Accused murderer Grayden Denham is headed back to court, with a jury trial scheduled to begin Tuesday, Dec. 7.
Retired judge James Van Amburg will preside over the trial, which has been scheduled and cancelled numerous times over the past five years.
The Edgerton man is accused of murdering his grandparents, his sister and infant nephew in 2016 and in March 2020 was committed to the Missouri Department of Mental Health.
Earlier this year, Denham was found competent to stand trial.
Grayden Denham
Denham, 30, remains in custody at the Platte County Detention Center on a $4 million cash-only bond.
Platte County prosecutor Eric Zahnd had previously announced his intent to seek the death penalty in the case.
However, Zahnd said this week that the state has waived the death penalty in exchange for the defendant’s waiver of any mental defense.
The charges against Denham, which were filed after a grand jury indictment, include four counts of first-degree murder and four counts of armed criminal action in the Feb. 19, 2016 homicides of his sister Heather Ager, 32, his three-month-old nephew Mason Schiavoni, his grandmother, Shirley Denham, 81, and his grandfather, Russell Denham, 82.
Denham is also charged with felony arson for destruction of the family home, a felony for tampering with evidence, a felony for stealing his grandparent’s vehicle and a misdemeanor for animal abuse.
The four victims and the accused were residents of the same house at 4170 Buena Vista Road in Edgerton, although Grayden Denham has been called only an occasional occupant.
According to court documents, when authorities responded to reports of a house fire at the home on Feb. 19, they found four victims shot with the bodies still burning outside of the house. Three of the victims were found in the front yard, while Russell Denham’s body was located near an outbuilding with a red plastic gasoline container found nearby. A family dog was also found shot and burning at the scene.
Authorities apprehended Denham two days later while he was walking naked in Seligman, Ariz. They also located a brown 2012 Nissan Versa at a nearby hotel. The vehicle, belonging to Russell and Shirley Denham, was discovered missing during the fire/homicide investigation. Denham was not a registered guest at the hotel, and authorities also found a pile of clothing outside of the vehicle.
Denham was charged in Platte County with the theft of the Versa, which when it was found bore Oklahoma license plates taken from a rental car. He remained in custody in Yavapi County, Ariz. until an extradition process on that theft charge brought him back to Platte County.