'I don't really understand where her head was at'

PORTLAND, Ore. – The husband of admitted murderer Holly Grigsby said he doesn’t understand why she would commit such a crime.

“Something happened to her,” said Grigsby’s husband Dannel Larson. “Something had to have happened to cause her to do what she did.”

“I don’t really understand where her head was at.”

Larson spoke with KATU News Wednesday. He said he and Grigsby are separated but still legally married. Grigsby never changed her last name.

The couple has a 2-year-old son named Danny.

Larson said Grigsby called him Wednesday morning from jail in California. He would not say what they discussed, but said he has no plans to visit her there.

Larson said he’s been with his wife for five years. They agreed to separate roughly a month ago, and Larson said he’s shocked at what quickly transpired after their separation.

“It all happened so fast,” said Larson. “It’s like right when we broke up this all just took off the next day.”

“We decided to split and co-parent and it’s like the very next minute all of this stuff starts happening," he added.

Grigsby, 24, and her boyfriend, 31-year-old David “Joey” Pedersen, are suspects in a murder spree that left four people dead in three western states.

The couple, who have expressed white supremacist beliefs, are suspected of killing Pedersen’s father, David “Red” Pedersen, and his wife Leslie in Everett Wash.

Police also say they murdered two other men: 19-year-old Cody Myers, a Christian man who they thought was Jewish, and 53-year-old Reginald Allen Clark, a black man who lived in Eureka, Calif.

Pedersen and Grigsby were arrested along a California highway last week north of Sacramento. They are expected to return to Washington within a month to face charged that could bring the death penalty.

Police said they admitted to all four killings.

According to a prosecutor’s affidavit, Grigsby told police she and Pedersen were heading to Sacramento, Calif., to “kill more Jews.”

Larson said police contacted him two weeks ago when they were looking for Pedersen and Grigsby. He told KATU News he doesn’t really know Pedersen and he wonders why he destroyed Grigsby’s life.

“I guess he grew up in prison, so for him that’s going back home. But Holly’s only done like three years altogether,” Larson said.

Larson said he feels for the victims, including his own son.

“He doesn’t have a mom no more,” said Larson. “Thank God he’s as young as he is because I’ve got a lot of years to figure out what I’m going to say to him.”