{"id":7187,"date":"2017-01-26T01:00:33","date_gmt":"2017-01-26T06:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=7187"},"modified":"2017-02-06T10:03:01","modified_gmt":"2017-02-06T15:03:01","slug":"murder-and-a-circus-sideshow-performer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2017\/01\/26\/murder-and-a-circus-sideshow-performer\/","title":{"rendered":"Murder and a circus sideshow performer"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Grady <\/a>
Grady Stiles Jr. with his wife, Barbara, as he appeared at his conviction on Feb. 22, 1979. (Harry Coughanour\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Grady <\/a>
Grady Stiles Jr. is assisted from a van enroute to the coroner’s hearing. Published Oct. 7, 1978. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Grady <\/a>
Grady Stiles turns up in a 1944 newspaper article in which an uncle is accused of breaking young Stiles’ legs. Stiles was age 7. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

The case of the Lobster Man put a circus sideshow performer and his family all over the news in a story that had an angry father, teens in love, a pawn shop gun, and a bearded lady as a character witness.<\/p>\n

The accused, Grady Stiles Jr., had a genetic condition called ectrodactyly, which caused his legs to end below the knee with malformed feet and each of his hands to have just two digits apiece, forming a sort of claw.<\/p>\n

Born in Pittsburgh, Stiles came from a carnival family that had been in sideshows for generations — ectrodactyly had run in the family since the 1840s. He started performing as a child and as an adult \u00a0brought his two youngest children into the \u201cLobster Family\u201d act.<\/p>\n

The life of the real-life lobster family was grim. Stiles was a hard drinker who often beat his wife, Mary Teresa.<\/p>\n

By 1978, Stiles and Mary Teresa had divorced, and he had married a woman named Barbara. The couple and some of Stiles\u2019 children lived at 511 Foreland St., a North Side rowhouse.<\/p>\n

One of Stiles\u2019 daughters, 15-year-old Donna, did not have ectrodactyly. Described as pretty and petite, the ninth-grader had fallen for Jack Layne, 18, a high school dropout who lived at nearby 1041 Peralta St.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe felt trapped in her home, and she wanted out, and this boy was the way out,\u201d the assistant district attorney on the case, Robert Vincler, now in private practice, recalled this week.<\/p>\n

Stiles did not like his daughter\u2019s boyfriend, perhaps because Layne made it plain that Stiles would not control his daughter\u2019s decision about whom to marry.<\/p>\n

Stiles\u2019 attorney Anthony DeCello had a different take. \u201cThe kid made fun of [Stiles],\u201d DeCello said. \u201cGrady never forgave anybody who did that. He carried that hate so badly. …The kid said he was a freak.\u201d And Donna, according to DeCello, \u201cwas embarrassed of [her father]\u201d in addition to being frightened of him. \u201cWhen he said something, she jumped. She probably had a living hell in that house.\u201d<\/p>\n

To top things off, DeCello remembered, Stiles \u201cwasn\u2019t a dummy, he was pretty sharp. But he was a very violent person.\u201d He was disliked by his fellow circus performers. \u201cThey hated him. … I never shook hands with him because I didn\u2019t trust him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stiles began to threaten Layne\u2019s life and took Donna to an East Ohio Street pawn shop and bought a .32-caliber revolver, remarking jokingly that he would \u201cuse it on Jack.\u201d<\/p>\n

Donna ran away to stay for six days at the home of Layne\u2019s sister, also on the North Side. She called her father from there.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t get home in five minutes<\/span><\/span>, I\u2019m going to beat the hell out of you. Then, I\u2019m going to kill [Layne],\u201d Stiles told her, according to the Post-Gazette.<\/p>\n

The girl then threatened to live with Layne if her father wouldn\u2019t consent to her marrying him. At that, Stiles backed down and said he would prefer they married than lived together.<\/p>\n

The wedding date was set for Sept. 28<\/span><\/span>. The day before the murder, a friend of Layne\u2019s saw Stiles pull a gun from the left side of his wheelchair, point it at Layne and say, \u201cI will kill you before you marry my daughter,\u201d according to news accounts.<\/p>\n

On Sept. 27<\/span><\/span>, Donna, her stepmother and Layne bought a wedding dress at Allegheny Center Mall. When they returned to the Stiles home, Stiles was in the living room without his wheelchair.<\/p>\n

Donna and her stepmother went back outside to look for the wheelchair, but Stiles called back Layne.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou got her now. Don\u2019t laugh about it,\u201d Stiles told Layne.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told you I\u2019d get her,\u201d Layne replied, according to Stiles.<\/p>\n

Stiles grabbed the pawn shop gun from under the cushion of his stuffed chair, shot Layne in the chest, and as the teen turned to flee, shot him in the back.<\/p>\n

Layne walked outside, mumbled, \u201cHe shot me,\u201d and collapsed on the sidewalk in front of Donna. \u201cHe died in her arms,\u201d Vincler said.<\/p>\n

Donna later told the Associated Press that her father smiled at her from the window and said, \u201cI told you I would kill him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll see you in your grave,\u201d Donna cursed before she ran down the street.<\/p>\n

When the police arrived, Stiles said, \u201cTake me. I\u2019m ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

Layne was pronounced dead about 30 minutes later<\/span><\/span> at Allegheny General Hospital.<\/p>\n

Stiles quickly gave his confession to police. \u201cHe was cooperative,\u201d recalled one of the homicide detectives, Frank Amity. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have any trouble with him at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

The trial lasted just a few days and included character witnesses such as a circus \u201cfat lady\u201d who got stuck in the witness chair and a bearded woman.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was one of the weirdest trials I ever covered,\u201d said former Post-Gazette reporter Gabriel Ireton, now retired.<\/p>\n

Stiles\u2019 ex-wife came up from Florida with her new husband \u2014 a little person who performed as \u201cThe World\u2019s Smallest Man\u201d \u2014 and Donna, who had fled Pittsburgh to live with her mother.<\/p>\n

Stiles, seated in his wheelchair, portrayed himself as a concerned father trying to protect his underage daughter from an older man. He claimed self-defense, saying Layne had lunged for him, but the jury didn\u2019t buy it. He was found guilty of third-degree murder.<\/p>\n

Then Ireton did something he didn\u2019t usually do and entered the judge\u2019s chambers to say. \u201cLet me ask you something, Your Honor: How are you going to punish this guy?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI hadn\u2019t thought of that,\u201d replied Common Pleas Judge Thomas A. Harper. The judge contacted state prison officials, who responded that their facilities couldn\u2019t accommodate Stiles\u2019 special needs.<\/p>\n

DeCello remembered it differently, saying he, Harper and another judge met in DeCello\u2019s living room to discuss how to handle the defendant\u2019s sentence.<\/p>\n

In the end, Harper sentenced Stiles to 15 years\u2019 probation, remarking that besides his ectrodactyly, Stiles also had emphysema, kidney disease and cirrhosis of the liver.<\/p>\n

\u201cHarper was kind of a softie in a lot of ways,\u201d recalled one of the reporters covering the trial, Paul Maryniak, now executive editor of the Ahwatukee Foothills News in Phoenix, Ariz.<\/p>\n

After the trial, Stiles moved to Florida, where his ex-wife lived in Gibsonton, a carnival wintering town near Tampa. The two eventually reconnected, divorced their respective spouses and in 1989, remarried. They lived with several of their children from their various marriages including Mrs. Stiles\u2019 grown son, Harry Glenn Newman III. Newman, overweight and with an IQ of 79, performed at circuses under the name \u201cthe Human Blockhead,\u201d hammering nails into his nostrils.<\/p>\n

Stiles ran his own carnival shows and was known as a shrewd businessman. He also resumed drinking and abusing his wife.<\/p>\n

In 1992, as Stiles sat in his trailer watching television in his underwear, someone shot him three times in the back of the head. Subsequent investigation led to Mrs. Stiles, Newman and a teen-age neighbor being arrested for a murder for hire plot. They were all convicted and sentenced to long prison terms.<\/p>\n

Christopher Wyant, the teen-age triggerman, was released from prison in 2009. Newman, the middleman, died in prison in 2014. Among his tattoos was one on his arm that read \u201cForgive Me Mother.\u201d Mrs. Stiles, who had paid $1,500 for the hit, was released from prison in 2000 and went back to Gibsonton. Tattooed on her buttock was \u201cGrady Stiles Jr.\u201d<\/p>\n

No one from the family could be located for comment, although two of Stiles\u2019 younger children, Grady Stiles III and Cathy Stiles Berry, appeared on AMC\u2019s \u201cFreakshow\u201d reality program in 2014 to talk about their bitterness toward their father. Both inherited ectrodactyly.<\/p>\n

Stiles was buried in at Sunset Memory Gardens near Tampa. According to the Associated Press, a bouquet of flowers adorned his coffin with a banner reading \u201cFrom your loving wife.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n– Laura Schneiderman<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

‘I told you I would kill him,’ says Grady Stiles, known as “Lobster Man.” <\/p>\n

Look at the picturesMurder and a circus sideshow performer<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":7193,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[947],"tags":[963,988,1036],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/20160126_GradyStiles002a.jpg?fit=1000%2C469&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2449,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/10\/04\/july-26-1963-circus-parade-downtown-pittsburgh\/","url_meta":{"origin":7187,"position":0},"title":"Elephant gives baby once-over","date":"October 4, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"\u201cCome See Me at the Circus \u2014 Says Jumbo.\u201d","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/tumblr_mbahxbkOiq1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C773&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2452,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/10\/04\/july-13-1961-circus-parade-in-downtown\/","url_meta":{"origin":7187,"position":1},"title":"Circus parade in Downtown Pittsburgh","date":"October 4, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"This photograph was not published in the newspaper.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/tumblr_mbah13e1751rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C811&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2488,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/09\/25\/feb-27-1928-when-the-stanley-theater-opened-in\/","url_meta":{"origin":7187,"position":2},"title":"Triumphant opening of Stanley Theater","date":"September 25, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"When the Stanley Theater opened in February of 1928, admission to the silent film \u201cGentlemen Prefer Blondes\u201d was 65 cents.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/tumblr_mav86sVCRL1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C1153&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2455,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/10\/03\/nov-1-1968-ringling-bros-clown-frankie\/","url_meta":{"origin":7187,"position":3},"title":"Ringling Bros. 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