Left: Marissa Grimes (Lucas Funerals and Cremations). Right: Valerian Osteen (Tarrant County Corrections Center).
A Texas man found guilty of murdering a woman who was trying to escape from him was sentenced to death.
In a press release posted on social media on Monday, the Tarrant County District Attorney”s Office announced that 28-year-old Valerian Osteen received the death penalty after being found guilty of murdering 26-year-old Marissa Grimes in 2022. Grimes, a mother of two young children, went missing after she paid one final visit to Osteen before moving out of the area. The former couple had a history of domestic violence, and according to the DA’s office, Osteen was angry that he was being forced to wear a GPS monitor after Grimes got the police involved.
On Feb. 12, 2022, Grimes had packed a U-Haul truck and was paying Osteen one last visit to say goodbye. That night, a neighbor witnessed Osteen threaten Grimes with a gun. It was the last time she was seen alive.
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Grimes’ family reported her missing, and days after she visited Osteen’s home, the U-Haul containing her belongings was found abandoned. A search warrant was executed at Osteen’s home, and police eventually found Grimes’ body, “wrapped in blankets and a tarp in the crawl space.”
During the trial, prosecutors said Osteen “dug her a shallow grave and lived above her for 10 days.” Her body was found to have bruising and several broken bones, including two black eyes and “[m]ultiple lacerations to her head.” Her hair had been chopped off. Grimes was “beaten to death. She had been tortured.”
As Law&Crime previously reported, authorities said that a month before Grimes was found dead, Osteen had allegedly held her in his home for several days at gunpoint, refusing to let her leave. When police became involved, Osteen was arrested and charged with aggravated assault and unlawful restraint. At the time of Grimes’ murder, Osteen was out on bond.
Days after Grimes was last seen, another woman told police that Osteen had allegedly held her at his home, assaulted her, and threatened to shoot her. She told police she saw blood in the home, and Osteen said it was from another man he tortured.
A jury decided that Osteen deserved the maximum penalty for his crime and sentenced him to death.
