US fugitive indicted for plotting terror attacks on Muslim sites has troubled family history
An American tourist who is suspected of plotting terrorist attacks on Muslim targets in Israel is the grandson of a man who killed his wife in a well known case.
By BEN HARTMANAdam Everett Livvix(photo credit: Courtesy)
An American tourist who is suspected of plotting terrorist attacks on Muslim targets in Israel is the grandson of a man who killed his wife in a well-known case.Adam Everett Livvix, who was indicted on Tuesday in Netanya on weapons and immigration charges, is the grandson of Illinois farmer Fred Grabbe, who was convicted in 1985 and sentenced to 75 years in prison for murdering his wife, Adam’s grandmother Charlotte, in July 1981.Charlotte’s body was never found, but Grabbe was found guilty due to forensic detective work that was covered in a 2001 episode of the TV show Forensic Files titled “Root of All Evil.”The Grabbes owned a large farm in Clark County, just west of Terre Haute, Indiana, and 300 km. south of Chicago The episode describes how scientists examined a maple tree next to which Charlotte’s body had been burned in a diesel drum, and found that petroleum had sunk deep into the roots. The scientists were able to date the petroleum leak to 1981, the year Charlotte disappeared. Police were tipped off about the tree by a former lover of Fred Grabbe, who turned state’s witness and testified that she saw him strangle his wife, stuff her in the drum and torch her body before throwing the scorched corpse and later the head into the Wabash River, according to an October 1988 Chicago Tribune article.Grabbe was caught in large part because of the efforts of his daughter Jennie and son Jeff, Adam Everett Livvix’s mother and uncle. According to the Tribune, Jennie and her husband, Adam’s father Darrell Livvix, hired a private detective and put up a $25,000 reward for information about Charlotte’s disappearance, which is believed to have led Fred Grabbe’s lover to come forward.Jeff disappeared in 1987 and his body washed up on the shore of Seal Beach, California, with bullet wounds to the head and chest, according to the Tribune. At first the murder was believed to be linked to drugs, thought the 1988 article said that police believed that Fred somehow ordered the torching of his son’s house while he was in jail in 1985 as an act of revenge.Adam Everett Livvix is also the half-brother of Laura George, who is married to Tony George, the former president and CEO of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the founder of the Indy Racing League.The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and Israel Police said on Tuesday that Livvix was arrested on November 19 after acquiring explosives and other weapons as part of a failed bid to bomb Muslim holy sites. No targets were named in the indictment presented against Livvix. Police said he acquired the weapons from a roommate who served in the IDF, and that he spoke openly about his negative feelings toward Arabs and his desire to damage Islamic sites.
