up to her death. She was a married woman that he should have left alone. It does take two, but do we really know her mental state of mind? You can’t mistreat a dog and expect it to stay with you if it has a chance to run off, how much higher is a human than a dog? I love all of you judgeamental people out there. Don’t put someone down until you walk in their shoes. The media loves exposing peoples personal lives. If it’s trash, that’s what they love the most because people love hearing the mistakes of others. We hear it every day on the news. There is not any of us who have lived a perfect life and if you say you have then you are a lier. We all make our mistakes, wrong is wrong whether it’s stealing, adultry, lieing, or being unkind to others. None of us have any right to talk about someone else because we are all guilty of something. I don’t like Mac Mclean putting this trash in the paper, but one day something will happen to a member of his family and he will be paid back. Be careful little lips of what you say. I think ole Mac is wanting to have the trial before it goes to trial, why else would he have printed this. The devil loves getting things stirred up.
Casper -
Well said! You truly make some wonderful points, and said everything that I wanted to say.
Talk2Me-
This article states that Angela had lived with Mr. Ditrapani while seperated from Randy, but they filed an order of reconcilation. Sounds to me, like Angela wanted to have her cake and eat it too? Marriage is about being faithful, it doesn’t mean that you can be married to someone and have a lover on the side. This is NOT something she should have been murdered for, but you can’t expect someone to take adultery lightly.
I find it strange that the BCH, WJHL and Tricities.com, did NOT interview a SINGLE ONE of Randy’s friends for this story, and only chose to interview Angela’s adultress partner, and a co-worker. ONE SIDENESS once again from this newsource, just trying to sell a story. They DO NOT care about the facts, only about selling stories, which is in fact YELLOW JOURNALISM in its best form.
It would be advisable to get both sides of the story instead of printing one sided biasness, something this newspaper relies on just to sell a story. Sickening, actually.
Now wait just a minute I am very confused by this article. I think it requires a lot of clarification. First of all, I distinctly remember a prior article stating that Randy and Angela had filed for reconciliation. I think this would mean that legally they were still married and trying to get back together. This would make Mr. Ditrapani an adulterer. I believe one of the ten commandments speaks against this as well as the laws of society. I think that the SIN of aldutery can create an array of angry feelings all with good reasons and if Mr. Ditrapani is an adulterer then I guess that would make Angela one too. I think perhaps when someone is murdered that people want to give them a certain “sainthood”, but an adulteress is far from a “saint”. I am not saying that she deserved what she got. No one deserves to be shot. I am just saying that the newspaper printed a very one sided side of this story and my friends in life it ALWAYS takes two to tango.
As I have said before you can believe perhaps 1/2 or less of what you read in the newspapers. It is flavored to paint a story for the public to believe. It think this has been well proven by inconsistent facts between two separate articles printed by the same newspaper. I could go on and on and continue to prove my point, but why waste the space when I think we all the truth.
Maybe, just maybe someone out there is considering doing the same stupid thing this poor ignorant man did. And God knows I have been close myself a few times. And….by seeing the consequences of this man’s actions, maybe, just maybe someone out there will reconsider their plans?
Thank you for giving me something more to be thankful for in 2009. No person in the world is worth shooting or being shot for. I don’t care how good looking or how hot they are in bed or anything else they might do for your ego. Or how angry they might make you. Walk away, take a day out, talk to someone. Pull up this picture and think about it. Just don’t do it.
I am appalled that the Bristol newspaper and Tri-cities.com continue to show the recent photo of Mr. Graybeal. Of course the newspaper is well known for exploiting families that are going thru tragic times by showing pictures that should never be allowed to reach publication i.e. James Norwood’s mother when she received the news that her sons body had been found and more recently the shooting victim @ an apartment complex in Bristol as he lay there partially covered by a sheet.Maybe these photos are part of the reason the Hearld Courier is having financial trouble and in jeopardy of closing their doors. Apparently these type of photos are not appreciated by the majority of the public. Mr.Graybeal has not been found guilty at this time and he does have a family that has to deal with the public ridicule that the press seems to enjoy plastering all over the t.v., internet and newspapers. No one deserves to die at the hands of another however I don’t think it has been proven if this was self defense, a crime of passion, because as stated in the most recent article, his WIFE was living with and dating another man or first degree murder. It is also stated that 911 calls were placed by both parties for abuse and whether we want to believe it or not women do abuse men. I’m sure all the facts will come out in Mr.Graybeal’s trial and if the results are not what the press wants then the publicity will be allowed to fade away. Until then we should keep BOTH families in our prayers and try not to pass judgement on either. Let’s be respectful of the innocent parties and keep these photos out of the press. If it were your family I’m sure you wouldn’t want them shown all over the news. It may be a mug shot but there is no reason to display it over and over again.
I personally have emailed the reporter on a regular basis to see if Mr. Graybeal had been charged yet with Angela’s murder. I too, worked with her and hope that he gets exactly what he desires, I am awaiting with patience to see him spend life in jail!!!
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