The message was sent hours before Ethan Grasse shot his father and now anchors a self-defense claim headed to trial.
EVANSTON, Wyo. — Hours before prosecutors say Ethan Grasse killed his father inside their Evanston home, the 23-year-old sent a message to his grandmother saying he would defend himself if someone broke into his bedroom.
That text has become one of the most important pieces of the case because it ties together fear, family relationships and timing in a single line of evidence. Prosecutors say Ethan Grasse committed second-degree murder when he shot Michael Grasse, 49, with a .22-caliber pistol in the early hours of Nov. 22, 2025. The defense says the shooting came after a day of drinking, threats and violence that left Ethan locked in his room, afraid his father was coming through the door.
The message, sent at 10:44 p.m. on Nov. 21, said Ethan could hear threats through the wall and would defend himself if his father tried to break into the room. It ended with “love you yaya,” a sign-off that has drawn attention because of how personal it was and how close it came to the shooting that followed. By the time Ethan wrote it, court filings described in local reporting say he had already spent the day trying to keep Michael from driving drunk, had fought with him outside, had tried to leave the house for the night, and had returned with a locking doorknob from Walmart after failing to find another place to stay. The text did not settle the case, but it fixed Ethan’s stated fear in writing before shots were fired.
The family conflict described in the filings began earlier that day when Michael Grasse, who the defense says had been drinking heavily, wanted to go out for food. Ethan drove him to a restaurant and then parked behind his father’s car when they got home, trying to stop him from driving again while intoxicated. The defense says Michael started moving trash cans so he could drive around the blockage, and that the dispute turned physical after Ethan threatened to call police. Michael’s mother, who was also Ethan’s grandmother, broke up that fight, according to the defense account. Later, Ethan left the home, looked for another place to stay, then came back, took Michael’s keys and phone and poured out whiskey while his father was unconscious on the couch.
By late evening, the filings say, Michael Grasse had woken up and resumed threatening behavior. He went to Ethan’s room, demanded the return of his belongings and threatened to break down the door. Ethan said the keys would be returned when his father was sober. The defense says Michael then went back to his own room, where he worked out with weights while continuing to threaten his son. The later gunfire came around 3:30 or 4 a.m., when Ethan reported hearing someone break through the bedroom door. Without his glasses, he has said, he saw only the outline of a figure entering. He fired three shots, heard a moan, then put on his glasses and called 911. Michael Grasse died at a hospital at 4:22 a.m., according to the police affidavit summarized in local reports.
That sequence has left both sides room to argue sharply different meanings into the same family record. To the defense, the text to the grandmother supports Ethan’s claim that he expected violence and feared serious injury before the door gave way. To prosecutors, the issue is not only what Ethan feared, but whether the shooting itself was reasonable and lawful. The state has kept the second-degree murder charge in place, and Judge James Kaste has rejected a request to dismiss the case early on self-defense grounds. Still, he said Ethan may present that defense at trial, ensuring the grandmother’s text will likely be revisited in opening statements, testimony and closing arguments.
The case has become notable not because of a public spectacle, but because its most vivid details are domestic and ordinary: a driveway blocked to stop a drunk trip, whiskey poured down a drain, a new bedroom lock from Walmart, and a private message sent into the night from inside a closed room. Ethan Grasse remains jailed in Uinta County, and jurors are scheduled to begin hearing the case May 12, when the text message that framed one family’s final night will face its hardest test.
Author note: Last updated April 13, 2026.