SPRINGFIELD, Ore. – Detectives have identified the man responsible for killing 33-year-old Joni Marie Grigsby, whose body was found along the river outside Springfield on June 2, 1995.
Grigsby’s body was discovered just after 9 p.m. Lane County Sheriff’s Office detectives investigated her death and ruled it a homicide. Over time, every lead ran cold as investigative tools at the time were not what they are today. Cold case detectives continued working on the case for years. In 2023, they sent DNA samples from the crime scene to an outside laboratory for testing. The results narrowed the field of suspects to a small handful. Detectives learned that one of the suspects, Roy C. Gomes, was shot and killed by Sacramento Police on March 5, 2004, during a violent confrontation. Gomes was on parole at the time of the shooting.
During Gomes’ autopsy, a sample of his DNA was taken. Cold case detectives obtained a copy of Gomes’ DNA sample and submitted it for comparison against the samples from the crime scene…