"Not a funeral aria"

Grammer wrote book about murdered sister

Kelsey Grammer calls his book a "funeral aria". His sister was kidnapped, raped and murdered in the 1970s.(Bild: APA/Getty Images via AFP/GETTY IMAGES/Vivien)

His sister was kidnapped and murdered as a teenager in 1975. Half a century later, Kelsey Grammer is now coming to terms with the traumatic event in a new biography. With "Karen: A Brother's Love", the star of the sitcom "Frasier" "celebrates" the life of his beloved sister.

Karen Grammer had worked as a waitress in the Red Lobster restaurant chain in Colorado Springs after high school. In July 1975, serial killer Fred Glenn and two accomplices broke into the restaurant to rob it.

Kidnapped, raped and murdered
They abducted the 18-year-old girl and raped her. Glenn then cut the girl's throat and left her behind.

Karen managed to drag herself to the porch of a neighboring property, where she collapsed and died. Her older brother, who had just started college, had to identify the body.

Kelsey Grammer wrote a book about his murdered sister Karen.(Bild: Harper)

Glenn was caught shortly afterwards and sentenced to life imprisonment for a total of three murders.

"Not a funeral aria"
According to Grammer, his work, which will be published in May 2025, is not a "funeral aria". He told People magazine: "I wanted to share Karen's story with the world and at the same time add aspects of my life. I'm describing our life together and the love we had for each other."

Grammer announces that he is writing down the unsparing truth - "a fearless retelling of the facts, with unvarnished horror". According to the 69-year-old, the words "literally shot out of my head onto the paper" and he "felt great joy" while writing.

The reason: "After almost 50 years, I have discovered that our love will last forever. I finally saw Karen smiling in my mind's eye again!"

Wants to "give comfort" to others affected
Grammer revealed that he had wanted to write the biography about his sister "for a very long time". But it was only now that he felt able to put it into practice. He also wants to help others with the book and hopes "that I can give some comfort to people who have had to go through a similar horror to our family."

Grammer's life is full of family tragedies. Shortly before his sister's violent death, his father Allen was shot dead by a burglar. Years later, his half-brothers Stephen and Billy died in a diving accident on the Virgin Islands.

In an interview with "i News", he once revealed: "The pain is in the past and I try to leave it there. But it can come up again at any time, especially when you're confronted with other tragic deaths. And I've had a few of those."