For better or for worse, Roy Graves doesn't remember the two years he spent in an eastern European orphanage. His basic needs were met but he didn't quite get the attention and nurturing that he deserved until the Graves family came to the orphanage to adopt him in the summer of 1975. Barbara Graves had been yearning for a child, she and her husband had tried for years until a doctor told them that Barbara could not bear children of her own. It took mounds of paperwork and background checks until Barbara and Harold Graves were matched with a dark haired toddler that they named Roy after Barbara's deceased father. They were overjoyed with the reality of finally being parents. Barbara worked from home as a seamstress and Harold was a cop for the Boston Police Department's homicide unit. In the coming years, Roy was joined by a younger sister from Russia named Ophelia. As Barbara always emphasized to her children, familial bonds were more important than where they came from.

Roy grew closer to his mother than his father. His father was strict, often worked long hours and was run down from his job. Even at a young age, Roy tried to mend the distance between his father by being well behaved and excelling in his studies where as Ophelia more prone to mischief much to Roy's annoyance at having to look after his sibling. The two children got along reasonably well even if Roy felt a sense of alienation that his father seemed to favor Ophelia over him, much to his chagrin. Soon, Roy found sports by joining the local soccer team and the approval of his father that he had yearned for. Lanky and agile, Roy was a formidable forward on his team and the sport helped him gain confidence as well that he had been lacking. He felt as though he belonged with his teammates and coach and finally, his father was proud of a young Roy.

His teen years on the horizon, Roy started acting out more as puberty set in and his parents sent him to counseling to help him deal with the attachment issues from his adoption. He tended to overcompensate in social situations, being a clown and laying on the charm to get the approval of his peers. Therapy helped him deal with his issues in a constructive way although he was still known around his high school for being the resident class clown. Roy had no direction for his post high school life. The prospect of four more years of schooling at college didn't entice him.

Once again, he looked to his father for inspiration and wound up at the police academy after graduation. The structure was exactly what he needed and he found out when he actually could focus, Roy had a keen and investigative mind. He graduated from the academy in 1993 - the same year that he married his high school sweetheart and one year later, they had a daughter. Being the son of Sergeant Harold Graves helped Roy get his foot in the door to the Boston Police Department but it was up to Roy to prove that he didn't get in there just because of who his father was. In fact, it propelled him to work twice as hard as any of the other rookies.

Roy received his detective shield in 1998 and was transferred to vice. His career flourished but his marriage floundered. His wife didn't approve of his work as a vice cop and fretted that he would become yet another corrupt officer of the law. The long hours that he worked on cases didn't help to ease her mind, especially when they had a young daughter to worry about. The marriage crumbled sometime in 2000 and Roy found himself moving out of the home and signing divorce papers. He had visitation rights every other weekend until the visitation went from monthly to the occasional holiday. Then in 2005, Roy was injured in the line of duty and shot in the leg during a sting operation gone wrong. While not critically injured, Roy found himself enduring grueling amounts of physical therapy for a shattered knee cap during the incident. His career as a detective was done and Roy was left rudderless without a purpose in his life.

After being in a period of limbo, Roy still chose to work in law enforcement as a parole officer all while attending Bay State College to get his degree in Criminal Justice. Coming out of high school, he had gone straight into the academy and had to adjust to that as well as being a father to a newborn daughter. His relationship with his daughter strengthened as he and his wife managed a civil relationship after his injury for their daughter's sake. Working as a parole officer was bittersweet, as part of him began to think he could help some folks get on the straight and narrow after being incarcerated but that wasn't always the case.

After graduating from Bay State College in 2011, Roy found himself growing restless and often took odd jobs doing security to fill up his hours and put extra food on the table. He started doing work for the Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance in 2014 in conjunction with his parole officer job, still taking a temporary security gig every now and then.