Kait Granger recalls that she expressed her affection for her mother for the final time.
Granger returned to the condominium she and her partner shared in Chesterfield, Missouri, a suburb located outside of St. Louis, on December 8, 2019, to obtain a Diet Coke prior to her young-adult ministry internship at her church.
“I was able to embrace her and express my affection for her.” Granger disclosed to The Post that it was a “sweet little moment.”
Later that evening, her mother, Bobette Everhart-Boal, aged 59, attended a Christmas holiday celebration. Granger unexpectedly awoke at approximately 2 a.m. and observed a text message from her father, Michael Boal, 59, at approximately 12:45 a.m., requesting that she care for the dog. She experienced an unusual sensation.
“I awoke to retrieve my mother from the upper floor, but she was not present.” I accessed her location on my phone and observed that she was in the parking lot. I stated, “It is impossible for her to return home unannounced.”
Granger opened the shutters and observed yellow crime scene tape, police vehicles, and blinding lights.
Granger stated, “I was aware of the events at that precise moment.” She stepped outside, experiencing a sense of numbness and a sensation of being “in a trance.”
“I inquired with a police officer, ‘Is my mother deceased?'”
Granger’s mother was mortally shot by her father during an argument in the parking lot of the apartment complex at approximately 12:45 a.m., while she was sleeping.
Subsequently, he returned to the residence they had previously shared, which was located approximately seven miles away, set it ablaze, and then committed suicide.
Later that week, the estranged couple was scheduled to appear in court for the initial hearing of their divorce proceedings. Granger continues to be haunted by the fact that her mother was unable to obtain the “true freedom” of a divorce, which she had so ardently desired prior to her passing.
“My mother was aware that he was capable of doing extremely dark things,” Granger stated regarding her father. “To the extent that, at the conclusion of her life, she confided in one of her friends that he intended to kill her.” She addressed her colleague and requested that they supervise Kaitlyn. I was naïve to believe that my mother would be secure if she left him.
Granger, 27, initially disclosed her narrative on a TikTok video titled “The Story,” providing viewers with a “trigger warning” prior to delving into the atrocious incident.
“They discovered the murder weapon in the house during the fire,” Granger informs the camera.
“We discovered that there was a significant amount of premeditation as the investigation progressed.” She continued, “My father opened a storage unit four days after my mother left in August and began to move items from the house into it to protect them, as he was aware that he was going to set the house on fire.” In four minutes and 19 seconds, she encapsulated the most traumatic incident of her life.
Granger has since garnered 330,000 TikTok followers with the series “Let’s Not Rot,” which she began last year. She posts videos of herself performing commonplace activities with voiceovers and poems she has written about mourning.
She stated that the recordings are a pledge she made to her mother and herself to live the greatest life possible.
“I knew I had to tell this story, for her and for myself,” Granger stated in an interview with The Post. “A significant component of this was to inspire me to engage in activities and engage in conversations regarding grief that were more authentic.”
In 1992, Bobette and Michael exchanged vows in Las Vegas. Granger was born five years after her sibling Andrew. The family relocated to the St. Louis suburbs a few years later after Michael was terminated from his position with the University of Chicago Medical Center’s organ transplant team in 1998 for “ethical reasons,” as per his daughter.
UChicago Medicine has been contacted by The Post.
Granger, a self-described “shy kid,” stated that her mother was subjected to physical violence by her father that was so severe that, when she was three years old, “My mother took us kids and ran away and went and stayed with friends.”
Granger stated, “I cannot recall a time when I was not apprehensive about my father.”
However, they ultimately returned.
“My mother was somewhat ensnared.” “She had faith in his positive attributes,” Granger stated. “My father was a charming individual.” He had a pattern of being extremely manipulative, being abusive and dreadful to the extent that she began to question everything. Afterward, he would turn on the charm and be romantic. He effectively concealed his narcissism and mental illness from the public.
Granger stated that Bobette, who was employed by an interior design company in Maryland Heights, assumed the role of the family’s primary earner. She remembered that her father was unemployed and would “sit at home all day.”
Granger and her brother, who she claims were emotionally but not physically tortured by her father, navigated the world on eggshells.
“I was not present to witness the physical abuse.” However, I began to observe the verbal and emotional manipulation and began to doubt it. I was truly beginning to develop my identity. I was diminutive and reserved. She stated, “I did not have a significant number of friends during my childhood.” “That caused me to feel extremely diminutive as a child.” I aimed to be as amenable and tranquil as possible, as my mother would be penalized if I was not.
Playing softball from the age of seven until college was a silver lining, as it allowed her and her mother to leave the home.
“Softball was the most significant escape.” In all honesty, I did not particularly enjoy the sport; however, it was a shared interest between my mother and me. Granger recollected, “She would accompany me on my travels.” “We were financially strapped, so we would travel and eat peanut butter sandwiches in the trunk before games.” It was truly one of the few instances in which she felt she could be authentically herself.
Bobette, who was 59 years old at the time, filed for divorce from Michael in August 2019, when Granger was 22 years old and had recently graduated from Missouri State University with a psychology major. Granger also stated that she began informing her peers about the abuse.
She moved in with Granger; however, the surges of unrest were not placated by the distance.
“The anxiety regarding my father’s actions was unbearable.” “He arrived at [Bobette’s] workplace to install trackers on her vehicle and was following her,” she stated. However, the apartment “felt like our safe haven.”
Bobette served as a wish-granter at Make-A-Wish Missouri, where she engaged in conversations with children who were terminally ill regarding their most ambitious aspirations and assisted in their realization.
In her obituary, acquaintances and colleagues described her as “selfless, positive, genuine, and filled with light.”
Granger remembered her mother’s clandestine visits to a friend’s residence with refuse sacks filled with clothing before she finally parted ways with her father.
“She harbored concerns that an incident of this nature would transpire.” We both did. She endeavored to exercise extreme caution in her actions and speech. Granger stated, “She was aware that the actions she was taking were hazardous.”
Granger relocated to a family friend’s residence immediately following Bobette’s death, as she was unable to remain in close proximity to the location of her mother’s death. (She married in April 2022 and is currently in the process of divorcing.)
Yet, she reflects favorably on their time together in that apartment, grateful for the opportunity to assist her mother in achieving even a brief period of liberation from physical violence.
“It was the first time we felt at home together.” We visited Hobby Lobby and purchased one of those tacky signs that read, “This is our home.” “It was so significant because it was truly our home and our place, where we could exist without concern for laughing too loud and be true to ourselves,” she stated. “We experienced a few months of bliss.”
“We were at peace in that residence.”
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