In 1975, then-20-year-old actor Kelsey Grammer was home with his family when he received the devastating news that the body of a Jane Doe had been discovered in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and that she was believed to be his younger sister, Karen Grammer. Fifty years later, Kelsey is reflecting on what happened to his sister and how he grieved her tragic death in his new memoir, Karen: A Brother Remembers, which will be released on May 6, 2025.

What Happened to Kelsey Grammer’s Sister?

Karen, who was 18 years old at the time of her death, had gone to the Red Lobster where she worked at around 11 p.m. to wait for a friend to finish up their shift on July 1, 1975. Three men, including Freddie Glenn and Michael Corbett, then arrived at the restaurant with plans to rob it, Kelsey revealed in a recount of the police report.

However, the men changed their plan when they saw Karen. According to Kelsey’s recount of the report, they pulled out a gun and brought his sister to Freddie’s car, where she was tied up. The men drove her to one of their apartments and took turns raping her.

They had promised to release her, according to the report, but ultimately drove her to a trailer park and stabbed Karen 42 times. She crawled to a nearby trailer for help before she died.

“She had fallen backward from the trailer door after knocking for help. It was her last hope and disappointment after crawling 400 feet from the place where she had been stabbed. Bloody fingerprints mark the trail of her final moments at exactly 3’6” along the office and walls of the trailer park,” Kelsey wrote in his book, according to an excerpt from People. “She had been on her knees, crawling her way. Seeking help with her last ounce of life. The coroner noted that through a gaping wound in her neck, he could see all the way into Karen’s lung. I had been right in saying he almost decapitated her. Freddie Glenn punched holes in my sister’s body with unimaginable brutality. There were defensive wounds on her hands.”

Kelsey Grammer Reflects on His Sister Karen’s Death in New Book

Kelsey, who identified his sister’s body after police notified him that a Jane Doe had been found, has spoken out about Karen’s murder and how it affected him many times over the years. “There were some times I pretty much surrendered to despair,” he told People in 2022.

In Karen: A Brother Remembers, Kelsey details his past struggles with alcohol and substance abuse, which he has said were partially driven by guilt and depression as a result of his sister’s death.

“I always had something in the back of my head saying, ‘Okay. That’s enough now. Cut it out. You know why you’re doing this,’” he told People in a May 2025 interview. “But there was the other part of me that wanted to surrender to it and go, ‘Let it mess you up a little bit. Let it hurt.’”

Where Are Karen Grammer’s Killers Today?

Karen was one of three victims in a killing spree by Glenn. He also killed Daniel Van Lone, a 28-year-old motel cook, during a botched robbery on June 19, 1975, and 19-year-old Army soldier Winfred Proffitt during a drug deal one week later, CBS News reported.

Glenn was convicted of all three murders, as well as his two accomplices. He was originally given the death penalty, but his sentence was later changed to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 1978.

Glenn has requested parole four times, but his requests have been denied.

Meanwhile, Corbett died in prison in 2019. The identity of the third accomplice remains unknown.