Who Is Charles Giebler? All About His Connection to Griffy Murder Revealed in The Rocky Mountain Mortician Murder

The 2012 killing of veteran mortician Byron Griffy rattled southern Colorado and peeled back unexpected layers of loyalty, secrecy, and financial entanglement. The crime — later examined in Investigation Discovery’s three-part series The Rocky Mountain Mortician Murder — forced a close-knit community to confront unsettling truths about the people they once viewed as its most trusted figures.

At the center of the controversy was Charles Giebler, a well-known Florence businessman, former mayor, and ordained bishop whose public stature stood in sharp contrast to the allegations that surfaced after Griffy’s death.

Who Was Charles Giebler?

Charles Giebler, born around 1961, became a prominent fixture in Florence after arriving in 1992 with Anthony Wright, whom he introduced as a half-brother. Together, the pair established a diverse business network that included the Charles-Anthony Funeral Home, Mainstreet Grille and Bakery, and Smashing Good Guitars.

Giebler also served as Florence’s mayor and presided as a bishop at St. Jude the Apostle Parish, where Wright functioned as a deacon. Their reach stretched across civic life, hospitality, and religious leadership, and they were widely regarded as stabilizing community figures near the federal Supermax prison.

His eventual link to the Griffy homicide grew from both his professional collaborations with the victim and more private financial arrangements.

Griffy’s Trust in Giebler & Wright

Before his death, 76-year-old mortician Byron Griffy — trained at the Dallas Institute of Mortuary Science in 1958 and operator of the Griffy Family Funeral Home in Fowler — had placed valuable items with Giebler and Wright. These included coins, antiques, and cash valued in the tens of thousands, which he distributed in concealed locations after home break-ins and concerns tied to his 2012 sexual-assault conviction.

On October 12, 2012, the day Griffy was killed, the two men were scheduled to deliver an urn to his farmhouse. Phone logs and witness accounts later positioned them at the property near the estimated time of the shooting.

The Murder of Byron Griffy

That evening, Griffy’s daughter Linette and her wife, Gina, discovered his body in an empty bedroom of the isolated farmhouse. He had been shot once in the back of the head from close range. There were no defensive wounds or blood spatter, suggesting he was attacked without warning by someone he trusted. His hands had been placed across his chest in a manner resembling a burial pose — an arrangement investigators deemed highly unusual.

Cash still present on the property weakened the theory of a random robbery, and the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office noted the absence of forced entry. Griffy had planned to meet Giebler and Wright for a birthday lunch earlier that day, underscoring the closeness of their relationship.

Investigative Breakthroughs & Hidden Relationships

Detectives quickly concentrated on Giebler and Wright due to their access, their previously stored possession of Griffy’s valuables, and the unanswered calls they had placed to him that day.

A search of the Charles-Anthony Funeral Home yielded only part of Griffy’s coin collection; other items, including a safe allegedly containing $50,000, remained unaccounted for. Financial documents also showed Griffy had invested in Giebler and Wright’s ventures, creating a complicated monetary link at a time when Griffy felt vulnerable to lawsuits.

During the probe, investigators uncovered that Giebler and Wright were in a long-concealed romantic relationship, contradicting their public claim of kinship. The revelation deeply unsettled residents such as Georgia Enslow, who described a strong sense of betrayal within the community.

Giebler died suddenly of cardiomyopathy in January 2013 at age 52 — before charges could be filed — but had reportedly told a Griffy family member that he expected to be arrested.

Legal Outcomes & Community Aftershocks

Anthony Wright faced trial in 2015, charged alongside the deceased Giebler with first-degree murder. The jury could not reach a verdict, leading to Wright’s 2017 plea agreement for being an accessory. He received ten years’ probation and avoided imprisonment. Critics viewed the outcome as lenient in a region where personal connections run deep.

With Giebler’s death leaving major questions unresolved, the community was forced to reconcile his once-admired leadership with the allegations that emerged after Griffy’s murder. The Rocky Mountain Mortician Murder, which premiered on Investigation Discovery on November 26, 2025, revisits these unresolved tensions through interviews with Griffy’s daughters, locals, and investigators, highlighting the family’s lingering grief, the missing valuables, and the lingering ambiguity surrounding Giebler’s exact role in the crime.

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