Two children received some justice following the loss of their mom, Aliccia Grant, after her new husband admitted to brutally and fatally stabbing her to death in a Home Depot parking lot in Arizona in 2024. Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell announced on August 18, 2025, that Stephen Dennis, 36, was sentenced to 18 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder earlier this year.
“This wasn’t just a violent crime — it was an act of betrayal carried out by someone who should have been a source of safety, not fear,” Mitchell stated in a press release. “There is something especially cruel about a murder that takes place within a relationship that’s intended to be built on trust. We will continue to aggressively pursue and hold violent domestic abusers accountable.”
Grant, 37, married her partner in July 2024 and was killed in the early morning of September 9, 2024.
Witnesses heard screams coming from the store’s lot and discovered her sitting in the driver’s seat of a red Prius covered in stab wounds, according to the release. Dennis was still at the scene of his crime before running away as witnesses attempted to provide aid, according to AZ Family.
Officers were not able to find the suspect, but a short time later, prosecutors said, Dennis called 911 and admitted to stabbing her and told them where they could find the murder weapon. Dennis told authorities that the two were arguing about an annulment before he stabbed her.
“As one of the officers continued to apply pressure to the victim’s wounds, the victim made a dying declaration identifying Dennis as her attacker,” Mitchell shared in the release.
Dennis is beginning his sentence at the Arizona Department of Corrections.
Grant was a makeup artist and mother to a 9-year-old and 15-year-old at the time. Her GoFundM account, which was raised to cover funeral costs and support the kids, raised more than $44,000 of its $50K goal.
“Although Aliccia was taken from us far too soon, her endlessly hopeful energy left a permanent mark of inspiration on all of us who knew and loved her,” wrote the fundraiser’s organizer, Huy Nguyen. “She will be remembered as a loving daughter, sister, cousin, and friend, but most of all as a wonderful mom to her two beloved kids.”
