50 years later, Kelsey Grammer reflects on sister’s murder in Colorado Springs

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - Most people know Kelsey Grammer as a beloved actor - the voice behind Frasier Crane, the sharp-witted radio psychiatrist from “Cheers” and “Frasier.” Far fewer know about his deep and painful connection to Colorado Springs, where, 50 years ago, his younger sister Karen was brutally murdered.

On July 1, 1975, Karen Grammer was abducted at a Red Lobster on South Academy Boulevard when she was 18 years old. The restaurant is long gone, now replaced by a pawn shop. But for Grammer, that night changed everything.

"She was an Oreo cookie dipped in an ice-cold Coca-Cola," he said in a recent interview with Diane Sawyer. "She was a poem. A light. Fun, innocent, and wise."

Grammar says the men who kidnapped his sister had just carried out a robbery. Where he says they then forced Karen into a car, blindfolded her, and ignored her desperate pleas for help.

"She kept saying, ‘Please don’t let them kill me," he said.

Instead, police say she was taken to mobile home park, raped, and stabbed more than 40 times with a buck knife. Her body was then dumped behind a trailer park.

For decades, Grammer would appear at every parole hearing for the men convicted in her killing, making sure they stayed behind bars. One of them, Freddie Glenn, remains in prison serving a life sentence.

In May, Kelsey Grammer opened up publicly about the toll his sister’s death has taken and why he’s now trying to remember her for who she was, not just how she died.

"I spent a long time on her death and very little on her life. And that’s what I hope people will take."

That shift in focus is the heart of his new memoir, Karen: A Brother Remembers, published in May. The book reflects on his rise to fame, the pain of personal loss, and the enduring love for the sister he calls “a light” in his life.

The memoir is now widely available in stores and online.

Stay up to date with the latest local news, sports, and investigations by downloading the KRDO13 app. Click here to download it from the Apple App Store. Android users can download it from Google Play here.