Sheriff’s Office announces missing woman’s death to be a homicide

The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office announced Oct. 8 that Crystal Grubb, 29, was murdered.

She was reported missing Sept. 19, and her body was found Oct. 1 in a cornfield off of North Showers Road in northern Monroe County.

Monroe County Coroner Nicole Meyer identified the body as Grubb and said she was murdered, according to a press release from Chief Deputy Michael Pershing of the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.

Bloomington Police Department, Monroe County Sheriff’s Office and Monroe County Coroner’s Office are investigating the homicide together.

Police are looking for a white male who was driving a small red car in the area of North Showers Road in the late evening of Sept. 18, according to the press release.

If the public has any information regarding this or any aspect of the case, please call the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office at 812-349-2780 or the Bloomington Police Department at 812-339-4477.

The following timeline of events is according to Bloomington Police Department Lt. David Drake.

Sept. 19

Crystal Grubb’s mother, Janice, reported Crystal missing to BPD at 7:29 p.m. 

Janice Grubb told officers she had talked to Crystal’s boyfriend, who said he and Crystal had been at the Dog Park at Griffy Lake Nature Preserve with two other men on the evening of Sept. 18 when Crystal got mad and walked off into the woods, and that was the last time he had seen or heard from her.

Several officers went to the Dog Park area to conduct a search but were not able to locate anything.    

Sept. 20

Several officers returned in the morning to continue to search the Dog Park area and woods for several hours until there was a change in the story.

A detective who interviewed the three men who were reportedly with Grubb the day she disappeared, said the men had changed their story. The men said they had actually been in the woods near an old water treatment facility in the 5500 block of North Business 37.

Officers then went to that area and searched for several hours, but failed to locate her. The area is densely wooded, with heavy brush and very rugged terrain, with deep ravines and steep drop-offs.

Sept. 22 

Officers returned to the area of North Business 37 with volunteers and search dogs at 8 a.m. and searched until approximately 2 p.m. without success.

Sept. 25

An Ind. Conservation Officer searched portions of Griffy Lake by boat.

Sept. 27

Officers returned to the location in the 5500 block of North Business 37 and expanded their search to the north and west. Nothing was found.

Sept. 30

Officers and volunteers with dogs searched the area of the north side of Griffy Lake and the woods to the north of that location, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.. The searchers did not find anything.

Oct. 1

Grubb’s body was discovered in northern Monroe County.

Oct. 8

The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office announced Grubb was murdered. Police are continuing to investigate the homicide.

- Alex Benson