Brett Kelman

The Desert Sun

PALM DESERT, Calif. – A beloved teacher who was found murdered about three years ago may have been overheard begging for her life in an accidental phone call made by her suspected killer, according to Riverside County court documents.

Jill Thomas Grant, 41, a math teacher at Palm Desert High School, was found dead two days before Christmas in 2013. Prosecutors have charged Grant’s boyfriend, Michael John Franco, with her murder, alleging that he slit her throat with a box cutter, ran her over with a car and dumped her body at a golf course not far from their home in Indio.

Court documents filed last week reveal a morbid twist in the case. Prosecutors have a copy of a voicemail that Franco’s phone left in a friend’s inbox on the night Grant went missing. The voicemail, which seems to be an inadvertent “butt dial,” appears to capture Grant in the last moments of her life. Much of the conversation is inaudible, but in the snippets that can be understood, Grant speaks as if trying to convince Franco they could call 911 and say she was attacked by someone else.

“What if I drive the car someplace and call myself and say I was attacked?” Grant says in the voicemail, according to a transcript filed in court. “Would that work?

“But we can think of something to say like (inaudible.) I am sure we can think of something. Say it was (inaudible.) What can we say?”… What do you want me to say? What should I say?”

The voicemail adds to a hefty pile of evidence primed for Franco’s upcoming trial. According to a case summary filed by prosecutors, bank security footage shows Franco using Grant’s ATM card to withdraw money on the night she was killed and Franco was later caught driving Grant’s car while in possession of her driver’s license, bank cards, cell phone and a Glock pistol registered to her name. Police tased Franco, and he toppled over while reaching for her gun. While being taken into custody Franco allegedly said he was fleeing to Mexico and knew he was "going to prison for the rest of his life," court documents state.

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Franco has pleaded not guilty to all charges. He is due in court for a pre-trial hearing on Tuesday.

But evidence continued to grow after Franco was put behind bars. In court filings, prosecutors claim Franco confessed to one of his cell mates, who will now be called as a witness in the upcoming trial.

Franco allegedly told the cell mate he cut Grant’s throat during an argument, then took her to the golf course – wounded but still alive – to bury her body. When Grant tried to escape, Franco ran her over with her own car. The cell mate claims Franco said he would “beat the case because he’s going to act crazy and go to Patton (State Hospital) for seven years.”’

Franco’s defense attorney, Dante Gomez, has argued that this reference to Patton should be excluded from the upcoming trial because it's irrelevant to whether or not Franco killed Grant.

Regardless, the allegation that Franco hit Grant with a car appears to be backed up by physical evidence. When Franco was arrested driving Grant’s car, police found blood on the front bumper and hand prints on the hood, court documents state. Grass in the wheel well appeared to come from a golf course, just like the course where Grant’s body was found.

Grant was born in Long Beach and moved to the Coachella Valley with her family in 1988. She attended Palm Desert High School and later returned to the campus as a teacher, specializing in upper-level math. Among friends, Grant was known for her bubbly, fun-loving demeanor, a broad smile, and an insatiable love of scrapbooking and scented candles. Grant had no children, but adored two stepchildren from a prior marriage, according to her family.

On the night Grant disappeared, she and Franco were supposed to host a party at their home inside a gated neighborhood in Indio. Party guests got stuck at the front gate, then Franco abruptly cancelled the party, which led Grant's brother to call police. Investigators had already found her body at a golf course down the street.

Reporter Brett Kelman can be reached by phone at (760) 778-4642, by email at brett.kelman@desertsun.com, or on Twitter @TDSbrettkelman.