A man previously convicted of sexual assault who killed a Connecticut visiting nurse at a halfway house pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced Friday to 50 years in prison in a case that reignited calls for better protections for home health care workers across the country.
Michael Reese, 40, admitted that he killed Joyce Grayson on Oct. 28, 2023, at the home in Willimantic where he was living under electronic monitoring while on probation for stabbing and sexually assaulting another woman in 2006. The prison sentence, which mandates no early release or parole, was part of a plea deal.
Grayson, a 63-year-old mother of six and a nurse for 36 years, had gone to the house to administer medication to Reese.
Reese, who wore a tan prison suit and a black face mask, did not speak during the hearing at Danielson Superior Court. His lawyers spoke on his behalf, saying he apologizes to Grayson’s family and is ashamed of what he did.
Grayson’s relatives gave victim impact statements in court, saying the loss of such a beloved family member was devastating and her community lost a person dedicated to helping others.
A lawyer for Grayson’s family, Kelly Reardon, said in a statement that no matter how long Reese’s prison sentence is, they wouldn’t be able to truly heal.
“And they hope that Joyce’s death will continue for years to come to inspire others, including the State of Connecticut, to pass legislation and make significant changes in the way violent offenders are monitored when they are released into our communities and home health nurses are protected from dangerous patients,” Reardon said.
Police responded to the halfway house when Grayson’s daughter reported that her mother had missed several appointments later that morning and she could not reach her. She said a phone location app showed her mother was at Reese’s address, according to an arrest warrant.
Officers arrested Reese as he exited the rear of the house. Inside, they found Grayson dead in the basement and naked from the waste down except for her socks. The medical examiner’s office said she died of compression of the neck and had blunt force injuries. Authorities said there was no DNA evidence of her being sexually assaulted.
In phone calls Reese made in prison that were recorded, he appeared to refer to the murder when he said “it was a robbery gone wrong” and blamed his drug use, according to the arrest warrant.
Reese was charged with murder, felony murder and attempted first-degree sexual assault in April 2024. He had been detained since the day of the killing on drug paraphernalia and larceny charges, with police saying he had a crack cocaine pipe and some of Grayson’s belongings on him when he was arrested.
Her death spurred Connecticut legislators last year to approve a new law aimed at improving safety for home health care workers, including providing grants to employers to fund emergency alert buttons, buddy escort systems, tracking devices and safety training.
It also drew comments and social media posts from industry and worker groups across the country, expressing shock and sadness and calling for greater protections for health care workers from increasing violence.
In a national survey of nearly 1,000 nurses released last year by the National Nurses United, the largest union of registered nurses in the U.S., more than 80% responded that they had experienced at least one type of workplace violence in 2023. Nearly half of them reported an increase in workplace violence over the previous year.
Grayson’s husband, Ronald Grayson, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against her employer, Elara Caring, its affiliated companies and others. The lawsuit alleges Elara Caring repeatedly ignored workers’ safety concerns about treating dangerous patients, which the company denies. The suit is pending.
In May of last year, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued a proposed $161,000 fine against Elara Caring, saying the company “exposed home healthcare employees to workplace violence from patients who exhibited aggressive behavior and were known to pose a risk to others.”
Dallas, Texas-based Elara Caring, which provides home care for more than 60,000 patients in 18 states, said it disputed OSHA’s findings and planned to contest them. What happened with the fine was not immediately clear Friday. An OSHA spokesperson said she was looking into it. A spokesperson for Elara Caring did not immediately return an email.
Grayson’s family is also seeking permission to sue the state Judicial Branch, which oversees probation, and the Department of Correction for $25 million in connection with their oversight of Reese. State officials have declined to comment.
