In the early morning hours of March 23, 2006, the quiet rural community of Novinger, Missouri, was disturbed by a violent death. Melvin "Beau" Griesbauer, a 48-year-old Navy veteran and Army reservist, was found dead on his farm property from a single gunshot wound to the head. Initially, his wife, Elain "Kay" Young, and her visiting friend, Katherine Mock, reported the incident as a suicide. However, investigators quickly grew suspicious due to the placement of the. 30-30 Winchester rifle found near his body and a shell casing located ten feet away. A subsequent autopsy confirmed their suspicions, and the cause of death was officially ruled a homicide.
As the Adair County Sheriff's Department and the Missouri State Highway Patrol delved into the investigation, a sinister plot began to unravel. Suspicion fell upon Young, a former nurse and teacher who ran a dog-breeding business on the family's 93-acre farm, and Mock, a dog groomer from Cassville. The two women, who had bonded over their shared interest in dogs, were present at the scene when law enforcement arrived. Investigators soon discovered that Young was facing significant financial difficulties and stood to gain a substantial amount of money from her husband's life insurance policies, totaling $1.2 million.
The investigation revealed that the friendship between the two women had evolved into a deadly conspiracy. It was discovered that in the weeks leading up to the murder, Mock had attempted to hire two different individuals to kill Griesbauer, first for $6,000 and then for $10,000, but was unsuccessful. With time running out, the women allegedly decided to carry out the murder themselves. On the night of March 22, Mock traveled to the Griesbauer farm. In the early hours of March 23, after Young picked up her husband from his late-night shift at a packing plant, Mock allegedly lay in wait and shot Griesbauer as he entered their home.
A week after the murder, Kathy Mock was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. The evidence against her included testimony from her son, who told authorities that his mother had confessed Young wanted her husband killed for a $10,000 payment. Nearly two years later, in March 2008, Elain Kay Young was also arrested and charged with first-degree murder. In October 2009, both women were federally indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit murder for hire and murder for hire.
During their trial in March 2012, prosecutors laid out the case against Young and Mock, presenting evidence that included Young's financial troubles and damning journal entries. Each woman blamed the other for pulling the trigger. On March 19, 2012, a federal jury found both Elain Kay Young and Katherine A. Mock guilty on all charges. On June 18, 2012, both women were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
