True Crime
65. Murder on a Bike Path (Ashland, Oregon)
In this chilling episode of Morbid Outdoors, host Elise delves into the unsolved murder of 23-year-old David Grubbs, who was brutally attacked on a bike path in Ashland, Oregon, in 2011. With no suspe...
65. Murder on a Bike Path (Ashland, Oregon)
True Crime •
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Interactive Transcript
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On a quiet November evening in 2011, a man was walking home from work along a bike path.
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Just a mile from home, a woman on a bike discovered him lying unconscious.
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But this wasn't an accident.
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He had been brutally attacked with a heavy blade, almost decapitated, no defensive looms,
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no motive, and no suspect in sight.
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All these years later, his case is still unsolved.
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Welcome to Morbid Outdoors, the podcast that ventures deep into the shadows of the wild.
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Here, we unravel the mysteries of missing persons, explore spine-chilling legends,
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and share the most morbid stories that nature has to offer.
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From the depths of the dense forests to the highest mountain peaks,
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we'll uncover the secrets that I hidden in the great outdoors.
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Join us as we navigate the eerie, the unexplained, and the terrifying.
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So if you dare, grab your gear and let's embark on a journey into the unknown.
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This is Morbid Outdoors.
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Hello, everyone. Happy Wednesday.
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My name is Elise, and I'm your host.
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Thank you so much for listening today.
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Just a reminder that the personal, oops, my mic is getting messed up.
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The personal stuff, personal hikes, travels, whatever,
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that'll be at the end of episodes from now on.
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So today's case takes place in Oregon, Ashland, specifically.
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I used to live in Medford, and I was in the city of New York.
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And Ashland is super close, so I visited there often.
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I had a friend that lived there, actually, multiple friends that still lived there.
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And when I moved there, I was warned about the bike path before I moved.
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My step-dad warned me it wasn't safe, and then I had co-workers say,
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if you use it, just be careful.
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And now I know why.
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And I was told this story when I lived in Oregon about
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four or five years ago.
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So the town of Ashland is located along the I-5
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at the tail end of Oregon's Rogue Valley.
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It's like 45 minutes from the California border.
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It is Southern Southern Oregon.
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It's known for its idyllic scenery and the yearly Shakespeare festival
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that brings many to its town.
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It's considered a quiet city, and it's an ideal spot for retirees.
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And murder is a very rare thing to happen in Ashland.
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And that's part of the reason why today's case is so jarring because of, first of all,
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it's just the sensationalism behind it, of someone almost being decapitated.
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And then it being unsolved.
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And I have multiple friends that have taken travel contracts in Ashland,
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and all of them have likened it to stars hollow from Gilmore Girls.
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Now I have never seen Gilmore Girls,
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but that is kind of the vibe that it gives.
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It's just a small cute little town.
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In 2020, the city's population was just over 21,000 people.
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It's home to Southern Oregon University and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
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These are important to Ashland's economy, which also depends on restaurants,
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galleries, and retail stores that cater to tourists.
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Lithia Park and Ashland Creek, historic buildings, and a paved inner-city bike path trail
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provide additional visitor attractions.
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Now we're going to go way back to for the first people that lived in this area.
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So prior to the arrival of white settlers in the mid-19th century,
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the Shasta people lived in the valley along Ashland Creek,
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approximately where today's city is located.
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Early Hudson's Bay Company, Hunters and Trappers,
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following the Syscue Trail passed through Ashland back in the 1820s before it was a city.
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In the late 1840s, mainly American settlers following the Applegate Trail
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began passing through the area.
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And by the early 1850s, the Donation Land Claim Act brought many to the Rogue Valley
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and into conflict with its indigenous people.
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These often had violent clashes known ultimately as the Rogue River Wars,
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and those continued until 1856.
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Now part of the reason why Ashland was so popular back then is because gold was discovered in the 1850s
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at Rich Gulch, which is a tributary of Jackson Creek.
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And that is actually like kind of where Jacksonville is today, Jacksonville, Oregon.
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Settlers arrived in the Ashland area in January 1852, following that gold strike.
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They really, anybody wanted to get in on the action.
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As soon as possible.
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Now in 1887, Portland, Oregon and San Francisco, California were joined by rail at Ashland.
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And until 1926, when most rail service began taking a different route,
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Ashland thrived on the railway trade of local products, including peaches and apples.
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Now the place we are specifically mentioning today is the bike path.
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It's a hiking and biking path.
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It's called the Bear Creek Greenway.
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And it begins in Ashland near the intersection of West Nevada Street
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with Helmann Street, close to the confluence of Ashland Creek, around kind of where Lithia Park is.
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And I'm saying all these things you might never have visited,
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but you can look up maps.
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The bike path is a huge part of Ashland.
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The path is 18 miles or 29 kilometers, and it follows Bear Creek between Ashland
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and Central Point.
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It passes through talent, Phoenix, and Medford.
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Now, AllTrails says it's 19 miles, but on other websites, I found 18.
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So 1819, I don't think an extra mile really makes a lot of a difference in this case.
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So the cool thing about this bike path is that there are seven official parks that the
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bike path goes through.
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And there's parking in all of these parks.
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There are many other entry points.
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So like if you look at a map, you can enter this bike path from a lot of different places.
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It's not like you park at one end and you have to finish at the other.
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There's parks, there's entrances.
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It goes like under an underpass.
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So it is a really cool bike path.
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And a lot of people use it for biking, hiking, walking their dogs, walking their kids.
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It gets a lot of use like every day.
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There are a lot of really positive reviews online about this bike path, but I wanted to include
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two negative reviews because honestly, this case is unsolved and I feel like I need to
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address what the bike path struggles with.
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And it struggles with unhoused people living on it.
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And Medford has a problem with this.
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And this is what some of the reviews say, quote, lots of bums and drug addicts,
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plus this paved next to a highway.
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Fuck that, I prefer the mountains away from all that.
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The other review says, this paved trail is riddled with hobo camps.
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It is a pretty creek side trail with various city parks along the way.
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Anywhere near Medford is not safe to travel alone on due to hobos and dopers along the route
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and under the bridges.
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Now, that's not me saying that.
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I'm just reading negative reviews.
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And frankly, the bike path has more positive reviews than negative, which is true for most
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places that we discuss on morbid outdoors.
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But I mean, I've been on the bike path before and it can be a little unnerving when
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there are people that are struggling with their mental health and they don't know you and
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you don't know them.
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And it's not just a problem here, right?
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We see that a lot in America, it is a huge problem that's not really being addressed how it should be.
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So I just wanted to include those not because I want to be like the bike path sucks.
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It's a great bike path.
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It's a great walking trail.
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But this case is unsolved and it could have been anyone and it could have been
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someone like that.
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So we just don't know.
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All right, we're going to dive into our case.
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Now, we're going to be talking about 23-year-old David Grubbs.
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And in 2011, he worked as a clerk at the shopping cart in Ashland.
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Now, my friend Carly, her favorite place to shop when she lived in Ashland, was shopping cart.
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It's a locally owned grocery store and per their website.
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They have over 1,500 fresh produce with lots from local vendors.
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Imagine like a local Whole Foods or Harmans if you're from Utah.
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It's a cute grocery with lots of local and organic produce.
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And a lot of people in Ashland shop there because Ashland is small.
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And that's one of the only grocery stores in the area.
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David was born November 23rd, 1987 and was a lifelong resident of Ashland.
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He was born in Ashland and he died in Ashland.
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Friends described him as a diamond in the rough with the ability to turn a bad day into a good one.
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Everyone considered him a very special person and all of his friends considered him family.
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Now, I read a lot about David online.
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I didn't know him personally, but some of the people I know knew of him.
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He was said to be very kind and he always wanted to make sure the people around him were happy
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and felt uplifted.
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One of his friends referred to him as the King of Halloween because he was dedicated to going
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above and beyond every October in Halloween. He was an avid gamer and a fan of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
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So like I said, the city of Ashland is not big and it's pretty walkable.
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It's a very charming town and it looks like it belongs in a movie and it's been featured in several
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movies. Basically their homicide rate is one homicide every seven years.
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And because Ashland is pretty walkable, David would actually walk home on the bike path
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from his shift at Shopping Cart. And on November 19th, 2011, David left work. He walked the same way
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he always did. It was a little rainy because it was fall and it was already completely dark by
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the early evening. And on this date in 2011, the sun would not have set even an hour before David's
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walk home. So he was basically walking home in the dark, but just dark. It wasn't even like pitch
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black yet. Now Ashland police received a call not long after David got off about about a body
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and hunter park, which is along the bike path. Now the woman who called the police, she came across
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the scene and she saw a man leaving the scene. So she instantly called 911. And by the time
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officers were on the scene, paramedics had already declared David dead of apparent gunshot wounds.
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Now she saw this man lying lifeless and she saw someone getting away. So she did see
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maybe not identified who it was, but she did see presumably the attacker leaving the scene of the
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crime. Now upon closer inspection, the detective on the scene noticed deep slash wounds on David's
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neck. He had nearly been decapitated. Apart from that, the scene was devoid of any immediate clues.
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What evidence was present was quickly bagged up as not to be compromised by the intensifying rain.
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So if you can imagine it's cold, it's rainy. David's walking home from work and he's attacked by an
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unknown assailant. And this attacker almost decapitates him and he's killed instantly.
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I just find this case so bizarre because it's still unsolved even though someone called and
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stumbled upon the scene within like maybe minutes or seconds from this taking place.
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And although David's body was discovered quickly with no no witnesses, there's little to no evidence
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to point any specific direction. Now they did think initially that it was gunshot wounds,
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but on November 22nd, 2011, which was four days after the discovery, the Ashland police
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department had a press release and stated that an autopsy was conducted and that his death was
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rolled homicide. Now I don't think like, oh, homicide, he was nearly decapitated. So I think
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everybody already knew it was homicide. But the autopsy revealed that the cause of death was not
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gunshot wounds, but it was multiple sharp force injuries to the head and neck, causing near
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decapitation. The weapon was believed to be a very sharp, possibly medium to large,
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sized edge weapon. To me, what they're describing is a sword, honestly. I don't think that the police
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wanted to say it was a sword because they really didn't know, but in my opinion, if you read
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through the press release, it sounds like they're saying that he was killed with a sword.
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This kind of was a cold case from the beginning. And through the end of 2014, this is the only
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information that was released to the public about David's murder. It appears that there was no
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movement or at least none noteworthy movement occurred during between when David was murdered
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in the end of 2014. They really kept a tight lip on this and still do. And I don't know if that's
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because they know things and they're waiting on the person to be caught or if they just don't have
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anything at all. Understandably, David's murder sent shockwaves through Ashland for multiple reasons.
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He was a young well-liked member of the community. He didn't have any known enemies. And he had been
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taken in an act of senseless violence, like unthinkable violence. The attack wasn't just brutal. It felt
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bizarrely random. He was killed along the popular path in a city park, just steps away from an
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elementary school. So like it's crazy to think about. This path is used a lot. There's schools nearby.
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People are playing on playgrounds and it's just such a crazy spot for such a brutal attack.
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I just want to point out that David probably wasn't an easy target either because he was over six
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feet tall and physically fit. So he seemed capable of defending himself. He spent his time with a
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circle of musicians and artists. And really he didn't have any enemies. No one could figure out any
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motive behind why someone would want David dead. So the sheer strangeness of this case, it left
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people uneasy with some whispering the most chilling theory of all that it might have been a thrill kill
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carried out without motive reason or warning. Now from the very start police threw every resource they
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had at solving David's murder. But the trail was cold almost immediately with little evidence to
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work from investigators speculated that the weapon might have been a machete or sword and a
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forensic expert examined the wounds in hopes of confirming it. Friends co-workers and acquaintances
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were all interviewed yet no one emerged as a viable suspect. The woman who discovered the scene
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was cleared early on and while she's seen a man leaving the park, she could not identify that man
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that she saw. And even at one point detectives even explored a strange lead linking the killing
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to imagery from the assassin's creed video games, which David enjoyed and played a lot,
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but that lead quickly fizzled out. And that's like one of the top things people talk about when they
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reference this case is the video game aspect of it all, but police don't think that had anything to
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do with David's slain. Then in January 2015, police announced a possible suspect. In 2012, a man
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and a low-hot organ was brutally murdered and dismembered by his housemate Christian De Laurentes.
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He was a known heroin user and serial bank robber and he carried out crimes all along
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organ's i5 quarter, including robberies in the rogue valley. To this date, he remains the only
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publicly named person of interest in the murder of David Grubbs. Although police haven't said
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what links him to David's case beyond his original criminal history. Basically, police say he's
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a person of interest, but we're not really going to say why except for he's been known to commit
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crimes in the area. Now, the story is, you know, of him murdering his roommate is equally gruesome
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to that of David's detectives learning that Christian was in fact a bank robber and his roommate
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occasionally participated as Christian's getaway driver until he had had enough. After his
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roommate threatened to expose Christian as a bank robber, Christian murdered his roommate,
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dismembered him and stored his body parts in their freezer. Now, Christian was caught and when
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he confessed to what he had done, he confessed to his brother. His brother then shared with the
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family and their stepfather is the one that called the authorities. And I think this is why police
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link Christian to David's murder. It was discovered through investigation that Christian was living in
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at the time of David's murder and left town shortly after. For specific reasons unknown in 2015,
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the Ashland Police Department officially announced him as a person of interest in David's case,
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though they never have said that he's a formal suspect. That's pretty much all that police had.
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Basically, the last update was in 2015 and now nearly 15 years later, David's case still remains
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unsolved. His killer has never been caught and justice has yet to be served. In November of 2021,
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the Ashland Police Department posted to Facebook and they said, November 19, 2021, marks 10 years
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since David Grubbs was murdered in Ashland. The prayers, thoughts and hearts of every member of
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the Ashland Police Department and all Jackson County law enforcement remain with the Grubbs family
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and the Ashland community. This case will remain open in hopes that more information becomes
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available. As always, anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Ashland Police Department.
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Then in February 2022, David Grubbs's memorial, which was placed along the central bike path near
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Hunter Park, it was found vandalized for the second time since his 2011 murder. Now the steel
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cross at the site had been uprooted and the tribute monuments were destroyed. His close friend,
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Garrison Mao, he discovered the damage and reported it to the police who catalogued the broken
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cross as evidence. In response, Garrison, with the help from his parents, restored the site over a
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weekend. They cleared debris out, they replanted daffodils, rebuilt the memorial's base and included
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a personal touch, a bag of sunflower seeds, which is a nod to David's fondness for sunflower seeds.
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Garrison expressed hope of working with the City Council on security improvements,
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possibly even installing a security camera to protect the memorial going forward.
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So this is something we see often when people destroy grave sites or memorials, I personally do not
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understand why anyone would do that. Do I think it was the killer? No, I just think it was some
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low life or teenager who doesn't have respect for anybody else but themselves. And so I don't
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think the murder came back just to destroy his memorial. I just think it was someone that was
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being stupid and inconsiderate. Now more recently in 2024, there were two new detectives assigned
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to David's case with new detectives looking into leads. Ashland police department hopes someone
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comes forward with something to crack open this case and bring some sort of closure or answers
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for David's long suffering loved ones. Okay, I'm going to go down a rabbit hole and tell you what I
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found on Reddit. Now we all know Reddit is anonymous. Anyone can say anything so don't take this
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as gospel, but just take it that I found this on Reddit and I wanted to share. So someone on
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Reddit says that the consult from FBI profilished podcast reviewed this case over two recent episodes.
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They seem to agree that this was some sort of thrill or fantasy lived outkill. They also think
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somebody would recognize the killer's personal interest and different types of knives as the knife
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fetish would stand out to those who knew him. They're talking about the killer. They might think
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it's just weird, but it is something to note about that person. Members of the consult put forward,
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the perpetrator may have very little power or dominance in his real life. To offset this, the
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killer spends a great deal of time in meshed and fantasy. In his fictional life, he has complete
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control due to his exceptional abilities. He's focused on the perfect weapon to brand-ish.
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He may attend trade shows revolving around this weapon and be quite educated with respect to all
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aspects of the weapon. Now that is a podcast I've never heard of before. It's called the
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consult podcast and it's run by some former FBI profilers. I do think their profile is very
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interesting and worth noting. That's why I wanted to include it in today's episode.
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Honestly, not many of us have knives or swords that could do that kind of damage to someone.
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That's not a typical thing that you would find in somebody's house. Let's recap and talk about
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theories. Investigators believe that David's death was the result of a random attack with no
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personal connection to him beyond tragic coincidence. The weapon was likely a mischuddy or similar
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large blade and evidence suggests he was struck from behind in a sudden overwhelming assault,
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leaving little chance for him to defend himself. Notably, the FBI became involved in 2012,
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which is unusual for a single homicide unless there's something particularly distinctive or unusual
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about the case. Now in terms of theories, some locals believe that a transient may have been
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responsible, but I just don't think it was a transient. I think that Ashland is small and scenic
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and it's known for stopover for travelers, not just the homeless but groups and individuals passing
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through on the PCT or living a nomadic counter-culture lifestyle. You'll often see pain
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advance, converted buses, and people who stay for a season before moving on. And if the killer
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was one of those passerbyes, it would explain why the crime remains unsolved, because they might
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have had no real ties to the community or Ashland and was able to leave shortly after. I think
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this is probably the most likely scenario. One of the first responding officers on the scene
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called this case, quote, an open wound for the family and for the community.
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So where does that leave us? A young man was murdered on his walk home, no motive, no weapon, no
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arrests. And it's easy to assume this was random, that the killer was someone passing through,
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but that doesn't make it any less terrifying. In fact, it just makes it worse,
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because if someone could commit a crime this violent and vanish without a trace, who's to say
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it couldn't happen again? Ashland has not forgotten, and neither should we. The reason why I wanted
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to cover this case is because it does not get a lot of media attention. It has not gotten a lot of
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media attention, because it went cold so fast and there are very few suspects. So please share this
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case, talk about it, look it up, read it, share it on your Facebook, on Instagram, whatever.
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David's family needs answers. And the person who murdered David needs to be brought to justice.
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I know that I don't have a very big reach. This is a very small and amateur podcast. But
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whatever I can do to highlight these smaller, unknown, unsolved cases, I'm trying to do my part,
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so also I want to mention there is a $22,000 reward for outstanding information leading to the
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arrest and conviction of the person or person's responsible for David Greb's murder. Information
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can be submitted at 541-482-5211 or anonymously at 541-552-2333. Or you can call the
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Ashland Police at 541-488-2211. You can also call or text Crime Stoppers of Southern
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Oregon at 1-800-850-0580 and refer to case number KTVL12-25-18. And you may remain anonymous.
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As always, recreate responsibly and remember, sometimes the great outdoors aren't always great.
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