The Brutal Murder of David Grubbs

The 23-year-old was the victim of a horrific attack that left him nearly decapitated — and his killer has never been caught.

The sun was just starting to set when David Grubbs left his job at an Ashville, Oregon, supermarket and began walking home on Saturday, November 19, 2011. The 23-year-old had been working at Ashland’s Shop’n Kart for a few years and always took the same route along the Central Ashland Bike Path to get to his home on California Street. The walk normally took David around 30 minutes, but on this particular evening, something went very wrong.

At 5:35 pm, a woman who had been riding her bicycle on the Central Ashland Bike Path called 911 to report that an unconscious male was lying on a section of the path behind Walker Elementary School near Hunter Park. Paramedics were immediately dispatched to the scene, where they quickly realized that the situation was far more serious than first thought. The man lying on the ground was David, and he wasn’t unconscious. He was dead. There was little paramedics could do except wait for police.

One of the first police officers to arrive at the crime scene was Sgt. Tighe O’Meara. “It was completely dark…I encountered the paramedics who were coming out and they said, “The guy’s definitely dead. It looks like a gunshot wound.” When he got his first look at the victim, however, Sgt. O’Meara knew immediately that David had not been shot. He had been the victim of a brutal attack that had left him nearly decapitated.

Homicide detectives soon arrived and cordoned off the area. Before he left the crime scene, Sgt. O’Meara was entrusted with what detectives hoped would be a crucial piece of evidence: the victim’s phone. “I took David’s cell phone to the high-tech crimes task force that night so the cell phone could be dumped.” Even after he left the area, the horror of what he saw that night would stick with Sgt. O’Meara for years to come.

Detectives believed that David had been killed about 30 minutes before his body was found. It appeared he had been walking along the bike path when he was ambushed, likely from behind. He had suffered cuts to his head and neck that seemed to have been caused by a large blade, perhaps a sword or machete. The fact that he had no defensive wounds on his body indicated that he had been taken by surprise and had no time to react before he was attacked.

The brutal crime shocked residents of Ashland, a small city of around 20,000 people that prided itself on being an exceptionally safe place to live. Located just a few miles north of the California border, Ashland was described by locals as a paradise with good schools, great neighborhoods, and wonderful restaurants. Violent crime was exceedingly rare and murders were almost unheard of; it was the kind of place where most residents never bothered to lock their vehicles or homes. David was Ashland’s first murder victim in more than seven years.

David had grown up in Ashland and was just four days away from his 24th birthday when he was killed. The son of Michael and Cherie Grubbs, he was known as a kind and gentle young man with a large number of friends. All of them were stunned by his brutal murder.

David’s sister, Sarah Grubbs, told reporters that her brother was witty, thoughtful, and generous; one Christmas, he gave all the money he had to a homeless family. He loved music, reading science fiction, and writing. Andrea Venerable, a friend who had worked with David at the Shop’n Kart, stated, “If there is any truth behind what they say about only the good dying young, then David was one of them.”

As word spread that David had been killed, friends started to gather on the bike path near where he had been ambushed. Many of them brought items that reminded them of David to add to a growing memorial to the young man. Flowers, candles, crossword puzzles, CDs, photos, and carrot cake were piled up around a small green cross with David’s name on it. Most of those who visited the site left in tears.

One of David’s coworkers, Beau Haddick, often worked the same shift as David and would walk home with him. That Saturday, however, he had to work an hour later than David, so David walked home alone. Beau saw all the police lights when he walked along the bike path after he finished his shift but never guessed they were there for David. “It’s hard to imagine it could just as easily have been me.”

In the aftermath of the murder, police increased patrols of the bike path, but many residents remained on edge. David had been killed just yards away from an elementary school, and school officials warned students not to walk along the bike path alone. College students at nearby Southern Oregon University were also warned that they would be safer in pairs or larger groups until the murderer was caught.

Unfortunately for detectives, the killer left few clues behind, making identifying him — or her- a nearly impossible task. No one came forward claiming to have witnessed the attack and no murder weapon was found. Although the woman who called 911 recalled seeing a male leaving the area when she arrived, she didn’t get a good look at him and was unable to provide a description of him.

Investigators interrogated everyone associated with David but were unable to find anyone who might have wanted to harm him. They looked into his online gaming activity — he was a fan of the video game Assassin’s Creed — but found nothing to indicate it was linked to his death. Officials quickly concluded that David had likely been picked at random. He was truly in the wrong place at the wrong time.

On November 29, 2011, a community meeting was held to discuss the murder and address residents’ concerns. More than 500 people attended the meeting; all of them expressing fear that the murderer was still on the loose. When people asked Ashland Police Chief Terry Holderness if they were safe in the city, he was blunt with them. “Unfortunately, you’re probably not going to want to hear this, but I don’t know.” He admitted that investigators still didn’t know the motive for David’s murder; he hadn’t been robbed and he wasn’t involved in any high-risk activities. “If this is a random act of violence, [people are] probably less safe.”

Two weeks after the murder, more than a dozen detectives were working full-time on the case but had made little progress. Chief Holderness admitted that they hadn’t found the murder weapon and had no suspects or persons of interest. “I don’t feel good about the position we’re in…it’s still possible that this is a total and complete random act that had nothing to do with the victim except time and place. That’s extremely rare but it is possible.”

Once the public learned that the murder weapon was either a machete or a sharp sword, investigators received a flood of tips about people owning such weapons. The police chief admitted he was surprised by this. “Until this case came up, I was oblivious to how many people carry machetes and how many people carry swords…we contacted countless people who were carrying large-bladed weapons.” All these weapons were submitted for forensic testing; none of them could be linked to David’s murder.

By December 5, 2011, detectives had interviewed more than 300 people but were no closer to finding the killer. They collected surveillance footage from businesses near the bike path and tracked down each person who had been in the area around the time of the murder but none were able to offer any information about what had happened. The killer had somehow managed to kill David and then slip away without being seen.

In January 2012, investigators announced that they had received the results of forensic testing done on evidence from the crime scene. They had gathered clothing from people who had been on the bike path around the time the murder took place and had all the articles tested for blood or other evidence, but all came back negative. Although the results allowed detectives to rule out some potential suspects, it did not help them identify the person responsible.

Hoping to bring in some new leads, the Ashland City Council decided to set up a reward fund. Donations poured in from people throughout the city, and a few weeks later the reward was up to $15,000. Crimestoppers offered a separate reward of $1,500 for information in the case, bringing the total amount available to $16,500. Despite the large reward, few tips were received and none of them led to the killer.

There was little movement on the case over the next few months. In June 2012, specialists with the FBI agreed to look over the case files to see if they could come up with a profile for potential suspects. Chief Holderness was optimistic and told reporters that he hoped the FBI agents would be able to “reveal if there’s something else we should have done or could do” to identify David’s killer. Whatever information was gleaned from the specialists was not released to the public.

As the first anniversary of the murder approached, detectives received what they called “a major tip” about the case. This tip led them to search a pond on a farm in southern Oregon for the murder weapon. Police divers spent several days combing through the one-acre pond with metal detectors while officers with search dogs searched the rest of the property, located in a rural area near Talent, Oregon. Chief Holderness cautioned the public about jumping to any conclusions. “We have no reason to anticipate making an arrest in the near future.” He also stated that the property owners were not considered suspects.

The case soon slipped out of the headlines and the investigation seemed to stall. By October 2013, detectives had interviewed nearly 2,000 people and followed up on hundreds of tips but still had no idea who killed David. His father, Michael Grubbs, told reporters, “[Detectives] told me they ran out of leads and they’ll react when they get a new tip. They’ve run out of things to look at…they’re calling it random. David was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Another year passed and there was still no justice for David. His mother, Cherie Grubbs, told reporters that the pain of losing her son hadn’t lessened with time. “I wake up. I have about three seconds where everything’s okay, and then I remember my boy is gone.” Although she found some comfort in visiting the memorial bench that had been placed on the bike path, she admitted, “I don’t see joy in my life anymore. Because when good things happen, I know how quickly they can be taken away.”

Ashland Police Deputy Chief Corey Falls told reporters that tips still trickled in occasionally, but the lack of solid leads was disheartening. “We get in this job to catch bad guys.” Still, he was convinced that the crime would one day be solved. “We’re going to continue to go after and find [the person] who did this.”

By the fifth anniversary of the murder, the case had long gone cold. Tighe O’Meara, who had been the first officer at the crime scene in 2011, had been promoted to police chief and made it clear that David’s case was going to be a priority. He hired retired Jackson County Sheriff’s Detective Charlie Retzer to go back over the case and see if there was anything that had been overlooked by the original detectives. Although he was optimistic that a fresh set of eyes would help the investigation, Chief O’Meara also appealed to the public for help. “We know someone out there knows something and we need them to come forward.” If anyone with information heard his plea, they remained silent.

More than a decade after David was murdered, his loved ones still struggle to come to terms with his loss. Garrison Mau, who had been David’s best friend, was interviewed in 2022 and noted, “To this day, I’ve never met anyone like David who just had a natural capacity to get along with everybody. David did not have an enemy in the world.”

Chief O’Meara said that David’s case was still a top priority for the Ashland Police Department. “It’s omnipresent. It doesn’t fade into the background and become a memory, it’s always there.” He was desperate to solve the brutal crime. “I really want to come to a resolution point. I have made it clear…if I ever get the impression that we are not doing everything humanly possible to move this forward there will be serious consequences.”

The fact that a killer was still on the loose was disturbing to Chief O’Meara, especially a killer as ruthless as the one in this case. “The randomness of it is one of the most jarring parts about it…no scorned partner, no beef at work…David was very well-liked.”

Detectives believe it’s possible that a man named Christian DeLaurentis could be responsible for the murder and consider him a potential person of interest, though they lack the solid evidence needed to name him a suspect. Although he was living in Ashland at the time of the murder, investigators could find no connection between him and David. Christian is currently serving a life sentence for an unrelated murder and has refused to speak with detectives about David’s case, making it impossible for them to rule him in or out as David’s killer. “We’re just kind of stuck, because he won’t talk to us”

Despite the passage of time, Chief O’Meara remains convinced that there are people out there who know exactly what happened that night and he continues to hope they will one day decide to come forward and help bring closure to the case. David’s family and friends have been waiting far too long for justice.

David Michael Grubbs was just 23 years old when he was brutally murdered in Ashland, Oregon, in 2011. He was a talented musician, a great friend, and an all-around nice guy. His loss is still felt deeply in Ashland, and his loved ones have never given up hope that they will one day obtain justice for him. If you have any information about David’s murder, please contact the Ashland Police Department at 541–482–5211 or the Ashland Police Department Anonymous Tip Line at 541–552–2333. There is a $22,000 reward being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of David’s murderer.

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