Lisa Marie Greaves was a 23-year-old female Caucasian woman from King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, whose life ended on March 25, 2005, when she was murdered inside the Greaves family home on Kingwood Road. She was Heather Greaves’s younger sister and Avery Johnson’s aunt, and by accounts shared in victim memorial material, she was remembered as loyal, selective about her friendships, someone who loved dancing, cats, music, and the color pink, and someone who had graduated from medical school and worked as a manager for Great Expectations. She had not been the intended focus of the attack. She happened to be home when John Charles Eichinger arrived.
The violence began because Eichinger was fixated on Heather Greaves. He knew Heather, was romantically interested in her, and according to court records, went to the Greaves residence that morning after arranging a visit so Heather would be expecting him. He carried a large knife and rubber gloves hidden under his sweatshirt. Eichinger later told police he intended to kill Heather unless she ended her relationship with her boyfriend. Once inside, he argued with Heather, pulled the knife, and repeatedly stabbed her. Heather’s three-year-old daughter, Avery Johnson, witnessed the attack, and when Heather urged the child to call 911, Eichinger turned on Avery as well.
Lisa encountered Eichinger in the hallway as she came out of the bathroom. Eichinger later admitted that he attacked her because he did not want to go to jail. Lisa tried to escape back into the bathroom and shut the door, but he overpowered her and stabbed her repeatedly. Victim memorial information says Lisa fought back and suffered 35 stab wounds. After attacking Lisa, Eichinger returned to Heather and Avery, continuing the violence. Before leaving, he tried to mislead investigators by cutting open Lisa’s shirt to make it appear that she had been the target of the killings.
The aftermath was discovered by Heather and Lisa’s father, George Greaves, when he returned home later that day and found his daughters and granddaughter dead. Investigators soon learned from a neighbor that Eichinger had been seen leaving the Greaves home that morning. Montgomery County Detective Richard Nilsen and Upper Merion Detective James Godby went to the Acme Food Market in Somers Point, New Jersey, where Eichinger worked. Eichinger initially gave a false statement, but after questioning, he confessed to killing Heather, Lisa, and Avery. During that same interview, he also confessed that he had used the same knife in the 1999 murder of Jennifer Still, another woman he said had rejected him.
Eichinger was arrested after his confession and brought back to Montgomery County. His case moved quickly through the courts. In October 2005, he waived his right to a jury for the guilt phase, proceeded with a stipulated bench trial, did not contest the charges, and offered no defense. He was found guilty of the murders of Heather Greaves, Lisa Greaves, Avery Johnson, and Jennifer Still, along with related offenses. Prosecutors sought the death penalty for the Greaves family murders.
At the penalty phase, the jury considered aggravating and mitigating factors. For Lisa’s murder, jurors found that she had been killed as a witness to another murder and to prevent her testimony, in addition to other aggravating factors connected to Eichinger’s multiple killings. The defense presented mitigation suggesting Eichinger was under extreme mental or emotional disturbance, but the jury found the aggravating factors outweighed that mitigation. On December 12, 2005, the trial court imposed three consecutive death sentences for the murders of Heather Greaves, Lisa Greaves, and Avery Johnson, and a life sentence for the murder of Jennifer Still. Eichinger also received additional consecutive sentences for possessing an instrument of crime and unsworn falsification.
