Days of our Lives Character Recap: Eli Grant

Eli Grant—this Days of our Lives heartthrob matured from troubled teen to crime buster who discovered, much to his delight, that he had a ready-made family in the form of the oh-so-accepting Hortons.

Who Is Eli Grant?

Eli Grant is the only child of David Banning and Valerie Grant, though he believed his father to be a man named Terrence who passed away when he was 6 years old. Eli was a troubled youth who latched on to fellow Chicagoans Shelia and Russell Watkins.

When the trio got caught shoplifting, Eli was scared straight, while the siblings learned little from the experience. Instead, they became involved in the drug scene—a move that Eli would eventually exploit once he joined the police department and went undercover to bust drug dealers.

Both Sheila and Russell were arrested, and the latter was stabbed to death in prison—a development that haunted Eli and one that he would eventually pay for (by helping an in-trouble Shelia avoid arrest). In the meantime, he applied for a position at the FBI—which he secured—though the new job’s background check revealed a shocking fact. There was no way that Terrence was his biological father!

Upon employing his skills, Eli learned that he had been sired by David Banning. But the discovery came too late. David had been killed in a motorcycle accident. So, rather than meet his father, Eli arrived in Salem to attend his funeral.

At Eli’s insistence, Valerie informed David’s mother, Julie Williams, that she had a grandson. The two connected almost instantly and the newfound familiarity came at Valerie’s expense – Eli was just far too angry to accept her explanation as to how she could keep him from his biological parent for so many years.

Heroics and Work Detail

Rather than immediately return to the FBI field office in the wake of David’s funeral, Eli accepted an offer to serve as a federal liaison to the Salem PD, who were in the midst of a turf war between the DiMera, Kiriakis, and Hernandez families and an influx of drug traffickers.

Eli’s shooting of the corrupt Police Commissioner Raines resulted in his firing from the FBI and his hiring as an SPD detective. Subsequently, he investigated a plethora of cases, including the murder of Deimos Kiriakis and the shooting of Theo Carver.

He also survived a plane crash on a tropical island as well as a stabbing received by a fellow survivor who had contacted Jungle Madness.

Girls, Girls, Girls

A blind date with Gabi Hernandez (arranged by Abigail Deveraux) proved to be a significant turning point in Eli’s life—as was his pairing with fellow detective Lani Price.

The former became Eli’s lady love—though Julie’s voracious objections complicated their relationship—but he cheated on her with the latter. When Lani became pregnant as a result, they tried to make a go of it.

After baby David’s death, Eli and Lani parted, only to reunite months later. A proposal was offered and accepted, and it seemed the two were destined for happiness… until a vengeful Gabi leveraged her access to Julie’s pacemaker and insisted that Lani break her intended’s heart.

Now that the scheme has been rumbled, Eli and Lani are reunited again. But life in Salem is still far from tranquil.

At present, the couple is in a desperate search for Rafe’s adopted son David, unaware that he has been stashed away with his crime-minded grandfather Orpheus!