DAVID GRUBBS: Attacked & killed walking home from work on the bike path in Ashland, OR - 19 November 2011

GrandmaBear · Feb 6, 2024

I was just looking for something I thought I recalled but wanted to be sure of but I suppose it is in the longer other thread/case. However, because of that I skimmed the posts here and noted the headstone has "Shalom" on it. Didn't notice before, didn't look at much closely in here, always the lack of time.

I'm assuming he was Jewish then? I'm not saying it means anything but I have wondered if any of these murders were hate crimes of any group, like the homeless for instance. I don't know that that would qualify legally as a hate crime or not but I mean it could be someone with a hatred of the homeless or of drug addicts or whoever. So I think the Jewish thing is notable just to keep in mind with possible motive or suspects?

I now also saw the Pabst cans. Lol. My dad LOVED to have a Pabst Blue Ribbon. It hit home.

Anyhow, I'll likely never find what I was looking for in that far longer thread and won't probably take the time but isn't this Grubbs the one @Red Clover worked with? That's what I was trying to recall as with three cases in the same area I am trying hard to keep things straight and to remember too that this one was three years later and the most recent right? I think.

Tresir · Feb 6, 2024

GrandmaBear said:
I was just looking for something I thought I recalled but wanted to be sure of but I suppose it is in the longer other thread/case. However, because of that I skimmed the posts here and noted the headstone has "Shalom" on it. Didn't notice before, didn't look at much closely in here, always the lack of time.

I'm assuming he was Jewish then? I'm not saying it means anything but I have wondered if any of these murders were hate crimes of any group, like the homeless for instance. I don't know that that would qualify legally as a hate crime or not but I mean it could be someone with a hatred of the homeless or of drug addicts or whoever. So I think the Jewish thing is notable just to keep in mind with possible motive or suspects?

I now also saw the Pabst cans. Lol. My dad LOVED to have a Pabst Blue Ribbon. It hit home.

Anyhow, I'll likely never find what I was looking for in that far longer thread and won't probably take the time but isn't this Grubbs the one @Red Clover worked with? That's what I was trying to recall as with three cases in the same area I am trying hard to keep things straight and to remember too that this one was three years later and the most recent right? I think.

Yes, David was a work colleague of RC. I recently came across this 2022 article about the destruction of the memorial and meant to post it. So it could be a hate crime. This is the second time the memorial has been vandalized.

Memorial to slain Ashland man vandalized - Ashland News - Community-Supported, NonProfit News

Friends of the late David Grubbs replaced his memorial over the weekend after finding it had been vandalized for the second time since he was murdered along the Central Bike Path in 2011.

ashland.news

Grubbs, 23, was found slain at 5:35 p.m. on Nov. 19, 2011 after walking home from his job as a store clerk at Shop’n Kart, according to the Ashland Police Department. His is one of the department’s two cold cases, according to Chief Tighe O’Meara.

Garrison Mau, a close friend of Grubbs, visits the site of Grubbs’ memorial often. Grubbs was a groomsman in Mau’s wedding and godfather to his daughter. When Mau visited the site on Saturday, though, nothing about the memorial was as it should be.

A steel cross that was part of the memorial was broken and a concrete portion uprooted at the site, located between Hunter Park and the railroad tracks along the bike path.

“Everything was kicked in every direction,” Mau said in a phone interview with Ashland.news.

“It was pretty disturbing to drive up to it and just see it completely decimated like that.”

A friend of Mau’s who happened to be jogging by the area at the time told him he’d seen the memorial like that for several days.

Mau reported the incident to the police, and he said personnel from the department came to the scene and entered the cross into evidence.

The memorial prior to the vandalism.
Mau said the cross will be returned to him and he hopes to work with a local blacksmith to have it restored.

“I really want to try and look at the bright side of this and see what we can do moving forward, to honor him,” Mau said. “We have plans to make some proposals to the city council.”

Mau and his parents set to work cleaning up the site on Sunday afternoon.

They cleared rocks and set down new soil and a rock circle, planting daffodils and even laying a memento to memorialize some of Grubbs’ favorite things — a bag of “David” sunflower seeds.

“You could never interact with David (when) he didn’t have a mouthful of sunflower seeds,” Mau said, remembering his best friend.

Mau is hoping the city can help secure the area and possibly add a security camera on the site. He said he plans to speak to city councilors about the proposal in the near future.

“He was such a kind and gentle man,” Mau said, adding that Grubbs was “humble” and said he wouldn’t want a fuss made about himself.

“But with the nature of this thing he deserves to be honored and our community deserves some solace around this,” Mau said. “Whatever we can do together to make that happen, I think it’ll only strengthen our community.”

Cherie Grubbs, David’s mother, said she is appreciative of Mau caring for her son’s memorial, saying “it meant the world to me.”

O’Meara was one of the first officers on scene when Grubbs’ body was found in 2011. In November, near the 10th anniversary of the murder, O’Meara called the Grubbs’ case “an open wound for the family and for the community.”

“I am very hopeful that we’ll be able to move it forward one day,” O’Meara said.

There’s a $22,200 reward outstanding for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or person responsible for David Grubb’s murder. Information can be submitted at 541-482-5211, or anonymously at 541-552-2333.

GrandmaBear · Feb 7, 2024

Tresir said:
Yes, David was a work colleague of RC. I recently came across this 2022 article about the destruction of the memorial and meant to post it. So it could be a hate crime. This is the second time the memorial has been vandalized.

Memorial to slain Ashland man vandalized - Ashland News - Community-Supported, NonProfit News

Friends of the late David Grubbs replaced his memorial over the weekend after finding it had been vandalized for the second time since he was murdered along the Central Bike Path in 2011.

ashland.news

Grubbs, 23, was found slain at 5:35 p.m. on Nov. 19, 2011 after walking home from his job as a store clerk at Shop’n Kart, according to the Ashland Police Department. His is one of the department’s two cold cases, according to Chief Tighe O’Meara.

Garrison Mau, a close friend of Grubbs, visits the site of Grubbs’ memorial often. Grubbs was a groomsman in Mau’s wedding and godfather to his daughter. When Mau visited the site on Saturday, though, nothing about the memorial was as it should be.

A steel cross that was part of the memorial was broken and a concrete portion uprooted at the site, located between Hunter Park and the railroad tracks along the bike path.

“Everything was kicked in every direction,” Mau said in a phone interview with Ashland.news.

“It was pretty disturbing to drive up to it and just see it completely decimated like that.”

A friend of Mau’s who happened to be jogging by the area at the time told him he’d seen the memorial like that for several days.

Mau reported the incident to the police, and he said personnel from the department came to the scene and entered the cross into evidence.

The memorial prior to the vandalism.
Mau said the cross will be returned to him and he hopes to work with a local blacksmith to have it restored.

“I really want to try and look at the bright side of this and see what we can do moving forward, to honor him,” Mau said. “We have plans to make some proposals to the city council.”

Mau and his parents set to work cleaning up the site on Sunday afternoon.

They cleared rocks and set down new soil and a rock circle, planting daffodils and even laying a memento to memorialize some of Grubbs’ favorite things — a bag of “David” sunflower seeds.

“You could never interact with David (when) he didn’t have a mouthful of sunflower seeds,” Mau said, remembering his best friend.

Mau is hoping the city can help secure the area and possibly add a security camera on the site. He said he plans to speak to city councilors about the proposal in the near future.

“He was such a kind and gentle man,” Mau said, adding that Grubbs was “humble” and said he wouldn’t want a fuss made about himself.

“But with the nature of this thing he deserves to be honored and our community deserves some solace around this,” Mau said. “Whatever we can do together to make that happen, I think it’ll only strengthen our community.”

Cherie Grubbs, David’s mother, said she is appreciative of Mau caring for her son’s memorial, saying “it meant the world to me.”

O’Meara was one of the first officers on scene when Grubbs’ body was found in 2011. In November, near the 10th anniversary of the murder, O’Meara called the Grubbs’ case “an open wound for the family and for the community.”

“I am very hopeful that we’ll be able to move it forward one day,” O’Meara said.

There’s a $22,200 reward outstanding for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or person responsible for David Grubb’s murder. Information can be submitted at 541-482-5211, or anonymously at 541-552-2333.

So another friend jogging by saw the memorial messed up for some time but said nothing nor at least called LE? Sounds more like he is a friend of the friend and maybe didn't know David but still...

Seems this is a memorial on the bike path probably where he died, and not his grave. Could be anyone going by the types that seem to be on all these bike paths/trails. Or it could be his killer, who knows... He was on the path then and maybe still uses it...

Thanks for confirming RC worked with Grubbs. I was pretty sure she had said that but just wanted to be sure.

Tresir · Feb 7, 2024

One of the articles I posted said that the officer who was first on the scene is now the Police Chief and it sounds like he really wants to solve this. Let's hope they can get some movement on it.

GrandmaBear · Feb 7, 2024

Tresir said:
One of the articles I posted said that the officer who was first on the scene is now the Police Chief and it sounds like he really wants to solve this. Let's hope they can get some movement on it.

That's encouraging. Hopefully it gets some renewed effort then and something comes of it.

Red Clover · Feb 7, 2024

Tresir said:
Here's an account of travelling the trail.

Biking Bear Creek Greenway: Ashland to Central Point

www.jauntyeverywhere.com

Grubbs was not killed on the Bear Creek Greenway. The Bear Creek Greenway and Central Bike Path in Ashland are not connected, they're about 1 mile apart physically.

From the northwest end of the Central Bike Path at A st & Oak st down Oak st to Nevada st to the (publicly owned) dog park in Ashland where the south end of the BCG begins.

They are not owned or maintained by the same agencies.

Grubbs was on what is known as the central bike path that follows the railroad tracks in Ashland from Oak st & A st southeast to Tolman Creek road .

Grubbs had just gotten off work around 5:00 pm from Shop N Kart, a grocery store where he worked as a clerk & stocker.

David was walking on his way home, only about two blocks from his house on California street when he was attacked.

David had just passed the Mountain View Cemetery and was behind the tennis courts at Hunter Park coming up on the ball fields behind Walker School.

It was VERY dark at the time he was discovered by a passing bike rider and 911 was called at approximately 5:35 pm November 19 2011.

GrandmaBear · Feb 7, 2024

Red Clover said:
Grubbs was not killed on the Bear Creek Greenway. The Bear Creek Greenway and Central Bike Path in Ashland are not connected, they're about 1 mile apart physically.

From the northwest end of the Central Bike Path at A st & Oak st down Oak st to Nevada st to the (publicly owned) dog park in Ashland where the south end of the BCG begins.

They are not owned or maintained by the same agencies.

Grubbs was on what is known as the central bike path that follows the railroad tracks in Ashland from Oak st & A st southeast to Tolman Creek road .

Grubbs had just gotten off work around 5:00 pm from Shop N Kart, a grocery store where he worked as a clerk & stocker.

David was walking on his way home, only about two blocks from his house on California street when he was attacked.

David had just passed the Mountain View Cemetery and was behind the tennis courts at Hunter Park coming up on the ball fields behind Walker School.

It was VERY dark at the time he was discovered by a passing bike rider and 911 was called at approximately 5:35 pm November 19 2011.

So how lit? And it sounds like he is in town basically at this point? School, railroad tracks cemetery and so on. For some reason I was picturing some country setting, lol don't ask me why. And he left from store so of course we are in town not in the woods right? Paved trail?

Regina · Feb 7, 2024

Whatever the motive, right off the bat, it sounds like the poor guy was ambushed, possibly at random.
It wouldn't be unheard of and is usually committed by an individual with a mental illness.

I guess it's because it was outdoors that it strikes me as odd somehow that it was a rainy day.

GrandmaBear · Feb 7, 2024

Regina said:
Whatever the motive, right off the bat, it sounds like the poor guy was ambushed, possibly at random.
It wouldn't be unheard of and is usually committed by an individual with a mental illness.

I guess it's because it was outdoors that it strikes me as odd somehow that it was a rainy day.

It could well be random but it also could be that he was followed or that someone knew his routine and that he took this path. Even then the person could still be mentally ill (or not) and not know him at all, (or did), etc.

He was found after five but I don't recall what time he left work. For some reason, I would have thought this to be later at night.

Regina · Feb 7, 2024

GrandmaBear said:
It could well be random but it also could be that he was followed or that someone knew his routine and that he took this path. Even then the person could still be mentally ill (or not) and not know him at all, (or did), etc.

He was found after five but I don't recall what time he left work. For some reason, I would have thought this to be later at night.

It sounds like it was getting dark, if not dark already, when he was found but info is that he left work at about 5PM and that the 911 call was at 5:25PM.

Tresir · Feb 7, 2024

I just noticed he was murdered just 4 days before his birthday.

Red Clover · Feb 7, 2024

‘What should we save?’ In flight from southern Oregon wildfire, mother preserves memory of murdered son

“The communication really broke down in the fire in my opinion,” said Cherie Grubbs of Talent. “We could see flames. We could feel the heat of the flames. We got into our cars not knowing where to go.”

www.oregonlive.com

Cherie Grubbs wasn’t home when the call to evacuate spread through her neighborhood.

Grubbs' daughter had already been evacuated from her house in Ashland and sought refuge at Grubbs' place in nearby Talent. Now that, too, was unsafe.

Before heading out the door, she called her mother.

“What should we save?” she asked.

Looking back, Grubbs could have rattled off a list: important personal papers, her computer, her passport, books of poetry handed down from her grandmother, the journal her own mother had kept since she was a girl.

None of that crossed her mind.

“Anything of David’s,” she said.

It was all she had left of her son, killed nine years ago in a grisly attack that left him dead along a popular Ashland bike path. The murder remains unsolved.

Grubbs, 64, a retired nurse, has lived in Talent for three years. Like so many others, she’d been priced out of Ashland and lived a few miles north in a manufactured home community for people 55 and older. Mountain View Estates offered a swimming pool and club house.

The morning the fire began, Grubbs' partner, Daniel Verner, 74, was home. He lived next door to Grubbs.

Sometime before noon on the day after Labor Day a police officer banged on the door and told him to evacuate.

Verner was stunned.

“Evacuate?” he asked the officer. “Where?”

The officer stared at Verner for a moment.

“Drive toward Medford,” he said before dashing to the next house.

At Grubbs' house, her daughter was getting ready to evacuate. Together, Verner and Sarah Grubbs gathered up a few things, got into their cars and headed north.

In the distance along Bear Creek, thick clouds of smoke turned the morning sky to black.

They encountered clogged roads. Traffic inched along Oregon 99. The drive to Phoenix usually takes seven minutes. That morning, it took 45.

When it was over, nearly 3,000 homes in Jackson County had been reduced to ash.

Before he fled, Verner ducked into Grubbs' house. He collected a drawing that David Grubbs had done as a little boy and a framed program from his memorial service. The picture shows two of his handprints and a poem with a heart.

On Thursday, Grubbs and Verner spoke about their experience from an Ashland hotel, where they’re now staying until they can get on their feet.

Grubbs has insurance that will help cover her losses but she doesn’t know what’s next.

“There is a part of me – two very, very awful things have happened to me in the Rogue Valley – I am not sure I want to stay here,”

GrandmaBear · Feb 7, 2024

Regina said:
It sounds like it was getting dark, if not dark already, when he was found but info is that he left work at about 5PM and that the 911 call was at 5:25PM.

So it was sudden and over in no time flat basically. It would be dark imagine. It would be here on that date in November but we do DST, no sure what time OR is on.

Is the weapon known in this case? Are we talking a machete or something big... He was dismembered right to put it the nicest way I can think to... Head right? I really don't need details other than to know what it is the perp would have to do, what kind of weapon they'd have to have hauled with and so on. Pretty short time frame from leaving work and someone finding him...

Tresir · Feb 8, 2024

GrandmaBear said:
So it was sudden and over in no time flat basically. It would be dark imagine. It would be here on that date in November but we do DST, no sure what time OR is on.

Is the weapon known in this case? Are we talking a machete or something big... He was dismembered right to put it the nicest way I can think to... Head right? I really don't need details other than to know what it is the perp would have to do, what kind of weapon they'd have to have hauled with and so on. Pretty short time frame from leaving work and someone finding him...

Upthread I think it was described as a sharp edged weapon IIRC.

From the header post on the thread -

"David was 23 when he was attacked & killed by an unknown assailant while walking home from work along the central bike bath in Ashland Oregon near Hunter Park.

A sharp edged blade was used in the attack and David was nearly decapitated.

David was found by someone using the bike path at approximately 5:30 pm and 911 was called."

GrandmaBear · Feb 8, 2024

Tresir said:
Upthread I think it was described as a sharp edged weapon IIRC.

From the header post on the thread -

"David was 23 when he was attacked & killed by an unknown assailant while walking home from work along the central bike bath in Ashland Oregon near Hunter Park.

A sharp edged blade was used in the attack and David was nearly decapitated.

David was found by someone using the bike path at approximately 5:30 pm and 911 was called."

The reason I asked is because there have been a few really brutal cases with machetes used over the years and the ones I know of are often shut down out of news fast if they even make it into news and were illegal aliens/cartel.

Now I don't have a single reason to think that was the weapon here but clearly someone had strength, intent and quite a weapon to nearly sever his head in that short of a time period.

Again I really don't have any reason for thinking such but just wonder about running around with probably a fairly sizable sharp weapon. I guess it could be a large blade easily concealed but I think of a machete with just the act that was done... Not so easily concealed.

I really don't have a single point. Just trying to know the details to even figure this one... It would be bloody I'd think with a good change of cutting self if you quickly did such UNLESS again something like a machete where you don't probably get near the blade, you just swing...

I don't like the thoughts but it just seems to me there'd be blood evidence and more here and I wonder what they collected that could maybe be tested now with advanced tech...?

Also was this kind of a brutal gruesome crime the only one around here ever...? Anyone known to have some type of blade or weapon that could decapitate easily...? Anyone just released from prison...?

Again, no point, I have no direction, just wondering with a lot of questions...

Tresir · Feb 9, 2024

GrandmaBear said:
The reason I asked is because there have been a few really brutal cases with machetes used over the years and the ones I know of are often shut down out of news fast if they even make it into news and were illegal aliens/cartel.

Now I don't have a single reason to think that was the weapon here but clearly someone had strength, intent and quite a weapon to nearly sever his head in that short of a time period.

Again I really don't have any reason for thinking such but just wonder about running around with probably a fairly sizable sharp weapon. I guess it could be a large blade easily concealed but I think of a machete with just the act that was done... Not so easily concealed.

I really don't have a single point. Just trying to know the details to even figure this one... It would be bloody I'd think with a good change of cutting self if you quickly did such UNLESS again something like a machete where you don't probably get near the blad, you just swing...

I don't like the thoughts but it just seems to me there'd be blood evidence and more here and I wonder what they collected that could maybe be tested now with advanced tech...?

Also was this kind of a brutal gruesome crime the only one around here ever...? Anyone know to have some type of blade or weapon that could decapitate easily...? Anyone just released from prison...?

Again, no point, I have no direction, just wondering with a lot of questions...

I thought of a machete and I also wondered if they approached him from behind on a bike and it was a sudden random attack. LE would know if he had any defensive wounds to his arms too. There seems to be no motive IMO.

Regina · Feb 9, 2024

GrandmaBear said:
Is the weapon known in this case? Are we talking a machete or something big... He was dismembered right to put it the nicest way I can think to... Head right? I really don't need details other than to know what it is the perp would have to do, what kind of weapon they'd have to have hauled with and so on. Pretty short time frame from leaving work and someone finding him...

If police said what type of weapon, I don't remember.
Info is that there was a "near decapitation" and all that's needed to inflict that type of injury is a sharp knife but if he sustained any other knife injury/injuries, that could help indicate the type of knife.
Indeed, very short time frame! It appears he'd have no sooner arrived at that area of the path that he was attacked.

GrandmaBear · Feb 9, 2024

Tresir said:
I thought of a machete and I also wondered if they approached him from behind on a bike and it was a sudden random attack. LE would know if he had any defensive wounds to his arms too. There seems to be no motive IMO.

Yeah machete just kind of stands there in my mind, I can't shake it. The bike idea makes sense and I wonder if it is possible to ride up and with one big swing accomplish this without getting off the bike whether a kiife, sword or machete. What about sword? It would have to be razor sharp I'd think. Of course the person could have gotten off the bike or even ran up on foot. The problem with machete is one could conceal one easily in a car but not on a bike or on foot. Not with a sword either. I wonder if it's legal to carry such things...? A machete is a tool and in most states it is legal to carry knives to my knowledge.

It certainly seems/feels like a random attack but of course we have no way of knowing that either. Since this was a routine of David's, it could just as easily have been planned. IF random, I'd say there is 99 percent certainty the person killed before and has done so again after as well unless David was the first. I don't see someone randomly killing only once if they had no reason to kill the particular individual. In that case, I'd think there are other such crimes on that trail or others not even in the same area. I'd also think the individual would always carry whatever kind of blade this was and be known to unless again it was small enough to be concealed but it's hard to believe it is very small to accomplish such in such short time...

Yeah, it would be good to know if there was any short fight or struggle, bruises from being held or hit, etc. It was so quick, one would almost think someone just ran or biked up, swung the weapon and left... And again when I say that, a man with a machete or sword being swung comes into my mind...

Now that I think of it, he was near roads wasn't he, and not far from home? Maybe the person could have been in a car with such a weapon nearby and awaiting him...? You could then conceal the weapon until time and if dark, low chance of being seen perhaps... That though would likely mean premeditated and him the intended victim...

GrandmaBear · Feb 9, 2024

Regina said:
If police said what type of weapon, I don't remember.
Info is that there was a "near decapitation" and all that's needed to inflict that type of injury is a sharp knife but if he sustained any other knife injury/injuries, that could help indicate the type of knife.
Indeed, very short time frame! It appears he'd have no sooner arrived at that area of the path that he was attacked.

I just remember it said it was something with a very sharp blade. Can't recall if an article said that or maybe Red Clover told us. Probably the first info on it here I am thinking provided that. I don't think the type of weapon other than that was stated, if they even know...

Yes, this seems extremely quick and efficient. I guess it could have been more time than we are thinking but not very darned long to be found that quickly after leaving work. Another biker happened on him so quickly too I'd wonder how busy that trail was at that time and that would seem to suggest the perp could have easily been caught doing this had another biker or walker come along just minutes earlier... It is a no brainer to wonder if they questioned the biker that found him...? I mean it could be the actual perp, just due to time frame, they'd have to consider that I'd think.

And then, did he leave the scene with the weapon. And again I picture a large weapon, not easily concealed... Or did he toss it somewhere and did they search hard I'd hope..

Details are gruesome in this one and I dislike talking of them out of respect, but I will say the only thing good (and that's certainly not the right word) is he likely hardly ever knew what was coming, nor suffered. I would hope.

Tresir · Feb 26, 2024

Regina said:
It sounds like it was getting dark, if not dark already, when he was found but info is that he left work at about 5PM and that the 911 call was at 5:25PM.

Kimster recently said on Troy's thread that around 1st Sept it would get dark at about 8 pm. This was Nov 19th so 8 weeks since the equinox on 21 Sept and only about 4 weeks till the shortest day on 21 Dec so getting dark around 5 pm would be my guess. I am wondering if it was two people on a bicycle with the pillion passenger wielding the weapon?

DAVID GRUBBS: Attacked & killed walking home from work on the bike path in Ashland, OR - 19 November 2011

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