The Wife Before

As I stepped into the apartment and saw the lights were off, I was glad Shelia wasn’t home. I flipped the kitchen light switch on, tossed my bag on the countertop, and went to my room to change into a pair of sweatpants. I eyed my laptop on my desk, sighing. I was devastated, and curious to know the truth.

I went back out to the living room and curled up on the suede sofa with the laptop, wasting no time searching for the exact words Kell told me to use.

Roland Graham wife murder.

My heart pounded harder with each click of the keyboard and for a moment, I hesitated, a finger hovering over the enter button. Doing this was going to change everything between me and Roland. It’d only been three weeks, but we’d already done so much together. We had sex, and that really changed things between us. What if I had slept with a murderer?

I groaned, feeling the knot tighten in my belly, and without giving it another thought, I hit enter.

There were so many results it made me dizzy. Several articles had catchy headlines, but there was only one that made me quick to click.

Did Roland Graham REALLY kill his wife? By Henry Caldwell

Not too long ago, the world loved Roland Graham. He was America’s best man, the professional golfer with a graceful swing and beautiful poise. But overnight, he has become the most hated man in America.

On February 10th, 2018, the Sageburg Police Department reported that an unidentified woman had driven herself over a cliff and into a lake. The woman was Melanie Graham, the wife of professional golfer Roland Graham. This was initially reported as an accident, but as more of the story unfolded, sources revealed that Melanie’s body had been found bruised with cuts along her wrists. The toxicology report later revealed there was also heroin in her bloodstream.

Suddenly, it was no longer ruled an accident. It’d become a homicide case, which sparked an investigation and the number-one suspect was her husband, Roland Graham.

Graham’s attorney told reporters that Roland Graham was on a solo golfing trip the night Melanie died, at the Vista Golf Club in Colorado; however, staff members of the on-site hotel reported not seeing Roland Graham the night of February 9th. One of the staff members said his room was still booked for two more nights, but that his Do Not Disturb sign was hanging on the door the duration of his trip. Graham also denied turndown services, which made police question why he didn’t want anyone in the room.

Footage shows Roland Graham exiting the room on February 9th to visit the ice machine. Footage also shows him leaving the hotel at 6:13 PM and returning at 6:47 PM with a bottle in a brown paper bag, which was reported to be a bottle of bourbon that he’d picked up from the nearest liquor store.

Melanie Graham’s time of death was approximately 11:00 PM, and on the night of her death, there were no more reports of Roland Graham leaving his room after his trip to the liquor store, but there is footage showing Roland Graham leaving the room the next morning at 7:02 AM to go to the golf course.

So did Roland Graham really kill his wife? There is no footage showing that he left his room after buying the reported bourbon, and given that he was only gone for thirty-four minutes, how could he have possibly gotten back to Sageburg, Colorado—a fifty-five minute drive away—to beat his wife, put her behind the wheel of a car, and cause her to drive over a cliff that is six minutes away from his home? There was simply not enough time for him to accomplish that, which is most likely why he was never arrested or charged in her death.

The bruises on Melanie Graham’s body could have come from anything or anyone. With drugs in her system, her husband out of town, and family members of Roland Graham as well as locals reporting that the Grahams’ marriage had been on shaky ground for months, she could have been with anyone that night, so why, after all of this conflicting evidence is the world targeting Roland Graham and accusing him of her death?

Is there more the police haven’t told us? Is it because the world can’t accept that perhaps Melanie did kill herself? Or is it because, in cases like this where a young wife dies tragically after being found with bruises and cuts on her body, it is always suspected that the husband either did it or is behind it?

We may never know, but the case remains open and the whole world has their eyes on Roland Graham.

I drew in a shaky breath, clicking back and scrolling through the next article. This article had two images of Roland and Melanie on a yacht. In the first one, her arms were laced around his neck, her head thrown back mid-laughter. She was pretty with straight black hair, golden brown skin, and a wide white smile. In the second images, I could see her eyes were the shape of almonds, and she wore a short royal-blue dress with strappy white heels. Roland’s hand was locked around her waist as he gazed at her lovingly, a subtle smile gracing his lips. His eyes weren’t sad then. He looked genuinely happy with her.