Indiana woman's family seeking justice 8 years after death
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) - Eight years ago, the body of Crystal Grubb was discovered by a farmer harvesting corn in northern Monroe County on the first day of October. The 29-year-old mother of two had been strangled to death.
After all these years, the case has yet to be solved.
And after all these years, the tradition of a walk every Oct. 1 to remember Crystal and her unsolved murder continues. Friends and family members stood in Peoples Park with Janice Grubb, the slain woman's mother, as the walk for justice set off.
This year, a heart condition kept Grubb from walking, and at times, she expressed doubt about organizing justice walks in the future. Grubb has suffered more loss this year. Her pain, unbearable.
Her husband of 36 years, Timmy Grubb, lost his battle with cancer in January. Then, the father of Crystal's daughters, Tony Williams, died from the same type of cancer in August.
She's frustrated that her daughter's murder case hasn't been solved after eight years. She hasn't heard from Monroe County sheriff's detectives in months.
"It can happen to anybody else's kid. It's got to stop. This is sickening for all these girls out here," Janice Grubb said.
"In Crystal's name it's got to stop."
She is not seeking justice just for her daughter's case, but for other families whose daughters have met with tragic and mysterious ends.
The annual walk starts each year at Peoples Parks, continues along Kirkwood Avenue and goes by the Zietlow Justice Center and Monroe County Jail.
The marchers pass Smallwood Plaza and Kilroy's Sports Bar to honor missing Indiana University student Lauren Spierer, who vanished on June 3, 2011.
Last year, the marchers remembered Delphi teenagers Libby German and Abby Williams, who were killed while on an afternoon walk along a railroad trail. Their bodies were discovered on Valentine's Day 2017, and their murders remain unsolved.
Grubb last saw her daughter alive the evening of Sept. 18, 2010, and reported Crystal missing when she didn't call or return home to her daughters, Abby and Rose Williams, who are now 14 and 10.
Monroe County investigators say Crystal was in the company of her boyfriend and two other men, making methamphetamine on the banks of Bean Blossom Creek. Crystal was found 13 days later, strangled and left in a cornfield. No one has been charged in connection with her death.
By the walk's end as marchers returned to Peoples Park, Janice Grubb spoke with a small group of Indiana University students who wandered into the park to see what was going on.
She told them about Crystal and warned them that, sometimes, bad things happen to women in this town. Things that go unsolved for years and years.
The IU students listened, really listened, Janice Grubb said. They thanked her for being at the park and for telling Crystal's story.
She reconsidered giving up. Perhaps she will march for Crystal next October after all.
__
Source: The Herald-Times
___
Information from: The Herald Times, http://www.heraldtimesonline.com