A Kemmerer man faces up to 260 years in prison, accused of driving 16 hours to kidnap and rape a 12-year-old girl in Oklahoma whom he met on the Snapchat app.
Christopher Steven Gravenmeier was charged in Lincoln County District Court on Wednesday with four counts of first-degree sexual abuse of a minor, two counts of second-degree sexual abuse of a minor, and kidnapping.
The girl told investigators that she met Gravenmeier through Snapchat several months prior, and that they got to know each other by sending messages back and forth, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed in his case.
Eventually, she said, they would send each other pictures and videos on a daily basis, the document continues. She said Gravenmier would send her nude photos and videos of himself masturbating.
The girl said she would talk about her home life and that he would tell her he was planning to come get her and that it would be good for both of them.
But the girl said she was surprised when Gravenmeier showed up unnannounced at her home in Ponca City, Oklahoma.
Taken From Home
It was April 22 when the girl, who had been reported missing days earlier, placed a call to her grandmother to report that she had been abducted and woke up in Wyoming, the affidavit says.
She told officers she had borrowed the cellphone from a Kemmerer man who was standing nearby at a gas station. He also went with that story.
Troopers seized the cellphone and, later that day, took Gravenmier into custody for questioning, the affidavit says.
Once safe, the girl told investigators that Gravenmier, who was born in 1994, was her captor, not just someone who let her use his phone.
One night, she said, he messaged her that he knew where she lived and that he was at her home to pick her up.
She told investigators she didn’t want to tell him no because she was scared of what he might do to her or her family, especially since he had driven nearly 16 hours to get there.
He reportedly drove to her apartment, then she packed some clothes and snuck out the window and left with him, the affidavit says.
She said during the drive back to Wyoming, he made her log out of all the apps on her phone so no one could track them and then he put the phone in a bag and left it somewhere.
Despite expressing some concerns about being arrested for kidnapping a minor, she said Gravenmier stopped at hotels between Oklahoma and Wyoming where she was forced into sexual acts.
When they arrived at Gravenmier's parents’ home, his mother greeted her and asked what her favorite animal was. Then the mother reportedly printed a 3D turtle for the girl, the affidavit says.
Gravenmier then reportedly took the girl into the basement where she was sexually assaulted as many as 10 times. Per the affidavit. Investigators later recovered from his home bedding, towels, clothes, and tissues with blood and other related items.
During sexual acts, Gravenmier reportedly choked and slapped the victim to the point where “she could not breathe,” she told investigators, according to the affidavit.
The girl also said Gravenmier told her that “if she turned him in, he would kill her and make it worth going to prison,” the affidavit says.
He reportedly threatened her with a knife that matches the description of a knife recovered in the suspect’s vehicle during the investigation.
How It Ended
The girl said that after she was kidnapped, she saw Gravenmier looking at her missing person notice online, the affidavi says.
He became visibly worried he was going to get into trouble, and that’s when he drove her to the gas station two hours from Kemmerer and told her she would use his phone to call her grandmother and say that she had woken up in a strange house, ran to a gas station, and asked Gravenmier to borrow his phone.
Investigators talked to Gravenmier’s parents, who admitted their son had brought a girl home for about 36 hours. They said their son had verified her age with an ID, but they thought it might be fake.
When investigators showed the mother a photo of the victim, she said she couldn’t tell if it was the same girl, and that “they only saw her briefly and that when they did see her, she covered her head and face with a hoodie,” the affidavit says.
His parents also said that at “some point” in the night or early morning that their son panicked and “stated he had to get the girl out of the home,” the document adds.
When Gravenmier was taken to the police station for further questioning on April 22, he admitted to driving to Oklahoma and picking up the girl several days prior.
Agents observed that he became “very emotional” while talking to them, and the affidavit says he seemed “very nervous, grabbing at his shirt, wiping his face, and his mouth became super dry.”
He asked for an attorney, and the interview was stopped.
Agents asked him to remain in the room while they continued to work on search warrants for his home and vehicle.
They got him some soda and water.
“He was crying” and “slumped over in his chair,” the affidavit says. He said “he was really sorry for what happened,” but nothing more about what he meant by that.
If convicted on all charges, he could be sentenced to 260 years in prison.
He is next scheduled to appear in Lincoln County District Court for a May 11 arraignment, where he is expected to make a plea.
Kolby Fedore can be reached at kolby@cowboystatedaily.com.
