Relatives say the man accused of killing Gravitt had shared a barbecue with her family only one night before the shooting.
MOBERLY, Mo. — The story Cheryl Gravitt’s family tells about her begins less with the driveway where she was fatally shot than with the people she welcomed, fed and treated like relatives, including the man now accused of killing her.
Gravitt, 57, was remembered at an Aug. 29 celebration of life at Rothwell Park, where relatives and community members gathered less than a week after her death. Her nephew, Jacob Gravitt, said the turnout reflected how many lives his aunt had touched. Family accounts described her as someone who extended affection beyond blood relatives and opened her home to friends. That portrait has become inseparable from a detail relatives continue to struggle with: Christopher Viley, 51, the man charged with her murder, was not described as a stranger. He was a family friend whose children had spent time at Gravitt’s house and who, relatives said, had been there for a barbecue the night before she died.
Nearly two months later, the criminal case has reached a new stage. On Oct. 15, Judge Garreth Cooksey found enough probable cause after a preliminary hearing to send the case to circuit court. Viley is charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action. Six witnesses testified at the hearing, including police officers, detectives, a woman identified as Viley’s girlfriend at the time of the shooting and a child advocacy center representative. Viley remains in the Randolph County Jail without bond. His next arraignment is scheduled for 9 a.m. Oct. 28. The court’s ruling allowed the prosecution to continue but did not determine whether Viley is guilty.
The closeness described by Gravitt’s relatives makes the unresolved question of motive unusually prominent. Family members told local reporters that Viley brought his minor children to Gravitt’s home for a barbecue on Aug. 22. Gravitt’s girlfriend said the gathering appeared normal. She said Viley later returned and joined others who were playing dice and spending time together. Relatives also said Viley’s children had watched cartoons at Gravitt’s home on other occasions. One family member described Gravitt as a maternal figure to him. Nothing in the verified public reporting reviewed for this story identifies a confrontation at the barbecue or establishes a reason for the shooting that occurred the following evening.
On Aug. 23, Gravitt was doing one of the most routine things a person can do at home. Her family said she was taking out the trash when she was shot in the driveway. Police received a call at about 7:10 p.m. reporting a gunshot and a woman lying on the ground in the 500 block of Morehead Street. Officers found Gravitt with an apparent gunshot wound to the back of her head. She was transported for medical care and later pronounced dead. The Randolph County coroner treated the death as a homicide, and Moberly police began interviewing witnesses and gathering evidence from the neighborhood.
What happened in the seconds surrounding the shooting has been reconstructed largely through witness accounts and surveillance footage described by investigators. One witness told authorities that after hearing the gunshot, the witness saw Gravitt falling and a person identified as Viley running away. A second witness reported seeing a Black man wearing a blue shirt in the driveway where Gravitt was found. Investigators said video surveillance showed Viley in the area soon after the shooting. Evidence discussed at the October preliminary hearing went further, with testimony that video showed him walking toward the scene before the sound believed to be the gunshot and leaving afterward.
A child’s account also became part of the evidence considered by the judge. Brenda Porter, a representative of a child advocacy center, testified that she interviewed a child who investigators say witnessed events at the scene. According to testimony reported by ABC 17 News, the child described hearing a firecracker-like sound and seeing Gravitt fall. Investigators have said Viley was wearing clothing consistent with the description the child gave. A detective also testified that when police interviewed Viley, he said he had not been in the area when the shooting occurred. Those allegations are expected to be tested through the court process, where the defense will have an opportunity to challenge the state’s evidence.
Police did not arrest Viley immediately. Four days after Gravitt’s death, law enforcement officers went to a residence in the 1000 block of Sinnock Avenue. Agencies involved in the operation included local police and regional and federal law enforcement partners. Authorities described a brief standoff before Viley came out and was arrested without further incident. Prosecutors then filed the first-degree murder and armed criminal action charges, and he was ordered held without bond. The publicly reported evidence has not identified a weapon recovery or disclosed a forensic finding that independently establishes who fired the shot.
The days between the killing and the arrest carried a different meaning for Gravitt’s relatives. They were grieving while investigators pursued a person the family had known. When Viley was taken into custody, Gravitt’s nephew told local reporters the family felt a mix of sadness and relief that an arrest had been made. Two days later, they gathered at Rothwell Park. Instead of centering the event on the accused man, relatives spoke about Gravitt herself. Her nephew recalled the number of people who had been part of her life, while other family members described a woman who helped people and welcomed them into her home.
That emphasis has continued even as the legal case has grown more formal. Gravitt’s friends and family attended Viley’s preliminary hearing in October wearing shirts in her memory. They told ABC 17 News that they were grateful the prosecution was moving forward but remained in mourning. Their presence also underscored the long timeline of a murder case. A preliminary hearing answers only whether enough evidence exists for the prosecution to continue. An arraignment, later motions and other proceedings can follow before any trial, and the state would bear the burden of proving its accusations beyond a reasonable doubt.
Public court reporting has also noted Viley’s prior record, including convictions for assault and resisting or interfering with an arrest, along with a separate fourth-degree domestic assault allegation from February. Those cases form part of his documented history but do not prove the murder charge. The allegations involving Gravitt must be decided on the evidence connected to her death. Prosecutors have not publicly supplied a confirmed motive, and no verified source reviewed for this report establishes that the previous matters were connected to what occurred at Gravitt’s home.
The contrast between the gathering on Aug. 22 and the violence on Aug. 23 remains one of the case’s central facts. According to Gravitt’s relatives, Viley and his children were welcomed into her home one evening. By the next evening, police allege, Gravitt was dead and Viley was the man seen leaving the area. That sequence may help explain why family members have repeatedly focused on confusion as much as anger. The court record now contains accusations about who committed the shooting, but it has not publicly answered why.
Currently, Viley is scheduled to return to court Oct. 28 for arraignment and remains jailed without bond. For Gravitt’s family, that proceeding will mark another step in a case that began with a sudden death but now runs alongside their effort to preserve a different picture of her: a woman whose home, by their account, had been open even to the person accused of taking her life.
Author note: Last updated October 19, 2026.