The State : Body Found at Sea Identified

Dental records confirm a body found floating in the ocean near Seal Beach 10 weeks ago was an Illinois man whose father was convicted of murdering his mother, authorities said. Jeff Grabbe, 29, who was to have testified in the retrial of his father, disappeared Feb. 28. “The body was found by boaters March 22 about 1.5 miles offshore in the Pacific Ocean,” said Seal Beach Police Detective Charlie Castagna. “He was shot . . . weighted down with an anchor.” Police in California and Marshall, Ill., were investigating the slaying. Grabbe’s wife, Cindy, said she last heard from her husband Feb. 28 when he telephoned her while on a business trip in California. Grabbe had testified against his father, Fred, in 1985 when the elder Grabbe was convicted of murder in the death of his wife, Charlotte, whose body has never been found. But that conviction was overturned, and a new trial was ordered. Grabbe was convicted of murder for a second time April 12 and faces sentencing Aug. 3.