Good shot Francisco.

to all who read this story, and thats what it is, is a story!! the news and the investigators are wrong about what happened on that property that morning. Dennis Lee Grider was a loving father, a vietnam vet of 2 tours, and a survivalist(meaning he wanted to live off the land as much as possible but still had ties with the world. He was moving off that property that weekend, but i guess that francisco and dominico wanted him off sooner. now a lot of stuff went down on that property a week or two before this tragedy. Dominico and francisco where suppose to be looking after some horses for a mutual friend of theirs and dennis's but had neglected them enoughto where the mutual friend has to put one down and have the others looked at by a vet to see what could be done for them. Now when i mentioned that dennis was a survivalist, he had a garden set up next to the trailer he was killed by, and he had told me as well as his daughters that the horses where getting into his garden and eating everything cause franco and dom where starving them so dennis bought some scare shot to chase them off. Now saying that thats probably what brought them all to be armed at that moment on the property at the same time. there is more to this story that led up to this MURDER! and thats what it is plain and simple, and for those who dought , get the whole story before you pass judgement, cause when you assume you make an A$$ out of you!!!

        & nbsp;       &n bsp;       &nb sp;       &nbs p;         ;                 & nbsp;       &n bsp;       &nb sp;       &nbs p;     THANX    BIG  D.

Thank you for the TRUE story!!! You could really teach those dumb homicide investigators something.

they aren't listening! they can't answer a simple question, Why did dominico and francisco go up to dennis's camp site? and why did they go armed. I know why dennis was armed, cause you don't go any where out of your area, meaning into the wild, without a gun due to bears and mountain lion. but why did they walk the 200 yards up the hill to where dennis was camped that morning,,, Armed! Dennis was leaving the property the next day due to disputes between dennis and the other two men. the owner dominico was making petty complaints against dennis to the sherriffs office, but dennis was never arrested for the complaints, instead the deputy had dennis agree to leave the property by 8/26/08 because even the deputy thought that the owner and his father wher being petty as well. i'm telling you its a conspericy, and two men are getting away with murder, due to bad investigating, and poor judgement! i do wish someone could look in to this further, for the sake of closer for his family.

the detective told me that there's no way that the two men could come up with an air tight story and make all the evidence match as well, but i say if he thinks that way then he's a rookie, no one, and i mean no one can ever say that it can't happen cause the human mind is capable of just about anything, and for them not to look any futher than those two men and dennis's ex wife who lives in utah, and say that its justifiable homicide. I'm sorry but this case stinks of b.s. and neglect.

My name is Karen Grider. I am Dennis' widow, not his ex wife. Yes, we were estranged at the time of his death, I left the mountain in January and went to Utah to be with my daughter. The reason I left was because his verbal and emotional abuse of me escalated to physical. I had hoped he would get professional help when I left. This is the first point I wanted to address,there are several more to follow.

The second point I would like to clear up is drenolds is not the one writing these comments.  drenolds is an articulate and well educated person who can form a proper sentence and punctuate same. The person representing himself as drenolds is someone who did not know Dennis as well as they claim.

As for being a loving father, I don't know about the younger years but he didn't want to stop several times when we were in the town where his daughters lived. I was the one who made birthday and holiday calls to his daughters and grandchildren. 

Per Deputy Sam Smith, Dennis had been ordered to leave Domenico's property by the 23rd, and had taken no action to leave at the time he was shot, 22 Sept.  There was no evidence that he planned to leave at all. There were several reasons for his being asked to leave.  Among them, threats of bodily harm to neighbors, willful damage to private property, and starting large fires in violation of fire safety laws. These are just some of the "Petty Complaints" that were being made.  Given the amount of alcohol he was in the habit of consuming, Dennis' actions were not to be trusted.

As for the horses, I do not know if their maltreatment occurred before or after the shooting.  I do know that there was a fence around the site where Dennis staying .  If horses were getting into his garden, I would wonder why he didn't simply close the gate?  I do know that the garden appeared tended, and there was produce lying around the site.

To answer your "simple question", the reason they went up there, was to  ask Dennis to put out the fire he had started.  Dennis had been asked repeatedly, not to start fires due to the dry conditions.  Part of his "survivalist" mentality was to start large fires, drink beer, and fire his weapons.  The reason they were armed; he had made several threats against them and others that crossed his path.  He threatened Domenico with his weapon.  Franco took the threat seriously, and responded. 

dreynolds is correct in one respect.  Had Dennis shown good judgment, he might still be alive today.  I'm sure dreynolds is not basing his/her comments on a fair and thorough investigation, but on personal feelings and a need to prove they know more than they really do. I see this as an attempt to get their 15 minutes of fame.

 As his wife I have talked with the investigating detectives, the local Sheriffs deputies, the coroners office, as well as several of Dennis' neighbors concerning his behavior prior to this incident.  This is something that has been building up ever since he lost the land he was on.

"The human mind is capable of just about anything", is right.  Dreynolds believes that Dennis' neighbors, the entire Sheriffs Office, and the media are all part of a "conspiracy" to murder Dennis.

Dennis was troubled man who refused help and allowed things to get out of hand.  I pray that his personal demons are gone and that he is at peace.  He wasn't always the person that he became during the last year.

Wonder if these 2 guys were paid off by someone who wanted to get even?   Just sayin.........

Kgrider, I am sorry for all you have been through.  Sometimes things happen in someones mind and it is hard to understand. I hope that you are not feeling the guilt.  There may be several factors that affected your husband and we will never know.  The mind is a funny thing.  Please do not take to heart what the bloggers say.  In most cases they just want to be smarter and whitier than the others.  I do applaud you for leaving an abusive situation but, I know the hope was always there that things would change.  There is a reason that you were in his life and I know by your comment that you gave him all the support you could until it consumed your life.  We love a person for what they are "most" of the time hold their hand during the bad times.  I get the feeling that you are still holding his hand and God Bless you for that.  Be strong and remember the good times.  Laugh a little and cry a lot.  Time will heal but you can never forget.  Keep the memories good and bad and grow from them.

I've been there.

to kgrider: the reason dennis never just stopped in on his daughters is cause of his exwife(daughters real mom) and his feeling for her and not wanting to see her, not to mention he understood that they had their life and schedules as well so don't blog and tell lies Mrs. grider, the only reason that remains is cause dennis never filed the paperwork. And by the way what does what happened between you and him on another property have to do with this, besides it was your impatients that lost that property not dennis. Oh by the way are you going to give his grieving daughters any of his stuff or are you that bitter that your taking all of it? just curious?

I'm not saying that the man was a saint !, i'm telling you all now that dennis would not point a gun at anyone unless they pointed first! i dont care what his widow has to say cause she was off the mountaine for a while and living in utah when all this happened. or are dennis's suspicions right that his widow was in contact with dominico before all of this, wich would probably provoke paranoia in dennis. cause he wanted to be left alone after she left, Hell! he wanted to be left alone when she tracked him down. not to mention that Mrs. grider was conversating with Dom and Frankcisco when dennis's daughters showed up with a deputy to the property to see if they could find dennis's will and get some of his things, she(Mrs. grider) was agitated that they where there and she didn't want them to go up to his camp site. WHY?  and the only reason that nothing was broken down at his camp site to be moved is cause he was doing it that day that morning, and his friend was suppose to come and help him move everything in one shot, his delay was his friend getting time of to help. if dennis was paranoid about dom then he wouldn't try to move one piece at a time in fear of them locking the gate on him or damage to his stuff in retaliation for the domestic disputes, and as for his alchohol consumption, uh! it was 9am not 9pm when this happen!

hey bye the way don't critisize my writing if you cant spell urself! and yes this is D Reynolds, and you don't know me at all! you've met me once to my face and for a brief time, doesn't mean you know me. oh so no one gets it wrong, i'm an goodfella!, and i'm no saint either! so fire away with your patronistic tone, it has no effect on me cause this isn't about me or 15 minute if fame! the nerve of some people! you know i could sit here and get personal ALL DAY!, but its a waste of time, all that we are asking for is justice and closer on this matter, Mrs. Grider went and got what she came for, Which was everything she could get her hands on that she believed was hers, which some of it wasn't, but what do i know! cause i didn't know dennis!,,, for 12 years,,,,nope didn't know him!!!....(EXTREME SARCASM!!!!)

This will be my final response.  I will not justify the remarks of people who didn't really know my husband.  I will only try to let people understand the Dennis I once knew. We met in 1967 and he was my first love. As any woman can tell you, you never forget the boy who first takes your heart.  Dennis was a quiet, loving boy then.  We were inseparable for nearly a year.  In May of 1968 our mutual friend and her sons were violently killed and this had a lasting affect on him and I both.  I saw him the last time then in the end of 1968, he came to say goodbye when he decided to join the service.  He told me he came home on leave and looked for me, but my family and I had moved. 

The next time I saw him was Feb. of 2005.  I had begun to investigate the crime I mentioned above.  I contacted Dennis to try to get more facts about that night in '68' and we started seeing each other again.  I will remember the beginning of our new relationship.  As time passed I began to realize he had several past hurts that were eating at his mind and soul.  I held him through nightmares of the war, and past relationships.  I tried to get him to go for help, but he refused.  Only once did I get him to a therapist, and he would not go back. 

We moved out to the mountain seeking peace and I had hoped he finally found it.  He still drank from 7:00 am until he passed out at night.  He would build large fires and pass out in a chair outside.  When . he got angry he would shoot off his guns randomly.  He talked constantly about showdowns with anyone who challenged him, and would say they better bring enough body bags for themselves and him.

I want to thank everyone who helped me deal with the aftermath of this incident.  I also want to thank the people who supported me emotionally.  I loved Dennis with all my heart, people need to understand this.  I only left when I feared for my own safety.  I hope the demons have left him and that he is finally at peace.  I will always hold in my heart the love we had, and forgive with understanding the part that went bad.  I will miss the friendship of his daughters and the fun of his grandchildren.  I am truly sorry I couldn't help him more. 

it matters none now what anyone says because he's gone and no matter how much we get personal about this it isn't going to bring him back, but he can be vendicated,... through justice!

what goes around comes around............. KARMA IS A WITCH, JUST CHANGE THE W TO A B!! At least the thing that meant the most to him on that mountain was retrieved.