Roommates arrested, confessed to bludgeoning couple to death in sleep over heroin dispute
Roommates arrested, confessed to bludgeoning couple to death in sleep over heroin dispute
Investigators believe the suspects continued to live in the apartment for days after committing the double murder on September 21, with the victims’ bodies wrapped in separate bedspreads and hidden in a closet under a pile of trash until they were found Sunday morning.
Griswold and Gray, whom police had been searching for since Saturday, were located Monday afternoon at a homeless camp at Harding Place and Trousdale Drive, not far from the Radnor Yard railroad depot, according a press release from the Nashville Police Department.
Police had received a tip that the wanted couple were seen walking along the tracks earlier that day. They arrived at a parking lot outside the restaurant Mamma Mia’s, where they came upon the wanted couple.
During the arrest, Griwold initially claimed he was someone else, but officers recognized him.
The man and his girlfriend will each face two counts of criminal homicide. It’s unclear whether they have attorneys.
An autopsy performed Monday found the cause of death to be blunt force trauma.
The bodies of Claybrooks and Grubbs were discovered at the Howe Garden Apartments in the 1900 block of Greenwood Avenue at around 2am Sunday, according to The Tennessean.
Police got a call from Claybrooks’ mother Saturday morning reporting an odor of decomposition coming from a a first-floor apartment inside the housing complex. Other neighbors later said they too sensed a foul stench wafting from the unit.
The woman had gone to the apartment knowing her son had ties there. The 24-year-old and his girlfriend had been reported missing last Thursday.
Officers who responded to the scene entered the unit only to discover what has been described as a gruesome scene inside a large closet.
Police said the evidence shows the crime was ‘extremely violent’ and those responsible attempted to clean up afterwards.
Elizabeth Fletcher, 63, Claybrooks’ grandmother who helped raise him, told The Tennessean she and other family members gathered outside the unit Sunday as police sorted through the crime scene.
‘They just said there was a lot of blood in there,’ she recalled. ‘I was just in a daze. They said they wouldn’t really know whose blood it was until they do a DNA test.’
Fletcher added that she last spoke to her grandson over the phone September 20. During the conversation, the 24-year-old mentioned that he had gotten a new apartment, but the lease was in someone else’s name.
‘I just can’t think of anyone who would want to harm my grandson,’ Fletcher said.
According to her Facebook page, Grubbs worked as a server at Ruby Tuesday. She and Claybrooks are survived by two young children, a boy and a girl, who were staying with family at the time of the murders.
