Man slept above girlfriend's rotting body for 10 days after disgusting act

A man has been sentenced to death after the body of his girlfriend was discovered buried in soil in the crawl space under his home.

Marissa Grimes was just 26 when she was last seen alive. She went to say goodbye to her abusive boyfriend Valerian 'Will' O'Steen, 28, because she was planning to move away from him.

But O'Steen's violence escalated and he stole Marissa's life in an unthinkable act of rage. After he tortured andkilledthe mum, he hid her corpse and continued to live and sleep in the house.

When Marissa's abandoned vehicle was found near his property, police executed a search warrant and found her decomposing body ten days later.

The couple had been involved in a relationship and he had previously been abusive towards the mum of three young children. Prosecutors argued he had motive, opportunity and the desire to kill her.

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According to People Magazine, prosecutors stated in a press release that before her death in February 2022, the Texan man had "threatened to kill her" and refused to let her leave his home. Brave Marissa managed to message her mum, who alerted police, in a bid to escape his torment.

O'Steen was arrested and charged with domestic violence. A GPS monitor was placed on his ankle and he was ordered to stay away from her.

Prosecutors claimed this angered him and he wanted the monitor removed. "He told people that he was going to kill Grimes," the release stated.

Following the incident her family convinced her to move to West Texas but the couple were apparently seen talking and texting each other. On the night she was due to leave she went to say her goodbyes but the pair went to see a neighbour together instead.

"That goodbye turned into an evening where Grimes and O'Steen visited one of O'Steen's neighbors, who saw O'Steen threaten Grimes with a gun. That was the last time Grimes was seen alive," the release stated.

Her truck was found about a mile from his house on February 21. The following day police made the grim discovery in O'Steen's house. They found an entry to the space in a bedroom cupboard.

A SWAT officer looked down into it, saw a mound of earth and smelt decomposition, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Grimes' body was wrapped in a blanket and tarpaulin in the space under his rented home in Fort Worth. Prosecutors said she had been tortured and beaten to death.

She had multiple lacerations to her head, two black eyes, and a broken arm, ribs and nose. Her hair was also cut short in some areas.

"There was one person with the motive, opportunity, and the desire to kill Marissa Grimes," prosecutor Allenna Bangs said. A Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office pathologist determined that her death was a homicide caused by blunt force trauma to the head.

O'Steen testified during the trial at the Fort Worth District Court and denied that he killed Grimes. On 22 September 2025 a jury found him guilty of murder and Tarrant County District Attorney Phil Sorrells made the final decision to seek the death penalty.

After the verdict was read and Judge Ryan Hill pronounced the sentence, Grimes' father spoke to O'Steen, who was said to have no physical reaction to the death sentence. "You had no right to take away my daughter's life," Daryl Grimes said. "You had no right to take away the mother of those boys."

If you or someone you know is the victim of domestic abuse, help and advice is available from the National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0800 2000 247.