Coroner: Man who ran over mother with car killed self in jail

YORK COUNTY, SC (WBTV) - On Tuesday, December 3, the York County Coroner released the results of the autopsy for a man who died behind bars after he was charged with killing his mother by running over her with a car.

In October, deputies announced 34-year-old Josh Matthew Grose died from self-inflicted injuries while being held on a murder charge. Grose was found unresponsive and taken to the hospital.

York County Sheriff's Office Spokesperson Trent Faris said Grose showed signs of trouble in his cell.

"Early this morning Mr. Grose attempted to drown himself in his cell toilet, and he also hit his head on his cell wall several times," Faris said.

Detention officers responded by putting Grose in a special restraint chair.

"At that time officers noticed a laceration on the back of Mr. Grose's head. EMS was called to assess his injuries," said Faris.

No stitches were needed.

About an hour later, "During normal rounds, detention officers found Mr. Grose unresponsive. CPR was immediately performed, and EMS was called back to the Detention Center at 2:20 a.m."

Grose was transported from the county lockup to Piedmont Medical Center and was pronounced dead shortly after his arrival.

Preliminary findings were that Grose died of blunt force trauma to the head.

Findings released in early December go into more detail. According to a report from the York County Coroner's Office, "…The cause of death is closed head injury including subdural, subarachnoid and intraparenchymal hemorrhage due to blunt force trauma to the head. Manner of death is suicide."

Grose was being held after a murder charge in the deaths of Sandra Thomas and his mother Sandy Grose. Detectives said they believed Grose was responsible for both deaths, and that the women were killed after being hit by a car. No motive has been released.

Sandy Grose was employed at Rock Hill's All American Martial Arts Studio. Owner Randy Cornell talked to WBTV.

"She did talk to me about him," Cornell said."She was always having a some kind of a problem. I begged her to tell him to move out."

Officials said a third person was assaulted in connection with the homicides. That person is expected to be OK.

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