Homeless drug dealer arrested for Micanopy murder

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Joshua Emmanuel Hall, 36, has been charged with the December murder of Corey Grimmage in Micanopy. He was already in the Alachua County Jail on a different case.

Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputies responded on December 7, 2021, to a call about a body found in the roadway on NE 6th Avenue, a rural road in Micanopy. The body of Corey Grimmage was found with multiple gunshots, and deputies determined that the body had been there for several days. Six 9mm spent shell casings were found nearby, along with a 9mm magazine for a Taurus pistol and a Ruger LCP .380 pistol. No phone, wallet, or money was found.

A witness told detectives that he had seen a dark-colored Dodge Avenger on nearby streets on December 3 and that he had heard possible gunshots. Detectives also found that a complaint had been received on December 6 from a woman who had loaned her black Avenger to Grimmage on December 1; he was supposed to return it on December 4, but it had not been returned.

Detectives found the Avenger at Arbor Apartments on December 7 and reportedly found a substance believed to be blood on the exterior of the car. Several 9mm bullets were reportedly found between the windshield and the hood, in the wiper blade area. A cell phone was also seen in plain view inside the car. The car was impounded and towed, and a search warrant was obtained.

Detectives obtained cell phone location data for the phone that showed it moved from NW 13th Street in Gainesville to Micanopy on the night of December 3 and hit a cell phone tower about 700 meters from where Grimmage’s body was found at about 10 p.m. on December 3. The phone then moved north again to Gainesville, ending where it was later found in the Avenger.

Messages on the phone, which was found to belong to Grimmage, showed a conversation with “JBanz Banz” on social media; that account was found to belong to Hall. The conversation indicated that Hall and Grimmage were involved in the purchase and sale of narcotics. That evidence led to the December 20 arrest of Hall for felony criminal conspiracy, trafficking in narcotics, using a two-way communications device to facilitate a felony, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, trafficking in synthetic narcotics, possession of drug paraphernalia, and possession of a firearm while in the commission of a felony.

Fingerprints from the Avenger and from Grimmage’s phone were identified as belonging to Hall. Detectives also obtained a search warrant for Hall’s phone, and its location data reportedly showed that Hall had traveled the same route as Grimmage’s phone on December 3.

Another witness told detectives that Hall had come to their house sometime near the beginning of December late at night, “stressed” and “out of breath.” They said Hall said some type of “situation” had occurred. That witness described Hall as being homeless and not having a lot of money, but they said he had a lot of cash that night. The witness said that Hall sells “molly” and “weed” and that he had been asking where he could get a gun.

Yesterday, detectives received a report from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement that matched the shell casings found at the scene of the murder to the Taurus pistol that was reportedly in Hall’s possession when he was arrested on December 20.

Based on the investigation, Hall has been charged with second-degree murder (dangerous or depraved without premeditation). Hall has 14 felony convictions and has served four state prison terms, with his most recent release in November 2020. Before the December arrest, his most recent previous arrest was in October 2021 for domestic battery and damaging a TV; he was on probation at the time. After pleading nolo contendere to the charges, he was sentenced to 228 days in jail with credit for 228 days served.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.