Next court date Aug. 12

Travis McGraw, who is accused of killing his wife Vanessa Mintz, has bonded out of jail.

McGraw, 46, of Hendersonville, had been held in jail since February 2011. He was released from custody in Transylvania County, where he was being housed, to Polk County’s custody on Monday, May 13 then released from custody.

McGraw was charged with first-degree murder after Mintz, who was 53, was found murdered at the Saluda Mountain Lodge, which her family owned at the time on Feb. 19, 2011.

Mintz died of a gunshot wound to the head and McGraw was charged four days later.

His next court date is scheduled for Polk County Superior Court on Aug. 12.

McGraw’s bond was set at $750,000 and over the last two weeks family members have processed deeds of trust in order to make bond, according to the Polk County Clerk of Courts office. Half of the bond was made by deeds of trust and the other half through a bondsman.

McGraw’s release order states that he has to submit a DNA sample and is prohibited from possessing or controlling a firearm or any other deadly weapon. He has also been ordered not to have contact, either directly or indirectly with Mintz’s family or with Mary Beth Fisher, the woman prosecutors said he was romantically involved with prior to the murder.

If McGraw violates the release order, he will be taken back into custody.

McGraw is a former police officer with the Fletcher Police Department and was honorably discharged from the U.S. Air Force. His attorney last year, Tony Dalton, also told the court McGraw was an EMT and firefighter and he had no criminal history.

McGraw has sought bond reductions with court documents saying he was seeking a reduction so he could defend himself in a wrongful death suit filed by Mintz’s father, Carl Mintz. Carl Mintz’s civil suit was filed in October 2011 alleging that McGraw planned Vanessa Mintz’s murder with premeditation. Carl Mintz is seeking compensation for pain and suffering, funeral expenses, assistance to her children and punitive damages.