Ms. Grayson was a home care nurse for Elara Caring, a Dallas-based home health service agency. She disappeared after visiting one of her patients in late October. Her body was later discovered in the basement of the residence where the patient-turned-suspect lived — a halfway house for convicted sex offenders.
The suspect, Michael Reese, a 38-year-old male, was arrested on charges unrelated to her death. Court records show in 2006 he was charged with sexual assault charges and pled nolo contendere — a plea in a criminal prosecution case where the defendant accepts conviction like when entering a guilty plea, but does not equate to the admission of guilt.
“Something needs to change…,” Laura Crean, a former coworker of Ms. Grayson, told NBC Connecticut. “It’s terrifying some days to go into places nurses have concerns, including going into homes alone.”
State Senator Matt Lesser, D-Conn., spoke at a vigil for Ms. Grayson, stating: “Joyce was not the first visiting nurse in this country to be the recipient of an awful, despicable act of violence. My hope is — at least in this state — working together if we put our minds to it, if we set that goal, I hope that she will be the last.”
At this time, though, Mr. Reese has not been charged with the homicide.
