ST. LOUIS -- The following is a release from the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri:

Elain Kay Young and Katherine A. Mock were charged with federal conspiracy charges involving the murder of Young’s husband, Acting United States Attorney Michael W. Reap and Adair County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Williams announced today.

According to the indictment, Young and Mock planned and caused the murder of Young’s husband Melvin B. Griesbauer on March 23, 2006, so that Young could collect his insurance policies.

The indictment alleges that Young knew that her husband had a $600,000 basic life insurance policy issued by the Army And Air Force Mutual Aid Association (AAFMA) through his service in the United States Army National Guard.  Young was beneficiary of the policy upon her husband’s death.  She was also the beneficiary under two other policies concerning Mr. Griesbauer. Young had enrolled him in a $37,500 accidental death and dismemberment insurance policy through Monumental Life Insurance Company in connection with her employment at the Milan Schools and her association with the Missouri State Teachers Association.  They had also enrolled in another accidental death and dismemberment insurance policy for $100,000 through Continental Casualty Company, a subsidiary of CNA.

Young allegedly recruited Mock to pursue a scheme to murder Griesbauer.  In March 2006, Mock attempted to recruit a person to commit the murder for $6,000.  The same month, Mock attempted to recruit a different person for $10,000.

On March 22, 2006, Mock traveled from her residence in Cassville, MO,  to Griesbauer and Young’s residence in Novinger, MO.  During the late evening hours of March 22, 2006, or the early morning hours of March 23, 2006, Young drove to Kirksville to pick up Griesbauer at conclusion of his work shift.  The indictment alleges that when they returned home, Mock and Young caused the death of Griesbauer by causing him be shot in the head with a .30-30 Winchester caliber rifle, a firearm previously in the possession of Young and her family.

Both Mock and Young tried to conceal their involvement in the murder by making false statements to other persons.  Additionally, as alleged in the indictment, Young provided Mock with pills containing hydrocodone and acetaminophen.  She told Mock consume the pills in order to receive a short term in a mental hospital and avoid a penitentiary sentence.  Beginning in late March 2006, Young used facilities in interstate commerce, and thereafter the mail, as part of processing the insurance claims.

Finally, the indictment alleges that in April 2009, Young mailed letters to potential witnesses directing them not to disclose her ability to escape from custody and directing them how to communicate regarding her ability to escape and travel to a non-extradition country.

Young, 55, Novinger, MO; and Mock, 55, Cassville, MO, were each indicted on one felony count of conspiracy to commit murder for hire and one felony count of murder for hire.  If convicted, the maximum penalty for each charge is life in prison and fines up to $250,000.

Reap commended the tremendous efforts of the Adair County Prosecutor’s Office in conducting its investigation.

“This was a long term investigation,” said Roland Corvington, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in St. Louis. “The cooperation from the Adair County Sheriff's Office, Barry County Sheriff's Office and the Missouri State Highway Patrol helped bring this case successfully to this point.”

Reap and Williams commended the work on the case by the Adair County Sheriff’s Office, the Barry County Sheriff’s Office, Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Kirksville Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Assistant United States Attorneys Tom Dittmeier and  Michael Reilly, who are handling the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations, and each defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

Read indictment