DA: Woman convicted of killing husband in Tulare County suitable for parole

TULARE COUNTY, Calif. ( KSEE/KGPE ) – A woman who was convicted of killing her husband in Tulare County and dumping his body near Kettleman City was found suitable for parole after serving over three decades in prison, according to the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office.

The DA says on July 3, over the objection of prosecutors, California parole commissioners found June Gravlee, 70, suitable for parole after she was convicted in 1990 for first-degree murder with the special circumstance of murder for financial gain.

Gravlee and her husband Andrew Gravlee were married in October 1986. At the time of the marriage, Andrew was 35 years her senior.

On July 17, 1987, at their home in Tulare, the DA says Gravlee and her brother Gary Smith stabbed and beat Andrew, killing him.

According to court documents, the pair wrapped his body in a tarp and drove him in his pickup to a ravine in the hills near Kettleman City, where they buried him.

In late 1987, Andrew’s family became suspicious that they had not heard from him. Tulare Police Department officers began an official investigation in 1988 and questioned Gravlee, who eventually told officers that it was her brother who killed her husband.

For the next few months, Gravlee collected her husband’s pension and social security checks and even applied for additional benefits. Gravlee explained her husband’s absence by telling people he had left town suddenly.

On June 14, 1989, Andrew’s body was discovered with stab wounds to the back and chest, and severe blunt force trauma to his head determined to be caused by strikes with a ball-peen hammer. Smith pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree murder and was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

In the penalty phase of the trial, the Tulare County jury recommended a death sentence. However, the trial judge at the time modified the verdict to a penalty of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Her sentence was again modified in 2018 when former Governor Brown commuted her sentence to life, the reduction of which made her eligible for parole.

Smith was granted parole in 2013 after serving 24 years.

In March of 2023 at Gravlee’s third parole hearing, she admitted for the first time that she did indeed stab her husband despite denying so previously.

At her most recent hearing, prosecutors say Gravlee denied her personal involvement and asserted her prior admission was simply made to look favorable to parole commissioners.

“June Gravlee is a master manipulator. Either she lied about her involvement in the murder at her last hearing, or she lied to these commissioners. Either way, it is disgusting that her manipulation has been rewarded. The jury saw through her scheme; it’s unfortunate that parole commissioners did not,” said District Attorney Tim Ward.

Commissioners cited her age and prison programming as factors favoring release.

The DA says Gravlee’s parole suitability will now be reviewed by the Governor’s office. Gravlee is currently incarcerated at the California Institution for Women in Corona.

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