TACOMA, Wash. — When Nancy Gardner moved from Texas to Washington state to be with a man she had met online, no one suspected she was moving across country into the arms of a killer. Soon, the 45-year-old Gardner was dead, and her fiancé was arrested for her murder.
"Our family never expected to be touched such evil," said Gardner's sister Ava Bertok.
Gardner was found murdered in July 2014.
Cellphone data from pictures she had taken near the crime scene shortly before her death led investigators to her body and to the man she moved across the country to live with, William Grisso.
He and Gardner had gotten engaged while corresponding online, but prosecutors say the 42-year-old Grisso also had a wife and another girlfriend and wanted to end his relationship with Gardner. So he lured her into the woods near his home in Lakebay and shot her.
"He could have unraveled that web any number of lawful ways. Instead he chose murder," said Pierce County
Prosecuting Attorney Mark Lindquist during Grisso's sentencing on Monday. A jury found him guilty of Gardner's murder last month, even though Grisso continues to claim he is innocent.
Gardner's family members say her death has left them devastated.
"I will never understand nor get over my precious sister being murdered in cold blood," said Bertok.
Grisso was sentenced to 31 years behind bars.
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