Grady Stiles Jr. came from a long line of sideshow performers who had a genetic condition known as ectrodactyly. When this defect occurs in the womb, the middle digits of the hand and foot are missing and the remaining ones fuse into two parts. Grady was born with two-fingered hands that resembled lobster claws, and footless legs ending just below the knee.

Like many of his relatives, Grady capitalized on his physical defects by appearing in traveling carnivals. It’s easy to imagine that a lifetime spent as a public spectacle could be emotionally taxing. But Grady had a coping mechanism: alcohol. For Grady, drinking heavily blurred out the pain of ridicule and rejection. Unfortunately, alcohol also made him incredibly mean and violent. This tendency toward violence would manifest into murder, with Grady being the perpetrator. Later, the man known as “Lobster Boy” would find himself on the other side of murder …falling victim to two bullets in the back of his head.

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MURDERISH x Generation WHY meetup: Happening Saturday, 2.24.24, at Idle Hour Bar: 4824 Vineland Ave., Los Angeles at 5:00 PM. The meetup is FREE …bring a friend!

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Research & Writing: Alison Schwartz.

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Missing person: 44-year-old Cynthia Acevedo. Contact the FBI’s Phoenix Field Office at (623) 466-1999, or go to fbi.gov with any information you have regarding Cynthia’s disappearance.

Listening to this podcast doesn’t make you a murderer, it just means you’re murder..ish.

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