Unsolved Mysteries volume 4 episode 3: Police's suspicions on Jay Grabner explored

Unsolved Mysteries released volume 4 on Wednesday, July 31, 2024. The series featured one of the cold cases that came to light a decade ago when a severed head was found in a field in Economy Borough, Pennsylvania.

On December 12, 2014, the police received a call from a teenager who claimed to have seen a severed head. Given the town's low crime rate, they initially thought it was a prank.

However, the case was ongoing for six years and in 2020, Jane Doe's (name authorities use until someone's identity is confirmed) head was buried in a full-size casket. Throughout the investigation, the police struggled to find leads, however, the only suspect they had was Jay Grabner. He lived across Mason Road, where the head was discovered.

Jay's eagerness to help and his turbulent relationship with the teenager who found the head made him a person of interest. Although authorities believed he may be involved after his polygraph test detected deception, it wasn't enough.

In 2020, Jay committed suicide. At the time, Andrew Gall, the Chief of Detectives at Beaver County's D.A.'s office said that Jay was the "last string" he had for solving the case.

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"He was looking to pin this on this 15-year-old boy who discovered the head"— Michael O'Brien opens up about Jay Grabner in Unsolved Mysteries Volume 4

In the true crime show, Unsolved Mysteries volume 4 episode 3, titled The Severed Head, Michael O'Brien, the Police Chief of Economy Borough stated that on the day of the search, Michael came out of his house and said he wanted to help. Officer O'Brien said:

"We were able to get him to talk to us and get him to come in and do an interview with us. He was interested in the discovery of the head. He was interested in the person who had found it."

He further added:

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

In his police interview, which was included in episode 3 of Unsolved Mysteries volume 4, Jay was heard saying that he wasn't saying that the kid did it, he was just stating that it was "too conveniently placed." He added the head was placed like "it wanted to be found."

Officer O'Brien described Jay as someone who wanted to be "the center of the attention" and as someone who "had to be listened to" or had to be heard. He added that Jay had some "odd statements." He later discovered that Jay and the boy who found the severed head used to be friends but had a "falling out."

Later on the Netflix's Unsolved Mysteries, the police elaborated on Jay Grabner's possible involvement with the case. Blake Morrison, a reporter who actively covered the case said that when they went back to the scene of the crime, Jay came out of his house. Blake described Jay as a "busybody." Blake added:

"He was the neighbor who would insert himself into situations. I was struck by how eager Jay was to seem to help. He had his own theories. One of his theories was that a teenager, the one who found the head in the woods, was behind this and called 911 to alert the police about it."

In the docuseries, Unsolved Mysteries volume 4 episode 3, Blake stated that Jay's theories were "inconceivable." And believed that due to the falling out that Jay had with the teenager, he wanted "revenge." Jay later claimed that after their friendship, the teenager stabbed his horse, Ginger, which led to his death.

In the segment, at one point, police suspected that the severed body may have been connected to a black-market organ trade. Blake found it interesting that Jay had an in-depth knowledge about the trade, and decided to keep track of Jay Grabner.

He added that it "fundamentally changed" how Blake saw Jay's involvement with the case. He believed Jay had something to do with placing the head on Mason Road.

The reporter revealed that he joked with Jay about seeing everything and the latter gave him a tour of his house. Once inside, Blake found a telescope. He then told one of the cameramen to go to the spot where the head was found and discovered that Jay had a vantage point and could see the point through his window. Blake added:

"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."

In the Unsolved Mysteries episode, the police grew increasingly vary of Jay and asked him to take a polygraph test. The latter was more than enthusiastic since he couldn't believe people thought he was involved.

As part of the test, he was asked several questions about the case. It was later revealed that there was "deception" in his answers, indicating there was a "99.9% chance" he was being untruthful. After the results were revealed to Jay, he said in Unsolved Mysteries:

"I don't care how it makes me look, I'm telling the truth. I know nothing about the head, where it came from, or who cooked up the idea to do that head! I'm dead straight honest, period."

Michael O'Brien said in the episode that he believed Jay knew how the head got there. While Blake stated that he couldn't help but think that he was involved somehow. The police dug deep into his history but eventually couldn't find anything significant to tie him to the crime.

Andrew Gall recalled during Unsolved Mysteries that in 2020, the police got a call from the Ohio Highway Patrol, which informed them of an incident that shut the Severed Head investigation down. Andrew said:

"Jay Grabner drove his pickup truck on the Ohio Turnpike, pulled up along an overpass. There is a truck on the turnpike heading towards that overpass, and Jay jumps off the overpass in front of the truck."

In Unsolved Mysteries volume 4 episode 3, it was revealed that Jay Grabner committed suicide and since he was the "last thread" in their investigation, the authorities buried the Severed Head and gave her a proper funeral.

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Episodes of Unsolved Mysteries volume 4 are available to stream on Netflix.