‘Married to Evil: Killer Kin’ on Investigation Discovery tells the story of how 20-year-old Joel ‘Scott’ Graves was killed inside an apartment in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, in August 2018. The victim’s mother was interviewed for this episode as she recalled the events leading up to the horrible act. Authorities first believed the death was a result of self-defense, but forensic evidence enabled them to apprehend the murderer in less than two weeks. Here’s what we know if you’re curious and want to learn more.
How Did Joel “Scott” Graves Die?
Joel “Scott” Graves was born on January 9, 1998, in Hattiesburg, Forrest County, Mississippi, to Joel “Chad” Graves and Jessica Jaramillo. Scott’s sharp wit and perpetual smile radiated happiness. He used to spend his time hunting, fishing, and learning about Civil War conflicts as a small child, and he enjoyed to explore the forests and the local fauna. Because of his ability for dealing with horses, which he acquired from his adored Pawpaw, he frequently worked at the equestrian refuge close to his mother’s house in Virginia. His involvement in the Myrick Assembly of God Church was active.
Jessica Jaramillo, Scott’s mother, recalled, “He’s always been an active, outdoorsy kid. He spent hours amusing himself. In August 2018, Scott worked on a horse rescue farm in Suffolk, Virginia, where he resided. But he returned to Hattiesburg frequently to visit his biological father. They hired him because they loved him so much, Jessica added. Although he didn’t make much money from it, he enjoyed being among animals. “He was a sweet boy,” she said. He was by no means violent.
Therefore, it came as a shock when the 20-year-old was fatally murdered on August 16, 2018, inside his father’s Breckenridge Apartments in Hattiesburg. The first responders discovered Scott laying on the floor with a shotgun leaning up against a wall close to the bedroom door. He had been shot in the throat at close range with a shotgun, according to the autopsy report. Near Scott’s body, a live shotgun bullet was discovered on the ground. After obtaining a search warrant, the cops entered the bedroom and discovered a metal object.
Who Killed Joel “Scott” Graves?
In April 1997, Jessica—then 17—became pregnant while dating Chad, who was 24 at the time. The couple lived in rural Forrest County, and Chad rented a cabin there. When Chad started isolating Jessica from her friends and family while he was gone for days owing to work, Jessica said they were originally happy. She claimed that Chad had always had a fondness for guns, which fueled his desire to enlist in the National Guard. The show said that he routinely assaulted his former wife over unimportant matters and was harsh towards her as well.
But when Scott was born in January 1998, everything looked to be going well. The pair even got married in April 1999, while Jessica was expecting Cynthia, their second child. Chad eventually turned to anger and physical abuse when the honeymoon phase was passed. Jessica related how she reported him to the police after being severely assaulted by him in September 1999. Chad was detained and made to go to in-patient mental health treatment as per a court order.
The couple’s third child, Jody, was born after Jessica became pregnant, according to Jessica, who said that the counselling and medicine first appeared to change Chad’s violent behaviour. She soon realised, though, that Chad had only undergone a brief transformation, and she soon began to worry about how, if she continued having children with him, she would ever be able to leave this marriage. On the programme, Jessica described how she sneaked behind his back and underwent a tubal ligation while he was out of town. After a terrible incident on August 17, 2001, she ultimately made the decision to leave him.
Jessica claimed that after going to see her father, she left late for home and arrived to find an irate Chad pacing the hallway. As soon as possible, he turned to assaulting her in the living room, with Scott, who was 3 at the time, attempting to halt the violence by standing between his parents. Jessica claimed that Chad threw Scott to the ground and struck him before taking a revolver out of a drawer, holding her to the bed, and shoving the weapon into her mouth. By that point, Jessica had had enough and fled the following day with the kids.
She shared custody of their children after they got divorced, despite her worry that he would mistreat them. Later on, Jessica remarried and settled with her new spouse and family in Suffolk, Virginia. However, Scott yearned to go back to Mississippi and see his biological father. But after Jessica raised concerns about him being with his violent father, he decided to spend most of his time with his grandmother. Because she was worried about her ex-husband’s rage, she didn’t want Graves to stay with his father.
Jessica, though, was glad to hear from her son that he would mainly be staying with his grandmother. “He said, ‘I want you to be OK with it,'” she remembered, “but I was never OK with it.” Chad said that he and his son had been fighting when Scott allegedly struck him in the head at some point after the investigators discovered Scott’s body. Stacey Graves, his wife, told the police that the two men started arguing in the bedroom and then moved into the living area. When the shotgun fired and tragically hit Scott, Chad said that he and his son had been fighting over it.
Chad was outside the flat when the cops arrived, covered in blood on his hands and head. He was treated at a nearby hospital before being moved to the Veterans Affairs facility on the Coast. He asserted that he was an injured veteran who experienced post-traumatic stress disorder. But on August 29, the police detained him at the hospital, two weeks later. The blood spatter disproved Chad’s claim of self-defense, and the police had discovered shotgun pellets embedded in the baseboard.
Where is Joel “Chad” Graves Now?
In 2018, Hattiesburg Police Detective Erik Herrin testified at a preliminary hearing that Scott Graves was lying on the ground when his father shot him. Chad Graves was charged with second-degree murder by a grand jury, but the charge was dropped to manslaughter at a plea hearing in March 2022. Chad was given a maximum 20-year prison term and a $10,000 fine after pleading guilty. In addition, he was had to pay a $200 fee and all court costs. The Marshall County Correctional Centre (MCCF) is the facility where the 60-year-old is detained. His scheduled date of release is September 2037.
