Mobley charged in 2011 homicide; Grondin maintains his innocence
TRI-CITY AREA — In a wild string of events, a man wanted in possible connection with a Lapeer County murder was taken into custody, then fled a few days later after pulling off a Houdini-like act.
Authorities in Montana say a man wanted in a 2011 slaying in Lapeer County has managed to flee from police while in the process of being transported back to Michigan this past weekend.
Chadwick Shane Mobley had been taken into custody June 30.
A press release from the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office in Montana said Mobley was the subject of a nationwide manhunt, prior to his arrest.
He had been taken in to custody after law enforcement officials were tipped off to Mobley’s whereabouts by a private citizen.
The caller told a dispatch center of a possible sighting of a man who was wanted for the Michigan homicide.
Police say Mobley escaped custody around 10 a.m. Sunday morning.
The Michigan Attorney General’s Office had requested and arranged for Mobley to be brought back, hiring a transportation firm.
According to a published report, police in Plains, Montana advised nearby residents to keep their vehicles and homes locked.
During the escape, police say Mobley was able to remove his handcuffs as well as ankle shackles and make a dash to freedom.
Mobley had appeared in a Montana District June 29 for a hearing. He had been advised by a judge that he was not obligated to waive extradition.
However, according to reports, Mobley claimed he understood that and chose to “freely and willingly” return to face the charges against him.
He is now facing charges of first degree felony murder, first degree premeditated murder and one felony gun charge.
Law enforcement agencies from Michigan and Utah collaborated their efforts, assisting each other in a homicide investigation that occurred in 2011 in Michigan.
Published reports say Michigan State Police told MLive Mobley’s DNA matched evidence from the November 2011 death of 20-year-old Andrea Eilber.
Multiple news outlets, including the Tri-City Times, reported the woman’s body had been found in November of 2011 in a family member’s basement.
Investigators say she had been bound and found shot to death by a single gunshot to the head. According to a website by family members of Kenneth Grondin III, Eilber had planned to spend the day of the murder at the house with her boyfriend Kenneth Grondin III, but later canceled the rendezvous.
Grondin, nicknamed KC and 19-years-old at the time of the murder, was charged and convicted of the crime, with the 2015 conviction later overturned in 2018.
The now 30-year-old Grondin is still waiting for a possible new trial, depending on further investigation and what involvement, if any, Mobley had.
Family members say Grondin was a bright 19-year-old (at the time of the murder) with his whole life ahead of him.
On their website, family members added, “He was falsely accused, arrested and charged with murdering his girlfriend in 2012. After living in limbo for four years, he went to trial and was wrongfully convicted of felony murder in the first degree with a possible mandatory life sentence.”
They went on to call the case a, “travesty of justice” and “an atrocity of mishandling of evidence.”
The family stated there was, “no weapon, no DNA, no fingerprints” yet their family member was found guilty by a jury.
Grondin is a 2010 Lapeer High School graduate and was an honor roll student along with participating in the jazz, marching and symphony bands at Lapeer.
He had been taking engineering classes in his senior year through U of M Flint and continued his education at the Flint campus following graduation from high school.
Grondin has maintained his innocence since being taken into custody.
While incarcerated, he wrote a letter to family and friends stating in part, “I will continue fighting for the truth and for justice, and hopefully, sooner rather than later, I will be home and out of this place (prison).”
He has expressed his appreciation to family and friends that have supported him in helping to fight for his freedom and reversal of the conviction.
Grondin has since been freed from prison and placed on house arrest with a court-ordered GPS tether.
A lawyer, on behalf of Grondin, has filed three motions in Lapeer County: 1) Judgement of acquittal, 2) Correct invalid sentence (life in prison) and 3) A new trial.
Those motions are scheduled to be heard September 19, depending on further investigation and the status of Mobley as it relates to the homicide.
