Unsolved Mysteries: What happened to Jay Grabner? Beaver County's Severed Head Case subject's fate explored

The name Jay Grabner has sparked considerable interest among viewers who have watched episode 3 of Netflix’s Unsolved Mysteries Volume 4. 5 episodes of the volume were released on the platform on July 31, 2024.

The episode deals with an as-yet unsolved case from 2014, in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. The official synopsis of the episode, titled The Severed Head, reads:

“After a teen finds an embalmed head in the woods, investigators uncover a possible connection to a black-market organ trade as they try to ID the victim.”

The episode shows that Jay Grabner was not a suspect initially. However, as the investigation progressed, his demeanor and statements seemed odd to the local authorities. Further, he failed a polygraph test.

Though no sufficient proof was eventually found in order to convincingly tie him to the case, Jay Grabner committed suicide in 2020, destroying the “last thread” in the investigation. He ended his own life by jumping off an overpass.

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Jay Grabner took his own life in 2020

On December 14, 2014, a teenage boy in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, discovered a decapitated head and called 911 to report the same. For a region with a low crime rate, this was a sensational and particularly heinous event.

The head was located 31 feet off the roadway, and it had reportedly been severed not long ago. As the police started investigating, Jay Grabner, the person who lived near the site where the head was found, approached the authorities to help them.

For some reason or the other, Jay Grabner tried to convince the authorities that the teenage boy who had found the severed head was most likely the culprit. Michael O'Brien, Chief of Economy police, says in the docuseries:

"He was looking to pin this on this 15-year-old boy who discovered the head."

Grabner’s hyper willingness to help and identify the criminal backfired for him since the police gradually became suspicious of him. He was asked to take a polygraph test, where his performance strongly suggested that his statements were deceitful.

However, no solid proof was found that could be used to charge Jay Grabner with the murder. As a result, he was never arrested. In 2020, he took his own life by jumping off an overpass in front of a speeding truck, in Ohio.

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Jay Grabner’s story presents intriguing possibilities

Officially, the case of the severed head remains unsolved as yet. However, certain aspects of Jay Grabner’s involvement with the case are worth looking into.

It is gradually found out in Unsolved Mysteries Volume 4 episode 3 that the teenage boy who found the head had actually been friends with Grabner once. However, there was a falling out, and Grabner sought revenge.

One wonders if placing the head on the field strategically to be discovered by the teenage boy, and then trying to drive the suspicion towards him, was Grabner’s attempt at retribution.

Police suspected black-market organ trade in connection with the case. Tellingly, Grabner was found to have much knowledge on the same. The dead body of his dog was found in his refrigerator.

The episode features Blake Morrison, a reporter who covered the case in 2014. He interacted with Jay Grabner, who, characteristically, was eager to help. Morrison found a telescope in Grabner’s house, placed in a way that it looked straight at the spot where the head was found.

Blake Morrison says in the episode:

"Part of me thought Jay put that head there in the field. And Jay had a telescope set up to see that spot. He was watching and he got to see how it played out."

Officially, the police could not find enough evidence to use against Grabner, despite his poor performance on the polygraph test. As a result, even though he was deemed the prime suspect in the case, he was never arrested. With his demise, the thread holding the various details of the case together also disappeared.

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Unsolved Mysteries Volume 4 is currently streaming on Netflix.