JOSEPHINE COUNTY, OR — Human remains found buried on a rural Josephine County property have been identified as those of Andrew Forrest Odom, a 67-year-old Nevada man who had been reported missing after traveling from Carson City to Oregon in September.
Oregon State Police said Odom’s last known whereabouts were in Josephine County on Sept. 22. The case began as a missing-person investigation, but detectives later uncovered circumstances they described as suspicious, leading Medford police to hand the case to state investigators and prompting the Josephine County Major Crime Team to get involved.
Investigators traced Odom’s last known movements to southern Oregon
According to Oregon State Police, Odom had traveled from Carson City, Nevada, to Medford, Oregon, sometime in September before disappearing. Officials have not said why he was in the area or what led detectives to the rural property where his remains were eventually found.
What was clear from the beginning was that the circumstances did not look routine. Once Medford police identified possible criminal elements, the case moved to OSP. That shift brought in additional investigators and set the stage for the later discovery on the Josephine County property.
The agency has not released further details about how Odom’s connection to the property was established, but his remains were later recovered there and identified by the OSP Crime Lab.
Detectives’ contact with a suspect ended in a deadly shooting
On Oct. 6, OSP detectives contacted a subject near the 10000 block of Williams Highway. During that encounter, investigators said the subject ran into a home and fired at detectives.
Josephine County sheriff’s deputies and Grants Pass police responded to the scene. After officers cleared the home, they found two people dead from what appeared to be gunshot wounds.
Authorities later identified the dead as 40-year-old Spencer Odom and his father, 73-year-old Rick Odom. OSP said Spencer Odom died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after shooting Rick Odom.
Andrew Odom was the brother of one of the men found dead
The relationship among the dead men connected the shooting scene to the missing-person case. OSP said Rick Odom was Andrew Odom’s brother, tying the Nevada man’s disappearance to the family property where the later deaths occurred.
Two days after the shooting, detectives found human remains buried on that same property. The discovery added another grim layer to the investigation and ultimately led to the identification of the remains as Andrew Odom.
Officials have not said publicly what they believe happened between Andrew Odom’s disappearance in September and the burial of his body, and they have not detailed any motive tied to the killings.
Major Crime Team and state lab continue the investigation
The Josephine County Major Crime Team was activated as the case expanded from a missing-person inquiry into a multiagency death investigation. OSP Crime Lab personnel also assisted with the evidence processing and identification work.
That effort confirmed the remains belonged to Andrew Odom and helped investigators connect the scattered pieces of the case. Police have not said whether any additional suspects are being sought.
For now, the investigation remains active, with Oregon State Police asking anyone who may have information to come forward. Officials have not released a timeline for when more details may be made public.
What investigators have said so far about the rural property
The property at the center of the case sits in a rural stretch of Josephine County and became the focus of police work only after the suspicious circumstances in the missing-person case drew investigators in.
By Oct. 6, the scene had already turned deadly when detectives’ contact with a subject escalated into gunfire. Two days later, the buried remains were found nearby, turning the property into the focal point of both the shooting investigation and the search for Odom.
Investigators have not said how long the body had been buried there or whether the property owner is connected to the deaths beyond what has already been disclosed.
Police are still asking for tips as questions remain unanswered
Oregon State Police say the case is still ongoing, and they are urging anyone with additional information to contact the agency. Even with the identification of the remains and the deaths of Spencer and Rick Odom, several basic questions have not been answered publicly.
Those unanswered points include what brought Andrew Odom to southern Oregon, how the events on the property unfolded before the shooting, and whether anyone else played a role in hiding his body. Investigators have not released a full chronology of the days between Odom’s Sept. 22 last-known sighting and the Oct. 6 confrontation.
For now, police say the known facts link a missing Nevada man, a family connection in Josephine County, and a deadly encounter that ended with buried remains being found on the same property.
How the shooting scene led investigators to Andrew Odom
The deadly Oct. 6 confrontation gave investigators a second major crime scene to work with. After detectives approached the subject near Williams Highway, gunfire erupted, and two men were found dead inside the home once officers secured the area.
That same property became the place where investigators later uncovered buried human remains. The timeline suggests the shooting and the burial search were closely linked, though police have not described exactly how the discovery was made.
OSP says the remains recovered there were those of Andrew Odom, bringing the missing-person case to a tragic close while leaving the homicide investigation active.
What officials have not yet explained
Despite the identification, investigators have left several key details unresolved. They have not said how Andrew Odom died, how long his remains had been buried, or when he first arrived at the property.
Police also have not described the full relationship between Andrew Odom and the other people connected to the case beyond the confirmation that Rick Odom was his brother. The exact sequence of events before the Oct. 6 shooting has also not been fully laid out.
State police say the matter remains under investigation, and they continue to request information from the public as detectives work to piece together what happened in Josephine County.
How the case moved from missing-person report to homicide inquiry
Investigators first treated the matter as a missing-person case after Andrew Odom was reported unaccounted for following his trip from Nevada to Oregon. Once suspicious circumstances surfaced, the case quickly grew into something much larger.
Medford police initiated the initial inquiry before handing it off to Oregon State Police. From there, the Josephine County Major Crime Team, local deputies, city police, and the state crime lab all became involved as the investigation widened.
That broad response reflects the seriousness of the case and the number of separate developments: a missing man from Nevada, a deadly confrontation on a rural property, and remains later identified as Andrew Odom.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Oregon State Police
OSP says the investigation is still active and that additional information from witnesses or anyone familiar with the property could help answer lingering questions.
For investigators, the central challenge now is reconstructing the chain of events that connected Odom’s disappearance, the shooting, and the burial of his remains. Police have not announced any arrests beyond the deaths found at the scene.
Authorities are continuing to piece together the case, and they say tips from the public remain important as they work through the details.
Oregon and Nevada ties make the case especially complex
The investigation spans two states and multiple agencies, beginning with Odom’s trip from Carson City to Medford and ending with the discovery of buried remains in Josephine County. That interstate connection added urgency to the search once he was reported missing.
Because Rick Odom was Andrew Odom’s brother, the case also carries a family connection that links the missing man to the people found dead during the Oct. 6 encounter. Officials have not said whether other relatives were aware of events on the property.
With the identification complete, detectives are now focused on the unanswered questions surrounding motive, timing, and how the remains came to be buried there.
The known timeline begins in September and continues after the October shooting
Based on what investigators have released, Andrew Odom traveled to Oregon in September and was last known to be in Josephine County on Sept. 22. More than two weeks later, detectives confronted a subject near Williams Highway and a deadly shooting followed.
Two days after that confrontation, investigators found human remains buried on the same property. Those remains were later identified as Odom, closing one part of the case while deepening another.
Police say the inquiry is still open, and the exact timeline of what happened between those dates has not yet been made public.
Investigators say the case remains open
Oregon State Police say they are still investigating Andrew Odom’s death and the circumstances that led to the discovery of his remains. The agency has asked anyone with information to get in touch.
At this point, the confirmed facts tie together a missing Nevada resident, a family connection in Josephine County, a shooting that killed two men, and a burial site discovered on the same property. What happened in the days before and after Odom vanished remains for detectives to sort out.
