Head in bucket murder of Gregory May on Six Degrees of Murder

This week Six Degrees of Murder examines the grisly murder of tattoo artist and antiques dealer Gregory May.

January 2001 and 56-year-old May had recently moved to Bellevue,Iowa, and was living with his friend Douglas DeBruin and DeBruin’s girlfriend Julie Miller.

May went missing and some of his prized antiques began to show up in sales and being gifted to museums, something his friends new he would never do with his beloved Civil War collectibles.

The police investigation eventually led to the arrest of May’s friend DeBruin. He claimed that his girlfriend Miller had killed May and that he had then helped to dismember his body. He said they then used a chainsaw and dumped the pieces in the MIss River, with his head being left in a bucket of concrete at a truck stop. The head was found a few months after May’s disappearance but the coroner was unable to identify whom it belonged to.

DeBruin was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole. He and Miller were also found guilty of theft charges, though she was not charged over the murder.

Six Degrees of Murder airs Tuesdays at 9:00 PM on Investigation Discovery.