A police investigation into a missing person took a tragic and violent turn in rural southern Oregon, ending with the deaths of three family members, including 73-year-old Rick Odom. The series of grim discoveries began to unfold on October 6, 2026, at a home in Josephine County.
The case started with a different member of the Odom family. On October 1, Rick’s younger brother, 67-year-old Andrew Forrest Odom of Incline Village, Nevada, was reported missing to the Medford Police
Department. The investigation revealed that Andrew had traveled from Carson City, Nevada, to Medford on September 21, and his last known location was in Josephine County on September 22. As police looked into his disappearance, they uncovered unspecified "suspicious circumstances," which prompted them to transfer the case to the Oregon State Police (OSP) and activate the Josephine County Major Crime Team.
On the morning of Tuesday, October 6, OSP detectives arrived at a property in the 10000 block of Williams Highway, located between the communities of Murphy and Provolt, to conduct a follow-up interview. There, they made contact with Rick's son, 40-year-old Spencer Odom. During the interaction, Spencer fled into the residence and began firing a gun at the detectives. None of the officers were injured. The shooting immediately triggered a large-scale tactical response, with the Grants Pass Police Department and the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office establishing a perimeter and treating the situation as a standoff with a barricaded subject.
After the residence was secured and cleared by law enforcement, officers made a devastating discovery inside. They found two men, Rick Odom and his son, Spencer, both dead from apparent gunshot wounds. The Medford Police Department, being one of the responding agencies, was tasked with leading the investigation into the shooting. Investigators soon determined that Spencer Odom had shot and killed his father, Rick, before dying from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The tragedy deepened two days later. On October 8, as detectives and the Oregon State Police Crime Lab continued to process the scene on the Williams Highway property, they found human remains buried on the grounds. The remains were soon identified as the missing Nevada man, Andrew Odom, bringing the search for him to a heartbreaking conclusion at the same location where his brother and nephew died.
Further investigation into the family's affairs revealed potential sources of conflict. Property records showed that Andrew Odom had purchased the property for $310,000 in August 2024. Just weeks before his disappearance, on August 31, his nephew Spencer Odom had prepared and filed a quitclaim deed, a document often used to transfer property between family members. While authorities did not release an official motive, the Josephine County Sheriff noted that he believed money was a "very large part of this situation."
As of October 2026, the investigation into the deaths of Rick and Andrew Odom was ongoing, though the case of Rick's death was effectively closed, as the person responsible had taken his own life. The Josephine County Major Crime Team, a multi-agency group composed of the Oregon State Police, Grants Pass Police Department, Josephine County Sheriff’s Office, and the Josephine County District Attorney’s Office, continued to investigate the circumstances surrounding Andrew's death.
