Clerk decapitated: FBI specialists take on unsolved Oregon murder

By The Associated Press Published: Jun 13, 2012 at 1:58 PM PDT
Clerk decapitated: FBI specialists take on unsolved Oregon murder
In this photo taken Dec. 1, 2011, a small group gathers around a memorial to David Grubbs after participating in a solidarity walk to “reclaim” the bike path for Ashland, Ore. residents. Investigators have talked to some 300 people over the past three weeks without finding anyone to shed light on the near-decapitation of a grocery store clerk on a bike path through Ashland, police said Monday. (AP Photo/Mail Tribune, Jamie Lusch)

ASHLAND, Ore. (AP) — FBI specialists in high-profile serial killers have agreed to take a look at the investigation into the slaying of an Ashland grocery clerk who was nearly decapitated last year along a trail.

The killing of 23-year-old David Grubbs has stumped the local department, and Chief Terry Holderness said he's hoping the review by one of the agency's Behavior Analysis Units will yield a profile of a potential suspect.

Grubbs was found Nov. 19 on the Central Ashland Bike Path. It was dusk, and he had been going home from work.

Grubbs was cut multiple times, and the crime shocked the normally placid tourist and university town in southern Oregon.

Deputy Chief Corey Falls and Detective Carrie Hull will give a presentation July 3 at an FBI training facility at Quantico, Va., Holderness told the Ashland Daily Tidings.

The FBI officers will deliver their findings a few weeks later, he said.

Behavior Analysis Units usually work high-profile serial killings and normally don't take cases such as the Grubbs slaying that involve a single victim, Holderness said.

"I don't know of any other southern Oregon case that's even been presented to them," Holderness said. "Given the level of violence and totality of the case, they agreed."

Besides a profile, Holderness said, the review could "reveal if there's something else we should have done or could do."

"It's an intense round of questioning after the formal presentation," he said. He said the officers have been preparing the presentation for a month.

He said one officer will be training at Quantico, with the FBI paying for the travel, and the Ashland department will foot the bill for the other's travel.

A reward of more than $21,000 has been offered.

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Information from: The Ashland Daily Tidings, http://www.dailytidings.com

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press