Marshfield Man Sentenced to Prison for Attempted Decapitation

Tuesday, December 16th, 2025 -- 2:01 PM

(Jamie Rokus and Karen Madden, Marshfield News-Herald) A 60-year-old Marshfield man was sentenced Dec. 15 in Wood County Circuit Court to 35 years in prison for the May 2025 death and attempted decapitation of a 61-year-old woman whom he had dated off and on.

According to Jamie Rokus and Karen Madden with the Marshfield News-Herald, Cyril J. Granahan pleaded no contest Oct. 9 to and was found guilty of first-degree reckless homicide in the woman's death.

Wood County Circuit Judge Timothy Gebert sentenced Granahan to 25 years of initial confinement and 10 years of extended supervision, plus $7,004 in restitution to pay for the victim's funeral expenses.

Granahan was given credit for 204 days already served. According to the criminal complaint, on April 24, Granahan was in the apartment of a 61-year-old woman, who he had dated off and on.

The woman said Granahan, who lived in an apartment below her, had stayed until about 1 a.m. April 25, according to the complaint. The woman said Granahan came back about 4:15 a.m. April 25 and asked about his cigarette case.

The woman said she didn't know where it was and Granahan entered the apartment and pushed the woman to the floor, according to the complaint. The woman told police Granahan stomped on her several times.

Granahan went to the kitchen and got a knife, according to the complaint. The woman first told officers she thought it was a serrated knife, but during a second interview a few days later, she told them she thought it was a 6-inch chef's knife.

The woman said Granahan told her he was going to cut off her head and began a sawing motion with the knife on the back of her neck, according to the complaint. The woman said she reached behind her to grab the knife and stop him but he cut her on the thumb, according to the complaint.

During the first interview, which took place the evening of April 25 at a hospital, the woman said she thought Granahan's sawing motion with the knife lasted no more than 10 minutes, according to the complaint.

Officials saw a large cut on the woman's neck, a cut on her hand by her thumb that looked like a defensive wound and a lot of bruises on the woman's face and chest. On April 29, one of the woman's daughters notified police that doctors were performing emergency surgery on the woman.

The daughter said the woman's health had declined quickly and they found bleeding on the left side of her brain, according to police. The woman died May 8, according to the complaint.

An autopsy determined the preliminary cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, according to the complaint.

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