Bryan Grove said he grabbed Linda Damm by the throat and restrained her against the wall in her bedroom as she fought back, hitting him on the head. He then forced her, face down, onto the bed, got on top of her and placed her in a chokehold with his arm around her neck. When she went unconscious, he told police, he rolled her over onto her back. Damm was still breathing, so Grove said he picked up a Harley-Davidson knife and stabbed her in the neck so deep that he couldn't remove it. He then got a larger, kitchen-type knife and stabbed her multiple times in the neck, using a twisting motion to cause more damage, Grove told police. Grove said he plunged the knife into her mouth to the back of her throat until she was dead, the reports said. Smith said when he returned to the house moments later, he told Grove he didn't want to be involved, but Grove responded that Smith already was. The two then wrapped Damm's body in blankets and put it in the back of the Subaru. At one point, Grove told police he thought about cutting up the body to dispose of it, but he gave up after trying to sever her right leg at the thigh.
Tess Damm said she then washed some of Grove's soiled clothes, and they burned some of the bloody sheets in the backyard. She said she didn't want to call police because she didn't want to get in trouble.
Grove's father, Kenneth Grove, told police that he knew Linda Damm didn't like having his older son living in their house, but she knew Tess would have left if he wasn't there and so she allowed him to stay.