Waiting for arson-murder retrial verdict, Ed Graf pleads guilty
10/21/2015 5:12 pm PDT
UPDATE August 16, 2019:
The Waco Tribune-Herald reports Ed Graf is forbidden to live in at least six Texas counties by the Board of Pardons and Paroles Graf will be on parole until 2048 and was living in Kerrville, according to state parole officials, according to the Tribune-Herald.
October 21, 2015:
It's a case that's ignited a Texas-size firestorm of controversy, centering around two adorable young brothers killed in a terrible fire.
The case was ruled an arson, and even though a man went to prison, the boys' mother was about to be dealt another cruel blow.
Jason Graf, 8, and Joby Graf, 9, were burned alive in a backyard shed in Hewitt, Texas, in August 1986. It looked like a horrible accident, but as the days and months wore on, something else was about to emerge. What exactly happened to those boys behind the house on Angel Fire Drive?
That same terrible night, the boys' stepfather, Ed Graf, had the charred remains of the shed loaded up and taken away to the local dump. That didn't raise any red flags for anyone -- the fire was ruled accidental. But a mother's intuition was not to be ignored.
Could Ed Graf have torched his own stepsons? Could Clare Bradburn have married a man capable of that? Or was this just the most tragic accident ever?
Days after the funeral, Clare and her family were suspicious. They went to talk to McLennan County District Attorney Vic Feazell, hoping to convince him to investigate the fire that killed the boys.
There was a lot of circumstantial evidence, so why wasn't this a slam-dunk case?