Cyril Granahan (Wood County Sheriff’s Office).
A Wisconsin man was charged with the murder of his neighbor two weeks after she reportedly told police that he tried to cut her head off.
Cyril Granahan, 60, was booked into the Wood County Jail after being charged with two felonies connected to the death of his neighbor. The 61-year-old woman, who was not named in media reports, died on May 8 following surgery to treat bleeding on her brain, according to reporting by the Wisconsin Rapids City Times, a local news outlet that obtained the criminal complaint. The woman had been hospitalized on April 25 after her caregiver reportedly found her in her home with blood on her shoulders.
The caregiver took the woman to the hospital where she spoke to police and reportedly told them, per the complaint, that Granahan allegedly said he was “going to cut (her) head off.”
According to the complaint, which was also obtained by the Marshfield News-Herald, the woman told police that she and Granahan had dated off and on since 2023. Granahan lived in the apartment below hers, and on the night of April 24, he came to her home and stayed until about 1 a.m.
The woman told police that Granahan then returned to her apartment at 4:15 a.m., reportedly asking about a cigarette case. When she told him that she did not know where it was, she stated that Granahan allegedly started to physically assault her by pushing her to the ground and later stomping on her chest.
During that altercation, Granahan allegedly told the woman he was going to break her neck. According to the complaint, he also allegedly told her he was “going to cut (her) head off” before getting a “big, long steak knife.”
The woman reportedly told police that Granahan then allegedly started sawing at the back of her neck with the knife. According to the complaint, she first told police that the alleged attempted decapitation took 45 minutes. She then told them in a second interview that it was 10 minutes. Officials observed a large cut on the back of her neck as well as bruises on her face and chest. She also reportedly had a wound to her hand, which police said had the appearance of a defensive wound.
According to the complaint, the woman’s daughter also spoke to the police, reportedly to explain that her mother once had several brain tumors that could account for her inconsistent statements.
While the woman was hospitalized, her daughter reportedly told police that on April 29, she was rushed into surgery to treat a brain bleed. She reportedly also stated that her mother’s “health declined extremely fast.” Following the surgery, the woman slipped into a “coma-like state” and never woke up.
She died on May 8. According to an autopsy, the preliminary cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head.
Granahan, who was committed to a psychiatric hospital after the alleged incident on April 25, was charged with first-degree reckless homicide, physical abuse of an elder person, and misdemeanor disorderly conduct with an increased penalty for elder-person victim. He is currently in custody at the Wood County Jail on $250,000 cash bond and is scheduled to be arraigned on June 3.
