Owner of Florida’s Knaus Berry Farm dies weeks after son accused of attack
The co-owner of a south Florida farmstand famous for its cinnamon rolls has died after her son allegedly beat her with a flashlight last month.
Rachel Knaus Grafe, 66, the co-proprietor of Knaus Berry Farm, died at about 1.45pm on Sunday, according to an announcement on Instagram from her business. Her son Travis Grafe, 40, has been in jail since after the 17 February attack, according to authorities.
Police have alleged that Grafe hit his mother and father, Herbert Grafe, with a flashlight in their home in Homestead, before riding over to a neighbor’s home on a golf cart and saying: “I just killed my mother.”
Paramedics later flew Knaus Grafe to a hospital in critical condition with wounds to her head and chest while her son was detained, the local news station WSVN reported. Grafe told investigators he attacked his parents because he did not want his mother to be his legal guardian any longer, and he allegedly demanded money from his father during the attack, the local news station WTVJ reported, citing information from police.
Multiple media reports noted that Grafe’s past includes a traumatic brain injury that resulted from a crash on an all-terrain vehicle – colloquially known as a four-wheeler – about 20 years earlier.
That injury not only played a role in his being declared mentally incompetent to stand trial in a 2013 court case that saw him charged with assault, burglary and illegal possession of a firebomb. It also apparently set the stage for Knaus Grafe to secure guardianship of him, despite his adult age.
Police initially booked Grafe with counts of attempted premeditated murder, aggravated battery and attempted strong-arm robbery after his parents’ beating. After his mother’s death, officers are likely to amend one of those counts to premeditated murder, which in Florida can call for the death penalty.
Knaus Berry Farm, which typically operates from October to mid-April, has been open since 1959 and was owned by its namesake family for generations as it emerged as a regional landmark.
Knaus Grafe and her sister, Susan, inherited control of their family
farmstand after the 2015 death of their father, Ray Knaus.
Among those to react to Knaus Grafe’s killing was the mayor of nearby Miami-Dade county, Daniella Levine Cava.
“Rachel Knaus Grafe … was a woman of strength and grace who embodied the values of hard work, family and community,” Levine Cava wrote on Twitter.
Knaus Berry Farm on Sunday said its staff planned to operate normally for the most part during the upcoming week as it prepared to bury its late coowner.
“You are family,” Knaus Berry Farm’s statement to the public Sunday on Instagram said. “You have been a great support and inspiration.”