Review: ‘The Rocky Mountain Mortician Murder,’ starring Anthony Wright, Linette Griffy, Gina Griffy, Carol Coates, James Bullock, Laura Anderson Wright, and Troy Zook

November 26, 2025

by Carla Hay

“The Rocky Mountain Mortician Murder”

Directed by Donnie Eichar

Culture Representation: The three-episode limited documentary series “The Rocky Mountain Mortician Murder” (about a murder case in Fowler, Colorado) features an all-white group of people representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: After an elderly mortician is found murdered in his home, suspicion falls on four men, including two mortician partners who owned a rival funeral business. 

Culture Audience: “The Rocky Mountain Mortician Murder” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in watching true crime documentaries about murder mysteries and people with shocking secrets.

By the end of watching “The Rocky Mountain Mortician Murder,” you just might be surprised that there hasn’t been more media attention about this very unusual case about a mortician’s 2012 murder in Fowler, Colorado. This well-edited three-episode true docuseries chronicles this twisted homicide case in a way that will keep viewers in suspense if they don’t know the outcome. There’s a good variety of interviews representing all sides of this controversial mystery.

Directed by Donnie Eichar, “The Rocky Mountain Mortician Murder” unfolds like a riveting mystery novel, but the facts uncovered are stranger than most fiction. “The Rocky Mountain Moritican Murder” has a typical assortment of actor re-enactments and dramatic score music, but the tone of the series is not exploitative. The murder victim’s family members are given ample screen time, as well as people who offer different perspectives.

Everyone interviewed in this documentary either knew the murder victim or was directly involved in the legal aspects case. There are no interviews with tabloid journalists or social media influencers. If a true crime documentary has tabloid journalists and/or social media influencers as the documentary’s primary sources, then it usually means that the quality of the documentary isn’t very good.

“The Rocky Mountain Mortician Murder” is about the murder of mortician Byron Griffy, who was the owner and founder of Griffy Family Funeral Home in Fowler, Colorado. On October 12, 2012, Griffy was found shot to death in an empty bedroom at his home in Fowler. Griffy, who lived alone and was 76 when he died, was shot in the back of his neck. His body was on the floor, and he was lying face up.

There were no signs of a break-in at the house. There were no indications that Griffy was in a physical fight or had any self-defense wounds. Cash and other valuable items were left in the house. The gun that was used to shoot Griffy was not found.

His daughter Linette Griffy and her wife Gina Griffy (who are both interviewed in the documentary) discovered Byron’s body at about 8:30 p.m., but investigators say that the time of death was in the early afternoon. One of the most difficult aspects of solving this crime was there was no evidence, such as DNA or fingerprints, that could point to anyone else being in the room besides Byron.

Some of Byron’s blood was splattered near an electrical wall socket at the bottom of the wall. But other than that blood, the room appeared to be thoroughly wiped clean. Investigators in the documentary say that the position of Byron’s body indicated that he was dragged there and put in a position that looked staged.

“The Rocky Mountain Mortician Murder’s” three episodes flow cohesively with each episode’s theme. Episode 1, titled “Brothers, Sons and Lovers,” gives the most background on all of the major people involved in the case. The episode ends by revealing some bombshell information. Episode 2, titled “Closets Hide Skeletons,” delves deeper into the scandalous secrets that were exposed, and the episode ends on another cliffhanger, when it’s revealed which of the suspects died. Episode 3, titled “Burying the Guilty,” includes the official cause of death of one of the suspects, the arrest of another suspect, the trial that took place, and the aftermath of the trial.

Byron is described by several people in the documentary as being kind, helpful and generous. But he was no squeaky-clean angel. Later in the documentary, it’s revealed that he had some dirty secrets. And before he died, he was convicted of a crime that damaged his business and tore his family apart.

Although there was no physical evidence tying any perpetrator to the crime, four men were viewed as likely suspects. Each of these suspects had a motive to kill Byron and no solid aibli during the murder timeline, according to many people who are interviewed in the documentary. “The Rocky Mountain Mortician Murder” examines each theory and lets viewers make up their own minds, although two of the suspects definitely look more suspicious than the other two.

The four men who came under scrutiny in the investigation were:

• Charles Giebler, a co-owner of Charles Anthony Funeral Home in Florence, Colorado, which is about 67 miles southeast of Fowler. In 2012, Giebler was also the mayor of Florence and a bishop leader of a Christian church in Florence.
• Anthony Wright, a co-owner of Charles Anthony Funeral Home. In 2012, Wright was living with Giebler and was a deacon in the church that he co-founded with Giebler.
• Cory Higgs, Gina Griffy’s troubled son, who had a history of violence.
• Tommy Tomlin, a drug-addicted drifter who did occasional jobs for Byron Griffy.

Wright is interviewed in the documentary and maintains that he had nothing to do with the murder. Giebler, Higgs and Tomlin are not interviewed in the documentary. But all four of these supects were interviewed by police and denied having anything to do with the murder. The documentary includes archival footage clips of police interviewing the four men separately in an interrogation room.

By the time the case was closed, one of these four men would be arrested and go on trial, one of the other men would be dead, and some other key witnesses died before a defense investigator could interview these witnesses. Secret affairs and other scandals would also be revealed. This review will not give details on the most shocking aspects of this case, in order to let viewers find out for themselves by watching the documentary.

Wright and Giebler, who moved to Colorado from Salt Lake City, told people that they were half-brothers with the same mother. Eric Hatfield, who became Wright’s stepson when his mother married Wright in 2013, says in the documentary he used to work for Wright and Giebler, whom he describes as shady businessmen who liked to privately brag to him about the ways that they committed tax fraud. Eric Hatfield’s brother Paul Hatfield is also interviewed in the documentary.

Eric Hatfield and a few other people interviewed in the documentary describe Giebler as the domineering and aggressive mastermind of the Charles Anthony Funeral Home ownership duo, while Wright was the duo’s “muscle” who put plans into action. Eric Hatfield says that the church founded by Giebler and Wright was just a sham way to make tax-free money. He also describes Giebler and Wright as big spenders who would buy luxury cars and collect guns.

Wright admits he became a bit of a hoarder for these items, as well as for valuable coins. Byron had a massive collection of coins and gold that he entrusted to Giebler and Wright for safekeeping because Byron didn’t have the storage space for his collection. Byron’s collection was worth nearly $1 million, according to people in the documentary who knew about the collection.

His daughter Linette says that Byron made the mistake of not documenting which items he entrusted to Giebler and Wright. During the time that Giebler and Wright had Byron’s collection, the duo went on a spending spree. And when Byron asked to have his collection returned to him, Linette says that Giebler and Wright kept delaying and made excuses.

When Giebler and Wright finally returned Byron’s collection items after Byron died, it was only a small fraction of what Byron originally had. Wright and Giebler insisted that they returned everything that Byron gave to them. To this day, the majority of Byron’s missing coins and gold have not been found.

Florence is a small town with a population of a little more than 3,800 people. Fowler is an even smaller town, with a population of a little more than 1,800 people. Wright says in the documentary: “When you live in a small town, things you want hidden don’t stay hidden.” He also describes Byron Griffy as a friend. Wright says that the leaders of the Charles Anthony Funeral Home and the Griffy Family Funeral Home would frequently help each other out and were mutually respectful of each other.

Wright also claims that, unlike many morticians, he wasn’t motivated by greed: “I wasn’t like that. Becoming a funeral director is almost more like a calling. A lot of it isn’t always pleasant, but with funeral homes in small towns, you’re pretty much like family. Byron Griffy was the same way.”

Byron’s daughter Linette says that her father was “her favorite person in the world” and immediately accepted her when she told him that she’s a lesbian. He bought Linette a house when she moved back to Fowler as a single mother of three kids. Her household expanded when she married Gina Griffy, who had her own kids and a mother who also lived in the home.

Linette says in the documentary that she believes Wright and Giebler were either responsible for her father’s death or know what happened. On the day that Byron died, he was supposed to meet Wright and Giebler for lunch in Fowler. The plan was for Wright and Giebler to drive to Byron’s home, and then the three of them would have lunch in town. Wright and Giebler gave witness statements saying that they went to Byron’s home that day but left after no one seemed to be home.

Investigators were suspicious because Wright and Giebler said they drove a black Mercedes to Byron’s house that day, but surveillance video footage from a parking lot that was not far from Byron’s house proved that Wright and Giebler had actually driven a white Chevrolet Astro van to the house. After being caught in this lie, Wright and Giebler made the excuse that they had been mistaken. In his police interviews, Giebler claimed he couldn’t remember a lot about the day that Byron was murdered.

Another discrepancy that raised suspicions was Wright and Giebler telling police that they approached Byron’s house from the front when they arrived at his house. But it was common knowledge with visitors who regularly went to the house (such as Wright and Giebler) that the only way to get to the house by vehicle was through the path at the back of the house. Wright refused to take a lie detector test, but he willingly volunteered his DNA when police asked for it. The documentary doesn’t mention what Giebler’s reaction was when Giebler was asked to take a polygraph test and give his DNA.

During the time before Byron’s death, the Griffy family had already been in turmoil. Gina Griffy’s young-adult son Cory Higgs had accused Byron of sexually abusing him, which led to Byron becoming a convicted sex offender who was ordered to stay away from Higgs. Byron’s daughter Linette says that Byron always denied he committed this abuse and was depressed about being convicted of the crime, but she insists he was not suicidal.

The family was also in chaos because Higgs was also abusive. According to his mother Gina, when Higgs was an underage teenager, he choked her, and was put in the foster care system. When Higgs became an adult, he broke his mother’s shoulder, she says. This assault caused Byron to completely turn against Higgs, whom Byron had been mentoring to take over the Griffy Family Funeral Home. Byron told people that Higgs retaliated by falsely accusing Byron of sexual abuse.

Regardless of who was telling the truth about the sexual abuse, things got so bad in the household that Linette and Gina decided to move out of the house that Byron had purchased for Linette and start over somewhere new. And that’s around the time that Byron was murdered. Higgs did not have a solid alibi for the timeline of Byron’s murder. Higgs said he was home alone and sleeping.

In the documentary, Linette and Gina both admit that Gina’s son Higgs could’ve had a motive to murder Byron and shouldn’t be completely ruled out as a suspect. Gina says of her son: “I know he did it or had something to do with it.” Gina also describes him as “extremely intelligent, violent and manipulating.”Linette is more skeptical that her stepson Higgs is guilty of murdering Byron, and she says she doesn’t think he’s capable of murder.

What Linette and Gina both agree on is that they think Wright and Giebler had more of a motive to kill Byron—the motive likely being greed for Byron’s valuable collection of coins and gold, and to prevent Byron from reporting the collection as stolen. In the last few weeks of his life, Byron had been putting pressure on Wright and Giebler to return the entire collection to Byron, who might have reported the collection as stolen if he didn’t get all of it back. A police investigation into a reported theft might have uncovered more than what Wright and Giebler wanted the police to know.

Tomlin came under suspicion because he was the last person to have admitted seeing Byron alive. Tomlin says he visited Byron and left Byron’s house sometime between 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. on the day of the murder. Tomlin was one of the non-family members who spent enough time with Byron at the home to know Byron’s routines. Tomlin’s alibi could not be verified. Byron had stopped hiring Tomlin, which could have been a motive for Tomlin to kill Byron because Tomlin (who did not have steady employment) needed money for his drug addiction.

However, nothing was stolen from the house on the day of the murder. Tomlin took a lie detector test that showed deception. It should be noted that lie detector results are not admissable in most court cases. A variety of factors can skew the results of the tests, such as if the person taking the test is under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Laura Anderson Wright, a former parishioner of Wright’s church, married Wright in 2013. In the documentary, she vigorously defends Wright and echoes his declarations of being not guilty of murdering Byron. Anderson Wright doesn’t really point fingers at anyone whom she thinks committed the murder, but she says that Wright has been unfairly been put under suspicion. She also says that Wright had nothing to do with the death of another suspect in the case.

Other people interviewed in the documentary are Carol Coates, former captain of the Otero County Sheriff’s Department in Colorado; Angela Disanti, a former employee of Charles Anthony Funeral Home; Bo Fowler, coroner of Otero County; James Bullock, district attorney of Otero County; Shane Prickett, retired Florence police officer; Harry Tomlin, Tommy Tomlin’s brother who was a friend of Byron Griffy; Georgia Enslow, a friend of Byron Griffy; Florence resident Larry Nelson; Brian Allen, former manager of Holt Funeral Home in Cañon City, Colorado; and Troy Zook, a criminal investigator for defense teams, who worked with the defense team for the trial that happened in this case.

“The Rocky Mountain Mortician Murder” is an example of the harsh reality that crime cases are not what they originally seem to be. It’s a documentary that will be unsettling to people who expect a murder victim to be fit the typical definition of a “good person,” or expect murder trials to have a certain outcome. However, what comes through loud and clear in the documentary is that no matter what misdeeds Byron Griffy did in his life, he didn’t deserve to be murdered. Technically, this murder case is closed, but it’s questionable if the whole truth will ever be revealed and if justice was served.

Investigation Discovery premiered “The Rocky Mountain Mortician Murder” on November 26, 2025.